Agenda item

As resolved at the Environment Select Committee meeting held on 14 March 2023, on the leisure and libraries portfolio, the Committee will receive a libraries update including the results of the peer challenge and development of the Library Strategy.

Councillor Ian Blair-Pilling, Cabinet Member for Public Health, Communities, Leisure, and Libraries, alongside David Redfern, Director of Leisure, Culture, and Communities, and Claire Dow, Library Staff and Customer Engagement Manager, delivered a presentation regarding libraries development.

It was explained that there were three core areas within the strategy: financial sustainability; contribution to the health and wellbeing of our communities; and environmental sustainability. It was noted that those priorities aligned with the contributions to the wider Council Business Plan and supported other services such as Public Health, Children’s Services, and Adult Social Care.

Officers then presented a series of slides which detailed the performance data of the Library Service, the Library Strategy, and how the Council’s priorities are being delivered through supporting vulnerable residents, children, and the roll out of Family Hubs as well as different health awareness schemes. The results and recommendations arising from the LGA Peer Challenge were also highlighted alongside the approaches being taken to address those recommendations.

Officers finished by displaying feedback from members of the public on how the libraries across the County had impacted them, and Members were asked to both make suggestions for improvements to officers and encourage their residents to communicate with leisure centre managers directly to provide feedback and establish local relationships.

During the discussion, points included:

·       Members congratulated officers on their hard work.

·       Members queried the carbon neutrality of rented buildings used for libraries across the County and if different strategies could be implemented to support the Council in meeting its carbon neutrality goals.

·       The importance of libraries within communities was emphasised, particularly with regard to supporting those residents who don’t have online access and children in improving literacy and numeracy skills. As such, Members highlighted that different departments within the Council should be working in tandem to ensure that all libraries were accessible, such as specific bus routes, to allow all residents to visit the libraries.

·       Members raised the ‘Library of Things’ scheme utilised in different Local Authorities which allowed families to share and access different equipment that may not be affordable. Officers noted that in order to maximise public facing spaces, there were storage limitations for that specific scheme, however a number of libraries offered initiatives such as ‘Repair Cafés’.

·       The importances of different offerings such as knitting groups and warm spaces was emphasised to help in removing barriers for people in visiting, particularly those who were more vulnerable.

·       It was explained that public visiting habits and behaviours had changed nationally which could be as a result of decreased footfall in high streets and cost living concerns, however borrowing rates within the libraries had bounced back to pre-covid levels. Furthermore, there had been a rise in e-book issuing, therefore as part of the Library Strategy, officers were looking to analyse whether these were by new users or users who also physically visited a library and had done so pre-covid.

Following which, it was:

Resolved:

The Committee:

1)    Noted the presentation.

2)    Noted the results of the LGA Peer Challenge.

3)    Noted the progress on the Library Strategy and requested a further update in due course.