LIBRARIES should be seen as “exciting, vibrant” places rather than where a strict silence must be maintained, according to a top councillor.
Former library staffer Cllr Fiona Cross backed a revamped plan for libraries intended to boost their role at the centre of communities and access to services and activities and said they have long sought to challenge their reputation as hushed reading rooms.
The Cwmbran Labour councillor said: “I used to work for Newport City Council, in their libraries, and that was something we were trying to get out of their heads nearly 20 years ago. We need people to understand they’re exciting, vibrant community places and to have a coffee potentially which would be quite marvellous.”
Torfaen Borough Council has rethought its library strategy to fit in with its approach to supporting volunteer and community groups and intends for them to develop as community hubs.
Council officer Bethan McPherson said it has also recognised the service must “reach a much broader audience” with the plan intended to shift the role of libraries from the traditional format of providing access to books, learning materials and computers to also being able to access other services and activities.
She cited Cwmbran library as having already taken advantage of working with volunteers and said: “There’s growing footfall in Cwmbran library due to the activities.”
The council is also considering a volunteer and training opportunity at the library, in Gwent Square, to host a coffee cart.
Cllr Joanne Gauden, the cabinet member for the economy said: “We know the public are keen to have a coffee facility in the library so this is a good example of where we’ve listened to what the public want. It will be a good match of their need and our services.”
No additional funding has been identified for overhauling the service but Ms McPherson said it could be “more creative and proactive” in maximising the space it does have and said: “Cwmbran will be probably be at the core and the helm of that.”
The council intends building on work currently done by the service while, Ms McPherson said, “recognising we aren’t having the reach we need in terms of footfall in the libraries and its purpose.”
The council also wants to bring in more community groups and charities to work and hold events in libraries and ask them what they want to gain from doing so with the intention it will help people connect with support at an early stage before they require formal support from the council or other statutory agencies.
The council consulted on the strategy, and use of its libraries, and Ms McPherson said that showed people aren’t aware of what is available.
“People are not using the libraries as they are not really clear what they deliver and when and it’s a large piece of work to increase awareness of just how much goes on in the libraries currently.”
Opening hours could also be reviewed with some branches having already trialled later opening hours, while volunteers could also help with the “flexible use” of the buildings.
Ms McPherson said: “If we want these to be thriving hubs we need to respond to when people want to use them.”
Cllr Cross, the cabinet member responsible, said: “A lot of that is music to my ears. The use of volunteers. Being more flexible to the needs of our communities. A lot of provision was set in the daytime and it’s the evenings then that a lot of other people, that we’re missing, that could really benefit from those interventions.”
The council’s Labour cabinet backed the hub plan, which forms a dedicated chapter in the authority’s community and wellbeing strategy, at its June meeting.
