An agreement was reached to safeguard the future of the Family and Mobile Libraries and the transfer is now complete.
 
Necessary budgetary savings meant the Department of Education and Children ceased to run the facilities from the end of August.
 
The DEC is pleased to announce that from the start of this month, the libraries are being run by the Manx Educational Foundation (MEF), which has secured private sector funding from PokerStars.
 
Detailed negotiations have taken place over the transfer of members of staff and the lease of assets to the new operators.
 
The MEF is a not for profit, non-governmental organisation set up last year to encourage public-private sector partnerships in the field of education with the aim of making the Island a centre of excellence for key industries.
 
Kurt Roosen, of the MEF, said today of the three-year arrangement: ‘MEF will maintain staffing, services and subscriptions at their existing levels.’
 
Heather Christian, Director of Strategy and Corporate Services with the DEC, said: ‘We are pleased that, thanks to the MEF, the library services currently offered by the DEC will be safeguarded into the future.
 
‘We are very pleased that the library services will be able to continue.
 
‘The Department is grateful to the Civil Service Commission for its role in assisting with the transfer.’
 
The Family Library is based in Westmoreland Road, Douglas, and the Mobile Library operates 10 routes Island-wide, visiting each once a fortnight as well as serving care homes and the housebound.