Library opens up inside Lincolnshire Co-op food store

Lincolnshire Co-operative has taken over its third community library in the region. Lincolnshire County Council has handed over the responsibility of running 30 libraries to the community. On...

Lincolnshire Co-operative has taken over its third community library in the region.

Lincolnshire County Council has handed over the responsibility of running 30 libraries to the community. On January 14, Spilsby Library opened up inside the Lincolnshire Co-op food store on Post Office Lane. An area of the shop which was previously warehouse space has undergone a £30,000 transformation into a fully-stocked library with thousands of books – fiction, non-fiction, large print titles, children’s books, a seating area, two People’s Network computers, and a self-service machine.

A team of volunteers will run the library. If no volunteers are available, library users can call a dedicated helpline to Lincolnshire County Council customer services.

Volunteers at the library, located inside a Lincolnshire Co-op food store
Volunteers at the library, located inside a Lincolnshire Co-op food store

Lincolnshire Co-op already runs two community libraries – one in Holbeach, and one in Waddington, where the library shares space with the Society’s pharmacy and post office.

Ursula Lidbetter, chief executive of Lincolnshire Co-op, said: “Education and access to information has been part of our ethos since we started out back in 1861. In fact, we opened Lincoln’s first reading room before there was a municipal library in the city.

“Libraries are important to our members and their communities so we’re proud to do our bit to help sustain such services in Lincolnshire with the three facilities we run.”

Lincolnshire Co-op is working with the local charity Linkage on the project. Some of the volunteers helping to run the library come from Linkage, which provides specialist education, care and employment services for people with learning disabilities.

The society’s volunteer co-ordinator Rachel Sampher said: “We’re delighted to have recruited a team of 14 volunteers who will help support the library, including those from Linkage.

“We’re really grateful to them all for giving up their time. And if anyone else is interested in volunteering for a couple of hours a week, we’d love to hear from them.”

  • To register your interest in volunteering for Waddington or Spilsby Library, contact volunteer co-ordinator Rachel Sampher on (01522) 785 299 or email [email protected].
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