A Joint Statement by Friends of Marsden Library and Marsden Community Trust
You may have seen newspaper coverage in recent weeks about Council proposals to change the way some libraries in Kirklees are managed. Marsden Library is one of the libraries affected. This is a joint statement by the Friends of Marsden Library and Marsden Community Trust. It provides a summary of the proposal and our response to it.
Follow this link to read the full text of the Council paper for yourself.
What is proposed
Kirklees MBC is proposing that 8 libraries, including Marsden, become community managed. This means that a community organisation or a charity would have to run the library rather than the Council.
What does this involve
In short this would result in a massive withdrawal of Council support from Marsden Library. Crucially the library wouldn’t be part of the library service that the Council is required by law to provide.
The Council would not
- pay for staff to work in or oversee the library
- pay any rent and service charge for the library space
- buy furniture and equipment
- recruit and train volunteers to work in the library
- promote or market the library
- be accountable under judicial processes for any service failings
The community organisation or charity would have to
- be a constituted organisation
- be financially viable and sustainable
- provide an available library service with consistent opening hours
- recruit, train and manage volunteers
- provide a neutral and welcoming space
- keep statistics and records
- comply with all relevant legislation including ensuring the safety of volunteers and users
- deal with complaints
- fundraise to cover costs
The Council say that they would continue to provide books and IT support. The community organisation and the Council would have a service agreement that sets out all of these requirements.
Our response
The Friends of Marsden Library is not supportive of this proposal.
Our view is that Marsden Library should remain as it is, part of the Council’s statutory library service, with paid staff that are supported by volunteers. We assess that the proposal is neither viable nor sustainable. It provides a minimal cash saving for the Council while transferring costs and responsibilities to the local community. Removing the library from the services that the Council has a legal obligation to provide creates a risk that the limited support that the Council is promising will not be sustainable, and could be withdrawn in the future. Removing the 20 hours per week of paid staff time and expecting the community to cover this role via volunteers is unrealistic and it undervalues the role of professional staff in ensuring the quality and consistency of service delivery.
Marsden Community Trust say that having a well-used and managed public library located in the Mechanics Building is of great value to the village and they would like this to continue. Sadly, the Trust is not equipped to manage a library service itself and the financial burden of providing and servicing the space is certain to bankrupt the organisation unless generous grant support is reliably available for the foreseeable future.
We both say that the local community already makes a notable contribution to the running of the library. For the past 7 years Marsden Community Trust has provided the library space free of rent or service charge to a value of £56,000. Since 2018 Friends of Marsden Library has produced an annual calendar and has donated £14,500 of the proceeds to Marsden Community Trust to partially offset the loss of income for the library space.
Friends of Marsden Library supports an average of 14 volunteers at any one time to match the 20 hours per week currently provided by paid staff. We promote the library service through regular events featuring national and local writers that have included Simon Armitage, Robin Ince and Brian Groom.
What happens now
The Council is in stage one of its process – assessing the feasibility of the proposal. We have met with officers of the Council and explained our objections. We have also confirmed these in writing to them. The Council will be doing some community engagement around these proposals. The Library Service aims to have completed the feasibility assessment and to go back to Cabinet with the outcome in the Summer. We are concerned that the Council’s proposals don’t include a Plan B, i.e. what is their plan if the proposals are not feasible? Without an alternative plan then we feel that there is risk that our Library will close so that the Council can achieve its spending targets.
What can you do
If you are concerned about the future of Marsden Library you can look out for information about the Council’s community engagement sessions. You can write to your local Councillor:
Matthew.mcloughlin@kirklees.gov.uk
Harry.mccarthy@kirklees.gov.uk
If you are not a member of the Library please call in and join:
If you are a member please use the library.
May 2024.