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February 28, 2007
Russia turns casinos into public libraries
There are so many important messages in this article. I can remember the days when Russian readership of books was vastly greater than here. Their public libraries were world famous. It is only twenty years ago. Now they gamble instead. I suppose they, too, must have a DCMS like we do -- a ministry of common sense-- which spends its time opening casinos.
Posted by Perkins at 9:17 PM | Comments (0)
The Bishop of Wakefield
The Bishop of Wakefield played a particular part in the shameful divorce of Katherine of Aragon. In 1526 he wrote a pamphlet which was an important part of the drama. I am trying to find out who he was and more about him.
Try the libraries in Wakefield, you say-- I can't they've closed for lack of money
Posted by Perkins at 12:05 PM | Comments (1)
February 24, 2007
Good News for Public Libraries: Another Government Committee is Created
In addition to the present number of committees the government has to run the public library service:
DCMS- The Department of Common Sense
DLA (Delay) - The Department of Libraries and Archives
SCL- The Society for Closing libraries
SYRUP - The professional association of librarians
- The Knitting Agency
87 Regional branches of the DLA (the further Delays)
DCLG -The Department for Confusing Local Government
LLDA (Long lunches defer afternoons)
The new committee will be called
ACL- the Association for Closing Libraries- and it will have a Scientific Focus
DLA is operated by a packet of biscuits and cream cakes; the ACL will be run by small furry animals, lambs, sheep, teddy bears, rats etc. Miss Bo Peep OBE will preside over it, for sure. The appointments also include Lady Cheese and Tomato Sandwich FBI, CIA, KGB, OTT. Otherwise the new committee will have on it more or less the same people as all the other committees which all include Mr Garry Baldy who has to have many hats, because he is on so many committees.
Now that Mr Elgar Atkins is blogging from a higher place(ElgarAtkins@Heaven.com) he has revealed that Mr Blair will shortly resign from his job as Prime Minister because of the state of the public library service and Mr Grimsdyke, who is still living under the pier at Bloggington on Sea has been forced to sell his home and his children in order to buy sprats for Perkins the library cat.
The Bishop of Slough is not on any committee so far, which is very disappointing for him, but he has called for another one to be invented for him to be on.
I re-read this entry this morning and realised that newcomers to the site might not know that all these committees are real ones and all these people are also actual persons who participate in one way or another in what they choose to call managing our public libraries. Their names have been changed on this blog, but not their ridiculous behaviour.
Even Perkins the library cat is real- although the whelk stall in front of which he sits hopefully most days on the harbourside at Bloggington was invented by Susan Hill. And I'm afraid it is true that Elgar Atkins, who on this blog is known as the author of "Naval manoeuvres in Bloggington Bay in the reign of Queen Anne in 26 volumes" is now in Heaven. Regular readers of the blog will know that volumes 12-14 of the 26 volume set in Bloggington library were removed (somewhere) to allow Perkins a place to sleep over the library radiator.
Posted by Perkins at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)
A plug for the National Archive
I love the National Archive, whose main public building is at Kew in West London. It is one of my favourite places to find things and to work. Here is an article I came across on the BBC website this evening: searching for family information is something that is done at Kew, but there is far more beside. I have produced several books upon the discovery of gems of original documents in the archive. The British Library gets much well deserved attention, but Kew is juist as good and just as interesting.
They are two wonderful national assets
Posted by Perkins at 12:38 AM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2007
Meeting
There was an air of gloom and greyness at the MLA meeting today to discuss their latest policy document. It's true that those who had written it came in for some pretty hostile criticism and suggestions not just from me, but from others around the table, that they should withdraw the document and start again. But nevertheless there was some very constructive debate about how to work with local councils and how to be more professional in obtaining the public view and many other topics besides.
I enjoyed it-- but I don't think the authors of the report did. What is hard to understand is the connection- or apparent lack of it- of this new attempt to define library policy and the new set of library measures which are about to be published any moment and which are supposed to do the same thing. It is as if they are going to try to work out what they are supposed to be doing, at some length, having just finished doing it: rather like drawing the plans for a new building after you have built it and realised it has no doors and windows.
It's our money, so they aren't really too bothered, I suppose. Nevertheless for the first time, I thought that the public pressure to take some pracitical steps to improve libraries is beginning to tell on those responsible. Someone said the movement is as slow as a glacier- -but glaciers these days move more quickly than they used to.
Posted by Perkins at 9:55 PM | Comments (0)
Mischief at the Bookseller
There are some days when one wonders if the Bookseller is truly on message with the forces of power and influence. David Whitaker would be very pleased with them, I sense.
Here is their view of the latest pile of paper from the MLA
MLA to decide library purpose
22.02.07 Katherine Rushton
The Museums, Libraries & Archives Council (MLA) is launching a public consultation to help decide on an "unequivocal statement of purpose" for public libraries. The move follows years of angry debate within the service about the extent to which it should focus on new technology, and whether that focus is being pursued at the expense of traditional book stocks.
