The Tauranga City Council has reversed an earlier decision on library books after being told the change made was having the opposite effect to what was intended.



In May the council decided to slash the number of library books people could borrow at any one time from 99 to 20.

Library staff wanted the number reduced to 40, but councillors felt that was too many.

David Stewart's motion was that 20 be trialled for six months.

The consequence of this change is that families that had previously borrowed large numbers of mostly children's books on a parent's card, have obtained separate cards for each child – reflected in a surge in children's cards issued in July 2010.

Delays were created at the issuing counter because customers had to wait for the cards to be cleared before new issues could be made. It took more staff time and slowed the queue, running counter to the goal of reducing staff.

The change appeared to affect only a small number of customers, but for them it was highly inconvenient.

A staff report says the lower limit also reduced the numbers of people using the self issuing terminals.

The reduction in book numbers came after a public outcry forced the councillors to back down on other cost cutting measures proposed for the city libraries.

The public response forced a rethink on a proposal to charge on all library books except children's.