Library service sees slow return by users
11% of customers are back through doors
Only 11 per cent of Perth and Kinross library users have returned since lockdown.
The chief executive of Culture Perth and Kinross has told councillors the organisation was thinking very slowly and carefully about how it reestablished services going forward.
Providing an update to a meeting of PKC’s scrutiny committee on Wednesday, September 9 Helen Smout, chief executive of Culture Perth and Kinross, said the increased costs involved to open safely were “considerable.”
She told councillors: “We are learning all the time as to how we will take things forward.
“We have a number of very small venues which are just not open for adaptation given the social distancing and other guidance measures that we have to have in place. And we are just not able to operate in the way that we were in January/February of this year.
“The increased costs are considerable of operating in this new context and the uncertainty surrounding the funding landscape of which we sit.”
Ms Smout said they had also been struck by the number of people who had gone without internet access since libraries closed in March.
She revealed 178 individuals returned in the first two weeks of opening up computer access at the AK Bell Library (Perth) who had no other way of getting online during that lockdown period.
Ms Smout said: “We are very aware that for many individuals in Perth and Kinross the library, in particular, still remains the sole source of online connectivity.
“They were worried about all sorts of things from whether their emails would still work or whether their holidays had been cancelled.
“That critical role we can play in terms of connectivity was really heightened for us.”
The libraries chief said returning customer levels remained “relatively low” with around 11 per cent of customers returning so far - a further six per cent are making use of the Click and Collect service which allows them to access books without coming into buildings.
Around 20 per cent of visitors have returned to the Perth Museum and Art Gallery but the vast majority have been tourists and visitors to the area.
Ms Smout added: “It will be interesting for us to map what happens as we move now into the autumn and winter whether we get more returning customers from local audiences.”
It will be interesting for us to map out what happens as we move into autumn and winter