A new era for the MCTL

Dear Members,

As you may be aware, over the last 2 years the volunteer committee of management have been trying to find a sustainable long term funding solution for the toy library. We thank you all for your help during this campaign. When MCTL was facing closure, the message from our community was very clear – this toy library matters.

While we continued with the work of trying to improve our toy library, managed staffing and propped ourselves up with more short-term grants, we also engaged in a process with the City of Melbourne to closely review the service and find a sustainable path forwards. After considering all of the options, a proposal was made to bring the toy library ‘in house’ and to make it a part of the library service. Over the past 6 months, we have been working with staff from the City of Melbourne to make this a reality, and to ensure that the toy library meets the needs of our community and reflects what we want from it as parents.

Over the last two years, we set ourselves three pillars: Supporting children’s development through play, improving sustainability and reducing landfill caused by toys, and improving community connectedness in our suburbs. At every opportunity, we extended hours, improved our collection and ensured we had staff who made families feel welcome. We built the toy library we wanted. Our 3 toy libraries are busier than ever before, and it is so beautiful to see families playing together at every opening session.

So, it is bittersweet that we announce this transition. We are all looking forward to less stress about the running of the toy library and excited to see what council funding and management will achieve. The City of Melbourne staff have been very keen to maintain volunteering and parent involvement, and this partnership is very exciting, and something we are very keen to see – Parent and children’s voices reflected in programs and services for families! The message below has been prepared by the City of Melbourne, and outlines the following:

- All three branches will continue as normal until the end of June

- They will then close, to allow for re-cataloguing and other transition tasks.

- North Melbourne and Carlton will re-open on the 17th July.

- Docklands will not re-open, due to the limitations and challenges of this space.

Instead, there will be a click and collect service at Library at the Dock, and then toy borrowing will be available at Library at the Dock from September. We understand that Docklands families will be most affected by these changes, but neither we, nor council could solve the issues with the current space. While there will be an interruption to services in Docklands, we hope that this transition will see better support in place for Docklands – increased playgroups and toy borrowing at the library.

Thank you again for all of your support, and a special thanks to everyone on our committee of management who have been working to keep the organisation running and find a solution to our funding challenges.

Yours in play,

Emily Corcoran
MCTL President