'Long-term fix' needed to save Family Library

A "fix for multiple years" would be needed to save a family library and its mobile services, which are under threat of closure over future funding, one of its directors has said.

The Isle of Man's Family Library is set to close on 31 July after rising operational costs set against declining income left the service losing £100,000 a year.

Director Kurt Roosen said the facility was not currently "distressed or disorganised" but could not "guarantee" it would have the funds to operate for the next 12 months.

"We've got to be sensible, honest and forthcoming. I wouldn't want to be in a position where I couldn't pay a bill," he said.

The charity runs a library on Westmoreland Road in Douglas offering activities to young people, schools and adults, as well as operating a mobile library in rural areas and a home service for those who are housebound.

The services have been run as an independent charity since full funding was pulled by the Department of Education in 2011 in response to a reduction in the island's VAT income.

In 2022, the government agreed to a five-year funding plan on a sliding scale beginning with £125,000 in August of that year, with the final sum of £65,000 due to be awarded in August 2026.

Mr Roosen said those behind the libraries had "got to the point where we've almost tried everything" to create a sustainable funding model.

He said the service had been run in the "most efficient way that we can" but costs such as heating and electricity had increased at the same time as donations were reducing.

"From an operational perspective it would be irresponsible of us to continue if we weren't certain about our future", the director said.

"We have all sorts of obligations, I don't want to be saying to the staff we can't pay you this month."

Mr Roosen said he would "love to see a solution" but it would need to be "something that isn't a fix for one year" but "a fix for multiple years going forward".

If the service were to close it would "leave a hole" as the services had been "fulfilling a need", he said.

"But clearly someone has got to fund that," he added.

An urgent question about discussions between the Family Library and the Department of Education, Sport and Culture is set to be answered during the May sitting of Tynwald on Tuesday.

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