Another reason not to come into Rhuthun/Ruthin on Mondays, then. It seems in future our library won't be open that day. Neither on Wednesdays, as now. And, for the rest of the time, hours will be condensed. In fact, the number of hours open per week could reduce by 43 per cent.
'The proposed hours mean I can access my nearest or next-nearest library when I need to'
How worried should we be that Rhuthun's library opening hours are likely to be shrunk by 43 per cent; and the number of days cut from four & a half days open to two 'full' days & two half days? It may be that we always pick the wrong times or days but our experience is that the number using Rhuthun library is now quite low. Little wonder, then, in the coming crisis that the county council is consulting on reduced hours. This against a backdrop of few actual real cuts to libraries in the previous 15 years. In those years, libraries have managed to swerve cuts and a number of near misses.
The current consultation on the reductions does not give enough information. For example, we have no idea about the following:
- If any, what are the other options? (They mention a reduction in hours being preferable to some closures but we don't get a choice. And what about libraries versus, I don't know, reduced street cleaning or reduced grass cutting?)
- What are the savings and how do these relate to current costs. In other words, will budgets reduce by 43 per cent and what is the actual saving. How many staff are likely to lose their jobs and at what cost?
- Whether some or all of the services could be accommodated by volunteers. (This is such a big ask of people in a community the size of Rhuthun but it has happened elsewhere.)
- How many people use the library, what is the age profile and how will they be affected. And whether user trends are up, down or static. Is the library service doing well when measured against other authorities? Are there more or fewer users in Rhuthun than, say, Dinbych and, if so, should one open longer than the other?
- How many children rely on the library for their reading material and how might this contribute to their future literacy, in Welsh and English.
- How many in future will have difficulty in accessing online services (the library offers free internet access).
- How many have relied upon Rhuthun library as a winter 'warm space'.
| Rhuthun Library | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| Current | 9.30 - 5 | 9.30 - 6 | Closed | 9.30 - 5 | 9.30 - 5 | 9.30 - 12.30 |
| Proposed | Closed | 10 - 5 | Closed | 10 - 1 | 10 - 5 | 10 - 12.30 |
The proposals see a complete closure on Mondays as well as the current Wednesdays. This results in another blow to the staggeringly low Monday footfall and the many fewer shops open. A Monday closure will reinforce the current problems we see that day.
All that said, at least in Rhuthun the one stop shop (at county hall) and library are separate. That isn't the case in other towns. There aren't any proposals to close Rhuthun's one stop shop (of which we are aware). And, these days, there are such things as Borrowbox, so that connected people can borrow books and read journals without bothering to visit a library at all.
The consultation states, 'It is our hope that if the economic situation improves, we will be able to restore the opening times of our libraries back to their current levels'. In our experience, this is somewhat optimistic.
We can expect more of this sort of thing for 2024/25. Plus the inevitable ahead-of-inflation council tax increase, of course.
Finally, let us take you back to a time when library fines were in a few old pence; when the library did not open at all on Saturdays; when you had to visit to undertake the longer and more arduous school projects; when encyclopaedias not the internet were the source of general knowledge; and there was no Amazon Kindle. Mind you, we did have a bookshop back then.
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