Cabinet is being asked to agree a new plan for library services, which could bring savings of £276,000 per year.
There are three suggested options, with the recommendation being for Option B.
- Option A - To provide library services from The Curve, Langley, Britwell and Cippenham, largely attended by dedicated library staff. There would be no 2023/24 library savings.
- Option B - To deliver a predominantly self service library service from The Curve, Langley, Britwell and Cippenham, with amended opening hours. Maintain a publications budget of £90,000. Volunteers will complement the outreach programme (especially the Library at Home service) and the building-based offer. This option would save £276,000.
- Option C – Close Cippenham Library but otherwise adopt Option B. There would be more than £40,000 in staff and building management savings. Cippenham Library has been identified as a building which may be attractive to the property market and could be sold, but there are currently no plans to sell the building in 2023/24.
Library services provide access to books, online resources, computers with Wi-Fi and internet, as well as a programme of events and activities for adults and children.
In a population of 158,500, there are 40,000 library members, of which 21,000 are active users. The main age group of active members is 18-59, followed by 0-10. Those over 60 make up 3.6 per cent of the active users.
The council did a 12-week consultation into library use in 2021/22 to inform the 2022-27 library service plan. The results showed people valued having a library within walking distance, more than 80 per cent of transactions were through self-serve kiosks, 70 per cent of all resources borrowed were from the children’s library, and respondents liked the idea of co-locating other council services within the current library buildings.
In 2019/20 more than 100,000 e-resources were borrowed from Slough library service, 66,000 hours of computer time were booked by library users and 67,000 visits were made to attend an event or activity.
Although the preferred proposal means library buildings will open on slightly reduced hours, all the libraries will be kept open at the most popular times, allowing for the main activities to continue. There will always be at least two libraries open on Saturdays, one being The Curve each week.
There will always be a 24/7 online offer, which exists currently, where books can be renewed and e-resources can be accessed, and there will be efforts to extend the Library at Home service, where volunteers take library books to the homes of people unable to come to a library themselves.
Councillor Christine Hulme, cabinet member for children’s services, lifelong learning and skills, said: “I am a passionate champion for our library service in Slough. I believe this service has a vital role to play in improving the lives of our residents over the next five years.
“Our library service is at the heart of our communities, whether that be in a building or via our online library. We want both offers to be welcoming and inviting, inclusive and accessible, providing space for people to study, to attend creative clubs, to meet authors, to play and relax.
“We need to make sure our future library service is modern, vibrant, and sustainable. I want us to find ways to provide library services within our localities and to develop our excellent partnership with organisations across Slough to keep bringing good services to you.”
Another service aim is for library staff to work with community partners to deliver a programme of literacy-based outreach events and activities such as Rhyme-time, storytelling, poetry clubs, book clubs and Summer Reading Challenge, and to build up a volunteer team to support with events, the Library at Home service and the day-to-day library service.
The savings from Option B will come from not recruiting to vacant library officer posts; there will be no redundancies.
In six months, another report will come to Cabinet to review and provide further recommendations on delivering library services.
The Cabinet meeting is on 27 February and the papers can be found on the council’s website, including the suggested opening hours for each library, in paragraph 2.16.
For anyone interested in becoming a library volunteer, there are a range of opportunities to use existing skills and develop new ones. Volunteers can help residents to make the most of their local library service.
Visit the library homepage and complete an application form or email Libraries.CultureVolunteering@slough.gov.uk for further information.