Agenda item

The Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services submits a report giving an overview of the Study Zones initiative in libraries, in the context of the digital support provided by libraries for people living, working and studying in Leicester.

The Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services submitted a report giving an overview of the Study Zones initiative in libraries, in the context of the digital support provided by libraries for people living, working and studying in Leicester.

The Assistant City Mayor for Culture, Libraries and Community Centres introduced the report and noted that the successful funding application had allowed more people to bring their equipment to be used in Council libraries.  This was increasingly important due to overcrowded houses, as this scheme allowed people to come to libraries for a quiet space to study and work.  She further noted that Libraries were often neighbourhood hubs.

The Head of Neighbourhood Services presented the report.

Key Points included:

• Libraries remained committed to four universal offers:
  • Reading
  • Culture and Creativity
  • The Digital Information Offer (including IT resources and signposting support from staff)
  • Health and Wellbeing
• Members’ attention was drawn to the graphs in the report, and it was explained that these showed the changing patterns of use and illustrated the recovery of computer use following the Covid-19 pandemic.  It was further clarified that use of library computers had recovered to 60% of use prior to the pandemic, and people using their own devices with the library WiFi had recovered to 80% of pre-pandemic levelsand was predicted to recover to 100% by the end of this year.  This showed real change in how people accessed online services.
• Customer surveys had shown that there was a preference for people using their own devices in libraries, and this had been part of the rationale for the bid.
• The pilot programmes in Knighton and Highfields libraries had been very successful, showing that this had been a key bid to make.  As soon as the desks had been installed, people had used them, and they had not needed to be promoted.
• The scheme had supported the homework help club which had been important for children’s health and wellbeing as well as to support their out of school learning following the pandemic.
• The scheme provided welcome facilities for residents in high-density housing.
• The scheme supported the Warm Welcome programme, as well as supporting the increase in people working from home.
• The scheme supported increasing partnership work with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and library Jobshops.  People could take part in sessions with work coaches in libraries, and then continue to work in the library following the session.

The Commission was invited to ask questions and make comments.  Key Points included:

• It was aimed to track how people used services so that changes could be pre-empted and to establish what was required in different locations.  There were approximately 60,000 individual library users, of which around 20,000 were estimated to be IT users, either through using library computers or bringing their own devices.  IT users were profiled, and it had been identified that whilst library users had a slight female majority, a slight majority of IT users were male.  In terms of age, children and young people tended to be the biggest library users, but a high proportion of IT users fell into the 16-45 age-range.  In terms of the location with the highest usage hours, Central library was the highest, followed by those in high-density housing areas such as Belgrave or Highfields.  Peaks in usage depended on the library and the local population around it.
• The report was welcomed as libraries were seen as an asset to the community as a safe place for people to study, particularly in the context of the cost-of-living crisis.  They had lots of resources that benefitted the community.
• In response to a query about providing services for people of various cultures and people who spoke languages other than English, it was explained that there was an ongoing piece of work to establish customer needs, particularly through customer surveys and conversations with customers and staff.  New members were asked if they wished to state their preferred reading language when they joined the library.
• In response to a query about privacy, it was acknowledged that libraries were small spaces, which was a reason as to why some of the study desks included privacy partitions.  It was further explained that users tended to either work individually or collaboratively, therefor it was necessary to have different kinds of spaces for the different kinds of user.
• In response to a query about the different kinds of media used, it was reported that a lot of work had been done on modernising and updating the service over the last three-to-four years, including building the collections of e-books.  CDs were no longer purchased for stock as demand was much reduced due to the prevalence of streaming.
• In response to a query about the possibility of making use of more buildings for such spaces, it was clarified that whilst the service tried to do as much as possible with the buildings it had, the scheme had been funded through the Libraries Improvement Fund, and therefore it was limited to the 16 existing libraries.
• In response to a query about the possibility of other partners installing stations to help families with financial pressures such as expensive WiFi and printer ink, it was suggested that this could be looked into.  It was also noted that software had been installed to allow people to print from their own devices in libraries. 
• In terms of after-school activities for children, there had been funding from Public Health to help to deliver homework help clubs with a focus on children’s mental health and wellbeing.  These had been popular.  Further to this, there had been times where Knighton and Evington libraries had been able to open out of hours, but in these instances children had needed to be accompanied by an adult.
• With regard to people using library IT systems to complete online applications for Universal Credit, it was clarified that whilst staff could not give direct advice, they could signpost to where people could get information. The Council worked with the DWP to support entry into work.  Staff had been doing this for a long time, so it was not seen as an additional pressure.

The Chair suggested that a report be brough to the Commission in 12 months on how sustainable and successful the scheme has been as well as looking at areas for development and provision in case of the cessation of funding.

The Chair further requested that information on the age profile of users and out-of-hours provision be provided to members of the Commission.

AGREED:

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That comments made by members of this commission to be taken into account by the lead officers.

3)    That a report be brough to the Commission in 12 months on how sustainable and successful the scheme has been as well as looking at areas for development and provision in case of the cessation of funding.

4)    That information on the age profile of users and out-of-hours provision be provided to members of the Commission.