Library opening hours (FOI)

Request

When I attended University in recent years, they were able to keep library facilities open on a 24 hour basis by locating just a security officer at the location with turnstile limited access to the facility.

What would be the annual cost of keeping Jersey Library open on extended hours or a 24 hour basis in terms of overheads and staffing costs? So far as practicable, what would be the effective cost of that annualised on a per capita basis across the whole population, on a per secondary school capita basis across the population in full time local secondary and tertiary education, on a per working capita basis across the whole working population and on a per lifelong learning capita basis across a representative section of the population that might be expected to keep their knowledge and skills up-to-date through professional qualifications and distance learning opportunities.

The introduction of the "Eagle Lab" at the Jersey Library seems to suggest that there may be a practical need to provide greater access to educational and self advancement facilities that are not just open during normal daytime library opening hours.

Response

The information required to respond to this request is not held by the Education Department and therefore cannot be supplied.

Articles of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law which support this response are detailed below.

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a) it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b) it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.

Article 4 - Meaning of “information to be supplied by a public authority”

(1) For the purposes of this Law, the information held by a public authority at the time when a request for the information is received is the information that is to be taken to have been requested.

(2) However, account may be taken of any amendment or deletion made to the information between the time when the request for the information was received and the time when it is supplied if the amendment or deletion would have been made regardless of the request for the information.