Minutes:
The Committee was advised that Ms. J. Quinn and Mr. J. McKeegan, representing the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance, were in attendance and they were admitted to the meeting and welcomed by the Chairman.
Mr. McKeegan reminded the Members that Libraries NI proposed to reduce library provision from 32 to 16 libraries across the Greater Belfast area because the current libraries did not all fit with the vision of Libraries NI. Following several requests from the Northern Ireland Public Sector Alliance, Libraries NI had eventually disclosed that the overall savings to be realised if all the proposed closures were to proceed would be in the region of £55,000, representing mainly utility costs. Whilst the Union welcomed the fact that Libraries NI had stated that no staff would lose their jobs, the fact remained that there had already been ad-hoc closures of libraries because there were not enough staff employed currently, particularly at Library Assistant level. The ad-hoc closure of libraries had been caused by understaffing and a continual decline in investment in libraries over many years.
Mr. McKeegan explained that the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure had set out its vision for libraries in its document entitled “Delivering Tomorrow’s Libraries”, which stated that 85% of the population should have access within a two mile radius to a static library provision. He made the point that it would be unlikely that local users would transfer to the next closest library, for example, if Ligoniel Library was to close as had been proposed, the next nearest library was located in Ardoyne and it was unlikely that the Ligoniel users would transfer to that site given the particular circumstances associated with living in Northern Ireland. For many users this would not be through choice, but as a result of access to transport, particularly the young, the elderly, the socially disadvantaged and the unemployed who, in the main, did not have the resources to afford public transport, even if such services to the alternative venues existed.
Mr. McKeegan stated that it was vital that Libraries NI listened to the public when undertaking its consultation exercise. He stated that the Union had accepted that there had been a decline in the usage of libraries but questioned what Libraries NI had done to halt that decline. One means of combating this would be to properly and actively market libraries and the services they offer in order to increase usage. He stated that, rather than close libraries, Libraries NI should be retaining all the current services and put in place a strategy for upgrading the buildings to ensure that users and staff had access to modern facilities.
Ms. Quinn advised the Members that the Union had been campaigning in the east and west of the City and pointing out the importance of maintaining branch libraries. She stated that all of the branches affected by the proposed closures were located in working class areas.
The deputation then answered a number of questions from the Members and the Chairman, on behalf of the Committee, thanked the deputation for attending and they retired from the meeting.