FOCAL Group
The Public Library housed in the Village College is under review.
People from Comberton and surrounding villages attended a consultation meeting in Comberton Village Hall on 25th May and heard that the County Council will be encouraging greater community participation in the management and running of library services through volunteering and acting on Friends’ Groups and Community Management Boards.
The Library opened in 1960, and the 2010/11 library profile shows that the number of active borrowers (836) increased by 22% over the last 4 years and that 49% of all issues were of children’s books. An enthusiastic group of users from Comberton and surrounding villages want to keep the library open in the face of budget cuts and have been meeting regularly in the Library. There is now a Friends Group, a poster and publicity campaign including a presence on Facebook, and a blog http://friendsofcombertonlibrary.wordpress.com/ with minutes of the meetings to date and information about joining the group. The next FOCAL (Friends of Comberton Area Library) meeting is 24th October. All welcome
The County Council Cabinet will discuss the future of the Library on 27 September 2011 and the Friends have been meeting with Parish, District and County Councillors to express their desire to maintain library services in the area and have had support and advice from Council and Library managers. The FOCAL Group welcomes further support.
- If you do not have a library card, consider registering, there are three computer terminals in the Library available to library members
- Join the Friends : we hope to arrange a programme of talks and events in the Autumn and are gathering ideas for the programme (if you know of a local author willing to visit please contact the group)
- Volunteer to support the library service by supporting existing activities such as the Doorstep Delivery service to the housebound or providing expertise in fundraising
- Attend Parish Council meetings if the Library is on the agenda, contact your councillors
- If you know of grants or funds supporting community projects let the Friends know FriendsofCombertonLibrary@gmail.com
There will be funding cuts but if the community takes more responsibility for the running of the library we should be able to retain it and improve what it can provide for local families and visitors.
Suzan Griffiths
Chair of FOCAL
NB The Women’s Institute launched a Love Your Libraries campaign in June, and recently set up an epetition. To login and sign use this link: I, the undersigned, believe that libraries are an essential local educational and information resource…. http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/1269