Library consultation ends

The 12-week consultation on the future of Warwickshire Library and Information Service has come to an end.

When the consultation came to a close on Thursday (June 9) more than 4,500 consultation questionnaires were returned, around half paper (52%) and half online (48%).

In addition, feedback from 26 public meetings and 39 library roadshows has been recorded, along with the content of more than 500 letters and emails received, and 10 petitions. Sixteen communities have expressed an interest in running their own local library services.

All the responses will now be analysed and reported to Warwickshire County Council’s Cabinet, which meets on July 14 to make decisions, following consideration by an Overview & Scrutiny committee on July 11.

Cllr Colin Hayfield, Portfolio-holder for Customers, Access and Physical Assets, said: “I thank everyone who has taken part in the consultation. The level of response shows how much Warwickshire people care about their library service. We must now consider the findings and decide how the service will be delivered in future.”

Warwickshire County Council must cut spending by more than £70 million over the next three years. As part of the savings plan, the Library and Information Service budget will reduce by £2 million.

The library proposals consulted upon identify 16 Warwickshire libraries no longer sustainable in their current form, alongside other cost-cutting measures including reduced opening hours, reductions in the mobile library fleet and workforce, and cutting the number of public computers across the library network.

“These are extremely difficult times for local authorities and cuts are unavoidable to achieve the necessary savings,” said Cllr Hayfield.

“I want to reassure people that their feedback will be fully considered. We are not going through the motions – this is real consultation. We need to know what people think of the savings plans, and how they would be affected by them, to help us make the right decisions.”

If implemented, the proposed changes would reshape the library network, creating a three-tier service with three main libraries, 15 local libraries, plus ‘Library Direct’ covering online, mobile, outreach and housebound reader services.

Library consultation has now closed

The Library and Information Service 12-week consultation on future proposals for the service has now come to a close and we are analysing the results.

A report will go to the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee on July 11 and then Cabinet on July 14, and councillors will consider the contents before making any final decisions on the future of the library service.

During the consultation more than 4,500 questionnaire responses were returned, about 52% paper (2,375) and 48% online (2,201) – and there may be a few more in the delivery system. There were 26 public meetings, plus roadshows at 34 libraries and on five mobiles (plus Stockingford and Water Orton had an extra one each, on request). We received 10 petitions containing, between them, more than 7,000 signatures, plus there have been about 500 letters and emails.

We have heard from 16 communities expressing an interest in running their own libraries.

Library consultation ends today

Today is the last day local people can take part in the 12-week consultation from Warwickshire’s Library and Information Service on the future shape of the service.

So far more than 4,500 people have taken the time to complete the survey questionnaire, either online or in written format at one of the many roadshows and public meetings.

All consultation feedback received by midnight tonight will be analysed and reported to Warwickshire County Council’s Cabinet in July. The report will be made public at the same time. Councillors will consider the contents before making any final decisions on the future of the library service.

Consultation ends tomorrow

The 12-week consultation from Warwickshire’s Library and Information Service comes to a close tomorrow.

So far more than 4,000 people have taken the time to complete the survey questionnaire, either online or in written format at one of the many roadshows and public meetings.

All consultation feedback received by tomorrow (June 9) will be analysed and reported to Warwickshire County Council’s Cabinet in July. The report will be made public at the same time. Councillors will consider the contents before making any final decisions on the future of the library service.

Libraries consultation – final week

As the 12-week consultation on proposals for radical change to Warwickshire’s Library and Information Service draws to a close, local people are being urged not to miss their opportunity to join more than 4,000 people who have already responded to the consultation. 

All consultation questionnaires, whether handed in at a library or completed online, have to be in by Thursday, June 9. The consultation aims to give people the opportunity to have their say on plans to reshape the library network and cut costs. 

Cllr Colin Hayfield, Portfolio-holder for Customers, Workforce and Partnerships, said: “This will be the biggest transformation in the history of Warwickshire’s library service so I urge local people to make their views known by returning the consultation questionnaire before this week’s June 9 deadline.” 

The Library and Information Service must cut spending by £2 million over the next three years as part of Warwickshire County Council’s plans to achieve required savings of more than £70m across all services. 

Sixteen Warwickshire libraries have been identified as no longer sustainable in their current form, alongside other cost-cutting measures including reduced opening hours, reductions in the workforce and mobile library fleet, and cutting the number of public computers across the library network. 

So far more than 4,000 people have completed questionnaires – 2,025 handed in as written questionnaires and 2,050 completed online. Many hundreds of other people have visited roadshows and public meetings to find out more about the proposals for the future of the service. 

