Card plan could allow public into unstaffed libraries
SWIPE CARDS could be piloted in Hull to improve access to libraries, which have had their opening hours drastically reduced in recent years.
Cuts in 2011 and 2015 reduced the hours of Hull Central Library and its 11 branch libraries by 52 per cent – and led to a 20 per cent drop in useage.
Public consultation in the runup to a new 10-year strategy for libraries showed many felt they were not open enough or when they want to use them.
Michelle Alford, Director of Hull Library Service, said in the next couple of years she would like to pilot a system where people use their library card as a swipe card to gain access to a library when staff are not there.
Libraries that have used the system have not experienced problems, she said, but admitted there was a “lot of nervousness” about potential problems ranging from theft to “unsavoury goings-on when there are no staff present.” But she said: “It is very controlled through the library management system. We know who’s in there and there would be CCTV in place.
“It will be around putting necessary safeguards in place that can make it work to give people access to the resources they need, because people deserve to have access to the vast amount of resources that are available in libraries, whether online or physical printed resources that are not available digitally yet.”
She added the library service had been spurred by the pandemic into developing more online content and they were also buying more e-books, magazines and comics for people to access from home.
Hull Council and the Hull Culture and Leisure Board want to ring-fence the library budget.
In real terms that will mean a decrease because of inflation and pay rises, making income generation a key priority.
The library service already has a number of contracts, including with the UK Visa Service, so people applying for a UK visa can bring in their documents, and have their fingerprints taken.
“There are other things of that sort that we will look to deliver – where it doesn’t compete with the ethos of a public library service,” said Ms Alford.