Cllr Victoria Wilson
Cllr Victoria Wilson

A COUNTY councillor says Staffordshire has a “gold-plated” library service after the number of qualified librarians was questioned.

More than 25 of Staffordshire’s 43 libraries are now community-managed services, where day-to-day running is carried out by a community group while the county council remains responsible for providing books, other stock and IT services as well as paying utility and maintenance costs.

When the community-managed library scheme was first proposed around a decade ago there were concerns raised by residents in some areas that their services would be “downgraded”.

In the years since, the scheme has been hailed for keeping libraries open across the county and providing community meeting space and facilities.

But staffing was raised by Cllr Gillian Pardesi in a question at Staffordshire County Council’s full meeting this month.

She asked:

“How many of our 43 libraries have a qualified librarian based in them? Have any of our community managed libraries had to close or reduce their hours due to the lack of volunteers?”

Cllr Victoria Wilson, cabinet member for communities and culture, responded:

“It is not a statutory requirement for the libraries and arts service to have a qualified librarian based in all libraries.

“There are 21.76 full time equivalent professional grade staff in the service. There are 16 qualified librarians in the service – and this includes our assistant director.

“The community-managed libraries benefit directly from support from library community support officers and library development officers who are all degree or equivalent level qualification educated or vocationally trained.

“No community managed libraries have had to close permanently due to a lack of volunteers. Occasionally a community managed library has had to close for an hour or a day when there is a shortage of volunteer cover.

“The library team works with the community managed library partner and volunteers to identify libraries that may require additional volunteers, and a volunteer recruitment drive takes place.

“There are community managed libraries that are working to review opening hours. The library team are working with those partners and the community to identify if any changes to opening hours are required or if a volunteer recruitment drive is required.”

But Councillor Pardesi replied:

“Irrespective of how many wonderful volunteers we have within our libraries, how can the cabinet member possibly justify to our residents that they are receiving a library service they deserve when their 43 libraries have been left with only 16 qualified librarians?”

Cllr Wilson said:

“It’s not just a library service. Those people who we have trained, who are often volunteers if not paid staff, get a massive amount of training and a massive amount of satisfaction from being able to help the general public.

“I don’t think we’re failing the public at all. I think we’re offering them a gold-plated service.

“We are the trailblazer in this country. We have other authorities coming to us, asking us for advice on how they can do the same thing.

“We’ve had accolades all over the show for this service and I’m not prepared to accept that we are not offering our residents anything other than a fantastic service.

“It’s not just about library book lending, it’s about public groups meeting, elderly people and young people with children who want to meet others in the community.”

Founder of Lichfield Live and editor of the site.

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John Griffin
8 days ago

Cllr Wilson, Tory cuts bragging. Serfs, be glad of the crumbs from our table.