Library visits up thanks to the volunteers now running service

OPENING HOURS and the number of visits to libraries in North Yorkshire have gone up since thousands of people started volunteering their time to keep services running.

Residents were asked to step up after the county council’s libraries budget was cut from £7.8m in 2010 to £4.2m this financial year.

There are now 31 community libraries run primarily by volunteers. In contrast the number of paid staff has shrunk from 350 to 120.

Libraries general manager Chrys Mellor said the passion shown by people in support of libraries had translated into “real on the ground” support. Around 2,500 people now volunteer their time.

She said: “There’s probably a two per cent increase on opening hours – it’s not massive, but it is more than we could have delivered. Visits have also increased by about two per cent.

“Having the number of volunteers and the local community involvement had led to a lot more activities.

“If you have 120 volunteers as opposed to four members of staff you can do a lot more. We have memory cafes, knit and natter groups, coffee mornings, storytimes – the usual things that a library does, but more of it.

“People’s use of libraries has changed, but we have been able to show that libraries are relevant and the passion that was evident when we were first faced with budget cuts has translated into increased interest in what we deliver. What we haven’t done is cut the book fund and closed libraries. We have respected that books are still the lifeblood of the service and is what the majority of people come in for.”

It comes as the first library to serve the village of Goathland since 1966 is about to celebrate its first anniversary on December 11.

The volunteers, who include retired hotel owners, civil servants and even librarians, open up shop at the Community Hub every Wednesday, and make frequent trips to the county council’s book repository in Northallerton to choose new books.

The outlet offers a choice of 1,500 books, a second-hand bookshop as well as children’s reading challenges and in January a “silver surfers” IT skills course.

Keith Thompson, from the parish council, thinks people could be volunteering because we are living longer – and have a social conscience. “There’s a realisation that these are very precious services and if they go, they go forever.

“People volunteer because they have a lot of skillsets, and you can either throw that in the bin and do nothing, or use what you have got and step up and do something. People generally like to think they are doing a bit of good - even if it is just dishing out a library book.”

The original village library opened in June 1894. The village had a mobile service until 2011.

We have respected that books are still the lifeblood of the service Libraries general manager Chrys Mellor