Library boss ponders what organisation Explore really is

IN October, I was asked by Sue Williamson, the chief executive of Tang Hall Smart, if Explore wanted to become part of the York Coalition of Social Enterprises. The Coalition aims to make the city a better place to live, work and visit and their meeting was one of the most positive and energising I had been to in a long while.

But it raised a question in my head. Is Explore really a social enterprise?

You may think it is easy for a chief executive is to describe what their organisation is. Our website states that: “Explore is a different kind of public service – an independent mutual society owned by our staff and community members,” which seems simple enough.

But I wasn’t sure what that meant so I decided to dig a little deeper.

Legally speaking, Explore is a registered society, with charitable community benefit rules which is a charity in law. Catchy! So, I tried to break it down a bit more.

We are a mutual society and what makes a mutual special is that the organisation is owned by, and run for, the benefit of its members who are actively and directly involved in the business.

As a “registered society” Explore is regulated by the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. Unlike a Co-Op which operates for the benefit of its members and shares profits only with them, Community Benefit societies, like Explore, operate for the benefit of the community at large, and all our profits (if we ever make any!) are given back to the community through the work we do.

Explore is part of a global movement. According to Cooperatives UK there are three million co-operatives around the world with 1.2 billion members. In the UK alone, there are more than 7,000 co-operatives which contribute more than £40bn to the economy every year.

Our community members hold shares in Explore, have a say in what we do based on one member one vote and have the right to elect three directors to our Board. Being a community member is different to library membership – people join up because they want to be actively and directly involved in how Explore is run.

One of my goals this year has been to reinvigorate the relationship Explore has with its community members. I wanted to understand what they need from us, and in return be clear what we need from them.

To start the conversation, I wrote to all our existing community members and asked them if they wanted to remain on the register. Around 300 replied to reaffirm their support for Explore, so I knew they wanted to be actively and directly involved. We then sent them a questionnaire and held some in-person focus groups to find out why they decided to be community members.

Their reasons were fascinating. Firstly, and perhaps unsurprisingly, they were members because libraries were important to them. Secondly, they wanted libraries to remain accessible to all. Thirdly, they liked the co-operative model and wanted to be involved. Interestingly the fourth most important reason for becoming a Community Member was an interest in the archives.

These discussions with members were very inspiring because of the passion and commitment from our members and seeing how much they value what we do for people of all ages from babies to residents aged 99+.

They valued our spaces – physical and virtual – where people can connect, read, learn, and browse for hours.

They loved our varied programmes which draw communities across York to engage more deeply with reading, creativity, and the histories of this city. They were enthusiastic about their local libraries and highlighted the way every library in every community has its own unique character.

After listening to them, we are now reviewing our Community Membership offer and will be relaunching in the New Year. Please keep an eye on our website and social media for more details.

So, after all that, is Explore York a social enterprise? I firmly believe our libraries and archives, our outstanding arts and cultural programmes, and the guarantee of a warm welcome from our staff team make York a better place to live, work and visit. I think the answer is yes!