General Election postal votes
If you have not received your postal vote for the General Election on 4 July 2024, please call us on 01305 838299 so that a replacement can be issued.
Dorset Council adopted the Dorset Library Strategy 2023 to 2033 on 25 July 2023.
As part of library strategy development we asked our communities when they wanted our libraries to be open. Based on community feedback and identified community needs, we’ve updated our library opening hours. We will also update our activities and events timetable to align with these new hours. The new opening hours will come into effect on 1 July 2024. Community managed libraries are not changing their opening hours.
Our efficient operating model has allowed us to keep almost the same total staffed hours (630 instead of 631). We now have three types of libraries, each with a specific number of council-funded opening hours. These are:
Our goal in adjusting the hours is to address the priorities you shared with us during our consultation. You told us that you wanted:
We have designed a pattern of ‘standard shifts’ per type of library to help us to meet these priorities.
We have tried to make sure that libraries within the same geographical area have: