The Good Library Blog

Library issues - The future for libraries - setting course

Mark Wood welcomed John Dolan to the meeting. He reminded members of John Dolan's impressive record in the public library service and his personal contribution to securing the investment in the People's Network. The benefits to MLA's profile in the sector and with Government were demonstrated by changing attitudes within and beyond DCMS and a positive media presence.

John Dolan thanked members for the opportunity presented by his new role to make a real difference to how libraries in England served users and communities and secured a new and valued role in the 21st Century. He made a presentation to the meeting setting out his induction to MLA's national and regional agendas and the development of first ideas for a coherent and effective library policy. He had spent his first two and a half months meeting key partners, stakeholders and other influential bodies and individuals. He had visited all but one Regional Agency and the visit to the ninth was scheduled. He had met with the SCL Executive and its regional library managers, the Core Cities Librarians group, colleagues in the British Library, SCONUL and CILIP. He had attempted to develop a sense of the wider landscape through contacts with Local Futures, Demos, LGA, The Reading Agency, the Youth Libraries Forum, UKOLN, London 2012 LOCOG and the NHS Patients' Choice initiative.

He was establishing his identity as a source of views and expertise through contacts with correspondents and letters so far in The Bookseller, The Guardian and The Times. He had spoken at the Inspire conference and highlighted MLA's recent success with Reference Online securing online access for library users to major academic journals previously denied to many of them.

He had attended and addressed a breakfast meeting convened by David Lammy when he had sought to make the case for the 21st Century Library around
• a clear vision, role and purpose - servicing individual, community and market needs for information, reading, learning and entertainment
• the capacity to address national needs while retaining local trust ownership - delivering local community based solutions to national issues and engaging with individuals and communities in a way that added real value
• investing in leadership skills at every level in the library service
• positive marketing of library service successes and the capacity to replicate and exploit these.

He suggested as the drivers that could help realise this vision

-the creation of the MLA Partnership with its clear vision and purpose, new ways of working and sharing intelligence and a coherent and effective voice;
-the Framework and wider investment in effective strategic marketing;
-an advocacy programme centred on the celebration of library successes;
-consumer pressure for a library services accessible whenever and by whomsoever it was needed;
-the Big Lottery Fund Community Libraries programme and the Library Makeover initiative; -
and the retargeted CPA and standards framework for public libraries.

Libraries offered a demonstrably effective route for cost-effective delivery of national and local policy objectives. The challenge was to deliver the improvements in performance which effective political and institutional engagement nationally and locally had the promise to deliver. The critical strands to this improvement programme were access, community engagement, effective marketing, appropriate and well managed resources and workforce development. He offered three models for the 21st Century Library - the Community Place, a safe and inviting centre for people to go and meet; the knowledge bank, where students, business and general users could be confident that they would find answers to their questions; and the virtual space, in which all these activities could take place without constraints of time or physical space.

Mark Wood asked John Dolan for his views on whether MLA needed to take more robust and explicit positions on current library issues. John Dolan responded that MLA did need to make clear its aspirations for the service and these needed to be visionary and ambitious. He counselled, however, against the temptation to target criticism at specific public library services. There was plenty of good news on libraries but this was habitually shared only within the service and not effectively communicated through the national media. Much more pro-activity was needed to make sure that media coverage and public and political awareness was of the whole picture and not dominated by cuts to services and changes in spending priorities and stockholdings which were often in any case sensible components of rationalisation programmes aimed at delivering more relevant services through more accessible and attractive institutions.

Alan Watkin and Bob McKee agreed the need to celebrate library successes. They also urged the re-ranking of priorities for action with workforce development at the fore as a new approach to this was taken in partnership with the SSC. There was also need better to exploit available research and evidence and look beyond the UK for models of good service. The issues and the models proposed to address these were ones which read across directly to the other two domains. This view was echoed by Helen Forde and Virginia Tandy.

Sir Geoffrey Holland suggested that the whole of the library domain should be considered. Higher Education already offered examples of 21st Century services and there was a variety of private libraries. The forthcoming Department for Education and Skills White Paper addressing support for learning beyond compulsory education offered a major opportunity for library services to make their case. He agreed the need to develop and present a positive and coherent story to the media and through LGA.

In response to Nick Kingsley's question of how MLA should respond to library services which under-performed John Dolan suggested that there was a need for constructive dialogue based on an understanding of the service's particular local constraints and the development of support with DCMS and ODPM. Ministers did recognise the value of libraries and their support for the service needed to be consolidated and developed.

Virginia Tandy questioned whether a single domain approach remained appropriate in a local government political environment where there were no longer single service champions.

Sue Wilkinson reported the joint work that was taking place with ACE, English Heritage and Sport England to develop a joint offer to ODPM.

Sarah Carthew suggested that the MLA Partnership also offered increased capacity to present coherent messages for the whole sector to local and national government.

Bob McKee agreed that messages built around the totality of the sector could not fail to be impressive. Evidence needed to be presented demonstrating the scale of its economic impact building on the studies in London and the North West. The entitlement model was a useful one to develop. Members discussed workforce development priorities. Acknowledged was the difficulty in achieving culture change among some groups within the workforce and the urgent need to present career opportunities in a way that highlighted their breadth and 21st Century relevance. The benefit to MLA of its representation to the sector and government of an individual with John Dolan's expertise and standing was acknowledged.

Chris Batt reminded members that this was the first of three appointments aimed at increasing the Council's profile and standing across all the domains.