Library Consultation in Gloucester

There will be only one venue in Gloucester for the library consultation Road show it will be somewhere in the Eastgate Mall on Wednesday 8th February from 10am to 4pm.

You can fill in an on-line survey at the same website here  or try here.

I've just done the survey myself. It's not all straightforward. In some of the questions they give you 10 points and ask you to share them out among a set of priorities. You need to read through carefully.

One of the questions asks you to choose between community-run library or no library. You do not have to answer any question if you don't like the options which are fairly narrow.

If you do not want to fill in an online survey there are other ways to make your views known that are more open ended including attending the consultation day mentioned above.

Elmer the Elephant and You at Matson Library! Yey!

National  Libraries Day

Saturday  4^th February

Come To Matson Library!

11.00 – 12.00pm

Elmer The Elephant

Stories And Crafts

Children Of All Ages Welcome

Unanswered Questions for Partnership Libraries

Here are some questions that have come to my attention. There one's for us all to find answers too before we go too far down the road of being partners:

• what level of qualified librarian support will Matson & Tuffley & Hester's Way have? There is now, I believe, only one librarian per geographical area (Gloucester, Forest, Stroud, Cheltenham, Tewkesbury, Cotswolds). The Gloucester librarian for example, will now presumably have two decent sized libraries added to their workload (unless additional posts are created).

•  What is the nature of the work  expected  of those librarians with regards to the different tiers of the service (main, etc)

• similarly in those areas where community run or partnership libraries are being put in place, how are those single librarians expected to add this to their workloads. I believe there is a figure for the number of hours of librarian time allocated to partnership libraries.Will this  disproportionately affect some librarians' workloads and impact on their ability properly to cover their other responsibilities?

• In Matson, Hesters Way and Tuffley, presumably, new staff teams will need to be appointed? How is this to be done, bearing in mind that other staff were made redundant?

• Who is responsible for outreach / promotional work and what level of outreach will be possible (for each type of library)? 

Facts and Figures (if you like that stuff)

As well as the main document, this time, the council have published a raft of useful raw data. If you like that sort of thing (which I don't). I've tried to distill something useful for Matson library users from it. And here it all is!

The council have published documents online that demonstrate:

Car ownership in Matson is at 67% the equal lowest in the county along with the city centre (which has the central library). This is why when in the last proposals they said everyone would be within twenty minutes [drive] of a library I knew they didn't know Matson.

47% of borrowers at Matson library are 17 or younger. Around 11% of Matson library users are over 65. Which goes to show that even though schools have libraries the public library matters to young people.

The number of people using Matson library over a year seems to have gone up since 2006 (15%) although there has been a dip last year. Perhaps this is due to the uncertainty? The number of books borrowed has gone down (-15%) in the same period. Perhaps people are using the library more for reference because the use of computers at Matson library is low relative to other libraries.

Those who go into the library for homework help are slightly more likely to use the books (51%) than the computers (40%) to support their learning. It seems it really is the books, rather than the PCs that are the focus in Matson library.

Matson library is the cheapest to run in the Gloucester District but the second most expensive per user. This suggests the current site is good value. Tuffley being the most expensive per user in the district. Although they are all within the normal range. There isn't much in it.

If you want to email the county council with your views use this email address:
libraries2012@gloucestershire.gov.uk

Thinking it through for Matson

Public Meeting
A small group (sixteen) of people met together to discuss the future of Matson library at St Hilda's on the evening of the launch of the new library proposals. The mood was generally positive with people talking of cautious optimism welcoming the proposals.

We had barely had time to take it all in and to properly understand the implications but it seems that Matson is now intended to have a "Partnership Library". As is Tuffley and Hester's Way. This is good news for all three communities who had been looking at the complete closure of their libraries.

Now we are being guaranteed 21 hours (currently we have 23) of open library as a minimum. We were united in being pleased that the library service is being kept but there was a good deal of discussion on the pros and cons of keeping the library where it is or moving it to another site.

Reasons to keep the library in it's current location

• The library serves an area wider than Matson and the current location was chosen to be accessible to Robinswood and Abbeydale. 
• Keeping the library where it is makes it clear that it is the council's responsibility, not the communities responsibility. 
• The building is a good size and already set-up for the current use. But there is scope to add value by getting community groups to use the library. 

Reasons to move the library
(The previous plan to have a community-run library at the Redwell Centre opens the question of the council renting space in another building, we discussed this option).