There have also been about 3,000 visits in the last few weeks to a dedicated online blog bringing the latest information about the consultation at www.libraryconsult.wordpress.com 

Councillor Hayfield said there had been strong interest from a number of communities interested in setting up their own libraries. 

“As well as offering staff support to communities preparing business plans, the County Council has set aside £100,000 to help volunteer-run library projects get off the ground,” he said. “We are also prepared, in principle, to consider leasing council-owned library buildings at a peppercorn rent to communities submitting a strong business case.” 

All consultation feedback received by June 9 will be analysed and reported to Warwickshire County Council’s Cabinet in July. The report will be made public at the same time. Councillors will consider the contents before making any final decisions on the future of the library service. 

More information, along with the library consultation questionnaire, is available in all Warwickshire libraries and online at: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/facingthechallenge 

Consultation progress can also be followed by Twitter www.twitter.com/warksdirect or via the consultation blog at www.libraryconsult.wordpress.com

Libraries consultation – a week to go

The 12-week consultation on proposals for radical change to Warwickshire’s Library and Information Service is drawing to a close.

All consultation questionnaires, whether handed in at a library or completed online, have to be in by June 9.

The consultation aims to give people the opportunity to have their say on plans to reshape the library network and cut costs.

Cllr Colin Hayfield, Portfolio-holder for Customers, Workforce and Partnerships, said: “This will be the biggest transformation in the history of Warwickshire’s library service so I urge local people to make their views known by returning the consultation questionnaire before the June 9 deadline.”

The Library and Information Service must cut spending by £2 million over the next three years as part of Warwickshire County Council’s plans to achieve required savings of more than £70m across all services.

Sixteen Warwickshire libraries have been identified as no longer sustainable in their current form, alongside other cost-cutting measures including reduced opening hours, reductions in the workforce and mobile library fleet, and cutting the number of public computers across the library network.

So far the consultation has seen more than 3,000 questionnaires returned, of which 1,500 have been written questionnaires, while more than 1,700 have been completed online.

Councillor Hayfield said there had been strong interest from a number of communities interested in setting up their own libraries. “As well as offering staff support to communities preparing business plans, the County Council has set aside £100,000 to help volunteer-run library projects get off the ground,” he said.

“We are also prepared, in principle, to consider leasing council-owned library buildings at a peppercorn rent to communities submitting a strong business case.”

All consultation feedback received by June 9 will be analysed and reported to Warwickshire County Council’s Cabinet in July. The report will be made public at the same time. Councillors will consider the contents before making any final decisions on the future of the library service.

Consultation responses so far

The first fortnight of the Library and Information Service consultation on the proposed future of the service has seen 50 people complete written questionnaires, 190 have completed the online survey, and this blog, launched just a week ago, has attracted approaching 1,000 visits.

In addition to this there has been other written correspondence, including 150 individually written letters from the school children at Kingsbury Prmary School.

So far the respondents to the online survey are, in the main, visitors to Bulkington, Warwick and Leamington libraries.

The Warwickshire Library and Information Service proposals identify 16 Warwickshire libraries that are no longer sustainable in their current form, alongside other cost-cutting measures including reduced opening hours, reductions in the mobile library fleet and workforce, and cutting the number of public computers across the library network. 

The 12-week public consultation began on March 18 and will run until June 9. A roadshow will visit all 34 Warwickshire libraries during the consultation period so people can find out more and ask questions face-to-face. Senior officers and a councillor will also attend a series of public meetings countywide.

The next roadshow is today at Wolston Library from 2pm until 5pm, tomorrow (Saturday) there is a roadshow at Binley Woods Library from 10am until 1pm, and Monday there is a roadshow at Lillington Library from 10am until 1pm.

The information now available online ,  includes a factsheet for every Warwickshire library, giving details of visits, loan issues and costs, along with comparative performance figures across the network, and the Cabinet report county councillors considered on March 17. 

Communities considering volunteer-run library services will have the facts and figures they need at their fingertips. People who don’t have access to the internet can request paper copies from any of Warwickshire’s 34 libraries, or from Shire Hall in Warwick.

The consultation questionnaire is available in all Warwickshire libraries and online. 

Feedback received during the consultation will be collated, analysed and reported to Warwickshire County Council Cabinet on July 14 so councillors are fully informed before they make any final decisions.

Warwickshire Library and Information Service – Facing the Challenge – Cabinet minutes published

The minutes from a meeting of Warwickshire County Council’s Cabinet have been published.

