How Kinghorn Community Library goes digital and saves money
Kinghorn's Community Library is flourishing with up-to-the minute digital services thanks to full fibre broadband – which has also cut the charity’s running costs, helping support its wide range of community activities.
Since signing up with GoFibre before Christmas, the library, which is entirely self-funding, has experienced greater reliability and speed of connection while seeing its broadband and phone bill cut in half.
Broadband is essential to running the library’s book checking out and returns services. What’s more, visitors to the library rely on internet access, with many visitors coming to the library to access essential services and information through the library computers, which makes fast and reliable broadband a must.
“Having great broadband is essential because our library system is run on this – from cataloguing new or donated books, to checking books in and out. If the internet was down, it would be extremely difficult to run the library,” says Pam Menzies, secretary of Kinghorn Community Library.
She continued, “This is the first time we’ve had full fibre, which is much better than what we had before. We’ve had no outages. We’re getting a faster, more reliable service, including digital phone capability, for less than we were paying before. The cost-saving is an absolute bonus for us. It means our income goes that much further.”
The library was taken over by the community in 2017, when a group of local volunteers saved it from potential closure and is now operates with a team of over 30 local volunteers.
A registered charity, it raises funds through a range of sources including a Friends scheme, applying for literacy and community grants and hosting events.
This is what makes saving money on important services like broadband so important. “We have to generate our own revenue to cover our operating costs, to purchase new books, and widen the services provided by the library,” said Pam.
The library runs a series of free and paid-for community events including book groups, crafting sessions, Bookbug for pre-school aged children, author talks and signings, and revision sessions for secondary school pupils.
“It’s gone from strength to strength in terms of what we’re able to provide to the community,” commented Pam.
To further support the library, GoFibre is making a £300 donation towards the running of Lego and other STEM activities that the charity is about to launch for local kids. This is part of GoFibre’s social impact work, which backs community initiatives relating to education and skills.
Neil Conaghan, CEO, GoFibre, said:
“Kinghorn Community Library is a popular and much-loved community hub that GoFibre is proud to support, through our lightning fast, ultra-reliable broadband. We’re absolutely delighted that not only is our broadband enabling the library to run efficient and modern digital services for a range of needs and requirements, but that we’re also saving the charity money.
“This means the library can run even more community activities, like Lego STEM classes which, as technology company, we are very happy to support with a donation for through our social impact work.”
Pam Menzies, Secretary of Kinghorn Community Library added:
“Not only has the service from GoFibre been terrific, but we’re also grateful to the company for providing a donation to support the launch of our new STEM activities for children in the area. STEM skills are vital to many jobs of the future and this is the sort of practical support and inspiration that we aim to provide in our community.”