The MLA's new policy paper, "A Blueprint for Excellence"--which aims to map out the second half of its "Framework for the Future" programme, which launched in 2002—said: "It is time for the public library service to take a hard look at both its role in society and the services it can and should be providing."
It called for an "unequivocal statement of purpose" and a "funded action plan to encourage improvement". Key stakeholders--including publishers, non-public libraries and citizen interest groups--will be invited to comment on the paper in a series of seminars in March, April and May.
The document described "universal entitlement to the skills and joy of reading" as one of four purposes of public libraries, and acknowledged "justifiable concern about the quality of resources, notably book stocks and the state of many buildings" across the service.
It also placed heavy emphasis on building digital resources, and on "moving with urgency and excitement to the digital age, [to] create a universal entitlement to remote and 24-hour, interactive access". MLA head of library policy John Dolan said: "Lifestyle and technology are the things that are taking us forward, and we have to move with the times."
He said that improvements would be funded by the "redirection of existing funds", both from efficiency savings within the libraries sector and by partnering with other public services.
The MLA's plans to overhaul the library supply chain came under further attack this week, after Martin Molloy, president of librarians' body CILIP and strategic director of cultural and community services for Derbyshire, dismissed them as "unhelpful and disappointing".
The proposals, drawn up by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, proposed the establishment of a central contracting agency by 2008, and promised £22m in savings if all library authorities in England got on board. But the scheme suffered a blow last September when the Central Buying Consortium--which represents a quarter of English library authorities--said it would not sign up to the scheme.
Molloy this week stressed that the savings were needed quickly to meet three-year targets for efficiency savings within all councils. "We needed the procurement savings to be almost immediate, but what we've ended up with is a delay in the process. The whole of this has been unhelpful and disappointing," he said.
The MLA rebuffed the criticism, arguing that PwC had always said that the savings would take time to implement. "In 2007, we set out the ambition for the first stage of implementation in 2008, and we are on track to meet that target," said Better Stock, Better Libraries programme director Andrew Stevens. He said that the MLA had made the plans part of its "2012 vision"--but stressed that this was "the end date, not the start date".
Library Katherine Rushton MLA
Posted by Perkins at 12:20 AM | Comments (4)
February 22, 2007
MLA new Manifesto for libraries
Here is the press release and below is the full text of the document.
MUSEUMS, LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES COUNCIL
A Blueprint for Excellence
Public Libraries 2008-2011
“Connecting People to Knowledge and Inspiration”
Section one
purpose, context, process
Through consultation on A Blueprint for Excellence, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) will set out a shared universal understanding of the role of the modern public library and of the core services that the public can expect. The core offer will be a universal entitlement for children, young people, families and communities to
• an accessible local library – in village, town, suburb, city centre – as a place of resource and expertise at the centre of community life
• a library service working in partnership to engage with communities and enable people to access resources and expertise, information and knowledge
• a global, interactive information, resources and communications service, 24/7, for learning knowledge and inspiration.
To reach this goal requires challenge and change so that public libraries will have
• the right level and quality of resources, services and facilities
• a culture of responding to and leading on community expectations and need
• effective and efficient leadership and management
• ongoing improvement and contribution to the priorities of local government provision and performance
• recognition by national, regional and local policy makers of the vital importance of public libraries to personal, family and community development.
Introduction
The purpose of this document is to describe a process of consultation on the improvement of England’s public library service during the next four years. It outlines the existing strengths and weaknesses of the services and improvement work already undertaken nationally through MLA’s Framework for the Future programme. In the first section of the paper there is also a proposal for the process and timescale of consultation and the subsequent steps necessary to the preparation of an action plan for guide investment until 2011.
The second part of the paper presents a series of Propositions that will form the basis for the process of consultation. Critical to the future success of the public library service will be a clear sense of purpose and value shared by policymakers, service managers and staff, communities and stakeholders of every variety. It is only with this shared sense of purpose that it will be possible to develop a strong and compelling narrative about the worth of public libraries that will put them at the heart of future policies.
The propositions for consultation
One – The Purpose of the Public Library
Two – The Key Roles of the Public Library
Three – Eight Key Challenges for Improvement
Four – Essential Elements for Success
Five – What Excellence Will Look Like for People, Communities and for Funders
Six – Actions and Outcomes 2008-2011
Strengths and Weaknesses
The network of public libraries in England is a unique resource provided by all metropolitan and county councils which reaches into every community in the country. Libraries are places where children learn to love books and reading, where people of all ages have access to the knowledge and information they need to enrich their lives and the world about them. Libraries are at the heart of formal and personal learning, building individual and community identity and enabling creativity. They help young people observe and learn community and citizenship values and older people to stay young at heart and in mind. Through static, mobile and outreach services public libraries reach remote or excluded communities that may have little regular local contact with other community services. In these ways public libraries support the aims of local authorities helping sustain community life, support education, learning, regeneration and the national strategies for children, young people and families.