Full details of the minutes relating to the Library and Information Service agenda item are included below:

Councillor Colin Hayfield, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Customers,Workforce and Partnership, presented a report setting out proposals for the future direction of the service which will achieve the budgetary reductions set by Council.

Councillor Alan Farnell referred to a petition he had received from Councillor John Ross and others in the Bulkington community requesting the retention of Bulkington Library. Councillor Farnell added that the consultation process had been validated by the Consultation Institute and that the questionnaire would be available after this meeting, provided Cabinet agreed to go forward with the consultation.

Councillor Hayfield reminded the meeting that Warwickshire Library and Information Service is part way through a transformation to develop services to meet modern day needs. The service has also to address an accumulated deficit and ensure it meets the savings targets agreed by Council. The report before Cabinet set out the ambitions for the future of the Service, the changes already underway and the recognition of the need to ensure the opening hours of libraries across the County better matched the use made of them and the need to address the position of 16 libraries identified as no longer sustainable in their current form.

Councillor Hayfield emphasised that this was an open consultation and that all responses will be considered and suggestions for local solutions will be welcomed, which may include joint or alternative use of current buildings. To this end Councillor Hayfield assured the meeting that information would be made available of the costs of the service in each location (e.g. lease or rental costs, utilities etc) so that communities are properly able to assess the position in their area and decide whether they wish to put forward business cases for retaining a local service.

Councillor Jerry Roodhouse (Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group) sought assurance that there would be a clear time line for reaching a decision and proper project management, given the need to meet the savings target and the complexity and scale of the change programme. This assurance was also sought by Councillor John Whitehouse, Chair of the Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee, who reported the findings and views of that Committee expressed at their meeting on 1 March 2011. (The publication of the minutes of the meeting had been notified to all members and the minutes circulated specifically to Cabinet).

Members also questioned whether income made from disposal or the cost benefits of alternative use of buildings would be allocated to a central Council fund or be used to offset the savings required of the Library and Information Service.

Councillor Hayfield assured the meeting that any benefit gained to the overall working of the County Council and savings made, for example, through alternative use would be credited against the savings required for the service.

During the debate, assurance was also given that any representations made to date, before the formal launching of the consultation document, would be fed into the consultation. It was also noted that the outcome of consultation would be considered by the Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee before consideration by Cabinet on 14 July 2011. It was noted that the Committee’s scheduled meeting of 30 June may be too early for this and that a special meeting after that date and before 14 July may be necessary.

 Resolved

(1) That Cabinet approves a 12 week public consultation (March 18 to June 9) based on the proposals contained in this report.

(2) That Cabinet considers a report on the consultation on 14 July 2011.

(3) That Cabinet notes the comments made by Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 1 March 2011.

Bulkington Library public meeting

Proposed changes to Warwickshire Library and Information Service, and in particular the future of Bulkington Library, were debated this week as part of the consultation process.

The local community had already submitted a petition from more than 3,300 people, calling for the library to be saved, and reasons for the library to remain open were voiced at the public meeting.

More than 50 people attended the public meeting at Bulkington War Memorial Hall to hear from Warwickshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Customers, Workforce and Partnerships, Cllr Colin Hayfield, and other county experts on the proposals for consultation.

The mood at the meeting was described as ‘constructive’ and following a 15 minute presentation from Cllr Hayfield the floor was opened for a debate, which continued for almost two hours.

Those attending included representatives of both the local resident and business populations, and their questioning was in seeking solutions and in trying to establish the support that might be offered to them if Bulkington Library was to be run as a community venture.

The Warwickshire Library and Information Service proposals identify 16 Warwickshire libraries that are no longer sustainable in their current form, alongside other cost-cutting measures including reduced opening hours, reductions in the mobile library fleet and workforce, and cutting the number of public computers across the library network. 

A 12-week public consultation began on March 18 and will run until June 9. A roadshow will visit all 34 Warwickshire libraries during the consultation period so people can find out more and ask questions face-to-face. Senior officers and a councillor will also attend a series of public meetings countywide. 

The information now available online ,  includes a factsheet for every Warwickshire library, giving details of visits, loan issues and costs, along with comparative performance figures across the network, and the Cabinet report county councillors considered on March 17. 

Communities considering volunteer-run library services will have the facts and figures they need at their fingertips. People who don’t have access to the internet can request paper copies from any of Warwickshire’s 34 libraries, or from Shire Hall in Warwick.

A consultation questionnaire is available in all Warwickshire libraries and online. 

Feedback received during the consultation will be collated, analysed and reported to Warwickshire County Council Cabinet on July 14 so councillors are fully informed before they make any final decisions.