Arts Council England have announced that a joint bid by Suffolk Libraries and Suffolk County Council to their Libraries Improvement Fund has been successful.
The money will help Suffolk Libraries to make an even bigger impact on people’s wellbeing by building on initial exploratory work to build a new and unique online service.
‘Discover More’ is an online tool which uses artificial intelligence and Suffolk Mind’s emotional needs audit to provide tailored recommendations aimed at helping people ‘discover more’ local activities and opportunities to develop and maintain their happiness and wellbeing.
The funding will provide around £219,000 to support the next phase of the technical development which will be accessible through the Suffolk Libraries website, and will be linked to Suffolk County Council’s Infolink service as well as Suffolk Libraries own events database and Let’s Get Creative directory.
Bruce Leeke, Chief Executive of Suffolk Libraries, said:
“We’re hugely excited by this funding which will help us further develop this exciting project. We hope Discover More can make it easier for people to get access to personalised recommendations of activities based on what they need, what they’re looking for and where they live. Recent research has already revealed the many ways our libraries are helping people to maintain their positive wellbeing. There is so much more we can do to help build community resilience and prevent more serious health and wellbeing issues further down the line and we hope Discover More can help us connect to many more people who don’t realise the full range of activities we offer.”
Councillor Bobby Bennett, Cabinet Member for Equality and Communities, said:
“We’re pleased to be working with Suffolk’s library service on ‘Discover More’. Linking people to services which match with their needs is key to supporting the health and wellbeing of the people of Suffolk and this platform will help to make services more accessible.We are pleased that Suffolk Libraries are looking to connect Suffolk Infolink to their platform. Suffolk Infolink is an extensive community directory for the whole county, and the most comprehensive listing of its kind.”
Millions of people have mental health challenges and early intervention and prevention have become even more crucial to ease the pressure on health and social care services.
Every year Suffolk Libraries delivers over 10k activities and events across 45 libraries with most of these providing some form of wellbeing boost. Recent research by Moore Kingston Smith revealed that last year Suffolk’s libraries generated £41m worth of social value, translating to £6 social value for every £1 invested and saving NHS services in Suffolk £542K per year.
Suffolk Libraries will be spending the next few months developing the next phase of the Discover More application with the aim of launching it on their website in the autumn.
