Library Service Review
Niki Lewis (Service Director for Communities, Libraries, Heritage & Arts) and John Salen (Business Change Project Manager) will give an update on the review of Library Services. The meeting will be asked to consider their top five priorities for the future library service.
Minutes:
John Salen, Project Manager – Business Change, introduced Tessa Cozins, Area Library Manager – North and East, and Jessica Phillips, Community Librarian. This was followed by a presentation on the library service review.
The following points were made:
· the review was county-wide
· £500,000 savings were to be achieved within two years
· 98% of library customers thought the standard of customer care was good or very good
· the impact of reading and literacy on people’s lives, including their career prospects and health and wellbeing
· what the library service offered now
· what a future library service might offer, such as time zones for different groups (Noisy Fridays/Quiet Mondays), longer core opening hours and late night opening, meeting rooms for public use, refreshments, e-readers, washroom facilities, Wi-Fi access, game zones and plasma screen broadcasts.
The meeting raised the following points:
· some libraries and mobile libraries offered internet training for children, disabled people and older people
· Cricklade library was currently sourcing funding for its Silver Surfers group
· Cricklade Leisure Centre currently offered the Silver Surfers programme
· customer focus groups expressed a wish for extra services at the library
· every aspect of library provision was to be reviewed
· there was an on-going strategic review of all council-owned buildings that considered new models of service delivery
· further consultations were to take place
· adult literacy courses were desirable
· currently there were no plans to alter the very popular mobile library service
· both Cricklade Town council and the library offered information points that may be better combined for resource efficiency.
There was the opportunity to contribute to the review through opinion cards at the meeting that asked for the top five priorities for a library service in the future.
The Chairman thanked Mr Salen for his presentation.