LB Hounslow approves budget to upgrade libraries

Chiswick Library; Photograph A. Mc Murdo

Introducing a ‘self-service’ model in extended hours

Hounslow Council has approved the budget to modernise and upgrade Hounslow’s Community Hub and Library services.

The aim is to deliver ‘a modern, sustainable, and financially resilient service’ across Hounslow’s 11 Community Hubs and Libraries.

It has also just announced a programme to provide free books for under-fives, and a library card for newborns, to encourage new parents to make use of libraries.

READ ALSO: Free books for under fives

Earlier this spring the Council carried out a programme of work to develop libraries into ‘community hubs’ – not altering their role as providers of books, but widening the range of services libraries are able to offer.

READ ALSO: Chiswick Library to become a ‘Community Hub’

The public can talk to a member of staff about a range of issues, and their role now includes helping people to get online ‘to find services and support that meets their needs’.

The Council has now approved a budget of £1.2 million for a programme of building work to upgrade libraries and the installation of new technology which will begin in early 2027.

The plan is to extend the hours libraries are open by making them ‘self-accessible’ to anyone with a library card after the hours the staff are there. The first self-access enabled locations are set to go live from April 2027.

The Council says it will continue to deliver local services with staff community and library officers, assistants and community hub advisors, but the upgrade provides:

‘an opportunity for the service to expand its volunteering offer to boost community involvement’.

Aim to save money, but to increase opening hours by as much as 80% at the same time

Part of the aim is to save money. Registered library members will be able to access locations using their library card while libraries are unstaffed, and the buildings will be monitored remotely by CCTV.

‘Volunteer, community and social enterprise groups will be welcomed into Community Hubs and Libraries during self-access times.

‘There may be opportunities for trusted groups to use spaces in Libraries that would otherwise be restricted during self-access hours to run classes or workshops, based on the outcomes of site by site risk assessments.

The hope is that by moving to a self-access model, the total number of hours Community Hubs and Libraries in the Borough are open could be increased by as much as 80%.

The plan envisages that all the sites will be open for longer than they are currently, and for them to have automated collection lockers.

The Council will now embark on a programme of public engagement throughout the summer and autumn, to discuss it in community hubs, area forums, popup events and through online events and platforms.

It will set up focus groups ‘to seek the feedback of groups expected to be at higher risk of impact by the changes’.