- Mobile Library Service Review 2013
- Transforming your library service
- Community libraries
- Shaping future library opening hours
Mobile Library Service Review 2013
We are reviewing your mobile library service this summer. We need to make savings, and reduce the fleet of mobile libraries from five vehicles to three. This will mean a reduction in the number of stops visited around the county.
The Review will run from 20 May to 31 July. All comments will be collated and added to a final report to Warwickshire County Council’s cabinet to be presented in the Autumn of 2013. If the proposals are accepted, the new timetables will take effect from January 2014.
Mobile libraries review map
- Proposed – mobile libraries to be kept in operation
- Proposed – mobile libraries to be removed
- Proposed – mobile libraries to be removed (at care home)
- Proposed – mobile libraries to be removed (at nursery)
Have your say
We will be attending a range of public meetings to discuss the review and to gather your opinions. You can also comment by feedback form (available from your mobile library, library building and below), email or telephone.
Facing the challenge review of the mobile library service (pdf, 161Kb) - leaflet and feedback form.
To submit your comments:
- email mobileenquiries@warwickshire.gov.uk or;
- print and return with any comments to any library or mobile library or;
- post to ‘Warwickshire Library and Information Service, Resources Group, Shire Hall, Warwick, CV34 4RR’.
2013 Mobile libraries Review frequently asked questions – update 24 May 2013
1. Why is the review taking place?
In 2011, following extensive public consultation, Cabinet approved a set of measures designed to achieve savings across Warwickshire Library & Information Service of more than £2 million. These included a £95,000 reduction in the Mobile Library Service budget by 2014, and reducing the mobile fleet from five vehicles to three. Cabinet instructed Warwickshire Library & Information Service officers to undertake a review of the service to maximise available resources and as many people as our resources allow. Savings would be made through a reduction in the service fleet, staffing and associated costs (e.g. vehicle maintenance). In addition, several stops across Warwickshire have been identified as ‘low use’ by not attracting enough regular users. Time spent at those sites can be better used at sites with greater demand.
2. What does the mobile library service do at the moment?
Warwickshire Mobile Library service maintains a fleet of five vehicles, based at Alcester, Atherstone, Bedworth, Kenilworth and Southam, visiting 453 stops across the county. These stops include residential retirement complexes, nurseries and pre-school groups, and stops in communities without a library building. It provides books (including audio books on tape and CD), information and internet access to users, an access point for other Warwickshire County Council services, and an important social function, particularly for otherwise isolated users.
3. What will the revised service look like?
The revised service will operate three vehicles, and a correspondingly smaller total number of stops. The bases for these vehicles are still to be decided, but are likely to cover three geographical areas – North Warwickshire (including Atherstone, Nuneaton and Bedworth), Central Warwickshire (including Warwick, Leamington, Kenilworth and Rugby) and South Warwickshire (including Stratford, Shipston and Southam). Options for the revised service will be presented in May 2013, via the Warwickshire County Council website, displays in library buildings, community forum meetings, and newsletters to service users, county councillors, parish councils and other stakeholders.
4. What will happen to my local stop?
Once the proposals are made public, users will be informed of which stops may be changed or closed under the plan. Some stops may be altered – the vehicle calling on a different day or at a different time to the present arrangement. In cases where there are multiple stops in one locality, these may be combined into one central location. In these cases we will endeavour to work as closely as possible with users to identify the best and most accessible places and times for the mobile library to visit. Normally the retained stop will be the one attracting the most users.
5. What criteria are being used to decide which stops are changed?
Under current criteria, for a stop to be viable it must attract four or more regular users. Time spent at each stop depends on how many users the mobile library regularly receives at that site. In some cases, two or more low-use stops in close proximity may be combined to form one viable stop. Efforts will be made to ensure as even coverage as possible throughout the county.
6. If a stop is marked for proposed removal, what alternative services are available?
Warwickshire Library & Information Service maintains a popular home delivery service, whereby a regular visitor delivers books to individuals and takes book and information requests back to the library service for them to be answered. This service will be offered where appropriate to people using the mobile libraries at stops with low numbers of regular users. Warwickshire Library & Information Service also prepares and delivers larger collections of books for residential homes and nurseries. This service will be offered to establishments currently served by the mobile libraries, but attracting low numbers of individual users.
In areas where there are several stops in one locality, stops may be merged into one visit at a central location. In these cases, we will consult locally to identify the most accessible places and times for all local users.
7. How do I comment on the proposed changes?
Warwickshire Library & Information Service is keen to receive feedback, and appreciates the disruption these changes may cause. Contact details for written and telephone enquiries will be made public with the proposals, and comments may be submitted via static and mobile libraries and via the Warwickshire Library & Information Service website. Warwickshire Library & Information Service officers will be attending community forum meetings and other events across the county in May and June to introduce and explain the proposed changes, and to discuss them with interested parties.
8. My local library closed in 2012 and we now receive the mobile library as a weekly replacement service. Is this likely to change?
No. Currently the mobile library service provides a replacement weekly library service for three communities – Bedworth Heath, Binley Woods and Kingsbury – where the static library closed in 2012.The current weekly replacement service will remain in effect, visiting for the same amount of time weekly, and at the same sites, as at present, for the foreseeable future.
9. When will these changes take effect?
Following the information exercise, and after approval of the County Council Cabinet in October 2014, new timetables will be published in the autumn of 2013, and we anticipate the changes will come into effect in early 2014.
10. Will the revised mobile library service levy charges in the same manner static libraries do?
No. Many mobile library service users are exempt from charges (for example, for overdue books), and receive books for a longer loan period than the standard three weeks. These arrangements will not change for the foreseeable future.
11. Will these changes hit any parts of the county disproportionately more than others?
All mobile library stops will continue to be assessed using the same criteria. We will ensure that any reductions to the service across the county will be applied using these criteria.
Transforming your library service (March – June 2011)
Consultation
The biggest transformation in the history of Warwickshire’s Library Service took place from March 18 until June 9 2011. A 12 week consultation was undertaken to ensure every person living in the county had the opportunity to air their views on the proposals, on the web, at roadshows and community events.
A series of public meetings and informal drop-in sessions took place throughout Warwickshire. Library staff were hand to give further information about the background to the proposals. Customers were able to ask questions and had the opportunity to complete a short questionnaire.
More than 4,500 people took the time to complete the survey questionnaire
Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee report
A report went to Warwickshire County Council’s Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Monday, October 10, seeking approval for the next steps to be taken by Warwickshire Library and Information Service (WLIS) towards implementing changes to the service following the consideration by Cabinet on 14 July 2011 of the outcomes to the consultation.
The report included proposals relating to:
- community library business case submissions
- community library one-off capital funding applications
- strategy for reconfiguring the mobile library service
- public computer charges
For more information, you can view the full public report
Community libraries
Throughout the library consultation period Warwickshire Library and Information Service held a number of public meetings with local communities to raise awareness of the consultation.
Warwickshire County Council offered local people and community groups the opportunity to run their own community library service.
As a result 12 community managed libraries were set up with the support of Warwickshire Library and Information Service: Community managed libraries
Shaping future library opening hours (November 2011)
A comprehensive consultation was undertaken from Monday November 14 until Sunday December 11, asking local people to decide on the opening hours of Warwickshire libraries.
The proposed reduction was set out in the following document: Proposed changes to opening hours (pdf, 134Kb)
The proposal was to to reduce the total weekly opening hours for Warwickshire County Council managed libraries from 782 to 560, representing a reduction of 28%.
To find out more, visit the libraries consultation blog.
