Last Saturday – 5 February – was national ‘Save our libraries day’, being championed in councils across the country. Cllr Claire Kober explains how Haringey LBC is bucking the trend and looking to expand the role of its libraries in local communities
Like every local authority in the country, Haringey LBC is having to make some tough and uncomfortable decisions about services across the borough. These will involve making around 1,000 staff redundant and cutting services, including adult social care, youth services and neighbourhood teams.
Understandably, there has been real concern about how the Government’s cuts were going to affect local library services.
Residents, campaign groups and the media kept on asking us how many libraries we were planning to close, and I got the impression they didn’t quite believe us when we kept on saying that we had no plans to close any of them.
That was the case. That is the case. Libraries are surely a universal expression of state provision. They are an anchor of human and social qualities in a community. Libraries are an essential part of life in the borough. Lending books and renting out CDs and DVDs, as well as regular meetings of book and reading groups, are just the tip of the iceberg for what goes on in our nine libraries.
There are also:
health checks
help for small businesses
drop-in sessions for older people
a rich and lively programme of events for children
art classes and films
meet-the-author and book-signing events.
Community choirs have also been set up in two of our libraries.
One of our key priorities as a council is tackling inequalities, with parts of the borough among the most poor in the entire UK. We also have one of the most diverse communities in the country.
Our libraries are an essential part of the way we help those individuals and communities.
One in five residents don’t have their own access to the Internet – and most of those are in the east of the borough. Others need help with English and other basic skills and qualifications. All these can lead to social exclusion – putting up barriers to them finding training and jobs, as well as accessing council services.
We offer free Internet access at our libraries, and our adult learning service – based at Wood Green Central Library – offers courses which help people from some of our more disadvantaged groups to contribute to life in the borough.
The courses also give them the life skills to help live more prosperous, fulfilling lives.
Activities at our libraries bring people together. Our library staff are always amazed by the range of different nationalities which come to our children’s sing-along sessions.
While the children take part, mums, dads and carers get to meet new people and make new friends.
Our libraries also have thriving volunteer and friends groups.
But in the current economic climate, things can’t stay the way they are.
For some years, libraries in Haringey have been developed as community hubs – offering a range of activities for all ages and capabilities. We are now looking at providing new services and building on what we already provide.
One option is to close some of our four customer service centres and run the service from our libraries.
That has a double benefit – we save money on closing the existing centres and it means that it’s more convenient for residents as our libraries are closer to local communities.
We are looking into extending drop-in services and lunch clubs, and providing some of the help and advice for young families currently on offer at children’s centres at libraries.
With so many of our residents not having access to the Internet at home, the free availability we offer is essential for those people – especially when it comes to using council services online, such as applying for school places for their children, and looking for jobs and training.
And another possibility is to allow people to pay council bills at their local library, too.
The old saying that there are no such things as problems, just opportunities may be a cliché, but we see the current dire economic climate as an opportunity for our much-loved libraries.
Cllr Claire Kober is leader of Haringey LBC
Haringey libraries – fact file:
six out of 10 Haringey residents use libraries – the highest level of use in any London borough
2.1 million people used the service during 2009/10
it is the third most used service at the council and was voted ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ by two out of three residents
the libraries service generates £4m in income
last year, 23,500 people took part in health and wellbeing sessions at libraries.
