Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 5 October 2016
15. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the rationale for the proposed use of staffless libraries; and if he will reconsider the introduction of this policy in view of opposition from library staff and local communities. [28699/16]
View answerWhat is the rationale for the proposed use of staffless libraries? These proposals have met with strong opposition from staff, library users and local communities. Will the Minister reconsider the introduction of this policy? There are many people with disabilities and visual impairment and this is a retrograde step in the use of libraries.
My Department is working with local authorities to extend the initial pilot phase of the open library service, an initiative under Opportunities for All, A Strategy for Public Libraries 2013-2017. As part of the "My Open Library" service, participating branches will open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days per week. Regular staffed hours will be complemented by unstaffed hours, thereby providing increased access for users and communities to a broad range of library services at times when access to these services and facilities would otherwise be unavailable. To be clear this involves increased access. We had this discussion last week. It is extra activity not a reduction in hours. The services will include book lending, Wi-Fi, computers and printing facilities, study spaces and community facilities. It will open up the space at night to make it available for communities to have meetings and use the library services.
The pilot is being extended to 20 or so branches on foot of the successful initial trial of the service in Tullamore, Banagher and Tubbercurry libraries. Feedback from users in these branches has been very positive to date. I heard in the debate last week that people had fears and concerns. There have been no problems in the pilot phase in the three libraries. There have been no difficulties. Staff are very happy, some have said publicly that they were delighted with the service and the increased activity. I do not really understand the issue here and why people are fighting back on this. There are other issues that people might have concerns about in libraries but this initiative is to increase the services by having additional opening hours to provide services.
The aim of the extended pilot is to gather further learning and to develop a model that may be rolled-out on a mainstream basis in the longer term. We are confident that the service will continue to grow in popularity with users and communities and will be supported fully by staff in the participating branches. Accordingly, we have no plans to reconsider the introduction of the service. We plan to increase and enhance it and I encourage more local authorities to avail of it.
The Minister of State says it provides increased services but we have seen in the past with other services that this can lead to privatisation and the big worry is that we are going down that road, which poses a threat to the staff and their jobs. People who are impaired or who have disabilities will not have the same access to staff members. They may need help and so on. Why not extend this as a normal process of opening the libraries up more for people and provide the staff to do that? I do not know why we are going to have a personal identification number, PIN, and other mechanisms to get into a library. A library is a place where there should be a member of staff to help people. What will happen if someone comes in and causes problems with anti-social behaviour? We expect a library to be silent. It would make more sense to have staff on hand.
Here we go again with the scaremongering. I heard this last week. This pilot scheme has run in three locations. There have been no difficulties or concerns. It is typical of Sinn Féin to try to raise red flags where there are no problems. This is a positive development. I understand what the Deputy says about people with disabilities wanting to access this. This is a start to increase the service. There is no danger to anyone’s job. This is not to replace staff. It is a commitment to increase the offering of the service and to build on it and collect data. The number of users has been very positive and that might lead in the future to having more staff in these hours because users show they want to use it over the Christmas holidays, bank holidays and at night too. The Minister wants to speak about Sligo.
I want to give some reassurance. We have had some difficult debates in respect of Sligo libraries.
I commend the Minister on his work in respect of that issue.
We have worked through those issues and have given sanction for some more staff to deal with those issues.
This is not the thin end of the wedge, this is a case of using technology to open library hours for much longer than is the case because people are working. I have seen the technology working in one of the libraries in Cork. A person is given a fob and can drop books back and collect others late into the evening when the library would normally not be open. This is using technology to extend opening hours. It is no more nor less than that. We have not rushed it. It has been a pilot project and so far it has been a great success.
No one is saying this is not working but there could be problems and it would have made more sense to provide staff. People and staff have said this, as have service users in the disability sector. I do not understand why it is such a big issue. It seems like cost-cutting instead of putting an extra few bob in place to provide more staff. Ultimately, it will probably lead to the privatisation of services. The Minister of State may laugh but I have seen that happen in the past. This is not a Sinn Féin issue. This comes from concerns raised by constituents across the board. Our libraries have been a great asset to the people, particularly those in working class areas who cannot afford to buy books. Not having someone on hand might work in certain places but not necessarily in others.
It is apt to say that our libraries are great assets and that we want to increase their use. This is a common approach across the world to extend their opening hours.
In an ideal world, and if we had the resources, we would provide more staff if they were required, but is it not better to have the libraries usable at night time, weekends, Christmas, Easter and bank holidays when they were not in the past? That is what we are trying to do. The intention is not to cut back on anyone's hours or do away with someone's job. There is a strong commitment to develop the library service and to increase the usage numbers, and the statistics on the three libraries that were involved in the pilot show increased usage. Members signed up to this because they wanted the service. They had asked for it. It is part of a consultation process, and it might lead to even greater services because people are showing that they want to go to their library at night-time, weekends, Christmas and Easter. We can adapt to that, but this is about gathering information and having the libraries open longer. It is common for someone in a university or other educational facility to use their fob to go into the library. It is the normal approach to doing business. This must be viewed as an enhancement of the service. The Deputy should not talk about the privatisation of libraries because that is so far from the truth. It is typical of the Deputy who cannot take a positive approach to what is a positive development.
