LITTLE CHALFONT COMMUNITY LIBRARY

BUSINESS PLAN

Prepared by the Friends of Little Chalfont Library

For the approval of Bucks County Council

August 2006

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Friends of Little Chalfont Library (FOLCL) group is a well organised team which is fully capable of taking over the operation and management of Little Chalfont Library as a Community Library. FOLCL are committed to maintaining and improving the level of service currently enjoyed, and providing new services for the local community. We have sufficient volunteers to staff an effective library operation. We have a robust financial case for sustained operation. We are requesting to be allowed to continue to run Little Chalfont Library as a Community Library.

2. PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT

This document is prepared to present the case for Bucks County Council to allow the continued operation of Little Chalfont Library as a Community Library.

3, BACKGROUND

BucksCounty Council have announced that it will close Little Chalfont Library on 30th November 2006 due to funding constraints. The Council have offered assistance to groups wishing to run their own libraries provided that such assistance is at no cost to the County.

FOLCL was formed by a number of local residents in order to continue the operation of the library. Over 2000 people signed a petition or wrote to the County Council when the closure announcement was made. A public meeting was held in May 2006 to harness local support. The campaign to keep our library open has featured in national newspapers and radio, as well as national TV, and widely in the local press.

4. SERVICES

FOLCL are determined to maintain and increase the level of service offered by the library. The range of books available for loan – currently around 6500 in the library, with access to the county and national lending network – will continue to be at the heart of the library service. The proposed Mobile Library will be complementary to the services to be provided at Little Chalfont Library.

The library is currently open 23 hours per week. We are confident that we have sufficient volunteers and demand to retain at least the current opening times and to open the library at least one evening a week. (see Appendix 1).

We have had significant interest from local residents in developing new services for the local community, including but not limited to:

  • Book clubs, play readings, and other literary activities
  • Developing the links with the thriving local arts scene and local businesses
  • Using the library space for educational, children’s and other activities
  • Increased community activity for meetings, displays, presentations, and generally serving as a community hub for the village

For further details see Appendix 2.

5. VOLUNTEERS

The level of interest in the local community, coupled with the publicity surrounding the closure, has generated a significant pool of volunteers who have already pledged their time and efforts in running the library operation.

Over 100 local residents have already committed themselves to support the operation by lending and ordering books, re-stocking shelves, providing transport, and carrying out cleaning and maintenance tasks. This allows a comprehensive roster to be drawn up for the manning of the library to cover the hours and services which we propose to offer.

We have worked closely with Chiltern & South Bucks Volunteer Centre to enable job descriptions to be written up for two key roles within the library operation – supervisor and library assistant. Our corps of volunteers already includes a number of trained librarians. All volunteers will be provided with appropriate training before they start working in the library. For further details see Appendix 3.

6. COSTS

Budget figures provided by the Bucks County Council show that the current cost of running the library is £46,300 pa. This figure is made up of employee related costs of £27,900 and operating costs of £22,000, offset by income (largely fines and Internet charges) of £3,600.

In future, when the FOLCL is running the library with the help of volunteer staff, the running costs of the library are estimated to be in the region of £15,500, made up of the following key elements:

Item £

Lease of land and building from BCC (incl. 4500

DC land lease)

Utilities 1700

Cleaning and Maintenance 1800

Insurance 1400

IT, internet and phone costs 2700

Council charges – Book fund 1000

Misc. costs and contingencies 2400

Total£15,500

Although most of the above items can be regarded as firm estimates detailed negotiations with Bucks County Council are on-going. A Contingency has been provided to cover any additional costs as yet unidentified.

These costs do not include Rates as the Community Library expects to achieve charitable status.

These annual running costs do not include one-off capital costs for any significant maintenance or replacement of assets. Any minor repair or refurbishment projects will be planned in advance and monitored closely. Major items or new services that require up-front investmentwill be expected to be self-funding or will be financed through special fundraising exercises.

We will keep operating costs of the library to a minimum by:

  • Using volunteers to run the library operation
  • Carrying out our own cleaning and general maintenance
  • Using local firms to provide the skills for, or sponsor, any specialist maintenance or activities on the fabric of the building
  • Introducing alternative IT infrastructure protocols to reduce connection costs– options are currently being tested by the Council IT experts
  • Achieving a measure of income through Internet access charges and other services (e.g. photocopying)

Through these measures we believe we can reduce operating costs to the level of £15,500 shown above. This would be sustained in the future through community funding from both individuals and local businesses, and fundraising activities carried out by the library and its members.A summary of cost and income is at Appendix 4.

