Libraries more popular than ever

Smallbridge Library

The boroughs libraries are getting better according to the people who use them – and it’s official. Last October over 3,000 library users in the borough were quizzed on their opinions to help the council improve and the results are in.

Over 93% of users are happy overall with their library, higher than the national average. And in 2009 there were more visits to libraries in the borough than ever before.

Since the last survey, libraries in Heywood, Smallbridge and Langley have been dramatically refurbished, and all three got the thumbs up from users. Darnhill library was re-opened in November, just missing out on the survey, but public feedback so far has been excellent.

The results show customers really appreciate all aspects of the service, with typical comments including: “I’d be lost without the library”, “It’s been an important part of my life and provided immense pleasure.” Middleton Library was described as “a must for the local community” and Milnrow Library as “a great place to come for inspiration.”

It’s not just about reading for pleasure - over one in five people said that the library helped them with their health, and one in three said the library helped them with their work.

But the hard work starts now, said Philip Cooke, Performance and Development Manager responsible for broadening the appeal of the boroughs libraries and increasing visitor numbers: “It’s vital local libraries deliver good quality services that people need. We’ve trawled through all the thousands of comments made in the survey, our comments forms and talked to our customers, and we now want to make sure libraries get even better. We’ve been given lots of suggestions for improvement, and we are planning to address these now.”

Customers said they wanted to be able to borrow the latest films on DVD, so this new service will be launched in April.

Some said there should be more help to use the computers that are now available in libraries, ensuring people make the most of the free internet access available. Mr Cooke said that extra training courses are going to be held soon: “We’ve also been asked to increase the number of titles available in Urdu, so we’re addressing this straight away.”

Lots of people who completed the survey wanted longer opening hours at their library, added Mr Cooke: “People seem to really love their library, but want it to be open for longer, so we’re going to do all we can to make this happen. Overall I think the results are a great start, but we also want to find out what would make more people use their library. But our libraries are more popular now than ever before, so that’s got to be a great foundation to build on.”