Patchwork provision: The reluctant rise of community libraries

Around 60 in the national peer network are fully independent, according to Neath. While he says he would prefer libraries to be "fully funded", community libraries have shown the additional benefits you can get out of a library when you have "real community involvement". Trustees drawn from the community are very plugged into what its needs are, and this, says Neath, has led to the emergence of support services, community fridges, recycling hubs and fuel poverty support. 

In 2013, a group of local residents took over their at-risk local library in Tameside, Greater Manchester, and opened it as a new library and community hub. It hosts arts events, a choir, a "knit and natter group" and has built up strong connections with local schools, churches and football clubs.

"It’s not just about the physical books, but about support and a fuller offer,” says Neath. "It’s about being a forum for community involvement for sharing discussion and for education.”

Research by charity Libraries Connected found that 60 per cent were considering setting up as "warm spaces"

Libraries have long been recognised as offering more than books and computer access. They provide a place to go that is free to enter, and they play a role in tackling; loneliness. Library use plummeted during the pandemic but visits are now recovering, rising by 68 per cent last year.

Over winter, many libraries stepped in to offer refuge for those struggling to heat their homes, with research by charity Libraries Connected finding that 60 per cent were considering setting up as "warm spaces". In response to the cost-of-living crisis, many libraries also abolished fines for late books, a measure many now look likely to keep. 

On a bright April morning in Ore Community Library, a 1960s building originally built by Hastings Borough Council, toddlers spread out jigsaw puzzles across the floor while older children read on beanbags. "It’s not a shushing kind of place," explains one of the volunteers. 

Neath says most community-led libraries are in a "stable" position, but in some areas the experiment hasn’t worked

Killick has become a regular as her nine-year-old daughter Sophia recently started to devour books. "She likes to borrow one book at a time,” she says. "It’s her world, it gives her a sense of being grown up and having time to herself.” 

When the county council closed the library, it reasoned local people could use Hastings Library, two miles down the hill in the town centre. But library trustee Jim Breeds says this is simply too far. “It failed to recognise there is a level of social deprivation, which means lots of people don’t have cars and would have to spend a fortune on buses,” he says.

Neath says most community-led libraries are in a "stable" position, but in some areas the experiment hasn’t worked. In Derby, 10 public libraries handed over to a local charity in 2017 are now being given back, their future once more uncertain.

Long-term sustainability is also an issue. Many community libraries are currently run by the people who fought to save them, and staffed by retired volunteers. A 2017 government-commissioned report into community libraries said there were concerns "regarding the gap in volunteer availability becoming greater" as older volunteers either reduced or stopped providing their time.

These concerns have been born out in recent government figures that showed volunteering numbers in England hit record lows last year. According to Swaffield, the rise of community-led libraries has led to a national joined-up public library service being replaced with an unknown quantity. From the skill set and availability of volunteers, to the financial arrangements and what services the library will offer, there is no standardisation. 

"You used to be able to walk into a library and get trained staff who would help with what you would need," says Swaffield. "Now the national network is broken and you don’t know what you’re going to get, which we think is a terrible shame." There are issues of equality too - and whether more affluent areas might have a greater ability to source volunteers than those that are less well off. 

When the council said it wanted to transfer two-thirds of the county’s libraries to community groups, this was also rejected as a "closure plan by stealth"

"The more an area needs a library, the less likely it’s going to be able to sustain the library itself.” she points out. In some areas, councils trying to transfer libraries to community groups have met with resistance. The high-profile Save Our Libraries Essex (SOLE) campaign was originally formed to oppose the county council’s plans to close 21 libraries. When the council said it wanted to transfer two-thirds of the county’s libraries to community groups, this was also rejected as a "closure plan by stealth". 

But when faced with the loss of a library, many communities are left with no choice but to take action. Liz Owen was the librarian running Ringmer Library, located in a small village outside the town of Lewes, another service axed by East Sussex County Council in its 2018 cuts. "It took councillors three minutes to close seven libraries," she recalls, adding that closing Ringmer’s library saved just £8,000 a year in direct costs. "It was just shocking the speed with which the decision was made.” 

As a professional librarian, Owen felt "divided" over whether she should volunteer to take it over. She had recently decided to retire, and felt strongly it was the council’s duty to run it as a statutory service. "I didn’t feel that people doing it themselves is the right way forward because it does lead to a very kind of patchwork level of provision," she says. "Some community libraries are brilliant and some are run like a charity shop.” 

But eventually, like hundreds of others across the country, Owen decided she could not sit back and watch local people be cut off from such a vital service. "We were fortunate to have the skills to do it, but for most it’s not like that," she says. "It’s sad so many libraries have had to go down this route.”