7. FUNDING

Funding the £15,500 annual operating costs, and occasional one-off costs, of the library will be by a combination of:

  • Local resident contributions – to date nearly £10,000 has been committed in support of the library by local residents, of which over £3000 has already been pledged to be repeated annually. This figure will be enhanced by the Gift Aid element once charitable status has been achieved.
  • Donations from local companies and traders – we have already been pledged £2500 by GE Healthcare, which we expect to be an annual donation, and are confident that other local businesses between them will generate a further income of over £4000 annually (see Appendix 5).
  • Grants from local councils – Amersham Town Council have pledged £3000 which we expect to be annually repeated either directly or through the expected Parish Council. The Village Society has agreed to underwrite this contribution in the light of the uncertainty surrounding the status of the Parish Council, and the level of support will be reviewed regularly.
  • Fundraising events and income generated by library operations.

Other sources of funding, such as educational grants, will be pursued to determine their applicability to the library’s financial position.

8. ORGANISATION

FOLCL have formed into an organised group which now has a formalised constitution, officers of chairman, secretary and treasurer in place, and a bank account.

Charitable status is being pursued and the Community Library expects to be registered as a charity before taking over operations in December 2006. It is being set up as an un-incorporated association with a constitution based on a format recommended by the Charity Commission (ref. GD3 on the Charity Commission website).

The operation of the library, and the organisation of its management, is based heavily on the Cambridge model. This is well documented as a proven way for a local community to take over the running of a library in an effective, cost-efficient way.

The progress we have made in planning the operation and management of the library has already led to FOLCL being asked for advice from other local libraries facing closure, and being seen locally as emerging best practice in our approach to running a library. We intend that the success of our organisation and operations will allow us to be seen as a model for future Community Libraries.

9. BCC SERVICES

The Community Library expects to gradually wind down book stocks drawn from Bucks CC thereby reducing the bookfund costs. These will be supplemented by books donated both by local companies and local residents. A core of books will continue to be drawn from Bucks CC, at an anticipated level of around 1000.

The Community Library will also continue to require staff training from Bucks CC, particularly in the weeks leading up to starting operations in December 2006.

We will also continue to order books, and access other library services across the county, using the current system. We will continue to access the Internet via the Bucks CC People’s Network system.

The costs of retaining these services from Bucks CC have been factored into financial forecasts for the library.

10. REPORTING PROGRESS

FOLCL have already had a number of meetings and correspondence with Bucks County Council, Chiltern District Council, and Amersham Town Council. We intend to continue to maintain these productive 2-way communications links. We will report progress to Bucks CC through regular updates and meetings, and develop strong interaction with the Libraries network.

In particular, we are keen to monitor and report our own progress against a number of key performance criteria:

  • Opening hours – to be at least 23 hours per week
  • Foot fall – to retain current footfall in the first year of operation and ideally increase by a percentage each successive year
  • Books loaned – not yet defined, likely to be a target of around 3 times per year
  • Financial – to achieve financial break-even annually even taking one-off costs of renewing or replacing assets into account

Our progress, both generally and also against these key criteria, will be reported to the Bucks CC quarterly by the Chairman of FOLCL.

11. NEXT STEPS

In expectation of a positive result to the presentation of this business plan, we will continue our preparations to take over the library operation. Volunteers have already been briefed, and a duty roster and training plans will be drawn up in preparation for operating the library from 1st December 2006.

Meanwhile, we are also establishing a core stock of books to be supplied by Bucks CC, to be supplemented by donated books. We will be planning to repatriate books that are no longer required.

We are also keeping the local community updated with monthly newsletters detailing progress.

12. SUMMARY

FOLCL has generated sufficient interest in the continued operation of the library that we now have a robust plan to manage, operate and fund the library as a Community Library.

On the basis of the above business plan, the FOLCL requestsBucks CC to allow the continued operation of Little Chalfont Library as a Community Library from 1st December 2006.

