Saving Dorset's Libraries

Lyme Regis Development Trust

Marcus Dixon and Wendy Davies talk of their plans to transorm Lyme Regis Library.

Thank you to Hazel for sending in her story...

Saving Charmouth Library

Hazel Robinson Chair, (Friends of Charmouth Library)

"Charmouth is one of nine libraries in Dorset which will close if we do not take it over as a community.  The building itself is small and neglected and open only 10 hours a week but the service is highly valued - issues increased by 10.76% in the year to August 2011.

The Parish Council is prevented by law from paying for a library's expenses except from the small "Section 137" fund which, as it is based on our population of around 1700, is inadequate.  The Friends of Charmouth Library are on their own.

We see the way forward is to make the library far more useful to the community and to our 100,000+ annual tourists.   We need to produce income by introducing an internet cafe, a shop selling donated books, DVDs, CDs and locally-produced handcrafted goods, a B & B booking service and a subscription to the Friends.  This income would pay for running costs and allow us to have longer opening hours, to introduce services which have been lacking - a venue for social groups (reading, writing, craft), storytelling etc to pre-school children, classes in IT, languages and so on and, most importantly, a collaboration with the NHS Wayfinder scheme to address the social isolation of the elderly and disabled. (Almost 50% of the population are retired.)

To do all this, we need to enlarge and refurbish the building if we possibly can - which means grants or a community share issue.  A questionnaire is currently being broadcast in the village to see if there is sufficient enthusiasm, i.e. financial support, for these plans.

There is a tough learning curve to master.  The County Council is not helpful and has produced no guidelines except as far as the asset transfer is concerned - and even that document gives rise to more questions.   What kind of charitable vehicle should we use, where can we get grants, what can we legitimately demand from the County?  We have to produce "robust" business plans to show that we can survive but who has ever heard of a business which has start-up capital of precisely....nil?

It is helpful that Friends of Dorset Libraries have banded together into one organisation, AdLib, but we are all fumbling in a situation in which we did not want to find ourselves.  A list of 85 questions has been sent to Dorset Library Services in an effort to see exactly what is going to happen.   Their offer document is couched in very vague terms and it is obvious that this is because the officers themselves have not understood if or how their proposals can work.

The saddest thing of all is that all this grief is actually going to save very little money and that the officers' proposals won County Councillors' decision by just one vote (21:20)defeating their own advisory panel's scheme which would have saved the same amount of money but kept all Dorset's libraries open."