A petition, protesting the closure of Plumstead Public Library located at Village Square, is set to be circulated among residents for their signature.
Last month the City of Cape Town confirmed that, due to budget constraints, the predicted closure of the library would either be at the end of February or March 2023.
According to Toni Balona, secretary of the Friends of Plumstead Library, the proposed closing of the library has not only upset but outraged the community that supports and uses the library.
“We are getting a petition ready. We will post it on a stand at the door (to Plumstead Library) for everyone to sign,” says Balona.
She adds she has also contacted their local ward councillor’s office and requested for the Friends and the community’s concerns to be included in the agenda of the upcoming monthly councillor meeting.
People’s Post contacted Eddie Andrews, councillor for Ward 73, for comment but at the time of going to print, none had been received.
So far there has been no indication from the City as to when or if community engagement on this matter will take place.
Three weeks ago, when People’s Post asked what the City’s plans for community engagement were, Patricia van der Ross, Mayco member for Community Services and Health, said it was still being determined.
This week, Van der Ross told People’s Post that the details of community engagement were being finalised and would be communicated with residents.
In the meantime, library patrons and residents continue to share their shock at the news of the library’s closure.
In an email sent to Andrews, Dawn Brown writes: “Please, please do not close our libraries; they are our only entertainment and family.”
She says she is devastated that the library is going to close.
“As an old age pensioner and in my late 70s, I do a lot of reading not having unlimited internet access. I speak for everyone who rely on the library, it’s close by and staff are friendly, helpful and amazingly kind to help with finding something to read,” her email reads.
Cheryl Leith, a Plumstead resident and a former librarian, also commends the library’s staff for their “well-informed, knowledgeable and professional” service.
Leith says the Plumstead Library has been an integral part of their community for more than 60 years.
“The library has a long tradition of excellence, particularly with regard to services to children.
“The present staff continue to build on this solid foundation, while always responding innovatively to the new challenges of changing times,” she says.
Leith adds that children and senior citizens without transport rely entirely on the library for access to books.
The City has indicated that, in the event of the library’s closure, patrons can make use of Southfield or Wynberg Library’s services.
Leith believes, with education in crisis, any facility which contributes as positively as Plumstead Library deserves support.
“Less obvious and impossible to quantify objectively, is the inestimable value of carefully selected fiction in the development of insight, imagination, originality, creativity and empathy. The library is not an optional extra. It is an essential service,” she concludes.
