Agenda item

Camden Libraries Update Report

Report of the Director of Recreation.

The report summarises the vision for the library service and the development of the service offer to the communities of Camden. A restructure of the service was completed in April 2022 and a significant capital investment in technology.

The report also reviews the journey of recovery indicated by the level of library visits, event attendance and borrowing. An outline of the partnerships, connections and activity that is developing as the libraries respond to the needs of the neighbourhoods during the cost-of-living crisis. This overview is also informed by data analysis of the 2021 census data and shaped by thinking of a library jigsaw of component parts, the Libraries Connected Universal Offers and the ambition of We Make Camden.

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Recreation.

In response to questions, the Head of Libraries, Fiona Tarn and Director of Recreation Oliver Jones made the following points:

· With regards to the Council developing links with universities, partnership links between the Council and Universities were already in place, however stronger links continued to be developed for example officers had been in contact with University College London (UCL), as University students would be working as volunteers in Council libraries over the summer.

· Partners in the Knowledge Quarter were also keen to collaborate with the Council, to work together and share expertise.

· Once the Council received the full report from its recent Peer review it would be looking at how it could collaborate with Universities and the Knowledge Quarter to have a workshop arrangement to take the library service forward into the future.

· The Council was also the first London Borough to be part of the British Library’s Living Knowledge Network. It would have live streaming events to complement British Library exhibitions in Council library spaces.

· Officers had also been in contact with the Welcome Trust to discuss how they managed their space.

· Libraries were not likely to change that much in the future The curativeness of information was still important, artificial intelligence would still be important as well as the space. Having somebody to talk to, understanding how to navigate and find things.

· The Council was also looking to maximise flexibility in its libraries to use the core space for things such as heritage and culture.

· Providing staff training and connecting them with broader experiences will assist the team in developing the service into the future.

· The Council was committed to maintaining a library service in the Highgate area whatever happens regarding refurbishment works, including keeping volunteers involved.

· Cool spaces were promoted corporately, disentangling people who were attending the library because of warm spaces or air conditioning from other users was a challenge as what people were doing was not monitored in libraries.

· There were leg counters in the libraries so the Council did have an idea of the number of people that were in the library. The data was however not necessarily representative of those using the spaces.

· Library of things was available in 2 libraries. Kentish Town and Kilburn which seemed to be used more and doing really well in terms of the demand.

· The Council would be joining the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) as a member. which would provide CILIP membership to two members of the Council’s library team,

· CILIP would also be doing a skills audit of the staff, once the skills gaps of staff were identified a plan would be put in place to address the skills gap and develop staff on from that.

· The Council had also invested in Opening the book training which would build the skills of the staff.

· The Council had just developed a welcome guide which would also be printed in other community languages.

· Revenue reserves had also been allocated to each library in the borough to increase the book fund. The book fund would be used to do outreach work and would reflect what was required in the local community.

The Cabinet Member for Young People and Culture commenting on the need for Camden Libraries to have an on-line representation informed the Committee that those conversations were taking place. The Cabinet Member also informed the Committee that she had toured all the libraries in the borough and was impressed with how resolute and committed staff were and was interested to hear about plans for the library service including reflecting the communities they were in and all the varied service provided. The Cabinet Member informed the Committee that she was looking to see how the library service could expand on the varied opportunities available.