However, it is certainly the case that the quality of library services varies across the country, as reflected in the achievement against national service standards, and in the need to improve the efficiency and impact, identified in studies commissioned by the MLA. Furthermore there is justifiable concern about the quality of resources, notably book stocks and the state of many buildings. It is also clear that, with increased competition for public resources, there is a need to place future activities within a clear narrative that offers wide support for compelling messages about the ways in which public libraries are able to enrich the lives of everyone.
Recent steps and achievements
Between 2003 and 2007 the Framework for the Future policy and associated action plan has sought to sustain improvement across England’s public libraries. Much has been achieved. Framework for the Future has enabled over 450 senior staff in libraries to undertake professional development and leadership training. It has funded peer reviews of library services to lead to significant improvements in participating authorities, research to identify need and barriers to progress and it has commissioned studies to improve efficiency and audit the library estate. Between 2000 and 2003 public libraries successfully demonstrated their ability to work to a common goal in the creation of the Lottery funded People’s Network that, in the words of the David Lammy, Minister for Culture, “created for millions a bridge across the digital divide”; it provides millions of people with supported access to the Internet and online information and learning in every library in the country. The evaluation of the first phase of Framework observes that library programmes in literacy, children’s and family reading have “helped library services to develop better quality customer services”; national reading and learning activities have enabled libraries “to make a strong contribution to shared, local public policy priorities”.
The need for improvement, the need for change
Libraries continue to be highly regarded and popular. 50% of the population has a library card and uses a library once a month. But are they getting the service they need and want; what about the other 50% of the population who is not using the service? At a time of increasing pressure on local authority budgets, even more expectations of efficiency savings and with the Local Government White Paper calling for improved models of delivery and more customer focus, it is time for the public library service to take a hard look at both its role in society and the services it can and should be providing.
This approach to future improvement does not call for complete re-invention of public libraries as we know them today but makes an explicit commitment to ensuring the services of the best public libraries are supported and provided to every citizen, everywhere. To achieve this requires two things.
First an unequivocal statement of purpose and second a funded action plan to encourage improvement and innovation. The former is essential to performance and to strong advocacy nationally, regionally and locally, while the latter will be the mechanism to help poorer performing services to gain the competency to achieve the quality of the very best.
Process and timeline
As the government’s lead strategic body for libraries MLA is mandated to drive public library improvement. The MLA Partnership will therefore be the delivery mechanism for the action plan that will be needed, working with stakeholders and partners with appropriate experience and expertise.
The essential first step will be consultation and engagement to form the consensus on purpose and roles that will deliver real improvement. This calls for wide involvement. MLA proposes the following outline timetable:
February Preparation of a communications plan
Focus group testing of A Blueprint for Excellence, including confirmation of key stakeholder list
March Public consultation begins
March – May Consultation seminars and discussions across England
June – July Revision of the purpose, roles, priorities, etc to produce the action plan and narrative
September Circulation of final documents to key stakeholders
Autumn Launch campaign to promote public libraries and to gain support for continued improvement
.
section two
six propositions for public libraries
Proposition One – The Purpose of the Public Library
The purpose of the Public Library is to provide a trusted community resource providing a universal entitlement to:
• The skills and joy of reading
• Knowledge in all its forms, including print, audio, visual and digital media
• Essential information, learning and knowledge at all stages of life
• Involvement in the social, learning and creative life of the community
It will achieve this by being at the very heart of the community, engaging with local people, offering informed guidance to them and supporting their needs, interests and aspirations
Proposition Two – The Key Roles of the Public Library
1. Community Place: A place for the whole community to come together as individuals, in families and as a community to read, learn and discover – providing books, newspapers, magazines, information and study resources, learning & communications technologies with help from trained staff, a place to meet, learn and discover.
2. Development Agency: Joining with partner agencies for targeted interventions to develop the skills and knowledge of individuals, families and communities. Whether for learning to read, growing skills, learning for life, or supporting disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, the public library is uniquely placed to provide information, practical solutions and leadership
3. The Digital Library: moving with urgency and excitement to the digital age, create a universal entitlement to remote and 24 hour, interactive access, trusted library resources and expert help to explore global resources and to solve urgent questions online, anywhere, anytime.
Proposition Three – Eight Key Challenges for Improvement
1. A national entitlement- an unequivocal definition of the library service with a clear expression of what users and communities can expect and the performance evaluation to enable informed public response.
2. Funding – Adequate to deliver effective, responsive services.
3. Partnership – working increasing in partnership – with public, private and third sector partners – to deliver shared outcomes from jointly secured financial and other resources
4. Improved buildings and access – Up to 70% of community library buildings do not meet the needs of disability access or safety standards. They are dated and deter potential users. Well designed libraries are ‘attractors’ both externally and in the configuration and presentation of services. Opening hours and staffing must reflect diverse user needs and contemporary lifestyles.
5. What users want - To counter the continuing decline in spend on books and other resources and secure sustained investment to provide current and comprehensive stocks to meet demand and need.