APPENDICES

  1. Current and proposed opening hours
  2. Ideas for new services and products
  3. Library volunteers
  4. Annual operating costs and income
  5. Proposed new sources of income generated from local businesses

APPENDIX 1 – CURRENT AND PROPOSED FUTURE OPENING HOURS

CurrentProposed

Sunday closed Mobile Unit (1)

Monday closed closed

Tuesday 10.00 -17.00 10.00-17.00+ Mobile (2)

Wednesday 10.00 -13.00 10.00-13.00

Thursday 10.00 – 13.00 10.00-13.00, 18.00-21.00

Friday 10.00 - 17.00 10.00-17.00

Saturday 10.00 - 13.00 10.00 - 15.00

These opening hours will be complemented by the proposed Mobile Library service which would visit Little Chalfont one and a half days every fortnight, the provisional schedule for which is currently:

(1)Every second Sunday 13.00 – 17.30

(2)Weekly on Tuesday 10.00 – 13.30

APPENDIX 2 - IDEAS FOR NEW SERVICES, PRODUCTS AND INCOME

Increasing existing products and services to include:

Poetry readings / literary festivals
Author visits / book signings / readings
Writing / literary appreciation classes

Evening book club

Play reading

Local amateur art show

Displaying and selling donated pottery items

Liaison with local schools

Computer training / computer clubs

Use of library area for other meetings / classes / presentations

Displays – e.g. of local / national societies (e.g. National Trust, English Heritage, Chiltern Society)

“Meet your local…” (MP, community policeman, station manager, pharmacist, councillor, estate agent, etc)

All of these opportunities are being actively pursued by members of the FOLCL Committee

APPENDIX 3 – SUMMARY OF VOLUNTEERS

1. People

We have had an extremely positive response from our request for volunteers to man the library and contribute to its smooth operation. We have contact details of around 90 local residents who have put their names forward as willing to help in the library from October 2006. In addition a number of others have indicated that they may be in a position to help in the future.

  • Several people are offering to work for one day a week which should help to ensure good continuity of support.
  • We also have offers from 8 people who are former librarians, 4 with local public library experience and four with other library experience.

Added to this list are the current members of the committee of FOLCL – 12 members as at August 2006.

2. Hours

We have nearly 200 hours of help on offer in slots of 2-3 hours a week or more. This would allow us to cover with ease the 23 hours a week that the library is currently open. Using this pool we will also be able to extend our services to the 30 or so hours a week rota, without over-using the time and generosity of our volunteers.

In addition we have over offers from around 12 individuals who can commit to between one and four hours each month (totalling over 30 hours a month).

APPENDIX 4 –ANNUALOPERATING COSTS AND INCOME

Year 1 (up to 30 Nov 2007) / Year 2 (1 Dec 2007-1 Dec 2008) / Year 3 (1 Dec 2008 – 1 Dec 2009) onwards
Total Costs (£) / 16,650 / 15,440 / 15,440
Total Income (£) / 25, 030 / 17,150 / 17,150
Year Surplus (£) / 8,380 / 1,710 / 1, 710

These figures demonstrate that we have a sustainable business plan which will maintain a small surplus year on year after the first year of operation.

Any surplus funds will be spent on developing new products and services for the Community Library, as well as paying for infrequent maintenance items and renewal of library assets.

APPENDIX 5 – PROPOSED NEW SOURCES OF INCOME GENERATED FROM LOCAL BUSINESSES

There are over 60 shops, businesses and traders in Little Chalfont and the immediate area. Of these, a sample of 12 have been directly approached by members of FOLCL to assess their level of interest in supporting the Community Library.

The responsehas been overwhelmingly enthusiastic, despite the uncertainty that many small businesses face. This has given us confidence that the level of commitment from the local business community as a whole will help to sustain the Community Library beyond the first year of operation.

Of the 12 sampled in our market research exercise:

  • 5 would make a presentation – for which admission could be charged or donations taken
  • 6 would be interested in renting a room or space in the library for meetings or client presentations
  • Up to 10 would be interested in some form of advertising in the library, which would generate income, in the form of:

-Appearing in a business directory (10)

-Sponsoring a bookmark (6)

-Business card display (6)

-Advertising special offers or promotions (4)

  • 4 would sponsor a bookshelf
  • 8 offered raffle prizes, ranging in value from £20-100

In addition, specific cases of support from our sample include:

  • A large, successful local garden centre will allow FOLCL to use their outlet for collection days – a charity recently collected £1000 on a single day at this site
  • A local trader organises annual charity events and will give the library £300 of the money raised each year

For these reasons, based on our sample, we are confident in forecasting annually an income generated as a result of local business activity of over £4000, broken down as:

  • £1200 pa from rental of space and advertising
  • £2000 pa from raffle ticket sales
  • £1000 pa from fundraising in conjunction with local traders

Little Chalfont Community Librarypage 1 of 11August 2006