Lesley Noblett

Lesley Noblett is Head of Libraries Archives and Information for Cambridgeshire, and took a leading role in shaping the service's community run access points. A keen advocate of partnership working, she has been engaged in many projects, where working with the community and with partners are key. Cambridgeshire's partnership projects include developing Community Archives, Learning Centres and new libraries. Most recently Lesley has been involved in the major new libraries at Huntingdon and Cambridge Central; and is especially proud of the Big Lottery project at Wisbech, which aims to develop a model whereby the community will run their new library.

Detail session 2

Transfer windows – community managed libraries

When Cambridgeshire proposed closing ten of its smallest libraries, all of the communities wanted to retain access by running services themselves. The resulting Library Access Points are managed and staffed by volunteers, in partnership with the county's library service. Lesley will explain the background to the decision, what the benefits have been to both the Council and the local communities and some of the issues that were faced with this strategic approach to managing a library network