6. The Digital Library - An entitlement to 24/7 online access to catalogues, resources, interactive content and expert help through sustained information, learning and communications technologies.
7. Staff - enabled and empowered to lead and deliver customer-focused services that meet the national entitlement.
8. Innovation - exploring new service models and new partnerships better to meet changing customer needs, for example single library card, national procurement of stock and online resources, new approaches to service delivery and evaluation.
9. Awareness raising and celebrating success – The narrative, the research and the evidence to raise political and public awareness of library services; to increase the user base and to energise policy makers, stakeholders and funders in promoting the value of libraries.
Proposition Four – Essential Elements for Success
1. Focus on the user, potential users and the community
2. Agreement of DCMS and the sector on a shared purpose and an action plan to achieve it
3. Public libraries firmly established at the heart of national policy agendas
4. Adequate funding to for improvement and innovation
5. A well resourced communications strategy
6. Mechanisms to provide and co-ordinate national programmes that achieve buy in locally
7. Motivated and skilled workforce
8. Means to foster partnership working nationally and regionally
Proposition Five – What Excellence Will Look Like for People, Communities and for Funders
Improvement in all library services towards:
1. Services that are accessible, inviting, match community need , provide a modern, active and attractive experience both in the community and online
2. Sustained increase in library use across all services
3. A universal understanding of the library’s role and core offer
4. Provision of lending and reference and digital resources and facilities of adequate quality and range to meet the needs of all users
5. Attractive well located libraries that are a source of pride and community identity
6. Staff enabled and competent to lead the development of new ways of maximising the potential of public libraries to change and enrich people’s lives and to support communities
7. Increased efficiency and ongoing improvement in management and service delivery
8. Contributing to the priorities of Local Area Agreements for children and young people, safer and stronger communities, healthier communities and older people, and economic development and enterprise.
9. Contributing to excellent local authority performance and citizen satisfaction in the emerging Comprehensive Area Assessments
10. Recognition by national, regional and local policy makers of the vital importance of public libraries to individual, family and community development, and funding to match that recognition
Proposition Six – Actions and Outcomes 2008-2011
People and communities
1. Engage local communities in the development of and priorities for their local library service generating a transformational change in service quality
2. Define a core offer setting out what every citizen can expect from their local library service promoted through a public communications plan
3. Build the case for a national capital programme for library buildings renewal as well as the successful delivery of the Big Lottery Fund’s Community Libraries Programme
4. Support for the creation of long-term partnerships locally, regionally and nationally focused on individual, family and community development
5. A programme of targeted national offers around reading and literacy
Improvement and innovation
10. Customer-focused standards and outcome indicators and an improvement tool that aligns with local government performance assessment
11. Workforce culture change to build commitment to modernisation, efficiency, innovation, customer focus and community engagement
12. Establish structures and systems for procurement and service innovation for increased productivity, efficiency savings and a greater customer focus in services and resource management
13. Help for failing services to reach a state of continuous improvement; with support and advice in partnership with regional MLAs
14. Campaign for increased investment in stock, training for staff and longer opening hours
15. Horizon scanning in digital, learning and communications technologies to capture and adopt emerging opportunities
16. Programme to create evidence base of good practice for advocacy
Posted by Perkins at 5:40 PM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2007
Libraries in Fife
Fife is a Kingdom of Scotland. I used to live there many years ago and spent time with the Salvation Army!
It is sad to see the libraries close, but not surprising as the Scottish library service has it head even more firmly in the bunker than their colleagues in England
Posted by Perkins at 9:28 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2007
Competing manifestos for the public library service
The MLA have now sent out their own manifesto to compete with mine. I've seen it but am not allowed to say anything about it until Friday.
Posted by Perkins at 7:42 PM | Comments (3)
February 18, 2007
Dream
I have had calls and messages from several chief librarians expressing their anger at a letter sent out (apparently) by the MLA which says that the if they do not conform to the MLA's supply chain project the council chief executive will be approached.
The MLA are tackling the problems wrongly
- Firstly they do not seem to realise that the £22m dividend of which they talk (for 2008 or 2012) has already been achieved. Most councils either with the help of consortia or on their own have negotiated significant increases in supplier discount in the past two years, and this increase has already provided the extra "books for your buck" which was talked about by the previous minister. The opportunity came about because of a controversial "price war" between library suppliers, and was nothing to do with Price Waterhouse Cooper or the MLA.
- Secondly, there are further substantial savings to make, but in order to achieve them one has to work through the issues in fine detail with each individual council and their suppliers to try - over time- to remove overlap in process and uneccessary procedure. These are fruitful discussions but they need to take place within the context of how the individual council works.
- Thirdly it is only when these have been done can one then talk about more joined up working between councils, which is not easy to achieve. If one hasn't tackled individual council issues first, then by joining up councils one is just covering the cracks with wallpaper. The largest part of the saving is in part 2 of this process.
