Skip to content

  • Home
  • Our services
    • Adult social services
      • Adult social services home
      • Care and carers
      • Day services and activities
      • Disability
      • Transport for older people and disabled people
      • Money advice, benefits and support to get a job
      • Report a concern about an adult
      • Mental health, dementia and autism
      • Adult social care leaflets and factsheets
      • HertsHelp
    • Children's social care
      • Children's social care home
      • Child protection
      • Adoption
      • Fostering
      • Families First portal
      • Young people in care and leaving care
      • Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Board
    • Schools and education
      • Schools and education home
      • School directory
      • School admissions and transport
      • Free school meals
      • Travel to school
      • Adult and family learning
      • Childcare and advice for parents
      • Special educational needs
      • Youth Connexions
      • Children's centres
      • School governors
    • Libraries and archives
      • Libraries and archives home
      • Renew a book
      • Books and online reference
      • Library opening hours and locations
      • Events and things to do
      • Volunteer at your library
      • Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies
      • Library membership
      • Other library services
    • Highways, roads and pavements
      • Highways, roads and pavements home
      • Report a faulty street light or pothole
      • Roadworks
      • Severe weather (including gritting)
      • Dropped kerb (vehicle crossover)
      • Public transport
      • Speed awareness and driver training
      • Transport and accident data
      • Business and developer information
    • Recycling, waste and environment
      • Recycling, waste and environment home
      • Recycling and waste
      • Flooding
      • Planning
      • Countryside management service
      • Energy and climate change
    • Births, deaths and marriages
      • Births, deaths and marriages home
      • How to register a birth
      • Citizenship services
      • Ceremonies
      • Register a death
      • Register Offices
    • Fire and rescue
      • Fire and rescue home
      • Fire safety checks
    • Business
      • Business home
      • Book a room at Hertfordshire Development Centre
      • Services for businesses, charities and other public bodies
      • What do Trading Standards do?
      • Business advice
      • Consumer advice
      • Doing business with us
      • Licences
    • Health in Herts
      • Health in Herts home
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Happiness, wellbeing and mental health
      • Healthy places
      • Healthy weight
      • Keep active
      • Sexual health
      • Smoking
      • What is public health?
    • Hertfordshire Directory
      • Hertfordshire Directory home
  • About the council
    • How the council works
    • Councillors and council meetings
    • Contact us
    • Make a complaint, compliment or comment
    • Jobs and careers
    • Volunteering
    • Consultations
    • Elections
    • Petitions
    • News
    • Council tax
    • Freedom of information and council data
Hertfordshire
Search
search button
    
Hertfordshire County Council
Go to home page
< Go back a page
  • About the council
  • Get email updates with Update me
  • Apprenticeship Levy
  • Working for you
  • How the council works
  • Councillors and council meetings
  • Contact a service
  • Complain, compliment or comment about our services
  • Volunteering
  • Media centre
  • Consultations
  • Freedom of information and council data
  • Legal
  • Media centre
  • Weather warnings
  • Horizons – our magazine for Hertfordshire residents
  • Press releases
  • A year in Hertfordshire l…
  • Add page to My Herts
  • Further actions
    • Print this page

A year in Hertfordshire libraries

Posted: Friday 23rd March 2018

Terry Douris, Cabinet Member for Libraries, Hertfordshire County Council:

"I have been in my current role, as Cabinet Member for Libraries for nearly a year now. It is a great job and one I am thoroughly enjoying.  When I started, I made it my business to go and visit each and every one of Hertfordshire’s libraries which I did partly to celebrate Libraries Week.  On my travels around the county I have met so many individuals and families, who share my love for libraries and everything they offer.

I have also been struck by the way the service has changed to meet the needs of today’s library users. Our creator spaces at Hemel Hempstead and Watford libraries, allow people to test drive new technologies, like 3D printing in a relaxed and modern environment. The recent refurb of Hitchin library, resplendent with its very own ‘Platform 9 3/4s’ is tremendous.  Looking ahead we are in discussions with Stevenage and East Herts councils about future developments for libraries in their areas.   

I am proud of our libraries and the role they play at the heart of our communities, and I want this to continue long into the future. It’s for this reason that we have been asking library users for their views on our consultation on alternative approaches to delivering library services. The motivation for doing this is so that we can continue to develop our services despite the financial challenges we are facing. Whilst we have additional savings to make, I would prefer that we consider all available options, rather than making any ill-considered reduction in service.

By trying something new, we could potentially access a range of additional benefits, including grants we can’t access at the moment and also achieve a potential saving on non-domestic rates. Whatever we decide to do, I am determined that we will not be selling off or privatising libraries – we have got a statutory responsibility to provide library services, so any independent library service will still be accountable to the council and there local residents. Councillors will take the final decision on the proposals in April.

Finally, I would encourage anyone who has not visited their local library recently, to go and see what’s on offer. You will be pleasantly surprised."

DOURIS T 006 08-05-2017

 

Hertfordshire County Council – The County of Opportunity

  • Services

    • Adult social services
    • Children's social care
    • Schools and education
    • Libraries and archives
    • Highways, roads and pavements
    • Recycling, waste and environment
    • Births, deaths and marriages
    • Fire and rescue
    • Business
    • Health in Herts
    • Hertfordshire Directory
  • About the Council

    • Accessibility
    • Contact us
    • Jobs and careers
    • Councillors and council meetings
    • Consultations
    • Freedom of information requests
    • Cookies and privacy
update-me

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Translate this site

Rate this page

green smiley (good) orange smiley (average) red smiley (poor)