Help save Brighton & Hove libraries!

Help save Brighon & Hove libraries!

Some cost-saving measures are being proposed for the city’s libraries:

• Closing Hollingbury, Rottingdean and Westdene libraries
• Reducing the opening hours of Jubilee Library by 2 hours on Monday evenings and by 3 hours on Sunday afternoons
• Reducing the opening hours of Hove Library by 2 hours on Wednesday evenings and by 3 hours on Saturday afternoons

We recently attended the Jubilee library consultation, and the stakeholders seemed to be unaware of the smartphone-free changes currently happening across the city. It is therefore very important that you let the council know how important the libraries are in this context.

It only takes a few minutes and could make a big difference to our children being able to access this screen-free environment! 

You can also email your views directly at [email protected].

Please find below some ideas for the optional comments and some additional information. We hope this will make the survey even easier to fill out:

• Talk about how the closures or reduction in hours impacts your family - be specific. For example (adapt to your own case!):
  • “I take my older child to the Hove library on Saturday afternoons to get them away from screens and so they can read in quiet”
  • “Wednesday evenings are the only time I can take my children to the library as I am working or they are in school at other times.”
  • “I have mobility issues and would struggle swapping from the Rottingdean library to the Saltdean library as suggested in the plan”
• Talk about how closing libraries is a short-sighted gain and could have downstream effects on public health. For example:
  • “We know that across the city, children are arriving in primary schools with delays in development most likely due to exposure to screens. Providing a screen-free environment to families is crucially important to develop those comprehension and verbal communication skills.” Reducing the library budget could end up costing the schools and the council more in the long-run.”
  • “At a time where screen time is replacing story time, we need to encourage and foster the love of reading across the city. Libraries are the obvious place for this, and we should increase their hours not reduce, and increase the programs they run such as the Summer Reading Challenge”
• Mention how library users shouldn’t suffer from the Council Help Desks
  • “In May this year the council’s Customer Service Centres have been moved to the Jubilee Library and Hove Library. Reading the point 4.6 in the sustainability plan, it sounds like this prevented the 10am to 5pm times from being considered for reduced hours. Families accessing the Hove Library on Saturday afternoons shouldn’t be the ones to sacrifice. If the council uses the libraries as help desk, then some additional budget should be allocated from other services to fund this.”

🏛️ Library sustainability plan

https://democracy.brighton-hove.gov.uk/documents/s209093/Library Sustainability Plan.pdf

Long document but quite interesting to hear the rationale behind the proposal. For example, it sounds like the timeslots chosen for the reduction of hours for Jubilee and Hove is not just footfall but also because of the Council Help Desks (see above on how to mention that in the survey).

We know everyone is busy and there already aren’t enough hours in the day, but if you can take just a few minutes to fill in the survey it really could make a difference for children across the city and for our whole community. 

Thank you for your support!

Smartphone Free Childhood Brighton & Hove
sfcbrighton.co.uk
[email protected]