I had a dream last night that, in a seminar of chief librarians from all over the country, one said that there was a feeling among them that it is time now to work at all the things in detail of which I talk about on this blog and elsewhere. It was the best news I had had for a long time- but it was only a dream.
Posted by Perkins at 9:42 AM | Comments (2)
February 17, 2007
A reader in Tower Hamlets writes
This came from a resident of Tower Hamlets
"I live in Tower Hamlets and have spent the past week in the Whitechapel Idea Store revising for accountancy exams. I like the building and I think it's approachable and accessible. I went there thinking it was a library, but it isn't, its a community/youth centre, which isn't a bad thing, but when you are informed there is no quiet area for study, you wonder if priorites are wrong. I have sat there and struggled to concentrate as teenages shout and flirt, chasing each other round, as the librarians (!?, perhaps storekeeper?) ignore the noise and browse the internet and use their mobiles."
Tower Hamlets council claim that the Ideas Stores were generated from the ideas of market research. It is hard to believe that no one said they needed their library to provide a quiet place to work.
Posted by Perkins at 10:52 PM | Comments (1)
The Conservative Party have destroyed public libraries in Buckinghamshire
This article in the Buckinghamshire Free Press (and others in the Bucks Herald) tell the continuing story of the death throes of the Buckinghamshire Library Service.
There was a moment last year when the Conservative Party looked as if they were going to gird loins and bring some common sense to the whole saga, but I'm sad to report I no longer believe they will. The Conservative councillors in Buckinghamshire County Council and their colleagues in Central Office, Hugo Swire, Ed Vaizey, David Shakespeare, Margaret Dewar and MP's John Bercow and Cheryl Gillan et al should get a grip on this pretty quickly. The people in the county are not pleased about it at all: they deserve better and press releases from the council prefaced by blaming the Government will not wash.
Posted by Perkins at 11:43 AM | Comments (2)
February 15, 2007
Good things don't happen in the night
I laughed when I read this in the Bookseller today. Readers who might have missed the early chapters of this remarkable fairy tale should enter "Price Waterhouse Cooper" in the search box in the right hand column. There have been many entries.
There is, of course, no connection between this story and the actitivities of "Delay" (DLA: the department of libraries and archives) . In contrast they would have handled this whole matter with a Dead Bat (which is a cricketing expression)
Read on
"Public library plans delayed
15.02.07 Katherine Rushton
Plans for a radical overhaul of the public library supply chain have been delayed by four years, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) has revealed.
The original PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report published last August targeted £20m savings by 2008, but a recent "progress update" sent to chief librarians by the MLA said the plans were part of a "2012 vision".
The MLA said the original target was never firmly fixed. Sarah Wilkie, head of Framework for the Future, the national public library strategy, said: "It was accepted that it was a very ambitious target, and it was always intended that the feasibility of that target would need to be examined. It’s going to be a gradual migration rather than a big bang approach." The MLA has also backed away from the establishment of a series of regional servicing "hubs", saying they "might or might not be a physical thing".
A number of library authorities have signed up to explore such consortia arrangements over the next 12 months, but major groups including the Central Buying Consortium—which represents around a quarter of all English authorities—have refused to join the regional hubs plan.
Wilkie denied that proposals had been hit by a lack of support from library authorities. "The truth of the matter is that radical change doesn’t happen overnight," she said.
Posted by Perkins at 4:33 PM | Comments (2)
What Elaine Fulton thinks
Here, if you read on, is Elaine Fulton's latest paper on the question of public libraries in Scotland. There is nothing in what she says that I recognise as being what the people of Scotland would want from their libraries. On the contrary it seems to be based on what the managers of the libraries in Scotalnd enjoy doing, which is not the same thing at all. Certainly it asks for more money to be given to an operation, which, if its results were shown, is not very well managed at present.
Book issues in Scotland fell by 4% last year and book collections fell (in quantity and probably in quality) as well. She doesn't mention those things. Nor does she mention the local councils in which the service has almost ceased to exist. In fact her paper does not seem to be based on any factual information at all except the brief statistics that apparently lead her to ask for just £10m.
I'm not sure her argument would stand scrutiny in the Dragon's Den- or the Loch Ness Monster's lair, for that matter. I hope the English aren't paying for all this.
Issues Paper for Cross Party Group on Reading and Literature
Background
The Scottish Library and Information Council is the advisory body to members and Scottish Ministers for all library and information services in Scotland; public, schools, universities and colleges. I am here to speak to the whole sector. Public Libraries alone consistently serve 60% of the population in Scotland to borrow books, use free internet access, research, participate in community activity etc.
The problem for libraries for all kinds is where they sit, given the range and diversity of the services they provide, all too often seen book lending which is one element of what libraries of all kinds provide.
Comprehensive Spending Review
In preparing to contribute to the Comprehensive Spending Review, we have identified issues and pressures on services, which will be pertinent for party manifestos.
