Library service in line for award despite suffering £3.5m of cuts

JUST weeks after Kirklees Council announced a huge revamp for its libraries in the wake of multi-million pound cuts, the service has been shortlisted for a national award.

The libraries’ project Well into Words: Sensory uses objects, sounds and smells to make classic books accessible to people with learning difficulties, visual impairments, and for those living with dementia.

It has been shortlisted for the Libraries Change Lives Award for excellence and innovation presented by CILIP, the library and information association.

The award recognises outstanding library services that positively change the lives of their communities.

News of the shortlisting comes as the council considers how to deliver services following cuts totalling more than £3.5m.

Among the options is for libraries to act as hubs for a range of services such as the voluntary and community sector, primary care, adult and children’s social care, and communities teams as well as access to networked libraries elsewhere.

The Kirklees project, which uses multi-sensory storytelling to bring “the joy of books” to adults and children with diverse needs, has been shortlisted alongside libraries from Glasgow and Newcastle.

The winner, which will be announced on October 11 during Libraries Week, will receive a £4,000 investment from CILIP, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.

Libraries in Kirklees have suffered under crippling financial cutbacks that have already seen budgets slashed by 43 per cent.

It is expected they will fall still further to 63pc – falling from £5.7m to £2.2m by 2020.

The council says maintaining services to more vulnerable people “will be extremely challenging.”

During the last consultation the council closed two libraries in Lepton and Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury. In addition 88 jobs were lost. Many of the remaining libraries scaled back their opening hours and became more reliant on volunteers.

The council also sold off its six-vehicle fleet of mobile libraries.

Senior councillor Graham Turner, joint Cabinet member for Resources, said the Libraries Service, was “constantly innovating” to deliver projects in the face of cutbacks.

He said the CILIP shortlisting was recognition of that and praised “hardworking staff” and “excellent” volunteers for delivering ambitious projects.

“The recent review of the library service confirmed our belief that they are in many cases at the heart of our communities.

“They are delivering innovation and meeting the council’s objectives of early intervention and prevention, alleviating social isolation and creating stronger communities, and also continuing to deliver a high-quality library service and IT provision.

“As we continue to redesign and change the service in the future months we will continue to work with partners, and our volunteers to make sure we have libraries in the right places and to develop them to become the hub of our communities.

“All this makes a real difference to people’s lives.” Senior Kirklees councillor Graham Turner, who has praised the borough’s libraries service for being shortlisted for a major award in the wake of massive cuts