Social Entrepreneur in Residence secures library base in Corby

An exciting new partnership venture between The University of Northampton and Northamptonshire County Council library services has been launched.

The University's soon to be appointed Social Entrepreneur in Residence for Corby will adopt the library at Danesholme, Corby, as a local base, extending both the Council's library services availability and the University's successful Enterprise Coaching scheme to local residents.

The Social Entrepreneur will be located in the library on a daily basis, enabling the library to extend its opening hours and raise awareness of library services at Danesholme within Corby Borough to non-library users. They will work in partnership with library staff to develop and implement schemes for new users for the library around the theme of social enterprise.

The ready-made location in the centre of Danesholme also offers the Social Entrepreneur a neutral and welcoming setting to undertake coaching sessions with local residents keen to explore the setup of social enterprises.

The University is funding the post through the European Regional Development Fund, and will also pay a reasonable rent to the library for use of the premises.

Social enterprise sits at the heart of the University's strategy and I think this scheme is an excellent example of a University/Council partnership to extend services and support local residents considering social enterprise.

Social enterprises can be defined as businesses of any scale or ownership that, as part of their central mission, meet a clear societal need either through their core activities, or which dedicates their profits to such a need, or both.

Professor Simon Denny, who leads on social enterprise for the University

This is fantastic news for local residents and users of Danesholme library. Having the social entrepreneur based in the library means that it can be opened to customers outside of the current opening times, allowing library users more opportunity to borrow or return books on a self-serve basis whilst at the same time learn about the social enterprise work taking place.

This is all part of our new direction for libraries and is an excellent demonstration of how libraries can be developed to offer so much more than just traditional library services - by working with the community and organisations such as The University of Northampton, this shows how our libraries can become essential community resources that everyone can benefit from.

Councillor Andre Gonzalez de Savage, County Council cabinet member for customer and communities

If you would like more details of the plan, please contact:

• Kate Broadhurst, Enterprise Development Project Manager, University of Northampton, Phone: 07713089669, email: kate.broadhurst@northampton.ac.uk
• Anne Lovely, Principal Librarian, Northamptonshire County Council, Phone: 01536 512315, email: alovely@northamptonshire.gov.uk