Since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament libraries are under increasing pressure to:
• Support the knowledge economy, through the provision of quality information resources, both printed and digital
• Support, contribute and deliver lifelong learning through the provision of resources in different formats, supporting learning providers and delivering informal programmes themselves e.g in particular in using ICT in learning – Basic Computer training, Information Literacy. Libraries are 15% of the learndirect Scotland network. Libraries have been supporting learning for over 154 years.
• Contribute to the social inclusion agenda, by working with hard to reach groups and through offering at the most basic level free access to books and the internet through to supporting the needs of migrant communities
• Supporting and offering programmes which support digital inclusion. A number of projects in public libraries, more information can be found at http://www.slainte.org.uk/files/pdf/pnet/gates/gatesreport04.pdf
• Supporting, promoting and offering opportunities to participate in culture, largely through reading, however public libraries hold the community memory and heritage in their local collections, they offer opportunities to build, they lend CDs and DVDs of music, film and theatre. Through reader development programmes which until now have been funded by SAC, we have been able to grow the number of readers in Scotland and widen reading choices, by focusing on the user. These programmes increase boorowing of promoted titles by 150% and we have evidence from a programme in Glasgow that it has increased library issues over all by 20% and library membership by 12%.
• Library services are able to contribute to the public health improvement agenda. We have a couple of schemes promoting biblio-therapy and books on subscription, which have proved popular and successful in Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire. Renfrewshire have established a special information service with McMillan Cancer, where the library is co-located with the health centre. Wales already have a national books on prescription promotion which is funded nationally.
• Libraries can provide support to regeneration. Some libraries are in the wronf place to serve their communities, they should be considered when looking at regeneration as they provide a welcoming public space which is valued by the community. The Finnish describe this as the living room of the community. They can also support the skills development agenda, provide ICT support to small businesses through free internet access and provision of excel, access etc databases and training to support it.
A key priority for SLIC is co-operation, collaboration and co-ordination. Under that agenda we look at key areas which we can support the issues above through
• The provision of a technical infrastructure, which is standards based to support information exchange and resource sharing
• Exploration of different delivery models e.g joint use facilities
• need to ensure there a sufficient resources, funding, quality professional and non-professional staff, good buildings
• The shared services agenda is increasingly important, but SLIC believes it needs to be more than saving money, it needs to deliver the services the user wants.
• Funding is a key issue for all services, for example
Public Library
Materials Funds £15.9M - Scottish Library Association Public Library Expenditure Statistics 1995/96
Materials Funds £12.7M - CIFPA Public Library Statistics 2004/5
Change: reduction of £3.2M or 20% drop, excluding inflation
If combined CPI of 17% is taken into account the library materials fund for Scotland should be increased by £10M to return to 1995/96 levels. That said we would no spend the money in the same way should that level be restored
SLIC has developed several embryonic services since the publication of Enabling Seamless Access, in 2000. What we need is investment from the Scottish Executive to fund
• Nationally funded/services to support local agendas
• Increase resources to participate in national programme to meet the needs of their communities
Possible Actions
• Public Information Network, with a technical infrastructure which offers equity of access and supports individuals and communities to develop ICT skills. It should be underpineed by the principle of free access to the internet and provide for replacement of PCs in our public libraries on a 3 year rolling programme. It should consider national subscriptions for an agreed range of electronic resources, shared searching services across all library services through scotlandslibraries.com
• Funded National reader Development programme for all, which reflects existing provision and core funds the National Readership Development Programme, developed by SLIC and CILIPS(previously funded by SAC)
• Building Audit and replacement programme( linked to shared services. Ireland has run such a programme for over 25years and Big Lottery are supporting a £80m programme in England)
Elaine Fulton
Director, Scottish Library and Information Council/CILIP in Scotland
1st Floor Building C, Brandon Gate,
Leechlee Road
Hamilton
ML3 6AU
e.fulton@slainte.org.uk
Posted by Perkins at 4:04 PM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2007
Thought for the day
"Progressive creative senses of place are formed, and creative people are stimulated, by connectivity of concentrations of infrastructure and activity. A key challenge is to position cultural and creative infrastructure at the heart of place and community, which will allow our cities and regions to flourish as creative hubs that work collectively and with London and the South East for UK creative competitiveness."
Richard Charkin has quoted this paragraph from the executive summary of a report from the Department of Common Sense (DCMS). I put it here in case anyone missed it.
Posted by Perkins at 11:14 PM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2007
Book pushers
Spent today in a council (- let's say in the wilds of the North- ) which has a very well managed library service, but which struggles to persuade its council finance officers to provide capital or revenue budget to keep the libraries looking smart. Actually it struggles to keep the roof mended against the rain, but doggedly hangs on to the book fund. When one talks about ways of helping to improve things they are eager to pursue everything and not too proud to learn or try new methods.
Then I read of another jamboree in London and wonder whether we are all on the same planet. But I'm not in mood to criticise. I'll leave it to others to comment.
