Ed Jewell said a new home was being sought for the Les Quennevais Branch Library, which is currently housed in the existing school building.
If a new venue is found, services could relocate before the school move next September. However, if the process of finding a new site takes longer, then it will continue to be based at the old school even after students and teachers have moved across at the start of the next academic year.
Currently, Jersey Library is being restructured with the loss of 2.9 full-time equivalent jobs at managerial level. Education Minister Tracey Vallois confirmed the news in the States earlier this month but said no services would be affected. In addition, she said that the library would be trialling an extension to its opening hours.
‘Les Quennevais Branch Library will not be moving to the new school building,’ said Mr Jewell. ‘We are currently looking for a new location which will keep the library close to the local community and provide better access. In the meantime the library will remain in the current Les Quennevais School building. We are also planning to pilot extended evening and weekend opening hours at the town library in 2020 to improve access for customers.’
Asked if closing the facility was being considered, he added: ‘The library not relocating with the school does not spell the end of library services in the west of the Island – the intention is for them to be improved, not cut. The practicalities of running the library from the school have severely restricted the range of services we can offer. We’re now looking for a new site which will enable us to open the library for longer and improve basic but important things like parking, access to bus routes etcetera.’
He added: ‘This is also an opportunity for us to work closely with other partners and the local community to develop a broad and diverse range of complementary services and activities. The aim is to develop a “library offer” for the west of the Island that is proudly owned by the people who use it. It is possible that we will be able to relocate services from Les Quennevais School earlier than September 2020, but if we are unable to find an alternative venue before the school moves we will continue running services from the old school in the interim.’
