Campaign to increase library usage in Sheffield launched

The Sheffield Libraries SOS campaign is demanding that Sheffield Council put these measures in place as book loans have decreased dramatically since volunteers took over 16 of the city’s branch libraries.

It has been spearheaded by Matt Smith, from Hillsborough, who has also launched a petition which will be presented at a full council meeting on April 1.

Matt, 34, says the neighbouring city of Leeds still has over 30 council-run libraries – many of which are open Sundays and over the Christmas holidays – despite the city having suffered similar austerity cuts as Sheffield.

He added: “I used to go to the library as a child and then stopped but a few years ago I visited Sheffield Central Library and have been ever since. It was a staffed library that provided me with the opportunity to get back into education and they are vital for that and hundreds of other things.

“The petition is to get people talking about libraries, it’s to start that conversation about how important they actually are.”

Sixteen of the city’s 28 libraries are run by community groups after the council approved plans in February 2014 to relinquish control of the sites in a cost-cutting move, with the handover of control taking place in September 2014 after volunteers came forward to keep the sites open.

In 2018, The Star revealed how book lending at Sheffield’s volunteer-run libraries had dropped by about 57 per cent in a period of four years.

The statistics, obtained using the Freedom of Information Act, showed there were 497,934 books borrowed from the 16 libraries while they were still council-run in the financial year 2013/14.

But since the council handed them over to volunteers that dropped to 213,469 in 2017/18.

Matt says that the council should also look at other funding options to renovate and, in the cases of the latter two, reopen and restaff Central, Tinsley Carnegie and Walkley Carnegie libraries as council-run.

To sign the petition before it ends on March 31 click here.