INTERVIEW
Taking steps to a sustainable model
GLL’s National Libraries Director Diana Edmonds speaks to Rob Green about how the social enterprise is finding ways to reduce its impact on the environment. From small wins to big projects, the aim is to find the best solution for the planet.
CAN you give a broad overview of GLL and its place in the library sector?
Diana Edmonds – GLL is a charita- ble, social enterprise, which operates for the benefit of the communities it serves, investing profits into facilities and services for those local communities. GLL was established in 1993 to manage
seven leisure centres in the London Borough of Greenwich and has grown over the years, now managing over 400 leisure facilities – including libraries, leisure centres and children’s centres. In 2011, a Libraries Division was established and GLL is cur- rently responsible for the management and support for more than 100 public libraries in five local authority areas, three in London (Bromley, Greenwich and Wandsworth) as well as the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands and the sprawling County of Lincolnshire in the East Mid- lands. In addition, GLL manages 12 prison libraries.
GLL’s aim is to increase the use of the libraries that they manage. They are “trendbuckers”, for instance increasing the number of books issued by Greenwich Libraries by 29 per cent over a 10-year period, and increasing the number of visits made to libraries in the Borough by 58 per cent over the same period.
Can you talk us through the building stock you run as part of the services you deliver – how many, old vs new buildings, who owns them, what con- trol do you have over changes etc.?
June 2022
Rob Green (
rob.green@
cilip.org.uk) is Editor, Information Professional.
DE – Only one of the libraries we manage currently – in the Greenwich Centre – is a new build. The oldest is probably Stamford Library in Lincolnshire which dates back to 1808 and which was originally the portico to the market and the shambles which stood behind it. Battersea Library on Lavender Hill in Wandsworth, with its wonderful art nouveau reference library was built in 1890, extended in 1900 and extended once again in 1925. The libraries’ estate includes Vic- torian and Edwardian buildings, with some from the 1930s, others from 1950s and 1960s. Most of the buildings that we man- aged are owned by the Council, although some are leased from other owners. The Faculties Management arrangements
INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 39
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
