KEMPSEY Library is the major recipient of funding announced this morning for two projects in the Oxley electorate. The town library will benefit to the tune of $460,785 for an Innovative Creative spaces plan. The other big winner is the Nambucca Heads Library which will receive $324,749 towards a contemporary fit-out for the future. Local MP Melinda Pavey said together - more than $785,000 would be provided through the 2019-20 Public Library Infrastructure Grant program. The $6 million grant program will be directed to 20 public library projects across NSW, including at Kempsey and Nambucca Heads. Mrs Pavey said the vast majority of the funding this year has been directed to libraries in regional areas, including those impacted by the bushfires. The funding allocation for library infrastructure brings the total NSW Government support for libraries in 2019-20 to $36.5 million, building on the Coalition's 2019 election commitment to provide an extra $60 million to libraries over four years. The Library Council of NSW, assisted by the State Library, assessed the applications for grants for local libraries to improve their facilities, mobile library resources and major ICT projects. The funding follows an announcement by Premier Gladys Berejiklian that the State's museums, galleries, and libraries can reopen from June 1, but with strict new protocols in place to ensure they operate in a COVID-19 safe way. Kempsey police make special delivery Old footbridge timber planks released for sale