17/06/04 - County libraries in borrowers' good books

Cumbria County Council public library and archive services are in the good books of both users and independent inspectors. The library and archive services have scored well in a "best value" review by the Audit Commission. The commission says users are very satisfied with both and it has rated them as two-star "good" services, comparing well with others around the country. It adds that there are areas for future improvement, which the county council says it is already tackling.   

Councillor Tim Heslop, county council cabinet member responsible for library and archive services, said:   

"We are naturally pleased that the Audit Commission has found that our library and archive services are good. This reflects the dedication and hard work of the library and archive service staff, who are continually striving to improve the service we give to the public.   

"The report shows that we have taken on board some of the important national and local issues concerning the development of these significant services. The county council has already taken steps to address some of the proposals in the report in order to ensure improvements in the future." 

The commission's report says that the service is cost effective and has maintained its customer base over recent years, while demands on it have been changing. It praises the way in which the services work effectively with partners, particularly in relation to working with children and with adult literacy.    

Cumbria’s library service has performed better than the national picture painted by the recent Libri Report on "Responsibility for the Public Library Services" written by bookseller Tim Coates. The Audit Commission report shows that Cumbria’s service has maintained a similar number of visits to its libraries over the past ten years, despite a big decline nationally. Also, the cost of putting a book on library shelves is considerably less in Cumbria than in the example quoted in the Libri Report.   

The Audit Commission said further improvements were needed. It urged more consultation with a wider range of the public, a new look at what kind of service is provided and how it is delivered. However, the county council is already tackling these matters through its £250,000 improvement plan for 2004/5.   

Key facts from the report include: 

Libraries website is the most frequently visited part of the council’s website   

Libraries made 3.5 million loans to the public last year ( 2003/2004)   

More than 67,000 visits a week are made to county libraries   

County libraries have more than 800,000 books to choose from and 75,000 media items, such as music CDs, DVDs and videos. 

Users spent more than 120,000 hours on library computers   

The archives service dealt with 21,418 visitors, 18,160 telephone, e-mail and postal enquiries and 18,725 website hits. 

It made available 24,161 original archives and about 56,500 self-service copy archives to visiting researchers    

It catalogued about 9,500 documents 

It purchased the Great Books of Record of Lady Anne Clifford (1590-1676) for Cumbria with a grant of £64,500 from Heritage Lottery Fund