Backlash Grows Against Wyndham Library Survey

Residents have voiced frustration over Wyndham City Council’s consultation on Manor Lakes Library weekend hours, accusing the process of being biased and misleading.

The survey released this week offers only two choices:

• No – Keep the current weekend hours of Saturdays 10am–4pm and closed on Sundays.

• Yes – Close on Saturdays and open on Sundays from 2pm–5pm for a 12-month trial.

Resident Rick Zhero said online that the survey design left little room for genuine feedback. “It’s called ‘Survey Bias’. The question presents as a ‘false dichotomy’ as if there are only two available options. It’s considered poor survey design, except where it’s a deliberate piece of subterfuge — which it is here. Most people who respond will just pick one of the available options and council will say ‘Look! We asked! People don’t want it open on Sunday!’”

Resident Sean Row said the community had been pushing for Sunday access for months. “We have been actively advocating since February to have the library in Manor Lakes open on a Sunday. Currently we have much lower opening hours than the other branches except for Werribee. Council have been involved the whole way through and the understanding has been clear that we wanted Sunday as additional hours. Cr Maynard put a motion up at the budget meeting in June to have this survey included. However the motion made no mention of closing the library on Saturdays. This morning Council issued a survey which only gave the option to open on Sundays for 3 hours and close on Saturdays. This is completely unacceptable and shows how poor community engagement is and chronic economic mismanagement for this to even have to occur.”

Manor Lakes Library is currently open every day except Sunday, with an average of 288 visits recorded on Saturdays and 3,243 visits across the week.

Wyndham City Mayor, Cr Mia Shaw, said the consultation aimed to balance community interest with budget constraints. “We’ve heard from some community members expressing interest in Sunday openings, and while our library budget is limited, we’re keen to understand whether the community would prefer Sunday access in place of current Saturday hours,” she said.

“At present, three major libraries in Wyndham are open on Sundays – the Point Cook Library, Hoppers Crossing and the Julia Gillard Library in Tarneit. So, there’s already plenty of opportunities for residents to pay a visit.”

“Should feedback indicate support for Sunday openings, a trial is proposed for 12 months to open Manor Lakes Library on a Sunday from 2pm-5pm.”

“While we wish we could do it all, unfortunately our budget means that this isn’t possible. An Inquiry by the Victorian Parliament found that the Victorian Government has failed to maintain a 50/50 shared funding agreement for public libraries, placing a significant burden on local councils. We support the Inquiry’s recommendation that the Victorian Government should restore a shared funding agreement of 50/50 with local councils for the operation of public libraries. This would make it much easier to expand our operating hours.”

Cr Shaw said Council remains open to community input. “We know our community love their local libraries, and we want to hear how they’ll be best used. Should there be community demand to adapt opening hours at Manor Lakes, the change would be managed within budget, to reduce impact on our existing services.”

Feedback is open from 1 to 28 September via theloop.wyndham.vic.gov.au/manor-lakes-library-opening-hours-trial.