• If a move to a multi-use site means longer hours and better foot-fall the library will be used and therefore safer in the long-term. 
• Tuffley Doctors are looking at a multi-use centre including a library
• Hester's Way are looking at a multi-use centre youth/library to increase hours and use.

Clearly this conversation is going to need more people to join it so we can figure out the way ahead.

What next? 
Wherevery the library is it will need the council to be committed long-term to the fabric and stock or it will not be used. We also need to get some clear idea of what 'core provision' means.

We agreed to get more people to become 'friends of matson library' so that whatever happens we can celebrate and partner library services. We agreed to have a 'Friends of Matson Library' meeting at some point during the consultation period which begins January 30th and lasts for six weeks. We also want to ask Jo Grills if a consultation could include an opportunity for one-to-one interviews so that residents could speak and listen more freely.

We all hoped that the consulation process this time would be different than last time. There is every reason to think so, especially as an independent organisation is being brought in to run the consultation.

It was great to see friends of Tuffley library coming to support the meeting. The more we speak to each other the better we can understand all this stuff.

Over the next few weeks we need to get our heads around what is now being offered and what we want to say about that.

Matson Library Plans (nearly!) Announced

Council plans are delayed so I'm going to take a guess as to what will be announced for Matson. 

Library Move? 

It looks like the council will propose that Matson continues to have a statutory library services, staffed by a council paid librarian in a place rented by the council. But not at the current location. 

This would mean that the council would save money on staffing and premises costs but our library hours would be extended from what they are now. It also means the council have a long-term commitment to funding a library in Matson rather than setting it adrift as they had previously planned. 

In short: whatever happens next Matson is likely to have a council operated library service here in Matson for the foreseeable future. 

This would mean council have recognised that many people in our community rely on the sort of services being offered by a library and that we need those to be local. It also means that they realise the importance of trained and qualified staff. 

Sadly it also would mean the present library building will become vacant. I hope that as a community we can take some responsibility for ensuring that space continues to be an important community building in some way.  

The council document will be available here at 6:30 tonight so we can still review them this evening. 

Public Meeting

7pm Monday 16th January

St Hilda's Hall, Redwell Road, Matson

All Welcome !

Library's go against conventional wisdom

We live in a world where shopping is seen as redemptive, "it provides job's" we are told, "it stimulates the ecnomomy," they say. And in a time when the economy is failing us all some say it needs stimulating more than ever.

What this means is the more invidiualistic we are the healthier our economy is. Because individuals don't share resources, they buy them privately. The more private we are the more we have to buy stuff the healthier the economy is.

The trouble is sharing makes for healthy communities. And libraries are all about sharing instead of privately buying.

So if sharing is healthy for communities and not-sharing is healthier for capitalist economies what can we do to square the circle.

In Matson we experience alot of what's bad about the capitalist system. Many residents are in casual labour, because it suits capitalism to have a flexible workforce. Many residents have had their welfare privatised, because it suits capitalism to make money out of people's needs.

Many residents struggle to pay library book fines and so use of the library drops away.  In conversation with Jo Grills the other day she suggested the idea of fine-amnesties (bring your books back with charges dropped) and I suggested text-reminders (like you might get from a dentist). Her idea is more practical and has that added virtue of being about forgiveness of debts, which, as someone who says several times each day, 'forgive us our debts as we forgive the debts of others', appeals to me!

We also talked about the difficult of using a library with chaotic opening ours and wondered if a multi-use building would allow the library to be open for longer and more regular hours. Why settle for what we've got when we could have something even better?

Libraries are as important and go against the wisdom of our times. So it takes a new kind of wisdom to see them through the difficult times ahead. I'm confident we can do it together.

Public Meeting for Matston Library's Future

You are invited to 

A public meeting on the future of Matson Library

Monday 16th January 7 pm

St Hilda's Hall, Redwell Road 

(Parking at the Redwell Centre if needed) 

Agenda: Gloucestershire County Council's New Proposals for the library

The meeting is not only for Matson residents but for anyone who cares about the future of Matson library. The Council will be publishing there draft proposals on or before the date of the meeting before they go to the council cabinet on 20th January then public consultation on 1st February (ish). It is vital that we let them know our views before it goes to the cabinet.

This meeting will be a safe place, among friends and neighbours, to listen to one another and work out what we think about the future of our library.

Everyone is welcome: just turn up. 

