Councillor Roger Croad takes to the road to thank staff at Devon's award-winning libraries

Councillor Roger Croad, Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities, will take to the road this week as he tours the county’s award-winning libraries to thank staff for their hard work.

Having scooped the prestigious ‘Library of the Year’ title at the ‘Bookseller Industry Awards’ in London last month, Cllr Croad wants to visit staff to show his appreciation and recognise the individual and collective contributions they have all made to the service’s success.

Cllr Croad says: “It’s a huge honour for us to win this major national award, and I am delighted that the hard work we have put in to developing new and leading edge services in response to our local communities’ needs have been recognised in this way.

“The success our library service has enjoyed during this past year is down to the excellent team of staff we have both in our libraries and mobile libraries, and back at library HQ. Their passion and commitment ensures our library service is playing a key role in developing a love of reading in people of all ages; enabling those affected by unemployment and ill-health to access information services for free and supporting our communities to live happier, healthier lives.

“This award is an excellent tribute to their enthusiasm and determination, and it will be an enormous privilege to share with the staff the positive feedback on a service that I know we all care so passionately about.”

Devon Libraries was one of only seven from across the UK to be shortlisted, and shares the accolade with Dundee Library Service.

Judges praised the huge range of services they offered beyond books, describing it as a "well run, well backed service’ and a ‘real community service with a strategic county wide approach."

They were also impressed that despite a tough couple of years with significant reductions in budget, the service has managed to increase visitor numbers and loan figures.