ESTABLISH AN INNER CITY LENDING LIBRARY
Achievement	Target Date	Description	Progress	Further Information

ACHIEVEMENT: The City of Melbourne hosts an Inner City Lending Library.

TARGET DATE: December 2003

PROGRESS: Achieved.

DESCRIPTION: Residents and visitors to the City of Melbourne have limited day time access to a lending library. The State Library of Victoria, in Swanston Walk, provides an excellent reference collection, but no pubic provision for borrowing. I saw a real need for the city to be a source of ideas, thinking and reading, not just retailing.

As a Director of the Yarra-Regional Library Board, I took the view that a central city lending library was necessary to fill the gap in this need. A great deal of work was done in the background, which ultimately resulted in a paper being put to Council for endorsement. Cr. Joanna pace became very involved and took this issue on as a cause.

After discussions with a number of prospective organisations, the Council For Adult Education Building in Flinders Lane was chosen. The Council has made a financial contribution to establishing the Library. The State Government, after initially making a commitment, refused to honour that commitment until the November 30 2002 State election. Funding now appears to be in place, and the Central City Lending Library should be a realty in the near future.

FURTHER INFORMATION: In a memo dated 7 January 2003, MCC's CEO advised that "… with the approval of the Lord Mayor and as part of the broader negotiations with State Government, a Community Support Fund application related to the City Library for $2 million was recently lodged. The application was for Council's contribution to this project …."

The Central City Lending Library is now in operation in Flinders Lane, Melbourne, and is open to the public.