Hopes for a Win/Win for Matson Library

Residents and councillors sat together today, Thursday 5th January, ahead of new proposals for the counties libraries. Both sides said they hoped for a win/win solution which would be positive for Matson and realistic for Gloucestershire County Council.

The new proposals will replace the "Meeting the Challenge" document, drafted by Cllr Antonia Noble but rejected by residents and by a High Court Judge as unlawful, draconian, and unfair on the most vulnerable in society. Mark Parker, who has been involved in the project from the beginning said he was keen to learn from the past but look to the future.

Keith Hebden, curate at St Katharine's Church, Matson and Liam Kelch, Chair of The Matson and Robinswood Neighbourhood Project arranged to meet with Jo Grills, the new head of library services, with Mark Parker, who steers the Big Community Offer, also taking part.

Mark and Jo welcomed the "positive approach" and that residents are willing to tell them "what they think the priorities are." Liam Kelcher stressed the stressed the need for a library service that was accessible to people from the areas around Matson, including Abbeydale and Abbeymead. Keith Hebden said that he believed a "win/win solution goes beyond compromise to a solution from which both parties come out better off than they were before."

Jo Grills, who has only recently taken up her new post will be visiting Matson next week to see Matson Library for herself and to meet other community groups ahead of the formal consultation in February.

Rough Timetable
Proposed Plan for Gloucestershire Libraries           c. 13th January
County Council Cabinet vote on proposals                  20th January
Six Week Consultation*                                          c. 1st February

When the proposals are published ahead of the Council meeting I will post a summary here and a link to the councils e-copy of the document. We will also make sure hard copies will be available for scrutiny around Matson and Robinswood and invite groups in Abbeydale to do the same.


*I'm still not sure what they mean by consultation

Were you there?

In March 2011 around 70 people came to Matson library for a vigil.

These people were from across the political spectrum from Labour councillors to Conservative Party members and activists. From those of faith to those of good faith. From senior citizens to babies in prams.

They sang a moving adaptation of the negro spiritual 'Were you there when they crucified our library?' They named those who crucified the library - an innocent victim of an unjust system.

Closing down libraries won't make investment bankers more honest, or corporations less greedy. Targetting public services for demolition won't bring down house prices or make shareholders more ethical. But it provides a welcome distraction for the powerful who fear any change that brings about justice. 

Were you there that evening? Post your memories of the event and why public services, like our local library, still matter and are still worth fighting for, here.

Meeting Jo Grills

Below is part of an email I've just received from John Holland. John has a long involvement in our libraries as former head of library services (I think!).

"If you haven't, the best person to meet is Jo Grills, who, as of today, has the new post of Operations Director, Education, Learning and Libraries, and more importantly, is the Programme Director for the new review of libraries.

Jo also line manages the two heads of library services. As you know, Johanna , Demelza and I from FOGL met with her before Christmas and she is seeking another meeting with us this week. Jo was not involved with the Nov 2010 half-baked review of libraries, and seems keen to undertake a more through and equitable review this time.

May I suggest that, if you have not done so already, you arrange to meet her as soon as possible to put to her the case for maintaining a statutory service in your community. You can do this via her secretary Liz Warwick on 01452 426418 or by email at liz.warwick@gloucestershire.gov.uk

Jo seems friendly and open and, I think, will welcome your contact."

I will be meeting with Jo Grills on Thursday 5th January at 3 pm. Please let me know if you would like to come with me. I would not want to take more than two maximum, though, but if no one comes with me I will cancel the meeting. 

New Year and New Hopes

I'm going to be meeting with Jo Grills some time soon. I'm waiting for confirmation on that and a date. It would be good to take someone with me.

I have explained that I have no mandate but simply want a conversation and would hope for a "win-win solution" whatever that may look like.

I'd encourage readers to contact Jo personally with their views on the future of Matson Library. With the success of the judicial hearing last year we have every reason to be positive and constructive without giving away the quality of service Matson has been used to.

We have a good case for protecting Matson Library for the future but equally the Council will make some kind of cuts somewhere and somehow. So we need to be having ideas about how our library works for the future.

Matson library is already 'our library' of course because the Council is 'our Council', elected by us to serve the best interests of all kinds of people in the community and to guarantee fair and equal access to public statutary services.

Making the library a public library into a community-run library doesn't guarantee local autonomy. Everything depends of the accountability of the local group and their relationship to library users.

Anyway, please be in touch via comments or email. I will post more about that meeting when I know more.