Agenda item

The Curve had housed library services since 2016; this had also seen provision moved back in house from Essex County Council. The move had also seen provision widen, with the new facility acting as a community hub. Given this, the name of the service had been amended to ‘Libraries and Culture’ to reflect this. There had been a 47.5% rise in the number of users, whilst some areas had experienced a major improvement (e.g. Summer Reading Challenge completion rate had increased by 136%). The upstairs study area offered a suitable and quiet environment, whilst the ground floor offered performance spaces and had been used by groups such as Beat Routes and Empoword. Opening hours had also been extended by 12.5%, whilst services such as the Registry and exercise for the elderly were on offer.

Primary and secondary schools were involved in the increased provision. Customer feedback had been extremely positive, and the service hoped to build on its work to increase its offer in areas such as health, community cohesion and social isolation.

The Panel raised the following points in discussion:

·  The service also operated in communities outside the town centre (e.g. Langley, Cippenham). This had the same focus on providing more than a book depository.

·  The library service was involved with the Slough Academy to support SBC’s apprenticeships scheme. It also offered placements with school work experience programmes.

·  Provision at the Curve was better than that offered by many other local authorities and was helping SBC’s regional and national profile.

·  There had been attempts to encourage reading for pleasure with older pupils. However, the reading groups had mainly attracted younger secondary school children and the initial focus had been on primary schools. This would be an area of future development and SBC were receptive to positive suggestions.

·  Figures for visits included those who attending weddings, theatrical performance or other non-library activity. However, the previous library had housed the museum and other attractions so its figures did not solely relate to book use. In addition, all those who attended these other events saw the library as part of their excursion, whilst the figures on reading numbers, book withdrawals and other similar measures indicated that library usage was much increased.

·  WiFi had been modified to ensure that inappropriate usage was not allowed. In addition, users had to use their library cards to log in to avoid anonymous usage.

·  Other provision (e.g. sheet music) may be moved to other methods of delivering (e.g. online) depending on level of usage and availability of alternatives.

Resolved:  That the update be noted.