Community meeting: all welcome

The library committee has been meeting every fortnight since forming in March, and plans are now moving at pace. Now we need your support!

Our draft business plan has been approved by Bucks CC, and we hope to take the library into community management before Christmas.

Please join us at a community meeting from 19.30 on 21 September in the upstairs room at Ivinghoe Town Hall to hear about the next steps and what you can do (however small!) to support our library into the future.

Topics will include volunteering opportunities, fundraising, getting local schools involved, engaging with local clubs and groups, how the service can be improved in future, and more!

Everyone is welcome  – even if you need to arrive late or leave early. The session won’t involve too much sitting and listening so there should be enough to occupy older children. We are keen to hear your thoughts. Refreshments will be provided.

In the meantime:
– The attached a poster promotes the meeting – please feel free to put it up on your nearest notice board to help spread the word
– Our Top Reads survey asks for your favourite  authors and seeks your views about the library.  Please take a few moments to answer and encourage friends and neighbours too!

We look forward to seeing you on the 21st.

Tell us your top ten favourite books

What is your favourite book or author? Is Pistone fond of murder mysteries? Does Marwsorth have a soft spot for sci-fi? What books would you curl up with on a rainy day? If you live in the Beacon Villages, the Friends of Ivinghoe Library want to know!

We are running a short online survey  to collect suggestions from children and adults living in Ivinghoe, Pitstone, Marsworth, Edlesborough, Cheddington and the surrounding area.  It will only take a few minutes and is for a good cause.

Please click to TAKE PART now.

We will reveal the full list in the autumn. It will be a bit of fun, but we will also use the list to help gain publicity as the library continues its journey to become a community-run service, and your choices can be used to help make sure we are stocking the types of books you love most.

Draft business plan completed

After a couple of months of fortnightly meetings and much midnight oil burned, the FOIL committee has completed a draft business plan setting out how the library would be run in future.

The plan has been submitted to Bucks CC for their initial comments but will remain a fluid draft for some time, with room for comment and refinement.

In short, the plan says:

• The library will be renamed the Beacon Villages Community Library to reflect the wide useage beyond Ivinghoe
• As of April 2012, the BVCL will be run by the BVCL management committee, a sub-committee to be established under the Ivinghoe Town Hall management committee (and existing charity)
• This will help the library to work closely with the Town Hall, shop and post office to act as a valable ‘hub’ for the community and a way of promoting and supporting our local area
• BVCL will continue to benefit from the services of our library manager, supported by volunteers.
• The aim is to match the service currently provided by the county, with a view to improving and refining it in future, and extending opening hours with volunteer help
• In addition to providing books, BVCL will continue to provider wider information services, from advice on leisure facilities or local B&Bs, to help with bus pass applications
• It is not believed that charitable grasnts are a sustainable source of funding because few trusts will cover running costs and this year sees an exponential growth in community libraries, making competition very tough just as most grant-givers has less to spend because of the recession
• Therfore, the BVCL seeks instead to build a sold base of commercially raise funds
• In the short term, the service will be funded by: a grant and support from Bucks CC, income from thre shop/post office rent, exisitng income (room hire, DVD fees), a new Friends Scheme. In addition we will seek brudge funding from the five local Parish Councils where most library users live.

Unlike the 13 other would-be community libraries, Ivinghoe has a specific challenge. Our users are spread across the Beacon Villages, with a quarter from Ivinghoe, half from Pitstone, and most of the remainder from Marsworth, Cheddington and Edlesborough.

This means that community engagement will be tricky because we will need to speak to not one but fives schools, parishes etc. For that reason our first one-three years will be spent building solid engagement with the whole community to put us in a better position to recruit volunteers and raise funds in future.

We will shortly be kicking off our engagement programme by speaking to local schools and running a survey to find out the Beacon Villages Top Reads and seek views.

We will soon be looking for volunteers to help in the library and/or sit on the management committee, help with fundraising, and general support (such as helping us put up posters on village notice boards in your area). If you would like more details, please email ivinghoelibrary@gmail.com.

You can download the BVCL Business Plan here. If you have thoughts or comments, please email: ivinghoelibrary@gmail.com.

FOIL at the Parish annual meetings

FOIL secretary Emma Huxley will be giving an update at the Ivinghoe annual Parish meeting  and the Pitstone annual assembly on 17 May.

She expects to be in:

• Ivinghoe at 8pm (meeting at the Village Centre)
• Pitstone at 9.30 (meeting at the Memorial Hall)

Please do come along with any questions you might have.

Down to business

The committee had its first official meeting on 6 May in the library. There was one point on the agenda: the business plan.

We agreed that we should aim for a three-year plan and set out two key points: the service we aim to provide and how it will be funded. All being well, year one will centre of matching the existing service provided by Bucks CC. In years two and three, additional funding from trusts and foundations, local businesses, community fundraising and/or commercial/revenue raising activity will hopefully allow the friends to tailor the service to better meet the needs of the community.

The committee will be meeting about every fortnight to continue work on the plans. Once a draft is prepared, the committee will seek feedback from the community.

Minutes from the meeting will be available shortly on the minutes page. To find out about up coming community meetings, which are open to all, please visit the meetings page.

Read all about it!

In April shortly after the last meeting, (and just as she was packing her bag and setting off for the airport!) Emma received a call from a chap at the Tring Gazette. He wanted to hear about the library’s situation and write a report.

He also wanted a photo of some of the group outside the library. Against all the odds (well, bank holiday confusions), Karen managed to organise a motley crew to pose for the snapper.

The article explained the state of play and hopefully informed more people in the area about the fight – and the need for everyone to be involved and act to support our local library. To read all about it, see the article, below:

Moving forward

On 4 April a fairly large group met in the Rose and Crown… and so did the sewing group, Ivinghoe Ents and a fair few ‘real’ customers. So we took pity on the groaning bar area and instead adjourned to Geoff and Hazel’s (many thanks).

During the lively meeting, discussion ranged from talking about a logo and new new for the group (and even the library) to how we might raise funds to secure the library in future.

We agreed that the time had come to start work on the business plan – a task better suited to a more focused group. So meeting agreed that from that date on the friends group plans to hold regular committee meetings to work on the business plan, and monthly community meetings where the committee can update everyone on their progress. When the draft business plan is complete, it will be presented back to the community for consultation.

Full minutes for the meeting are available here.

Meeting announced

The next meeting will be held on Monday 4 April at 7.30 at the Rose and Crown pub. Please do come and join us.

The friends re-form

On 16 March 2011, a group met in Ivinghoe Town Hall to reconstitute the Friends of Ivinghoe Library.

A committee was formed: Emma Huxley took on the role of secretary and Sandie Emmerson agreed to be treasurer.

During the meeting the group raised concerned about the level of cuts that the county wishes to make, considered the budget and discussed ideas for improving the library service to better meet the needs of the community. Ideas included:

• Expanding homework club
• Telling people what they can do in the library (eg researching ancestry using the computers, if applicable)
• Explore possibility of e-books and/or using ‘Kindles’ (electronic book reading devices)  – possible way to expand access to greater range of books despite space constraints
• Scheme to share books among residents alongside the library, or to seek book donations
• Catering for known local special interests (eg linking to the various clubs/hobby groups in the village for sewing/knitting, photography etc)

For full details, read the minutes of the meeting.

 

16/03/2011