That:

1)        residents be consulted on the proposed Library Offer which sets out what residents can expect and enjoy from the Wokingham Borough Council Library Service;

2)        residents be consulted on the proposed Delivery Model, including implementing the capability for some self-service (phase 1) and unstaffed opening (phase 2) within the Wokingham Borough Council Library Service.

The Executive considered a report setting out a proposed Library Offer which establishes a purpose and direction of travel for the library service and a preferred delivery model for that Offer which establishes a new hub and spoke model for library services.

The Executive Member for Resident Services advised Members that the Council’s libraries were bucking the national trend with a 0.5% increase in visits which was in contrast to a 2% decline nationally; and a 2% increase in active users which now amounted to 24,000 with 594,000 books issued in the past year.  In addition more e-books were being issued and more events were taking place which covered amongst others children’s reading, craft and poetry.  Councillor Jorgensen paid tribute to the staff that ran the libraries for their innovative ideas to expand services which were very popular and contributed to the increased usage.

It was noted that the intention was to carry out an eight week consultation with residents on both the Library Offer and the delivery model, including options for increasing the accessibility and usage of the libraries further.  Councillor Jorgensen highlighted a number of these options which including technological innovations to increase opening hours without actually increasing the costs of running the libraries and stated that she would be very interested in receiving ideas from residents and users about what would make them use the library more.

Following a query by the Leader of Council about issues that could arise with self-service libraries it was confirmed that this model was used extensively in Scandinavia and several local authorities in the UK eg Trafford, Peterborough and Brighton had also used this model and found it to be successful.

RESOLVED that:

1)        residents be consulted on the proposed Library Offer which sets out what residents can expect and enjoy from the Wokingham Borough Council Library Service;

2)        residents be consulted on the proposed Delivery Model, including implementing the capability for some self-service (phase 1) and unstaffed opening (phase 2) within the Wokingham Borough Council Library Service.