Cardiff Council’s Executive today agreed that a full public consultation on the city’s library services will take place this autumn.
The consultation will help the Council understand the needs of the city and help identify the different services and venues that would make libraries more popular and increase take-up of library membership and use across the city.
The process will be conducted by the Cardiff Research Centre and will take place in November and December this year. The research will involve a combination of on-line and paper consultation, and focus group discussions with various stakeholders.
Since 1998, Cardiff’s library service has undergone a series of reviews including a best value review in 2001 and a green paper consultation in 2004. These have now run their course so this consultation will provide the steer for libraries over the next decade.
Executive Member for Sport, Culture and Leisure, Cllr Nigel Howells, said: “The success of the new Cardiff Central Library has shown that libraries are still relevant to their existing users but need to adapt and extend the range of services they offer in order to reach the 75% of citizens who do not currently make use of their fantastic facilities.
“Traditional library services are not necessarily the main reason why people join their local library, for example many people make use of the ICT facilities on offer to create documents, surf the Internet, or keep in touch with friends through email.
“ Central Library has extras on offer such as resources for the visually impaired and large CD and DVD collections, and is also encouraging people to take another look at libraries by hosting a programme of varied and surprising events like the successful speed dating and comedy evenings that have taken place this year.
“The aim of the consultation is to find out exactly what the public want from their local library, which additional services they want to see and which they no longer use. This research will help libraries to increase their relevance, increase library use and membership, and ensure that valuable resources are focused on services that are required by the public.
