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Notice Board - Library |
| Friends of Flackwell Heath Library (Nov 2011) |
| What’s in a name? A rose by any other name …. Quite a lot actually! The meeting on 17 October agreed to follow Bucks County Council and call the new library Flackwell Heath Community Library. But the organisation that will be running it will be a Charity called the Friends of Flackwell Heath Library. Chairman Dave Johncock reported that the Head of Library Services at Bucks CC had agreed to increase the proposed annual grant to the library by £3000 to £18000. This is in addition to the cost of the computer system to keep track of borrowings, reservations etc and £4000 pa for new books. This brings library funding to virtually the same as the existing annual cost of the current library less staffing costs. Dave Johncock said it was “very much in the spirit” of the public meetings held in 2010 and early 2011, and will put the Community Library on a sound financial footing from the outset. He was also pleased to announce that the Cherry Fayre committee had decided to donate its 2012 profit to the Community Library. Janet Webb of Bucks CC is organising training for volunteers who will be working at the library desk. The Bucks library network uses the Spydus system and Janet will be organising training in January for 5 computer literate people, especially people with library or retail experience. The Spydus training will be two half day sessions and a further eight hours training in a library. Other volunteers who will work on the counter will have an e-learning training course that they can do from home plus hands on experience in local libraries. There will also be training for volunteers in Reference and Information Service. Training in Health & Safety can also be arranged. If you would like to join the FH Community Library team and benefit from these training opportunities please contact Michael Russell at michael@sedgmoor.plus.com or 01628 531343. At the July meeting of Friends of Flackwell Heath Library Cllr Dave Johncock was elected as Chairman, Cllr Mike Appleyard was elected Vice-Chairman and Caroline Wace was co-opted as Secretary. Dave Johncock and Mike Scullion had worked together before and Dave was able to persuade him to join the Committee. Mike has been treasurer to the Residents Association, the Community Association and he chaired the Cherry Fayre Committee in 2008. And just to make sure everyone gets on with it, the Dave Johncock announced that the provisional target date for the takeover of the library would be the first week of April 2012. Getting through the formalities may take a little longer but the Friends have every hope of meeting this target. Two working groups were formed. One to draw up a business plan to show Bucks County Council and the second to prepare the paperwork to set the FFHL up as a charity. Volunteers The new library will be a community project and it will need the support of the community. There is a need for people with a wide range of skills and interests such as teaching people (often potential silver surfers) how to use computers, people who can design posters, deliver leaflets, arrange displays etc etc. please contact Michael Russell at michael@sedgmoor.plus.com or 01628 531343. Tim Kendell l |
| Flackwell Heath Library Meeting Hits Hiatus (Feb 2011) |
Library Action Group The meeting of the Library support group on Monday 21 February was unable to make plans for the future library because it is still not clear what will happen to the present premises. Schools in Buckinghamshire are being pressed to reinstate school dinners. Carrington Infant School has already gone ahead. Space within the Junior school is limited, and although the Governors were thinking of using the school hall in the first instance, it was possible that in the future they may want to use some or all of the present Library space (which attached to the School and is leased to the Library). Cllr Appleyard will ask the BCC Legal and Property people to clarify the situation. If the library group does not know what premises the future library is going to have nor what the rent and premises costs will be, it would be premature to make plans for the future. It was agreed, however, that some research into the details of the finances and the legal situation would be useful. Bucks CC have said that they would put £28 000 into the Flackwell Library and any further costs would have to be met by funds raised by the village. Cllr Appleyard said that there were many unanswered questions about the financing of the project and the requirements of the lease. Rosemary Saunders and Don Graham volunteered to help him and he is going to put them in touch with officers of BCC for consultation while he is visiting family in Australia in March. Three objectives for the new library have been agreed with Bucks CC on the understanding it may be necessary to amend them in future. 1 To provide a library service that is free to customers 2 To provide the widest range of books, DVDs etc at least to current levels. 3 Need to employ a professional Librarian It was suggested that one way to raise funds would be to make a small charge for each book borrowed but Bucks CC are banned from charging for loans. If we charged, the library could no longer have access to the Bucks CC books. The next meeting will be in late March Tim Kendell |
| A Library for the Future (Jan 2011) | ||
Library Action Group There will be a meeting of people willing to create and operate the FH Community Library on the evening of 3 February at Carrington School. (Time yet to be arranged). Paula Buck, Head of the Library and Culture Department of the Bucks County Council or one of her team, will lead a workshop on the practicalities of running a Community Library. This will be followed by a discussion on the first things that need to be done and who is going to do them. This will be an opportunity to meet with other people interested in being involved in managing the new library and / or being a community librarian. Bucks County Council will be mailing information about the meeting to people who have registered an interest with Cllr Mike Appleyard. Cllr Appleyard is keen to recruit as many volunteers as possible who are willing to make a practical contribution. If you have not already registered with him please email him now mappleyard@buckscc.gov.uk . He will add you to his contact list. Cllr Appleyard is very keen to help establish a Community Library in Flackwell Heath but he does not want to chair the Management Committee. Once the general policy is agreed and a committee / action group is established he would like someone else to chair the Committee and he will gladly serve as a Committee member. Tim Kendell |
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