WCC’s befriending calls and home library service have become an integral part of the wider package of support that the Council has offered to vulnerable residents . For some, they have been a lifeline
In April last year, the Council’s established ‘home library service’ started to make doorstep deliveries, enabling Warwickshire residents that were unable to access library services in any other way to have regular book deliveries to their homes and to keep reading.
Throughout the first lockdown and summer 2020, Warwickshire Libraries staff delivered books to hundreds of extra vulnerable and isolated customers who were shielding from COVID-19.
Around 360 home library service customers across Warwickshire currently benefit from receiving a doorstep book delivery every 4 weeks, which equates to around 1,440 books being selected and delivered by libraries staff in the same period.
Over 3,500 doorstep book deliveries have been made since April 2020 and the current lockdown means that many residents are, once again, reliant on the service as a way of coping with the restrictions that are needed to contain the virus.
In addition to the doorstep book deliveries, and as part of Warwickshire Libraries’ offer to all residents who were shielding, a new ‘befriending calls’ service was set up in March last year.
The service involves a friendly member of Warwickshire Libraries’ staff phoning residents for a regular chat, to check how they are getting on and direct them to other services that may be able to help them - as well as to discuss the books that they have been reading and suggest other books that they might enjoy.
One resident told libraries staff that she was “going down the pan” and that the befriending call she had received “brought her back up” and made her day.
A leaflet about the service was put in every box of food that was sent out by Warwickshire County Council’s shielding hub to residents who were shielding from the virus last year.
Staff who were answering telephone calls on the Council’s shielding helpline could also refer any person that they thought would benefit from the befriending calls service, as well as anyone who asked about the service for themselves or other people.
This meant that those receiving the calls weren’t always existing Warwickshire Libraries customers or residents that had requested a library book delivery to their home.
As part of the conversation, library staff were therefore able to offer the home library service as an option and to tell people about how they could download eBooks and eAudiobooks online if they wanted to.
Sometimes residents were referred to the library service’s ICT and learning officers, so they could receive a telephone call to help them set up their tablets or laptops step-by-step, as part of Warwickshire Libraries’ ‘digital help’ offer to shielding customers.
Library staff also contacted the Council’s shielding hub if anyone they spoke to needed to have a food box delivered or to have medicines collected for them.
One resident told her doctor about the calls she had received, telling them that the library service was there for her in “the dark times; (they) don’t judge you and let you ramble on!”.
Some of the people who were contacted by library staff were already very isolated and housebound before the first lockdown, so they were glad of the contact.
Several residents were struggling with lockdown, as they no longer had the company that they had usually enjoyed from going to work or attending regular social groups.
A team of three members of library staff make around 200 befriending calls every month, handling each call with empathy and making each person feel like an individual. Over 1,900 weekly or two weekly calls have been made to around 150 residents since the start of the pandemic.
One resident described his caller as being “like a bright star in his very dark sky”.
In September 2020, Warwickshire Libraries’ Mobile Library Service, which had been suspended at the start of the pandemic, got up and running again with a contactless service, providing a valuable lifeline for residents who could not travel to a library building, either due to their own circumstances or because of restrictions resulting from the pandemic.
One resident, living in the rural village of Northend in Stratford-upon-Avon district, said that she was “really grateful” that Warwickshire Libraries had sent the mobile library van out and “thank you for such lovely, lovely, lovely books."
Still running today, as we are in the throes of lockdown number three, the service is called ‘Mobile Library Select and Collect’. Warwickshire Libraries staff carefully select up to 4 books per customer, which can be collected in keeping with COVID secure guidelines, from over 150 designated locations around the county.
Another resident said, "Having books to read has helped me to survive all those hours of isolation on my own. And now we are once again back in a more severe state, your wonderful service is more important than ever."
A small dedicated team of Warwickshire Libraries staff operate the service from a depot in Kenilworth Library, with different staff members taking on the different roles - from book selection to delivery and collection – to ensure they rise to the challenge of meeting the demand from residents in urban and rural locations across Warwickshire’s five boroughs and districts.
Around 607 customers are using the mobile library contactless book collection service every 4 weeks, which means that around 2,428 books are selected by library staff for customers during the same period.
Around 9,600 books have been selected by staff since September and customers have made over 2,400 individual collections of books from the mobile library service’s urban and rural stop off points across the county since then.
Now we are in lockdown number three, the befriending calls team are finding that residents are needing more regular telephone calls, so more people are receiving weekly calls.
The team say that some of the calls they made during the summertime last year felt much happier, especially when restrictions had been lifted - but some callers have contacted them again as lockdown and darker, colder days are now with us again.
They feel that the mental health of some of their phone customers has deteriorated, so they are grateful to hear a cheery voice on the end of the line and look forward to the befriending calls.
Really, it is the words of residents themselves that tell you everything you need to know about the service, with one telling a member of staff “you don't half cheer me up and make me laugh”, while another said “you’re about the only person who I talk to, you make me feel like I'm not insane. You really cheer me up, I can talk to you like I've known you for donkey's years”.
Councillor Kam Kaur, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Customer and Transformation, said: “Our befriending calls and home library service are a welcome achievement for our residents, providing individuals who would otherwise struggle to use libraries with a vital service.
“It would not be possible to run these without our team of devoted staff, who deliver so much more than just a library service. The present pandemic has revealed how imperative it is that we work together to help individuals in our communities that would be severely impacted without our assistance.”
Last year’s pandemic restrictions saw an increased demand for the befriending calls, home library service and, since September, the contactless mobile library service.
Now that Warwickshire and the rest of the country are back in full lockdown, it is anticipated that more residents will be taking advantage of these important services.