Libraries providing Enterprise Hubs
0Libraries are merging with other services in order to cope with cuts. GP surgeries, housing police front desks, and shops are appearing in the same space as local libraries with the spaces also being used for events like gigs and speed dating, according to a new Local Government Association report.
Many libraries have been “transformed into cultural hubs” according to the LGA, as they find new ways to get the most out of their space. Libraries have even popped up in such unusual spaces as village halls, phoneboxes, pubs and tourist information centres.
In Northamptonshire libraries are now providing Enterprise Hubs offering business start-up advice and mentoring, job clubs, business IT advice, and CV and finance workshops. The county council is now extending the concept to spaces in libraries available to rent by fledgling businesses. To help encourage young entrepreneurs they are allocating one of the library business spaces to under 25’s.
The LGA warns, however, that libraries have been closed down, and that it expects more cuts to library budgets.
Cllr Flick Rea, Chair of the LGA’s Culture, Tourism and Sport Board, said: “Councils know libraries are among the most valued services they provide and the last couple of years have been tough for residents who’ve seen the axe hover above libraries they grew up with. Councillors and officers have been wrangling with near impossible decisions on how to keep local libraries going with a fraction of the budget while still providing frontline services like adult social care, child protection, collecting bins and repairing roads.”
