As part of Bankstown City Council's commitment to deliver high quality community facilities and services, we recently carried out a Library Model Service Review of our five libraries.

Local libraries are important hubs in our communities and the review will assist Council in developing a strategy focused on the needs of library patrons and improving the range of services and technologies available.

Chester Hill Library will be first in line to undergo upgrade works, with the scoping and design studies expected to start soon. The study will look at the everyday operation of the library service as well as what technology upgrades are required.

Council has allocated $750,000 from this year towards the program and the funding will be appropriately allocated as upgrades to Bankstown's libraries are rolled out.

With Council committing more than $20 million to create a state-of-the-art Library and Knowledge Centre in the Bankstown CBD, it is important we also invest resources to improve our local branch libraries to meet the current and future needs of our community.

This coming Friday, 12 August 2011, Greenacre Library will be celebrating 50 years of service with a free community celebration at its premises in Community Place, Greenacre.

I invite residents to join me in celebrating this fantastic milestone for Greenacre. Celebrations will begin at 12noon.

Libraries play a key role in our community serving the educational and social needs of our residents. They are places of life-long learning and relaxation while providing access to many of Council services.

Bankstown City Council is dedicated to ensuring we provide our residents with a modern library service.

For more information about Bankstown City Council’s libraries go to www.bankstown.nsw.gov.au or contact Council on 9707 9999.