Mashamshire Community Library

Aim

Our community library is a warm, welcoming space open to anyone and everyone! Visit to read and borrow books or spend time on our computers.

Who are we?

Our volunteer led community library is on the first floor of Mashamshire Community Office. The library is accessed via the stairs or our accessible lift. We're a friendly, welcome and warm space available to anyone and everyone to use. We have a selection of books to choose from which our volunteers rotate regularly as they get to know what our readers enjoy.

We're a small library run by local charity Mashamshire Community Office in partnership with North Yorkshire County Council, but we have lots to offer! There is always someone around to help you with any queries, to point you in the right direction if you're looking for something or are new to the area - we have all sorts of local knowledge to share. Equally, if you want some peace and quiet and a change of scenery, we have a comfortable chair and the heating on during the colder months to relax. Perhaps you're wanting to entertain the kids - why not visit the library and let them explore our selection of children's books whilst scattering our cushions to make them feel at home?

If you're looking for something specific, you can log onto your library account from home and request books to be delivered to Masham ready for collection. Equally, our volunteers can help you find what you're looking for and will be more than happy to help.

We have computers you can access and Ancestry should you want to trace your family tree.

Lots on offer at Masham Community Library - just pop in and see.

Check out our opening times: www.visitmasham.com.

Community impact

The library offers a safe space for everyone to enjoy. It provides oodles of books, access to computers, WIFI and information to support people's health and wellbeing. The service strengthens people's connections in the community and offers a warm place for people to visit and spend time. Our volunteers help to create social connections in the community, they are invested in making the library a success and support local people to enjoy and maximise the library's potential. The library is home to a wealthy storage of local information too which attracts visitors researching their ancestry as they seek to trace their family records. This evokes a sense of belonging and pride. Furthermore, the volunteering opportunities made available through the library allow people to upskill and make new friends. Other benefits to volunteering include improved confidence and mental and physical wellbeing.

Why are we crowdfunding?

We currently receive a small but essential amount of funding from North Yorkshire County Council to run the volunteer led community library in Masham. However, as a small independent charity, we face unprecedented financial challenges as utility rates almost triple and our overheads have all increased. We are crowdfunding to help cover some of our increased operational costs associated with running the community library.

How we’ll spend the money raised

We plan to use the money to help pay for our operational running costs and would like to extend our opening hours in the library on Saturdays so that we're open for another 2 hours to enable young families to use the library as a warm place to visit and enjoy.

What our visitors say about us:

One of our youngest visitors only 2 years old, attends story time regularly with Acorns Preschool and said, "I love going the library. The library is amazing. I read looooads of books." Her mother also told us, "I'm so pleased that Acorns take my daughter to visit every week because as a working parent, I just don't have the time to do that, and she absolutely loves it. We're so lucky to have two fantastic resources, both Acorns and the library right here on our doorstep."

This project successfully funded on 28th March 2023