You might think that providing a library in a small town is hardly controversial. Think again! In Hermanus in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a seven-years-long debate divided the community on the question: where to build a new library? In 1960, the controversy reached a level that threatened to halt approval of the annual capital budget of the Town Council, involving about £66 000 worth of new projects. The Council had allocated £10 000 of this to the Library. Here’s how it all happened. A bit of background: Hermanus had a library very early in its life. S J du Toit gives the story of the early days in Hermanus Stories 1. In summary: • The existence of a library is first noted in 1899 by a Moravian brother by the name of Schmidt, who worked at the Hemel-en-Aarde leper Mission near the town. • In 1908, a delegation from the Library Committee asked the Municipality for an annual contribution to the costs of the library. • Other references refer to the various locations of the library, which seems to have moved frequently. In the 1930s, you would have found it in the news agency owned by Maggie McLeroth, in a house on the corner of Main Road and an alley that ran through to Marine Drive. Then it is to be found in a house next to St. Peter’s Church in St. Peter’s Lane. The house was owned by Jack Abel, who traded there as Abel’s Tickey Bazaar. The library seems to have remained there even after the house passed into the ownership of the Boland Board of Executors. By the 1950s it was located in a building adjacent to the DRC Church, roughly where the building known as Waterkant is now, generally known as the site of Clicks Stores. Then, a generous gesture by a resident started the controversy. Mr L S Sloman bought a vacant site in Harbour Road but did not build on it before he died. In his will, he bequeathed the site to the Town Council, with two stipulations: that a library must be built on the site and that building must begin within two years, or the gift lapsed. Clearly, Mr Sloman was aware of the lengthy decision-making processes of the Council and was trying to put a little pressure on it. At the same time, the Cape Provincial Free Libraries programme was set up by the Provincial Administration. The Hermanus Library was invited to become part of their administration, which had decided advantages, including financial support. So, the Council proposed to borrow £10 000 to build the Library and included that amount in the Loan Programme for 1960. The Hermanus News reported this: The Hermanus Town Council at a special meeting held last Monday finally approved the new Loan Programme of £64,758, which will shortly be submitted to a public meeting for the consent of enrolled owners, and to His Honour, the Administrator. The largest single item on the list is an amount of £10,000 for the provision of Library facilities Cr. F. N. Rivett said that the ratepayers would probably reject the £10,000 loan if the Harbour Road site were insisted on. The Special Committee of the Council, who recently investigated the matter, was definitely against the Harbour Road site, which was too small and inconvenient in other ways. Mr Rivett was correct In February 1960, the newspaper reported: A well-attended annual general meeting of the Hermanus Ratepayers’ Association, held in the Parish Hall, on Wednesday evening, passed a resolution, almost unanimously, that in their opinion the Harbour Road site, proposed by the Town Council for the Provincial Free Library building, is not suitable and requested the Town Council to adopt a better site at the Civic Centre, near the Municipal Offices. Various speakers, including the proposer of the resolution, Mr M. H. Field; the seconder, Mr O. Eisenberg; Mr A. Grant, and others – pointed out that the Harbour Road site was too small for the £10,000 building proposed by the Council; that it allowed no space for future extensions; that there were no parking places for cars in the narrow Harbour Road; was too far from the schools to enable the children to make the best use of its educational facilities; and the area was too noisy for a Library, due to passing traffic. Further, a building on that site would cost more, for the deep foundations necessary, owing to the ground being low-lying. Now, another party intervened, indicating the Province’s preference for Harbour Road: The Town Planning Officer of the Provincial Administration in a report submitted to the last meeting of the Hermanus Town Council, adopted the Sloman site in Harbour Road, for the proposed Provincial Free Library, which had been rejected by most of the ratepayers of Hermanus at several public meetings. This decision, unfortunately, re-opens a controversy over a library site, lasting over the past four years, which, by the general consent of ratepayers and the Town Council, was regarded as settled, many months ago. The Province’s proposals were accepted by the Town Council. Meanwhile, the Ratepayers Association continued its opposition to the Harbour Road site. The argument about the two sites went on into 1963. By then, the original cost of the building had risen to R32 000, plus the sum that had been repaid to Mr Sloman’s estate. The Town Council made a final and successful effort to gain consensus: The Town Council at their last meeting resolved that a further meeting of enrolled voters be convened for the purpose of obtaining their approval of the Harbour Road site selected by the Provincial Town Planner, to be addressed by the Town Planner and representatives of the provincial Library Service, who will explain their reasons for siting the Library in Harbour Road. In essence, this meant that the Council had to buy the site that had been donated to them in the first place and so pay twice for the same site. At this meeting, an agreement was reached after a delay of seven years, and building began in 1963. The Library in Harbour Road opened for business in late March 1964. It was officially opened by the Administrator of the Cape Province, Mr J N Malan on 19 June 1964. Even then the conflict was not forgotten: Mr Malan then paid a tribute to the pioneers of the Public Library Service in small beginnings in Hermanus, as far back as 1917, led by Mrs Joey Luyt, when there were only 35 members and 400 books available; and the great interest taken by Mr F. N. Rivett, since 1927, first as Secretary and now as Chairman. Other pioneers were Miss Neethling, Judge F. E. Watermeyer, Miss J. de Kok, Mrs Rita Abel and Mrs V. Carrie. Mr Malan congratulated Hermanus on acquiring this new building but regretted that it was not situated on a better site, and had pleasure in declaring it open. (my emphasis) The Hermanus Library served the community from Harbour Road until 2004, after which it moved to larger premises at the new Municipal Offices.