Introducing Frances Tout, Service Development Manager for Rural Services

Frances Tout has recently joined the Libraries Unlimited team as Service Development Manager for Rural Services.

Her new role will see her working closely with Friends Groups and volunteers, managing mobile library services across the county and working with partners and communities to ensure rural services are meeting the needs of the communities they serve.

Frances, who is also a qualified photographer, previously worked at North Somerset Council for four years as a Community Librarian and as a school librarian for eight years.

In 2015 Frances was awarded the Travelling Librarian Award, funded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) and the English Speaking Union (ESU) which saw her undertake a four-week study trip to the United States to research community engagement projects in public libraries.

In 2016, she became one of six Carnegie Library Lab Partners, alongside Joanne Kirkpatrick (Senior Supervisor at Exeter Library who founded the Adopt a Book initiative), chosen from libraries across the UK, to develop and lead an innovative project.

Frances’s project, Cook2Learn, aims to improve awareness of healthy eating choices and increase confidence in numeracy and literacy skills of adults, through learning about cooking and food preparation.

Frances said: “I am really excited to have joined Libraries Unlimited. It is a new, forward-looking organisation offering opportunities to make a positive difference to communities and people’s lives through innovative library services.

She continued: “I believe that libraries have to constantly evolve to remain relevant and I am looking forward to working with library staff, friends groups and volunteers across Devon to help develop and provide services that place libraries at the heart of their communities. I’m particularly interested in enabling communities to use libraries as a space to share ideas, skills, talents and knowledge to help build community cohesion and engagement.”

When Frances isn’t on the road visiting libraries she enjoys reading, walking, swimming, fair-weather gardening, renovating and decorating her very old house, pub quizzes, meeting up with friends and travelling. She lives in Somerset with her husband, two (almost) adult sons, a scruffy terrier dog and three chickens.