Library ‘bursting’

HAMPTON Park Library is at capacity and in need of extensions, according to committee members.
The Friends of Hampton Park Library claim the centre has become the ‘hub of Hampton Park’ since it opened in January 2004, welcoming more than 75,000 users through its doors during the first half of this year.
President Friends of Hampton Park Library Dawn Dakin said she knew when the library was first built that it would need to be extended but didn’t expect the growth to happen so quickly.
“It is now known as the ‘homework capital of Hampton Park’,” Mrs Dakin said.
“Every age and interest group is using it so well and it is already edging up to the top of the user list of libraries in the area,” she said.
Mrs Dakin said the library required a larger study area to enable the establishment of more study groups, more computer space to cater for the current high demand and extra storage space for library equipment.
She said extensions would also allow the library to expand the number and variety of items offered, including more multicultural stock.
Mrs Dakin said the committee had called on Casey Council to consider an extension to the library to address the issues sooner rather than later.
Casey Council failed to respond to a request for comment from the News by the time of going to print.