Pear Tree Library is a medium sized, well-loved, busy library (user figures were second only to Derby Central Library before it was ‘reduced and relocated’ to Derby City Council in 2018) which serves two multiply deprived electoral wards (Arboretum and Normanton) in Derby City.

The Pear Tree Library, which was gifted to the City by the Carnegie Foundation in 1913 and opened to the public in 1916, has been closed due to apparent budget cuts (austerity) and costly repairs (£1.6 Million) since June 2018.

In addition, the plan was to move the Library service from its purpose built venue, in a prime location at the heart of the community to, lovely though it is, St Augustine Community Centre, which is in a residential area with no parking facilities, off the beaten track and away from main transport links. The promise of the Library being moved to St Augustine's Community Centre has yet to be realised and leaving the two wards affected without a library service since June 2018. Furthermore, this relocation (not yet realised) which will, according to Derby City Council, cost approximately £700,000, is likely to significantly impact usage which can in the future be used to justify service closure - citing insufficient use! In addition, at the end of April/beginning of May 2019 Derby City Council put for sale signs outside the Library and are inviting expressions of interest.

This latest decision to sell is happening with some speed and without any further consultation (an initial meeting was held to inform the community of the decision to ‘relocate' the library) with the community.

This Library is a community hub in an area which has the highest proportion of young people in Derby, where many homes have no or limited access to books or computers and where shared community spaces and literacy rates are low compared to the City as a whole. The issue of computer access is increasingly pressing with the incremental roll out of computer-access dependent, Universal Credit. The Library has been a place of warmth for the elderly often struggling with heating bills and loneliness, provided a safe quiet place for local children to do their homework and a social outlet and space of self education for families and individuals. In an increasingly technologically driven world Pear Tree Library is one of very few public spaces in the area where people can access the internet to make and check benefit claims, do job searches and find out information.

Our Project plan has several strategies

Here we need your help: to raise funds to activate another arm of our strategy to reclaim Pear Tree Library by submitting a community 'Expression of Interest' to Derby City Council. Please donate what you can, no amount is too small.

We have very little time as Expressions of Interest are being accepted in a process that will end on June 14th 2019. Please get in touch and help us save our library for our children, our elderly, our families and our community.