FAQs

As of March 2023, we have just over 12,000 active Adelaide Hills Council Library borrowers. 72% of borrowers are registered to the Stirling branch, 17% at Woodside Library, 8% with the Mobile Library and 4% at the Gumeracha Library.  

In terms of visitation, which includes those coming in for Council enquiries, we have the following average customers per day at each site on a weekday:

• Stirling – 450-500 per day
• Woodside – 95 per day
• Gumeracha – 20 per day

It is expected that the Council will make a decision in May 2023 following community consultation. If adopted, proposed changes would come into effect from early July 2023.

There are no proposed reductions to the staffed hours of the Gumeracha Library. The main change is a consolidation of staffed hours to provide longer opening hours on fewer days, in alignment with usage patterns and other activities at the Gumeracha Civic Centre/Hub.

There will be less time available for self-service – no self-service available on Mondays, Tuesdays or Thursdays and the Library will be closed on Fridays.

Saturdays will stay the same with opening hours from 10am to 1pm.

No, the proposed changes do not impact the Mobile Library timetable. We recently reviewed the location and timing of Mobile Library stops in conjunction with the launch of our new Van in November 2022 and made changes in response to community demand and feedback.

We have received feedback over many years that the community would prefer that the Stirling Library be open on Mondays. To make this happen within our existing resources, we are proposing changes to the Thursday evenings and weekend afternoons at both Stirling and Woodside which are not as well frequented as other times.

Customers that would like to collect reservations after business hours, can choose the Stirling Library as their pick up location when placing holds – Stirling will be open until 6pm Monday – Wednesday and Friday and until 7pm on Thursdays.

While we appreciate the change at Woodside will impact a small number of people who use the site at this time, the proposed changes acknowledge that we only get one or two customers entering the Woodside Library after 6pm.

• At Stirling, Council customer service is currently available from 8.30am to 5pm Monday to Friday. This will continue, although we may consider changing this to 9am to 5pm in the near future.
• At Woodside, Council customer service is available from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and this will remain the same, except for Thursdays which will commence at 10am.
• At Gumeracha, Council customer service is currently available during Library opening hours – 3 hours per day on alternative morning and afternoons Monday to Friday. The proposed changes will mean that Council customer service is available when the Library is open – Monday 9am to 2pm, Tuesday 12pm to 5pm and Thursday 9am to 2pm. We receive very few Council queries at this site, about one per day.
• Our Contact Centre operates 8.30am to 5pm Monday to Friday. This will continue, although we may consider changing this to 9am to 5pm in the near future.