The Committee considered a report which set out the proposed strategic principles that would be put for public engagement in 2025, at a date to be confirmed, and would be reported back to a future meeting for endorsement.

The report explained that the current strategic priorities which had been agreed in 2021 required updating to reflect where the service was today and to reflect the future direction of the service given recent successes in securing Levelling Up funding for a new Central Library and Libraries Investment Funding to invest in digital infrastructure. Since the pandemic, usage of library services had largely returned to pre-pandemic levels and the borrowing of items was higher than pre pandemic levels, arresting a long-term trend. Libraries had worked hard to provide digital content, restore events, and had also been successful in gaining large capital investment into both the Civic Centre Library project and in bidding for external funding, including £495,000 from the Libraries Improvement Fund administered by Arts Council England.

The report set out the proposed principles to guide the service from 2025 - 2028:

·       Ensuring all libraries in the network responded to the needs of communities and built these into external funding applications;

·       Supported children and young people with language and literacy development;

·       Improving digital provision, access and content to support learning and skills;

·       Supporting improvements for Reading’s health, wellbeing, literacy and cohesion;

·       Bringing arts, culture, heritage and creativity into library spaces

The report added that officers would seek to consult with library users and non-users on whether these were the areas for the service to focus on and whether anything should be replaced.

Resolved:

(1)        That the draft strategic principles outlined for future public engagement be agreed and this approach for the library service endorsed;

(2)        That the success of the library service in developing against the strategic principles, including continuing to improve performance, with total loans now higher than in 2019, improved and updated ICT equipment at all sites, a better ICT offer at all sites, particularly Tilehurst and Southcote, and a library app, that offered for free a digital library card, access to e-books, e-magazines and learning resources, be noted.