There will be an update on the current situation concerning Fosse Library.
Minutes:
Adrian Wills, Head of Libraries was present to talk about the changes to Fosse Library.
Adrian explained that the Libraries service had carried out a significant consultation and members of the community had submitted a petition with 949 signatures in response to the planned changes at Fosse Library. 110 consultation responses had also been received. The key point of concern had been introducing self service machines. Other comments had included:
· Concern over lack of staff to advise older people.
· Increasing opening hours
· Concern over reduction in library activities.
Adrian explained what the Council would do in response to the comments raised. This included:
· After the petition and representation from ward councillors, finances had been reallocated to the library. This would then allow a staff member to be present to advise customers how to use the self service machines.
· The staff member would remain as long as the current staffing hours were however the self service machines would open as long as the Fosse Centre hours.
· The range of books would be improved.
· There would still be access to public access computers and there would be new computers to replace the old ones in the next few months.
· The opening hours of the library would be longer than the current hours.
· There would still be toddler times held at the library.
· Interested groups could still meet in the library and there would be a volunteer to help support groups.
The total impact would be longer opening hours, the library service reconfigured to make the best use of the ground floor area with the library still available as a common space.
Adrian also explained what would be happening next in the process:
· The lead petitioner would be written to, explaining what had changed from the original plans and the ward Councillors would also be copied into this response.
· It was also be looked into how the library service could be reorganised and how they would benefit from this.
· A suggestion has been made by Members to form a planning group to see how the centre operated. It was aimed to work with Councillors to achieve best service and work was being done closely with community Services. It was requested that there was a representative in the Community to recommend improvements which were perhaps not seen by officers. The Chair suggested that the planning group involve Councillors, a member of the community and involvement from the Square Mile Planning Group
In response to a query concerning staff, Adrian stated that Fosse Library was one of three which was undergoing changes and the aim was reduce the impact on frontline staff. With regard to staff, there were a very small number of reductions and there would also be a strategic review of Library staff in the future which could involve asking staff to move locations however if staff wanted to stay in their current location, the option would still be there. There would also be librarian support from a twinned library so there was no need to worry about frontline staff.
In response to a query regarding timescales, Adrian stated that it was being looked to introduce the changes in early October/November however it could be later.
A query was raised regarding how could theft be prevented. Adrian stated that it was not possible to stop people stealing books if they wanted to however previous problems had been with books that had been borrowed and not returned. It was added that there was a good deal of trust between users and the Library.
In response to a query regarding savings, Adrian stated that it was hoped there would be savings of £70 - £80,000 across the three libraries at St Matthews, Aylestone and Fosse. In response to a further query regarding staff savings, Adrian stated this would result in a saving of one Full Time Employee (FTE) at the library.
It was stated that the library had encountered low usage however ways were being looked into to promote the library. With regards to providing services for the library, it was stated that the Council had to make a decision with the finances it currently had. It was stated that the signage would also look to be improved.