Agenda item

Report of the Corporate Director, Community.

The Sub-Committee received a report on an update following the review of libraries by the Scrutiny Challenge Panel in April 2015.

An officer introduced the report and updated Members on the Harrow Library Strategy. Particular attention was drawn to the introduction of Open+ technology to extend opening hours at Wealdstone Library which was working well.  It was noted that the North Harrow Community Library was due to open in April 2016, subject to confirmation of the sublease details which were currently under consideration by the community group.  In response to a question, the Sub-Committee was informed that the memorandum of agreement and subleases had been completed subject to the insertion of dates.  The community group was keen to have the opportunity to extend the sub-lease after the initial three years as this provided continuity.

A Member expressed disappointment that the Harrow library service was now ranked about fifth from bottom across London.  The officer concurred that the 2014/15 figures were disappointing compared to 2013/14 and highlighted that these statistics included the period when a library consultation with the public, which included library closures, was being undertaken.  Ongoing monitoring had taken place and usage figures for July 2015 to January 2016 showed an increase in usage at the six remaining libraries compared to the same period in 2014-15.  The February 2016 statistics were also encouraging as they indicated an increase in use.

In response to a question, the officer undertook to investigate whether there was any evidence that the significant increase in the use of Pinner library was by people who had previously used other libraries.  It was noted that an increase in use would be expected due to the closure of other libraries in the vicinity.

Members asked the following questions and received responses from the officers as follows:

·                     the introduction of initiatives such as Amazon Click and Collect lockers had had a positive impact on usage.  The development of a new library at Stanmore was also hoped to address the decrease in library visits;

·                     the GIS team had been requested to map cross-usage to ascertain the use of Harrow libraries by Harrow residents as part of the library consultation;

·                     regarding the impact of the £46k reduction in the book fund in 2015-16, Members were informed of the consortium buying and stock sharing in conjunction with Carillion.  Stock was transferred across the Borough libraries as required and consideration could be given to extending this across the other Carillion library authorities.  More online resources were now being purchased which was an efficient use of the stock fund and could be accessed by library users both inside and outside of the libraries;

·                     with regard to the impact of cuts in the forthcoming financial year, the aim was to make the best use of the resources available and to be smart and innovative.  There were now 6 libraries instead of 10, and with the limited space particular care was taken to ensure that the  stock that was purchased met customer needs. 

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.