Casey-Cardinia Library Corporation CEO Peter Carter, Endeavour Hills Library branch manager Monique Godbehere and Ellie and Casey mayor Colin Butler at the official opening of the library’s new extension.ENDEAVOUR Hills bookworms are set for a surprise when they visit their local library next with several exciting improvements officially opened last week.
The Raymond McMahon Boulevard centre has almost doubled in size with just under $900,000 spent on the extension project.
The library is now equipped to provide a range of other benefits to the local community including more space and shelving to display books and the ability to hold more events and programs, such as cultural art displays and story telling.
Casey mayor Colin Butler joined Local Government Minister Richard Wynne at the launch.
Cr Butler said: “This extension has given the Endeavour Hills Library a new lease of life, with the additional space enabling an additional 4000 items for their collection, more room for community events and improvements to study facilities.”
“The much needed extension and refurbishment project was made possible by a State Government grant of $384,000 from the Living Libraries program and council’s contribution of more than $500,000,” he said.
Mr Wynne was also thrilled with the refurbished library, which has been designed to cater for the area’s rapid population growth.
“When the Endeavour Hills Library was first built in 1987, the population of the area was only 14,000 people. Since then the number of residents has almost doubled to more than 26,000 people, including many young families.”
“This new library is almost 50 per cent bigger than the old one and will provide even better activities and services to meet the changing needs of this thriving community,” Mr Wynne said.
He said the Brumby Government had increased its overall support for public libraries in recognition of the role they play in communities.
“Six out of 10 Victorians are library users, showing local libraries are highly valued by the communities they serve.
“The Brumby Government’s total funding of $15 million over four years for the Living Libraries program is on top of this year’s record of $30.1 million in recurrent funding for public libraries across the state,” Mr Wynne said.
