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.