City Of York Council – Library Services Public Engagement

Have your say

City of York Council has a legal duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service for all those who “live, work or study and want to access the service” in the city (Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964).

We are currently inviting people who live, work or study in York to help shape the future of the library service.

York has a great library and archives service that the Council is very proud of which has seen significant capital investment recently, including a new gateway library for Haxby and Wigginton in 2023 and a new library learning centre in Clifton opened in September 2024.

The Council awarded a contract to “Explore York Libraries and Archives Mutual Limited” in 2019 to deliver our statutory duties for libraries and archives for the next 15 years. The contract with Explore York has been very successful and we want the service to continue to be so.

A good library service is designed according to the needs of its population and the Council wants to make sure that, although there are financial challenges and a need to make savings, we continue to meet those needs. We are therefore working on a Libraries Needs Assessment and this survey is part of that.

The Archives Service is not within the scope of this engagement.

We want to know how and when you use the service and what’s important to you.

This is not a formal consultation; it is a chance for you to help us with our planning. As part of this early engagement exercise, we are also undertaking focus workshops with key groups, which includes: families and children, young adults, York Access Forum and York Disability Rights Forum, Parish Councils and library users.

We will use the survey results to inform our future proposals. When we are ready with our proposals, there will be a formal consultation and you will have a chance to ‘have your say’ on future options.

For more information about the current library and archive services operated by Explore York visit www.exploreyork.org.uk.

Our survey asks for some personal information which you may choose not to give. We do not publish or share any information which can identify you. Please read our privacy notice to find out more about how we protect your personal information. We will ask for your consent to this at the start of the survey.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting contact@york.gov.uk.

Question Title

* 1. Do you confirm that you have read and understood the privacy notice? You must select ‘Yes’ in order to take the survey.

Yes

12% of survey complete.