As part of Whakatāne District Council’s COVID-19 Business Continuity Plan, Whakatāne Library and Exhibition Centre / Te Kōputu a te Whanga a Toi (Te Kōputu) will be temporarily reducing their operating hours.
As part of Council’s plan to safeguard service delivery to its communities in the face of the anticipated impacts of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, Te Kōputu will now operate six days per week; Monday – Saturday, and will be closed on Sundays.
Georgina Fletcher, General Manager of Community Experience at Whakatāne District Council, says the temporary Sunday closure is necessary to allow staff to operate in bubbles, and is vital to the continued provision of library and gallery services.
“Working practices, including using a split shift approach, reducing our physical opening hours by closing Sundays - our quietest day, and upping our remote service delivery, have been implemented to minimise the risk of our staff being exposed to, and/or contracting the virus at the same time.”
"While this will mean some minor reduction in levels of physical service, it will go some way in helping to avoid the full closure of Te Kōputu in a worst-case scenario."
Georgina adds, "While we understand some members of our community may be disappointed with this move, especially with the recent opening of the Molly Morpeth Canaday 3D exhibition, we are acting now to try and limit the impacts of greater case numbers on business continuity and levels of service."
The move has been well considered and the Te Kōputu team has prepared and implemented robust systems to ensure local communities can access library and exhibition services remotely.
Remote services include:
Arts online
- Current Exhibitions and Events - whakatanemuseum.org.nz/exhibitions-and-events
- Past Exhibitions and Events Past Exhibitions and Events - whakatanemuseum.org.nz/exhibitions-and-events/past-exhibitions-and-events
- Whakatāne Museum and Arts Facebook - facebook.com/WhakataneMuseumandArts
- Whakatāne Galleries Podcast - soundcloud.com/user-30963066
Heritage online
- Library and Heritage Gallery / Te Kōputu Instagram - @discover_tekoputu - instagram.com/discover_tekoputu
Library by remote
- Whakatāne District Libraries online catalogue (ebooks, eAudio Books, eMagazines, eNewspapers - ent.kotui.org.nz/client/en_AU/whakatane
- Click and Collect
- Grab and Go
- FREE WiFi
- Online / Contactless Payments