Staffordshire’s community managed libraries are about to receive £1 million of investment.
Almost all the 27 CMLs are receiving a share of the money to spend on their public areas.
Investment includes new furniture, refurbishing children’s areas and upgrading front counters.
Hayley Coles, Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet member for Communities and Culture, said:
Our community managed libraries are inspirational, with local groups devoting their time and energy to benefit their communities.
We want to ensure they have the resources they need to thrive.
This money will be spent on improving the parts of the libraries that the public use every day.”
Staffordshire’s approach to its community managed libraries is regarded as among the most successful in the country.
The county council provides practical support such as covering agreed costs, underwriting building maintenance, providing wifi and book stock, so management groups can focus on delivering what their communities want – with the help of a dedicated council support officer.
Over the last decade Staffordshire’s CMLs have won hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of grants unavailable to local authorities, distributed thousands of testing kits during the pandemic and expanded to be community bases for dozens of local volunteer services.
Others have launched business start-up advice centres, enabled volunteers to learn skills that lead to jobs or education, and hosted groups for everything from rural transport schemes to knit ‘n’ natter sessions.
The willingness and ability of the CMLs to adapt and become community hubs has inspired the Council’s Libraries Strategy 2026-2028.
Libraries, including the 16 directly managed by the county council, are being encouraged to host and offer a wide range of local services, advice, activities and community support, alongside the delivery of the core service.
Hayley Coles added:
In many communities a library is often the only council building on the High Street, so it makes sense for that building to be available as a resource to support the community – and to be used as a gateway to access other services.”