Regional public libraries

In 2022, after several years of territorial reorganization legislation, France will have 34,968 communes, of which 94% have fewer than 5,000 inhabitants and 72% fewer than 1,000. According to INSEE (Institut National de la Statistique), 2/3 of the French population live in rural areas.

Until 2008, the French Ministry of Culture counted only around 4,500 public libraries, mainly located in towns of over 10,000 inhabitants. Until then, only a library of at least 100 m2 managed by a salaried professional was considered "worthy of the name".

From 2008 onwards, thanks to the collaboration of the Association des directeurs de bibliothèques départementales (Association of departmental library directors), statistical data collection has been extended to all public reading venues capable of sending in an annual report, the idea being that a reader is always a reader, regardless of the reading venue he or she frequents. As a result, the number of places surveyed has risen to 16,500, of which around 50% are libraries that meet the recommendations in terms of surface area, budget and staff qualifications.

Public libraries are France's leading local cultural network, located as close as possible to residents (the recommendation is a 15-minute walk from home). Public libraries are also the only cultural venue accessible to all, free of charge and regardless of age, qualifications, ethnic origin or income level.

Today, according to the latest studies, these places are actively frequented, on average nationwide, by around 40% of the French population. Their role, in addition to providing access to knowledge and culture, is to support employment and educational success, as well as social integration and cohesion. What's more, they make a major contribution to the attractiveness of local areas and the quality of life of their inhabitants, against a backdrop of the gradual disappearance of public services and shops in the most rural areas.

In other words, they help to keep alive areas that are struggling to attract or retain residents.

Developing a public media library project rooted in the local area, in a community of 1,400 inhabitants in Normandy.

Public libraries are among the investments that have historically received the strongest support from French institutions. A municipality that takes its project seriously, follows the relevant recommendations and applies to the relevant institutions (mainly the French state and départements, but sometimes also the regions, intercommunalités, certain private funds or even Europe), can be subsidized up to 80%.

What can cause problems later on is the day-to-day running of the library, which receives far less support, particularly in terms of funding for staff. The majority of libraries in smaller communities are run by volunteers, with varying degrees of qualifications.

Nowadays, when a rural commune wants to launch a publicly-funded media library project, it is required, like the "big ones", to include a genuine public cultural policy project in addition to complying with the relevant recommendations. Drawing up this project is generally no simple matter when the town hall staff consists of one or three people with no knowledge of the field and many other occupations. Sometimes, therefore, an outside consultant is called in. In addition to producing a relevant, well-structured project, the role of this consultant is to mobilize the local players concerned, support them in their thinking and provide them with sound advice.

Here's the example of a very recently conceived media library project in a commune of 1,400 inhabitants in the Normandy countryside.

The context

The commune is located on the edge of a Normandy metropolis, but is not part of its territory. It is part of an intercommunal community that does not have a public reading project. It extends over a few kilometers, and its market town is mainly inhabited by elderly people. The population also includes younger families who live further away. The school is losing classes due to a decline in the number of children. It's also a very touristy commune, with a few shops and many green leisure activities, especially active in summer. The town center is highly protected, and the Mairie controls the arrival and departure of shopkeepers and the renovation of buildings to maintain overall cohesion.

For many years, the commune has had a public library run by a team of highly committed volunteers, which has achieved good results, even though it does not offer anything other than books for borrowing and its space is a little crowded. The library is very much part of the local fabric. It organizes numerous cultural events and collaborates with schools, early childhood services and local artists' associations.

The Town Hall has three salaried employees, dedicated to administrative management and maintenance of public buildings and green spaces. Major projects are therefore managed by the elected representatives who, apart from the retired Mayor, all have full-time jobs.

What will give solid support to the process launched is the Town Hall's habit of consulting its residents on all major projects. Inhabitants know each other well, there are numerous collective events and partnerships.

Project objective

The Town Hall wishes to renovate the building that houses the current library, a sports area and a hall for hikers. The building, a former school, is located in the town center near the town hall. The idea is to create a real living space that will contribute to the appeal of the commune, and which will bring together, in addition to the library, the local branch of the tourist office and the small local museum dedicated to an Impressionist painter. For the time being, the tourist office and museum are housed in another building, which is mainly open from April to October for a few hours a day, but also at weekends in summer.

The aim is for the three services to work together, so that visitors can move seamlessly from one to the other, with the services offered by one supporting those offered by the other.

Launching the project

The Town Hall is careful to ensure that public money is well spent. It has therefore decided to make use of available financial aid, which presupposes compliance with current standards and recommendations. As far as possible, it wants to start work before the next municipal elections, which leaves just under two years to draw up the public policy project, then the specifications for the future building, and finally to choose an architect.

The Direction régionale des affaires culturelles, the government's cultural arm in the regions, has taken an interest in the project from the outset, and has set out its conditions for supporting it. In addition to meeting the criteria for surface area, budget, personnel and service offering, the grant application must include a public cultural policy project (known in the library and museum sectors as a "cultural, scientific, educational and social project").

On the recommendation of the local Bibliothèque départementale, the Town Hall decided to call in a consultant to help draw up this project.

The 1st deputy has been appointed project manager. He will coordinate the composition of the working group, the timetable, the circulation of information between the players involved, and will liaise with the consultant and potential funding bodies.

The process

A multi-stakeholder project group was set up. In addition to the 1st deputy mayor and the mayor, who attend all meetings, it includes the consultant, library volunteers, the director of the tourist office, the school principal, a representative of the departmental library, and a number of partners, including local artists.