Perhaps I'm trying to say that 20 years ago when the film industry worried about attracting teenagers, they smartened up their cinemas and produced some really good films. No one talked about "outreach" or "film waiters"
Posted by Perkins at 7:14 PM | Comments (0)
February 12, 2007
Philip Pettifor
Sad to report that Philip died last night. He was the brains behind our attempt to restore public libraries. On a normal day I would have rung him to work out how we could lay the blame for such a tragedy at the door of the Department of Common Sense (DCMS) or DLA (Delay: the department of libraries archives). But he's not answering. "Don't give up" he told me when I spoke to him on Saturday. I shan't
Posted by Perkins at 6:51 PM | Comments (3)
February 11, 2007
The Reason Why
The reason why we do all this is explained in this lovely article in today's Observer
Posted by Perkins at 8:34 AM | Comments (9)
February 10, 2007
Ealing Comedy
Reports are coming from several different directions of a disastrous collapse of the public library service in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing had a fine central library with good collections and a tradition that other boroughs would envy. However new management (from Buckinghamshire- goodness gracious!) seems to have brought chaos. Library closed-- books thrown away- loyal readers up in arms-- the service needs a touch of Conservative common sense; well that's what the residents thought at the last election, but even that seems to have gone wrong.
Posted by Perkins at 3:11 PM | Comments (1)
Why are the public library performance figures for 2005-6 being kept Secret?
These are CIPFA data that were promised in the first week of January.. The public has to pay £400 to obtain a copy-- which is a long running scandal-- but this year, so far, while individual figures for some councils have been released, the Totals are still being kept secret. Why could that be?
Posted by Perkins at 2:22 PM | Comments (0)
Two letters
Which demonstrate how long it takes to do things in the public library sector. The first is a letter I wrote to the Bookseller and they printed in December 2002..
The second is a letter sent out by the DCMS and MLA yesterday to all chief librarians in England.
And these are just letters in the post: nothing has actually been done--except that the public keep paying for all these things which are a waste of money
Areas of excessive cost in the public library service
The Bookseller, 6 December 2002 (Letter from Tim Coates)
The following are areas of excess cost in the public library service, caused by particular traditional practices that should be changed.
Supply
(a) Servicing, cataloguing, labelling, technical services, internal transportation, various systems of preparation for display, interdepartmental checking, and the management of all these: Every single council has a different method, making efficiencies of supply impossible.
(b) Selection of goods, ordering procedures, management of ordering procedures: Methods are particularly out of date.
(c) Non-standardisation of systems: Each authority has its own, resulting not only in expensive systems but also in excessive numbers of systems departments and systems managers, excessive systems training, incompatibility of cross-council information services, and so forth.
These methods are not only outdated, expensive and open to simplification, but they are also terribly slow and give rise to very poor customer service.
Purchasing
(a) Methods of contracting
(b) Unnecessary requirements of suppliers giving rise to cost in the supply chain
(c) Poor negotiation of discount
(d) Poor management of discount
Supply chain management
The public library service has stood outside industry developments of supply-chain management and improvements in cataloguing, ordering and inter-systems communications. Again this has resulted not only in excess cost but also in poor competitive levels of service.
Productivity
The library service has been very slow to adopt methods of improved productivity in customer service. Systems for automatic lending and return are available but are not widely used.
Payment procedures
(a) Payments of goods on invoice instead of on statement
(b) Duplicated payments systems
(c) Excessively costly clerical systems
(d) Lack of payment by electronic transfer
Unclear lines of management
Many library services have both professional librarians and site managers. This not only gives rise to excessive cost but also to unclear responsibilities and lack of accountability.
Management cost duplicated between council and library service
(a) Councils recover excessive overhead costs by recharging all services, including the library service.
(b) There is insufficient attempt to mitigate against this by using council expertise to manage aspects of the library service, in, for example, the areas of financial control, accounting, systems and property, which means there is duplicated management.
Cost of employment
(a) Employment costs are high compared to comparative private sector staff, yet there is little evidence of extra value in service being given to the public. (Survey scores for knowledge and helpfulness are often low.)
(b) There is a tradition of long service which not only gives rise to high cost but also to a static quality of service that is unlikely to respond to changing customer needs.
General management cost
(a) It is inherently expensive to have a service managed in each council and there is no attempt to mitigate this. Having very senior library managers in each council gives rise to a tendency to have several layers of management, which is expensive and unproductive. It also adds to overhead costs
(b) There is an excessive cost in regional managements, national committees, professional organisations and activities such as conferences.
This list demonstrates a lack of management control and proper concern to contain costs. Traditionally, where cost reduction is necessary, instead of seeking for more efficient methods, the money has been taken from materials budgets which are the prime purpose of the service. The evidence for this is absolutely clear from the annual figures of the Library and Information Statistics Unit (LISU).
At the same time the standard of accounting and budgeting management is poor, and financial controllers are not in sufficiently senior positions.
