1. Northants Catalyst Conference, April 2013
Ciara Eastell, Devon Libraries’ Health Offer
1. Context for Devon
Devon is a great place to live. Place for retirement, surfing, quieter pace of life; Exeter has
recently been reported to be the 4th
happiest place to live in the country
But as with all places, Devon has its share of challenges, which include:
o An age profile that’s 20 years ahead of the national curve – eg the high proportion of
85+ people in parts of the county (eg Sidmouth and Budleigh Salterton)
o The rise in the number of 65-85 year olds is expected to increase by more than 60%
by 2031; number of 85+ year olds to increase by 120% by 2031
o There are huge health inequalities – eg life expectancy in Ilfracombe Is 75, compared
with 87 in more affluent parts of the county
o In 2010, over 71,000 people in Devon had a common mental disorder
o Dementia is expected to rise by 84% in the next 16 years; early onset dementia is on
the rise
Devon County Council wants to support its communities to be happy, healthy, resilient and
connected. So what’s been the library response to this?
2. Library Service response
We believe we have a real role to play in addressing those pressures. As a local authority, Devon CC
is clear that it will be the community response – the way individuals and communities respond – that
will make the difference.
Within the library service, we’ve done a number of things within the past 12 months, including:
o Established 12 Get into Reading groups with £100,000 from the Social Care Prevention
Strategy
o Developed a Cancer Information Service in North Devon as a response to poor health
outcomes and recognised health inequalities
o Developed an annual programme – ‘Active Life, Active Mind’ events, specifically aimed at
older people. Over 2,500 people took part last October.
o Worked with colleagues on ‘dementia friendly communities’ initiatives, including involving
specialist architects from the University of Stirling to ensure our redeveloped Central Library
in Exeter is designed to be ‘dementia friendly’
o Launched a major programme in response to welfare reform called Free Fridays, leveraging
£75K from JobCentrePlus and our Economy Team
In the next 6 months, we plan to:
o Launch ‘Reading Well’ with financial support from our public health colleagues and a local
GP working with us a ‘Reading Well’ ambassador

2. o Identify the public health links into the Summer Reading Challenge (eg incorporating dance
and activities)
o Incorporate a health hub into our redeveloped Exeter Central Library
o Develop a joint commissioning strategy with public health and social care so that libraries
are ‘commissioner ready’ in the future
o Play a part in the mandatory public health checks
o Develop a health / intergenerational element into plans for the commemoration of WWI
3. What have been the catalysts for us in our health work? How can other library services
develop their health offer?
Here are our top tips of what’s worked in Devon:
o Know your stuff – familiarise yourself with the Health and Wellbeing Strategies, the Joint
Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA), the priorities for your local Prevention Strategy. Show
that you understand the need for an evidence-based approach
o Use pilots or prototypes to demonstrate what you can do. Bring people – commissioners,
politicians, etc – to see your work. In the case of our Get into Reading Groups, having our
Cabinet member sit in on one of the groups was key to getting the financial investment.
o Build support from those around you who can see your potential – whether it be
commissioners, social care or public health colleagues, your elected members, partners, GPs,
etc. Go where the energy is!
o Fully engage you staff – co-produce pilots or prototypes with their full involvement. We did
this with our Free Fridays service and doing it in this way has meant that when we need to
set up a Free Fridays service in Axminster Library at short notice to meet local needs
following the closure of a factory, there was a huge amount of peer support from the pilot
libraries
o Reflect on all areas of your practice to identify a relevant health and wellbeing strand – eg
we doing this at the moment with the Summer Reading Challenge
o Develop a brand for your health work so it seems coherent to your customers, staff and
partners – in Devon, we’ve used the ‘Active Life, Active Mind’ strapline as an umbrella brand
for all our health work
o Expect to be commissioned. Don’t expect to do this work for free! We’ve levered around
£250K into the service through being commissioned. Leverage your own assets to maximum
effect – eg your buildings, your staff, your existing customers, your social capital, your ideas,
etc
o Use the SCL national offer as your framework for service planning. The national
endorsements that the national offer have will help position you as credible
o Take good ideas from wherever you can; share your ideas with others; give your good ideas
away. We developed ‘Active Life, Active Mind’ from something similar in South
Gloucestershire; we adapted the Free Fridays service from an initial idea from Northants.
We’re happy for library colleagues to use Devon’s ideas!
o Talk passionately – believe in your work. Don’t do what we always do in libraries – undersell
and overdeliver. Capture stories

3. 4. Conclusion
Two years in, we’ve made significant strides. But there are many, many things we could be doing…
but we’re doing what we can.
We are building a powerful coalition of supporters, of partners, of champions for libraries… In our
own way, we’re supporting our communities to live happier, healthier lives.
Ciara Eastell
Head of Libraries, Culture and Heritage
Devon County Council
Tel: 01392 384315
ciara.eastell@devon.gov.uk