Libraries among services in demand as we venture out after lockdown
More than a million visits were made to council services including libraries and partnership centres in West Lothian in the first full year since the Covid lockdown.
And while staff sickness absence appeared almost double the four per cent target, the actual figures were minuscule, said a councillor this week,
Carl John for the SNP praised the staff in customer and community services areas for their work in 2023.
He told a meeting of the performance committee, ”Looking at the figures there’s only 173 days lost out of 2500. That’s minuscule, but shows up as being quite a high percentage because one or two long term absences can skew the figures.”
Ralph Bell, the customer and communities service manager, gave the committee an overview of the areas of front-facing council services returning to normal after two and half years of disruption through the Covid lockdown.
The services represented include libraries, partnership centres, community centres, registrars and the museum service and customer inquiry service.
Mr Bell said: “Across the service areas in the last financial year we have had over one million visits.”
He added that with more than a million visits there had only been 43 service complaints, 22 of which were not upheld.
Mr Bell said: “Considering the footfall it is a good reflection on our front-line officers and customer satisfaction results.”
Most front-facing services such as community and partnership centres run six or seven days a week, including the libraries. West Lothian maintains 14 libraries across the county, many now operate as part of the redesigned partnership centres.
Many councils across Scotland have been forced to cut library services to the bone and the reduction in some standalone libraries such as West Calder was suggested in 2023 for potential budget savings.
Mr Bell said that digital innovation had helped maintain the library service through the pandemic and the services digital lending had flourished during lockdown.
Actual book issues have still to rise to pre-pandemic issues but library visits alone for the last year were around the 450,000 mark.
A review panel of the service made recommendations for how the service should develop in the next two years.