Issue - meetings

To consider and endorse or make recommendations to the Cabinet Member for Community Regulatory services on: the decision to implement and publish revised fees and charges changes for Libraries and   Archives services; for the LRA service to progress to inform customers of these changes; fees for Archives Services to be reviewed and agreed in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services once work on implementing upgrades to management and cataloguing systems is completed; and that the annual review and agreement of the LRA fees be delegated to the LRA Head of Service in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services as shown at Appendix A.

James Pearson (Head of Service for Libraries, Registration and Archives) and Barbara Bragg Strategic Manager, Specialist and Support services for Libraries, Registration and Archives) were in attendance for this item.

1. MR M Hill, OBE (Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services) introduced the report which provided an update on the outcome of the Libraries, Registration and Archive (LRA) fees and charges review.

2. Mr Pearson explained to the committee that LRA had completed a full review of Library and Registration fees and charges in order to maximise potential income where appropriate, which would assist LRA meet its Medium Term Financial Plan savings targets; and still deliver its commitment to provide free core service offers. Mr Pearson assured the committee that no new charges had been proposed for services that LRA had not previously charged for and that the review had also been an opportunity where possible to either simplify charges or improve offers for customers. A full list of proposed fees and charges was set out within Appendix B. The proposed decision sought the Cabinet Committees agreement to implement and publish the revised fees and charges that would be effective from 1 April 2018 and that these would be reviewed annually in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services.

3. In response to Members queries around clarification of Hire charges, Mr Pearson noted the suggestions made and agreed to clarify the ‘Hire Charges’ definitions.

4. Members queried how the system recognised the difference between child and adult rates and questioned the reservation cost that had been abolished in 2013. Ms Bragg confirmed that the stock was categorised and the self-service system was able to identify different types of stock to evaluate whether an item was chargeable.  With regard to the reservation fee this was a reintroduction of a charge and Ms Bragg clarified that in spite of a 25% increase in reservations, there was a reduction in the number of books issued as not every customer who reserved something necessarily then came to take out. By re-introducing the reservation fee, this would potentially reduce requests but people would reserve books they really wanted and help customers value the service.

5. RESOLVED that the Cabinet Committee endorse the proposed decision to the Cabinet Member for Regulatory services on:

(a)  the decision to implement and publish revised fees and charges changes for Libraries and   Archives services;

(b)  for the LRA service to progress to inform customers of these changes;

(c)  fees for Archives Services to be reviewed and agreed in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services once work on implementing upgrades to management and cataloguing systems is completed; and

(d)  that the annual review and agreement of the LRA fees be delegated to the LRA Head of Service in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services as shown at Appendix A.