Blacktown City Council is extending the hours of Marsden Park Temporary Library after an overwhelming community response to services in one of Sydney's largest growth areas.
Thousands of people have used the library since it opened in 2024 and children's activities have been hugely popular. Demand for Baby Rhyme Time, Story Time and school holiday activities continues to grow.
Staff have often been unable to close the library on time on Saturdays due to its popularity.
In response to community feedback, the library will open on an additional day each week and extend its hours on another.
From Friday 27 March, the library will open on Fridays from 10 am to 6 pm.
Hours will be extended on Saturdays to 9 am to 2 pm, while Wednesday hours will remain 10 am to 6 pm.
Blacktown City Mayor Brad Bunting said the success of the library and demand for more services showed the challenges for Council in serving a rapidly growing region.
"Marsden Park is in Sydney's second largest growth area, and we want to ensure our residents have the same access to services as people in other parts of Sydney," he said.
"Council is responding to requests for more services, but there are constraints on what we can provide," he said.
Council is unable to fund a larger, permanent library due to 2012 legislation that restricts spending developer levy funds on community infrastructure.
While there have been requests for more children's activities at the library, the Marsden Park Neighbourhood Centre hall is heavily booked by community groups.
Mayor Bunting called on the NSW Government to reform planning policy so that Council can provide growing communities such as Marsden Park with the services they deserve.
Council will continue to lobby the NSW Government for funding for a larger, full service library.
The library is at the corner of Northbourne and Elara Boulevard and offers easy access to 1,500 books and children's services.
Visitors can enjoy picture books, junior and non-fiction, adult recreational reading, and community language titles in Tamil, Gujarati, Punjabi and Hindi. An HSC collection is available for students.
Visitors can request and return materials from Council's library network, which includes the Dennis Johnson Library at Stanhope Gardens, Lalor Park Library, Max Webber Library at Blacktown, Our Library at the Mount Druitt Hub, Riverstone Library and Mobile Library Service.
