Personnel vacancies are available on the web.

  A call centre for housing, social services and benefits, council tax and benefits, report 

ing, highways problems, procurement, plus many more issues is about to be launched

as a result of the new website. 

  Libraries are an access point as ICT is developed.

The council has a 5 year plan to extend its program. The council funds the website and

call centre, and will fund other developments, while national funding will support the 5 

year plan. Lottery funding has provided Internet access in libraries. Government funding

has supported SmartCard and back office development as one of its Pathfinders 

projects.

The council has identified that e procurement has major savings to offer. Electronic

payments, once sorted out, will enable a number of services to be delivered electronical 

ly, which may in the long run deliver savings. However, the council recognises that use is

likely to grow for some services, which could increase costs. Savings are quite difficult to

estimate at this stage.

Like many of the main European cities, Leeds aims to put in place an e strategy with

users at the heart. Libraries are seen to be crucial to the success of the strategy because

their fundamental role is giving access. The localness of libraries, the high user 

frequency and lack of stigma mean they are a major player in the local community. Ms.

Blanchard believes,  If e government is to be more than a bandwagon, then there needs

to be a trigger for the public to use it. Libraries have a very positive role in engaging the

public and making it relevant. We have rebranded our service with upbeat and attractive

visuals, run bite size, and now extended courses, and are beginning to build community

websites with local people showing them how to create web pages. 

E government is the lead priority for the library service and will be one of the main

priorities in the new Council Corporate Plan.

It is too early to date to express a view on the success of the initiatives, as they have

just been launched. However, we can say that Leeds libraries have a new look, new

equipment, and new users. Lapsed users have now returned books, sometimes over 18

months overdue.  The library service is much more respected. It is anticipated that this

respect will grow as roll out continues,  Ms. Blanchard says.

In terms of advice to others, Ms. Blanchard says,  This is a huge opportunity for a

library service to raise its profile and increase use and budget. I would advise other 

services to use the opportunity to gain understanding of the real role of libraries   

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