In January the Committee endorsed plans to develop a new strategy for the future of Cambridgeshire’s Library Service in order to meet tough financial savings. Part of this work involves the Council working with others to increase support for people to build skills and employment whilst encouraging local economic growth.
Proposals are being put forward to change the third floor of Central Library, enabling the service to develop an income whilst supporting employment prospects and small local businesses.
The recommended option would see the Library Service work with a commercial partner to develop an enterprise centre. The opportunity would be taken to update and make some improvements on the other two floors, as the library has not been updated since it reopened in 2008. The first floor would focus on popular reading resources, state of the art technologies, enlarged children’s library and an area aimed at young adults. The second floor of the library would focus on reference resources and continue to offer an area for research and quieter studying – ensuring a library service for all the community.
Christine May, Cambridgeshire County Council’s Head of Community and Cultural Services said “The Library Service needs to transform in order to make savings of more than £1.8million over the next three years. The way we live and work is changing fast; libraries in the future will need to be very different to how they are today and this is a step towards ensuring the service remains relevant to people’s needs and responds to the challenges we face.”
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Enterprise centre proposals to be discussed
6 March 2015
Cambridgeshire County Councillors are set to discuss proposals to create an enterprise and innovation centre in Cambridge Central Library at the next Highways and Community Infrastructure Committee on 17 March.