17/05/04 - New horizons for library users : Cumbria County Council

Users of Cumbria County Council libraries will soon be able to browse in the libraries of universities and colleges throughout the County under a project called INSPIRE. The county council library service and the libraries in higher education and health establishments in the county have reached an agreement, called Addlib, on how to open up most of the specialist libraries in Cumbria to people of all ages who are engaged in learning or research. A pilot scheme for the Carlisle and Penrith areas will be launched at Carlisle Library in The Lanes between 10am and 4pm on May 22.

Councillor Tim Heslop, Cumbria County Council Cabinet member with responsibility for libraries, said:

“This is a major improvement in the service the county libraries can offer to their users and we acknowledge the generosity of the establishments who are opening up access to their libraries. The scheme includes a referral service so that librarians can direct users to a particular library whose collection will be of most use to them.”

Councillor Joan Stocker, Cumbria County Council Cabinet member with responsibility for lifelong learning, said:

“This agreement widens tremendously the access to information for people in Cumbria who are engaged in study, whether formal or informal, whether young people on NVQ training, older people studying with the Open University or anyone pursuing an interest.”

Hester Gorman, Cumbria library service’s representative on the project, said:

“Our libraries hold an untold wealth of books but most members of the public would be unaware of what fascinating collections there are and which library specialises in what subject. Most will not know, for example, that St Martin’s College at Ambleside has lots of books about the Scout and Guiding Movement and that Kendal Library has an outstanding collection of mountaineering books and journals.”

It is hoped to extend the scheme later to the rest of the county. Taking part are Cumbria Institute of the Arts, University of Northumbria, University of Central Lancashire, St Martin’s College, North Cumbria and Morecambe Bay Health Authorities, Carlisle College, Lakes College at Workington and all the public libraries. A member of one of the libraries will be able to visit any of the others and use their resources. Librarians at all of them will be trained in the resources available at all the libraries in the network.

Consultants who helped draw up the scheme worked with various groups of people in Cumbria, some of whom had rarely used libraries. One was a group of Sure Start mothers in Carlisle, and another young people from Penrith Rural Foyer. Many of the people involved had never visited a library or not for many years. They were all involved in learning in some way, such as pursuing NVQs or City and Guilds qualifications through the organisations they were linked to. They accompanied consultants to public and higher education libraries.

Hester Gorman added:

“Members of the focus groups have said they found both the library buildings and the librarians welcoming and their visits have given them confidence to go there alone – and they are reading books they wouldn’t have read otherwise.”

The launch on Saturday May 22 will coincide with Adult Learners Week and will be marked with leaflets, free bookmarks, pens and trendy cotton book bags.