To ask you for your money-raising ideas for libraries?

Our community library raises most of its funds through talks. These are by local authors or about things of local interest like archeological projects, historical events or characters etc. These are ticketed and raise a surprising amount of money. They are always sold out.
We also run a couple of raffles a year, always with very generous prizes donated by local businesses which make a few hundred pounds a time. We sell off books as they are replaced but this doesn’t raise a huge amount. All of this does take a lot of effort, this is a smallish village with a large and very active body of professional retirees with time, contacts and skills on their hands which helps.
There is also a Friends of the Library” scheme, £15 per year, with quite a large membership. We don’t get any external funding but do get free use of the building from the council, but we pay the utilities.

CAB outreach - there may be grants available. But you would need a confidential space.

Homework club for local high schools - maybe monthly one based on a subject and with a guest volunteer (ex teacher, uni grad) who can assist the kids with their questions. I would say this is more about bringing in users, but a nominal fee of 50p for the special sessions may work.

Our local library does LEGO play sessions (they have several large tubs of LEGO, I think it’s 50p to book on), hosts the local historians’ group, and in summer has those petting zoo people come (small fee for tickets).

You could host a repair club - maybe £1-2 fee to bring in an item that needs repairing eg a kettle, broken zippers on a jacket, etc.

The Council could also reduce staffing costs by moving to unstaffed Open Libraries (so you can open the door through a pin number linked to your library card).

You need to be more commercial. So hiring the library building (when it is closes to the public) at commercial rates for businesses or groups.
You could also check out if you could do an Amazon store-front and sell your used/ex stock books on there. Or if you can partner with something like the Amazon affiliates program which gives money to your organisation if you go to Amazon via a clickable link.
You won't (and shouldn't) raise enough money through regular activites such as book clubs or children's clubs.
You could defintitely have a donation box in each library though.

My local (city centre) library does regular “Library Lates” evenings, usually with a live band or two, crafts/games and a silent disco. I’ve been to a few and they’re great and have been well attended. There’s something quite magical about disco dancing in the library.

They also do a kids fun day every summer which is always packed. There is usually a didi car inflatable track, bouncy castle, disco, lots of crafts and games and last time a petting zoo in the garden.

A friends library abroad always do a “Blind date with a book” for Valentines. They wrap them in brown paper with a short note on the genre annd put them in a display shelf. Such a great idea.

Councils are bankrupt. Places like libraries are easy targets to close especially if they aren’t getting the footfall they once did.
I worked in a related area and the pressure to bring in money is immense, even though what we do raise is a drop in the ocean .

Our local library was struggling, and faced 2 options - closure or becoming a commuinity library - it's now fully staffed by volunteers, which is a huge cost saving. Lots of retired people in the village love volunteering there a few hours a week, and my children love seeing local familiar faces.

They run various free crafting groups, which definitely increases footfall, and they ask for donations.

I'm assuming yours is a staffed library, but as staff move on, maybe consider bringing in more volunteers, to cut running costs.

Our local library runs homework club and helping kids with reading on a Saturday morning for primary school kids. The volunteers are all Duke of Edinburgh secondary school kids. It’s really popular.
They also run coding clubs, Lego club and various craft clubs during school holidays.
Again, secondary school kids wanting to volunteer.
The homework and reading help is free but it encourages kids to take out books.

I am a big fan of libraries but would be reluctant to pay for anything offered by the library.

Something I would pay for would be adult educational classes run by an external organisation that rents space from the library. When I was a child my mother took french lessons at the library but they were in a function room at the side and there was a adult learning organisation that paid rent for the room. Something of that set up would interest me. Perhaps languages, Excel skills. If I remember correctly my local library also used to rent space to a yoga teacher.

My local library does cinema nights, book club, story time free of charge. Also starting to offer experiment activities one of which was for kids to create one of those volcanoes where you put vinegar down the crater and it erupts. Not sure how successful they are being. I took my so the volcano one but we won't go back unless they change the format. The activity was in the middle of the library rather than a side room and the kids were constantly being shushed by the librarians would pay a nominal amount for something like that to cover materials costs but anything over 3€ would put me off

All of these ideas and suggestions sound so much fun, but what you’re doing here is changing from a library to a community centre. If that’s the overall intention then it’s great, that’s a valuable thing to have in any community.
I’m reading with a little frustration though. I used to use my library often - I’ve been studying for years and used to study in my local library, before that I used to enjoy going in there and sitting quietly browsing and reading. I can no longer do either, no more quiet reading or study, because my library now hosts baby singing groups, classes, children’s music groups and play groups, there’s a cafe for chatting right in the middle. It’s just not possible to have any quiet focus on book reading!

If you could get someone to provide prizes for free, you could run a crafts competition and have the items on display. You would need to pay to enter, just like country shows. There are fewer of these places to enter things like this now.
Running craft classes out of hours. My friend runs one (she has a CIC) and has a massive waiting list of people just wanting to come and make things. Nothing is complicated, it’s more social than anything.

Our library does free crafts for kids in the holidays but also some ticketed more specific themed sessions that are payable £2 or so for an hour

I used to work in libraries back in the days when they were regarded as a free community resource. Its sad to see how the profession has degenerated to the point where librarians have to scribble for money making ideas because greedy local authorities want to monetize everything. Including art galleries and museums. Most people probably feel that their council tax (which is already too high) covers their use of the library so why should they pay extra?

Do you have a room/space you could rent out? Knitting/other craft or interest groups may be interested in renting space once a month. Even slimming world or weight watchers?

Out local library hosts a kids craft morning once a month, parents have to stay which means they usually browse the shelves. And they recently did a board games morning.

I imagine you’re already doing a toddler story/rhyme session, but are there minority communities in your area who might want to host a Chinese/arabic/spanish/etc language toddler time?

Coffee, training courses, parking, baby groups…

Have you got any local authors who would come and give ticketed talks? I know we're supposed to charge for this sort of thing, but most authors, if asked, will turn out for free (or for a cup of tea and a biscuit) if it's to raise money for a good cause.

When I lived abroad, the local community college ran all manner of events. Not inside a library though. Are there any side rooms or large areas to hold an event? Tables/chairs/toilets?

Some of the things they ran included
-various language classes. eg basics for travellers right up to level 1, 2, 3
-knitting/crochet groups, craft,
-English as a second language
-Various dancing
-Chair yoga and exercises from high impact to lower impact for older people or those. Pilates, yoga, meditation.
-Various computing/coding courses

I attended several cooking lessons- BUT, you'd obviously need a large kitchen area with multiple ovens, sinks, bench areas, fridge/freezer. It might need different fire safety checks and it just wouldn't be a viable thing for a library.

I personally wouldn't pay to watch a fashion show or a talent show. I'd also consider having events in the evening when the library is normally shut. I work full time, so many day time events in my area I can't do. Some other ideas, but I don't know how popular they'd be:

• wine and cheese tasting evening (not sure about liquor licence etc?)
• Christmas wreath making
• Egg decorating for Easter

Great ideas!

You could look up LockerQuest, they pay you some money annually to host a parcel locker outside your premises. It might give some support to your budget.
Also there are clothes recycling banks you can have on site which split proceeds with you, but I can’t remember their name.