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Book to the Future

Published: 06/10/2015

People are being invited to travel forward in time and take a look at what the new library hub at Deeside Leisure Centre might look like. Proposals to modernise and re-shape library services in Flintshire were announced by the County Council in March and included a proposal for a brand new library hub within Deeside Leisure Centre to serve the communities of Hawarden, Mancot and Queensferry where part-time facilities are being delivered in outdated or under used buildings. Consultations about the proposals took place in the affected communities. Although it was recognised that it was in the overall best interests of future library provision to progress with the development of a new hub, many library users also emphasised that the service must be designed to reflect all three local communities, and asked that it also be supplemented by additional community based services along with the consideration of a Community Asset Transfer. The new hub is expected to cost approximately £130,000, with the majority of the funding - over £90,000 - coming from a CyMAL grant. It will also save the library service in the region of £50,000 a year. Plans for the new library are now taking shape and library users and members of the public are invited to drop in to Deeside Leisure Centre any time between 5pm and 7pm on Thursday 15 October to see the space the library will occupy and have their say on the vision for the future, modern v traditional library design, future book choices, on-line catalogue and self service facilities Councillor Chris Bithell, Cabinet Member for Education said “Whilst we have maintained our library network in Flintshire, we must now look at different ways of delivering the service, preserving its quality and enhancing the facilities on offer. “This is an exciting time in the design of the new library hub at Deeside Leisure Centre and I hope people will take the opportunity to drop in and see for themselves how this new facility could both open the doors for library users to experience the excellent range of leisure and spa facilities the centre has to offer and provide leisure users with easy access to books, computers and study opportunities.”