The library in Siegertsbrunn has now been closed for 20 months. In March 2020, due to the corona restrictions, it had to cease operations – as did all libraries across the country. But while many facilities gradually reopened their gates to visitors and users during lockdown, the door in Siegertsbrunn remained locked. The reason, says town hall spokeswoman Gabriele Wehner, is the conditions in the library.
This is housed in such a small room in the rectory on Leonhardistraße that the minimum distances required due to the pandemic simply cannot be maintained there. In addition, the congregation and parish decided during the compulsory Corona break to fundamentally revise the concept of the Siegertsbrunn library, says Wehner.
You have to know that the two libraries in Höhenkirchen and Siegertsbrunn are cooperation projects between the municipality and the church. While the latter provides the premises, the municipality bears the costs for the personnel expenses. All other expenses would be shared equally between the partners, says Wehner. In Siegertsbrunn the library was open two afternoons a week before it closed. The offer there was a cross-section and wanted to address as many citizens as possible, says Gabriele Wehner.
But that should now change with the restructuring. “The basic idea is that the library should focus specifically on families,” explains the city hall spokeswoman. In addition, a pick-up station should be set up in the parish hall for media that can be ordered from the holdings in Höhenkirchen and which would then be delivered to Siegertsbrunn. “This is primarily intended as a service for senior citizens who can no longer make the way to Höhenkirchen so easily,” announced the town hall spokeswoman.
On the basis of these fundamental considerations, a working group is now to create a concept for the new Siegertsbrunn library – with the participation of citizens. A corresponding appeal was recently published in the local community gazette. The goal, says Gabriele Wehner, is for a draft for the reorganization of the Siegertsbrunn library to be in place by the beginning of next year.
This should then be presented to a board of trustees made up of representatives from the community council and the church administration. This will then make the final decision on the realignment of the library, said the city hall spokeswoman. Until then, the facility will remain closed.