THERE are no plans to close any of Merthyr Tydfil’s public libraries next year, a councillor has said.
Councillor Gareth Lewis, cabinet member for education, made the comment in response to a question from the leader of the opposition Councillor Geraint Thomas at full council on Wednesday, December 4.
A report which went before full council summarised the assessment for Merthyr Tydfil’s library services in 2023/2024 which had been run by the leisure trust but that has since been dissolved.
The report said that before the pandemic Merthyr Tydfil public libraries were performing well and were able to complete ongoing strong returns.
It said that the library service had engaged in returning to pre-pandemic levels of service and rebuilding customer engagement levels throughout 2022/23.
But during 2023/24, financial restrictions under the Merthyr Tydfil Leisure Trust meant that cutbacks affected stock purchase and staffing levels, which in turn meant reductions in service hours.
Merthyr’s library service meets 10 of the 13 core entitlements in full, two in part and does not meet one entitlement.
Of the seven quality indicators with targets, Merthyr is achieving four in full, one in part and two were not achieved.
Three actions are being put in place to address those entitlements or quality indicators not or partially met.
Cllr Lewis said the interview process for new library staff had concluded and offers of employment would be made, the new website was being constructed and would go live by the end of the month and a public consultation on opening hours would start before Christmas and run until the end of January.
The entitlement that was not met was “Libraries in Wales will ensure friendly, knowledgeable and qualified staff are on hand to help.”
The report said that Merthyr Libraries had previously met this entitlement, but through financial constraints existing staff retired or left the service and were not replaced.
Welsh Government offered bursaries to staff to undertake training this year and this was offered to staff but at the moment with no take up.
On the core entitlement “Libraries will provide appropriate, safe, attractive and accessible physical spaces with suitable staffed opening hours” the report said that the reduction in staffing in 2023 meant that existing library opening hours could not be maintained and opening hours were reduced by 30% across Merthyr Tydfil.
Only Merthyr Library is open on Saturday currently and even with the reduction in opening hours, maintaining opening hours with existing staffing has proved difficult, the report said.
It said that this has led to staff not always being able to take leave, and releasing staff for training has also proved difficult.
The action mentioned in the report was that the council is out to advertisement for two new members of staff.
And on the core entitlement “Libraries in Wales provide access to their library service strategy, policies, objectives and vision, in print and online, in a range of languages appropriate for the community” it said that the library pages on the Wellbeing Merthyr website had provided access to Merthyr libraries, but following the dissolution of Merthyr Tydfil Leisure Trust the website came under the governance of Halo, and the library pages were no longer maintained.
A new library website is under construction by the council’s IT department with a new library strategy being brought to council in Spring 2025.
In terms of the quality indicators either not or partially being met, the report said that during the last year, the service lost several experienced and knowledgeable staff, including one of the two qualified librarians.
From an already low baseline in 2022/2023 total staffing has decreased by almost one-third and Merthyr Tydfil therefore fails to meet targets for total staff per capita and qualified staff per capita.
The action to address is that the council is out to advertisement for additional staff, a planned “visioning day” for all staff in spring and planned opportunities using the council’s organisational development team.
On another quality indicator, the reduction in available staff led to a 30% reduction in library opening times and the target for opening times per capita is no longer met.
To address this, the council has a planned consultation with residents to seek views on revised opening hours, additional staff will provide more outreach opportunities, new public access screens and computers will allow staff the opportunity to deliver a wider range of activities and the development of volunteer led library services as part of the community focused schools agenda is being considered.
And Merthyr Libraries no longer meets the target for up-to-date and appropriate reading material and is now in the bottom quartile of Welsh library authorities for this measure.
The action to address is that the budget is made the right size to support this expectation.
Cllr Lewis said staff are undoubtedly doing their best in a challenging situation and that a level of stability has now been achieved.
He said in no way are the concerns raised a reflection of the hard working and dedicated library staff.
He said: “I very much hope that the return of library services to the council present staff with a new found optimism. That a sense of momentum has now gathered for the future direction of the service in overcoming the shortfalls presented in the report.
“Quite clearly at a senior leadership and governance level, you were let down, let down by Merthyr Tydfil Leisure Trust and also to the detriment of the public.”
He said the loss of staff and reductions in funding inevitably had a significant negative impact and said they must now sure each action is addressed.
He said Merthyr has a rich history of libraries and that it’s important that they continue to adapt to suit the needs of a digital age and whenever possible become community hubs adding that schools also have an important part to play.
