Space to Place: Try Something new in Garforth, Leeds

Overview of the project

Leeds Library and Information service, part of City development, Leeds City Council, successfully bid into and was awarded £1.4 million from the Communities Libraries Big Lottery fund.

The funding is extending and refurbishing a dull 1960’s building into a new vibrant creative library space and One Stop Centre, containing a community café with locally sourced produce,  a new IT suite,  facilities for young people,  and feature a lift, ramp, downstairs meeting room. The latest environmental technology is being incorporated e.g a living Sedum room, and use of solar panels to generate heat.

A comprehensive community engagement plan has been adopted in order to ensure that individual and local communities have a powerful voice and influence in creating and shaping new service that will be available in the new building after opening.

Name of institution conducting the project:

Leeds City Council: Leeds Library and Information Service.

Partners include Leeds city council customer services, Area management and Youth service

URL project website

newgarforthlibrary.blogspot.com

Description of site/project

The implementation of  the community engagement plan is providing evidence that local communities as well a individuals are shaping the new services that will be delivered in the new building.

Community drop in sessions were held in the old library in September 2008, the aim of these was to generate interest and excitement in the local communities and recruit volunteers to the 9 themed interest focus groups including for the target groups, which were then held during January-March 2009.

Other groups consulted in this way included, Parents, business representatives, primary age children, older people and representatives from the voluntary sector. Especially pleasing was the interest expressed by people from Daniel Yorath House, which supports people with brain injuries.  Each focus group was asked to comment on and suggest ideas of what new services need to be delivered in the new building. This was also an opportunity to promote existing library services that people may not already be aware of e.g. Free IT learning sessions.

Young people who are a target group in this project had the opportunity to participate in creative workshops and film making as they recalled their memories of their use of the former Garforth Youth facility for teenagers, which was previously located in the old library. New work with this group will be commencing shortly around music creation and the planning of possible performances in the new building

There has been an opportunity to develop a partnership with a local coffee House  as the owner is particularly interested in community development and engagement. The coffee house has been used as lively and friendly venues for some of the focus group work. This partnership will continue after the library opens

The focus group’s suggestions have been collated and will be implemented with the support of a new steering group that has been set up, formed from interested representatives for the focus groups. It’s membership spans across different ages, life styles, representing needs and desires for the whole community. This  group will not only advise on the implementation of the  focus group findings, but will also visit other Big Lottery community libraries, and select a large proportion of the bookstock for the new library.

This latter is part of a workforce development element with the community engagement plan which requires evidence that people in the community have been offered opportunities to increase their confidence and learn new skills as a result of participating in the project as well as feel a sense of achievement in their ability to influence the future shape of the service

Part of the Big lottery funding enabled us to purchase a trailer which has been kitted out as a mini ‘showcase’ library. This is being taken around  local community events e.g Garforth Arts Festival, in order to inform and engage with people and groups that may not have in the past, used the library service

Target Audience

The target audiences within the engagement plan are older people and  young people, as we have evidence of these groups in the catchments population form less active borrowers that in other similar communities. Migrant workers have also been identified as a target group as this geographical area attracts many seasonal workers to local farms and agricultural establishments. These groups of people are identified as a hard to reach group, not traditionally using local library services. It is also an opportunity to promote at home services that are provided by Leeds Library and Information service and to recruit volunteers to expand

Who was the project for and why did they need it

• The local library service was  located in a dull uninspiring 1960’s building no longer fit for purpose e.g not  DDA compliant.
• The use of the library and it’s services by older people, younger people and migrant workers was much less that in comparable communities
• There was an opportunity to build and shape a modern vibrant creative space for all the local communities and individuals to enjoy and learn in, as well as bringing other services together under one roof.
• An Equality Diversity and Community Cohesion Impact assessment was drawn up in line with Leeds City Council’s Equality and Diversity policy to ensure that the impacts are understood

Project start date

April 2008

End date

April 2011

How. List of key partners/funding where applicable

• Big lottery £1.4 million including marketing budget and salary of Marketing and Development Librarian post
• Leeds City Council Town and District regeneration £100, 000
• Leeds City Council Asset management feasibility study £10,000

Outcomes: Describe the effect the project had on people

September 2009
70+ people attended the 2 drop in sessions at Garforth Library September 2008

277 comments were recorded as part of the drop sessions and focus group work

December 2008 to April 2009
120 people including school children have been recruited, participated and contributed to focus groups

June to August 2009
14 people have attended the last 2 steering group meetings

Impact: Describe the effect of the project on organizations and/or society in general

• The creative art and filmmaking sessions have really engaged and enthused  young people, and as result 2 young people are now confidently participating in the subsequent steering group meetings
• We have had to opportunity to work with the local historical society and their archives to look at possible digitization and widening community access to their resources, celebrating community memories
• Steering group members and representatives will selected a proportion of the new book stock for the library when it opens so fostering a feeling of ownership

Evaluation: Is there anything that didn’t go as expected, or that you could have avoided

• It is harder to engage with migrant workers than we thought even when focus group questions for their comments and suggestions of what they would like to see in the new library were translated into Polish and given to them. There has been very little response so far
• Leeds Credit Union dropped out as a partner
• It took much longer that we thought to get focus groups set up and running

Is there anything that helped you achieve your goal

• Awareness training and development in facilitating focus groups increased the staff’s confidence and willingness to set up and run the focus groups themselves
• Taking time to engage staff at all different levels e.g setting up a community engagement project team, ensured that all staff felt ownership and had a high level of understanding what we are setting out to achieve
• There was a great deal of willingness in the local communities to be involved and to  contribute to the focus and steering groups, from different community and same interest groups
• Creating a Blog spot to communicate progress has given the local community another additional channel to keep themselves informed, in addition to the more traditional displays and asking for comments from library users
• The use of the trailer has enabled us to engage communities further afield from Garforth itself so they feel engaged in the process as well.

Will the project be continued or rolled out

• The work to achieve the outcomes from the community engagement plan as agreed with Big Lottery will continue after the official opening of the library (possibly February 2010) until April 2011
• Then the outreach, future community engagement and advocacy work will be continued by the librarian based at Garforth Library, and will be absorbed into the annual library planning process for the East area of the library service.

Has it lead to recognition or further opportunities

• The Library service now regularly participates in the Garforth Arts festival as a result of promoting the the new Library and One stop centre with the trailer.
• Recognition of local partners e.g Youth service, has enabled us to work closely with young people e.g Art workshops, which we had not done previously
• Locating One Stop Centre services and area management in the same building will offer much more scope for all the services to adopt a ‘One Council’ approach to customer needs
• Closer working possibilities with Lotherton hall, run by Leeds City Council heritage service are emerging especiall

Future development. How will this work be developed in the future

• The Community Engagement plan and associated workforce activities will be used as consultation and participation model when we plan to refurbish or open new libraries in the future
• Closer and joint working possibilities with Lotherton hall, run by Leeds City Council Heritage service are emerging especially around community history

Contact details

Fiona Titterington
Community Development Manager, East
Rothwell Library
Marsh Street
Leeds LS26 0AE
Tel 0113 2243288/89.
Email address: Titterf01@leedslearning.net