Anger as Derby plans to hand over most of city's libraries to volunteers

Derby city council’s plans to hand 11 libraries over to volunteers have been slammed by campaigners as tantamount to destroying them.

Derby has said that “as a result of the government continuing to cut local government funding”, it needs to slash £648,000 from its libraries budget. It has proposed a series of options, of which its preferred choice is to close the city’s central library, relocating it to a new “Derby Riverside library”, and to hand 11 other branches over to volunteers, according to the Derby Telegraph. Under the proposal, just four libraries, including Riverside, would continue to be run by the council, with each community-run library given an average annual grant of £17,500.

The council, which will open a consultation on the proposals in the autumn, has admitted that there would be “a significant reduction in the number of paid jobs” in the city’s libraries as a result of the cost-cutting, and that “if enough volunteers don’t come forward to run a particular library, that library would close”. The grants, meanwhile, would not be sufficient to cover running costs, and “management groups would need to supplement their council grant by fundraising activities or generating some income from other sources”.

The deputy leader of Derby city council, Martin Rawson, said: “The options to be presented to cabinet are unfortunately brought about by the necessity to reduce costs as the government continues to cut the council’s budget.

“As a Labour administration, whatever option is agreed, our strong desire is to see a positive future for every library, as we know how important they are for local communities. However, to do this we will all need to pull together, volunteers will need to come forward and community groups will need to work together with library staff and local councillors to ensure that no library is forced to close, but rather delivered in a different way.”

Public Libraries News, which tracks changes to the UK’s library services – 72 libraries and five mobile libraries have come under threat since 1 April 2016, according to the site – said the proposed cuts would “keep a bare minimum of library provision” in Derby.

Laura Swaffield, chair of the national Library Campaign, said the proposals would have been a “sensational story a couple of years ago”, but that such cuts are now “getting to be the norm”.

“As always, the money saved is peanuts – just £648,000 per annum from destroying 11 much-needed local libraries. And handing them to volunteers does mean destroying them,” said Swaffield. “As always, the council blithely assumes that any fool can run a library. But it’s skilled staff that transform a room with books and PCs into a vital frontline service meeting a huge range of needs. Instead, Derby will enter a nightmare of ‘training’ and ‘supporting’ constantly changing volunteers, who in turn will have to raise funds for the building, year after year.”

Swaffield added: “Experience so far shows that [volunteer libraries] don’t work, and won’t last. But central government has cheered on a mass nationwide transfer to this rotten substitute for what was a national public library network that opened up endless possibilities to everyone, right there in the community.”