A new deal for Doncaster libraries
Why libraires and library staff are still relevant and why we need change.
Amid much fanfare South Yorkshire mayor recently announced the return of publicly controlled buses were to return to the streets of Doncaster for the first time in over 40 years.
Despite all the progress in technology and private cars becoming more and more affordable and accessible, the need for a properly organised, publicly run transport network has been acknowledged and followed up on.
The same goes for public libraries. The demand for public libraries in Doncaster is booming.
Cost of living crisis, digital exclusion, record levels of homelessness, record low levels of children gaining the bare minimum level of reading at school, the reasons why a staffed library service should be reinstated at all Doncaster libraries are many.
Oliver Coppard has no strategy for our libraries, so maybe it is time to look to the past for a solution and let someone else run them. Up until boundary changes in 1974, most branch libraries in South, East, West and North Yorkshire were managed by the same library service, the West Riding Library Service headquartered in Wakefield.
The disdain with which Doncaster Council and South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority views libraries and their staff can be seen in the amount of staffed libraries which still exist in Doncaster as council run staffed facilities - only three branch libraries, out of the 25 that existed in 2010.
Bircotes in Doncaster is run by Nottinghamshire Libraries and still has staff. Let's recreate West Riding Library Service and bring back staffed library services to every single Doncaster branch library.