The approach is structured by the consultant on the basis of co-construction. The first step is to define values and a collective vision for the project. This is followed by the classic process of defining strategic axes and operational objectives, and then a number of actions to be carried out over the five years following validation of the project by the municipal council and funding bodies.

One of the difficulties with this type of approach is that the construction project itself will take around five years to complete (until the day of inauguration). We therefore need to consider both the pre-opening period and the post-opening period over at least one to two years.

The process

The kick-off meeting takes place in July. Finalization of the project was scheduled for December of the same year, which implied relatively rapid progress.

The first step was to draw up a diagnosis of the area, which would serve as a basis for defining the local challenges to which the future cultural center, and the media library in particular, would have to respond. This diagnosis is essentially carried out by the consultant. It is then reread and commented on by the project group, before being completed and adjusted. The funding partners are then informed and invited to comment.

The next step is to identify the public reading issues at stake, and to target in particular some that the project group and the Town Hall will consider as priorities.

Here are the issues identified:

• Meeting the needs of families / the elderly
• Supporting digital access for all
• Revitalize the town
• Bringing the Pôle to life and making it attractive
• Raising the Museum's profile
• Welcoming tourists and local residents
• Meet the needs of residents living far from the town

The identity of the future establishment, which includes its values, vision and mission, was the subject of a dense meeting, rich in debate, and resulted in the following notions: openness, creativity, team spirit...

• Shared vision: Contribute to the attractiveness of the region, to living together and to well-being in rural areas. Create a caring society by expressing cultures and bringing people together.
  
  
• The mission of the future media library: Located at the heart of (name of the commune), the cultural and tourist center will be an identifiable and flexible reception area, offering a diversified range of services to visitors and the local population, by bringing together the different energies of the Suisse Normande region.

The second part of the process concerns the drafting of project objectives and the choice of actions. This stage, which can seem very cumbersome when starting from scratch, becomes very fluid once the issues and the vision have been shared and validated by all.

What we can conclude from such an approach

Having worked on a number of projects of this kind, mainly in rural, communal or inter-communal areas, I feel that the most important thing is always the human aspect of the process. Without a genuine willingness to engage in dialogue, nothing is possible.

In the case presented here, the habitual context of concerted project development was a founding factor, enabling us to meet both the objectives and the relatively tight schedule. It is also this context that allows us to form the hypothesis that this project, among many others, has every chance of succeeding, because it is not only supported by politicians, but also genuinely by the residents involved in its development.

The other parameter for success is the level of involvement of the politician, who ensures the smooth flow of information, adapts his choices as the process of reflection raises new questions and provides a positive and stimulating vision, as well as showing his appreciation for the people involved in the process.

The process of developing this kind of project obviously involves a number of contingencies: members may be absent from certain meetings, diaries may need to be rescheduled, new questions may arise during the course of the work and require further reflection, etc. Here again, project coordination is a key element in the process. Here again, project coordination is essential to maintain the overall momentum.

Last but not least, the interpersonal atmosphere created and nurtured during meetings also sustains individual motivation and collective energy. In particular, it's the job of the support worker to create and maintain this relational atmosphere, in the way she leads discussions and reports on the proceedings.

Regardless of the resources invested, all these ingredients are needed to bring the project to a satisfactory conclusion for all concerned. What is sometimes lacking is either sufficient involvement on the part of politicians, or sufficient involvement on the part of the players involved, or both. In this case, the support worker spends much of her time "playing the sheepdog", without always achieving very convincing results.

What's the current status of the project?

At present, the commune is drawing up the specifications for the future building and is in the process of selecting its architect. For the time being, the project is on schedule. Our funding partners continue to actively support the project, and will be present at each stage of the investment (construction, fitting-out, additional collections, digital equipment, cultural programming, recruitment of an employee to manage the facility).

Illustration: Saint-Martin-de-Fontenay multimedia library (Calvados) - Photo Françoise Hecquard

Sources

France, Ministry of Culture. Les bibliothèques territoriales. On line at: https: //www.culture.gouv.fr/thematiques/livre-et-lecture/le-livre-et-la-lecture-en-france2/acteurs-institutionnels2/les-bibliotheques-territoriales

Association des maires ruraux de Haute-Saône. How to develop public reading in rural areas? Référentiel. June 2019. Online at: https: //www.enssib.fr/bibliotheque-numerique/documents/69075-comment-developper-la-lecture-publique-en-milieu-rural.pdf

Burle, Louis. La bibliothèque rurale, un lieu de vie nécessaire: Rencontre avec quelques bibliothèques remarquables. Bulletin des bibliothèques de France, 2012, N°2 - Online at: https: //bbf.enssib.fr/consulter/bbf-2012-02-0028-007

France, Ministry of Culture. Rachida Dati launches the "printemps de la ruralité", a national consultation on cultural provision in rural areas - Online at: https: //www.culture.gouv.fr/presse/communiques-de-presse/Rachida-Dati-lance-le-printemps-de-la-ruralite-une-concertation-nationale-sur-l-offre-culturelle-en-milieu-rural

Access to culture in rural areas: the challenges of mobility - Nov. 2024 - On line at: https: //www.vie-publique.fr/en-bref/295963-acces-la-culture-en-zone-rurale-les-enjeux-de-la-mobilite

Clavel, Cyrille - Conceiving a rural library - Bulletin des bibliothèques de France, n°17, 2019 - Online at: https: //bbf.enssib.fr/consulter/bbf-2019-17-0163-008