As a council we have made a commitment to deliver a world
class library service that is at the heart of our community.
It’s vital that that to achieve this our libraries need to
be in the right buildings and the right place, and to help achieve this we have
committed 3 million pound in capital spend to improve our library facilities.
The first of our planned investments was in Almondbury when
the mayor officially opened our first dementia friendly library at Almondbury,
on the 13th of July.
The old Almondbury library was on Stocks walk which was not
at the heart of the village and was an old building that did not allow flexible
use, had very limited car parking, and did not meet the requirements of a
modern library.
The new library is in the sure start centre, which is a
modern light airy building and allows many more activities to take place, is a
much more flexible space and has an extensive car park.
In the short time since the new library was opened :
- Issue Figures have increased from an average monthly figure of high 700's/low 800's last year to 1,327 in July
- Holds have doubled
- New membership for the whole of last financial year was 103. We have hit 100 April to July 2019, 68 New Membership from July alone
- Active members hit 245 in July. This is the highest figure we have achieved in any one month for the last 16 months!
Partnership conversations are ongoing, new groups starting and feedback continues very positively.
We have had a visit from a Parliamentary Adviser and a
Parliamentary Researcher, to look at the facility, this visit has been arranged
through Children’s Services and we will be part of their conversations about
the importance of Early Support partnership.
Many groups have moved in, with more to come.
In a very short space of time the library has
become a focal point for the Almondbury community and I am convinced that it
will go from strength to strength over the coming months and years.
Across Kirklees the latest performance figures for the first three months of this year for the whole library service are very positive. We are showing an increase in most areas compared to the same period last year. This is due to dedicated and passionate hard working staff and volunteers.
- Book issues up by 38,681
- E-book and e-audio issues up by 5,558
- E-mag/Newspaper issues read by - up 5,636
- Visitors up by 5,660
- Reservations up by 1,250
- New members up by 540
- Events up by 209 and attendance up at these events by 1,800
- Hours supported by volunteers up by 609
This is a fantastic achievement set against the national trend of declining use of libraries as can be seen from figures from CIPFA.
According to CIPFA figures, in 2007/8, there were approximately 322 million visits to public libraries across England, Wales and Scotland. By the end of 2017/8, this figure was approximately 233 million - representing a reduction of roughly 89 million visits (28%) on 2007/8. From 2007/8 onwards, there was a year on year decrease in visitor numbers. Between 2004/5 and 2009/10, visitor numbers had decreased by 5%. During the period 2009/10-2017/8, visitor numbers reduced by 26%. The largest single decrease occurred in 2012/13 with a 5.8% reduction on the year before.
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The success of Almondbury, and the wider service, is due to
the hard work and commitment of the library staff, in delivering a high quality
service that is at the heart of communities and by working with our many
partners, to deliver a modern efficient service.