These comments apply in varying degrees to each council. They are certainly not true in all, but they do represent the overall picture. The saving, over time, to be derived from adequate cost management is of the order of £200 million per annum. With an overall cost of £882 million per annum (1999–2000 statistics, Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy), the public library service is as large as many in the FTSE top 50 companies and merits a higher degree of attention to productivity and cost control. Of that £882 million, 11.2% was spent on books and material for reading and reference. If most of the £200 million were reallocated and spent on reading material and other improvements to the service, we would solve the problem of declining use. That is why it is correct to call for improvements within existing budgets.
Note: In the UK and Northern Ireland there are 208 library authorities. The £882 million quoted in these CIPFA statistics does not include approximately £100 million of additional lottery funding for the installation of computers for public Internet use and associated training.
Letter from MLA to Chief Librarians - 10 February 2007
Better Stock, Better Libraries
Progress update # 1
The vision for library stock procurement
Our 2012 vision for UK public library stock procurement is a vastly improved framework that will enable libraries to obtain books better matched to customer needs, as quickly as high-street and online booksellers, and at a highly competitive price.
The Better Stock Better Libraries programme will:
• help libraries to build services around community needs, improving availability and choice of stock for customers; and
• increase the efficiency and effectiveness of library stock management, which would enable savings of £22m that can be reinvested into local services.
The report Better Stock, Better Libraries is accessible at the following url: www.mla.gov.uk/website/programmes/framework/framework_programmes/stock_procurement/
Feedback and priorities for action
The feedback that we have received since the publication of the report highlights a broad, although not universal, consensus that efficiency and effectiveness can be secured by libraries working together, including:
• joint arrangements for procurement;
• streamlined servicing standards;
• sharing activities between authorities such as bibliographic servicing; and
• shared standards for key technology including Electronic Date Interchange, Library Management Systems, catalogue records and RFID.
Some concerns have also been expressed about the report’s proposals including:
• the risks that joint working might result in reduced local flexibility and/ or slower delivery times for stock;
• the need to ensure a sustainable supply of stock and related services, and concerns about the impact of the proposed ‘eMarketplace’ on the future supply of stock and related services;
• the feasibility of developing shared ICT standards that will support joint working, for example in relation to LMS; and
• the need to ensure that local accountability for the service as a whole is maintained, and that individual authorities are able to retain influence over the stock that they can offer their library users.
The MLA is supporting the programme through Framework for the Future programme budget resources of just over £1m. These resources will be used to support implementation of key elements of the model in a number of authorities and groups of authorities. We are actively seeking further sources of funding to invest further in the sector in order to implement the full model.
Taking account of the feedback we have received on the report’s proposals, the available resources, and the need to make sustainable improvements, the Programme Board has agreed the following priorities for the next 12 months, including support for:
• ‘proof of concept’ pilots to demonstrate the achievability and benefits of new ways of working and secure improvement, in particular through shared activities in areas such as bibliographic servicing and specialist stock procurement;
• common platforms and standards to support joint working in areas such as LMS, EDI, bibliographic data and RFID, as well as servicing standards, categorisation, contractual and selection frameworks;
• better procurement, including a model contract, simplified specifications, and aggregated purchasing that ensures a sensible balance between maintaining continuity of stock supply and getting the best deal for the sector; and
• groups of authorities to undertake financial analyses to enable them to assess the benefits of the new arrangements for themselves.
Current work and next steps
Governance arrangements
We have established strong governance arrangements for the BSBL programme, led by a Programme Board of seven members:
• Geoffrey Bond, MLA Board Member (Chair);
• Chris White, Local Government Association and Lib Dem Hertfordshire County Councillor (Vice-Chair);
• Jane Harwood, MLA Deputy Chief Executive;
• David Wright, Director NE Regional Centre of Excellence;
• Keith Nichol, Divisional Head, DCMS;
• Mike Suarez, Director of Finance, London Borough of Lambeth; and
• Rob Froud, President Society of Chief Librarians, Somerset Head of Libraries and Chair, Libraries West consortium
The Board is also bringing in additional expertise to support the programme, including a local authority chief executive, a chief librarian with a strong track record of service improvement and a private sector representative with knowledge and experience of publishing and retail.
The Board is being supported by a small, dedicated team within MLA with responsibility for overseeing delivery of the work programme, led by Andrew Stevens as Programme Director. In addition, we are establishing an Advisory Group to bring together key experts and representatives to advise the Programme Board.
Immediate actions
Working with the Board, we have:
• Set out an action plan for the next 12 months, supported by appropriate programme controls including a risk register and arrangements to monitor progress and deal with the inevitable challenges that the programme will face;
• Agreed ‘proof of concept’ activities with a number of groups of authorities to take forward work over the next twelve months, including working with:
o a group of authorities in North West England to develop shared bibliographic servicing arrangements;
o LibrariesWest on a project which will review alternative business models and assess the potential of expansion of the consortium.
o a group of authorities in Yorkshire to develop shared servicing arrangements; and
o working with the SELPIG consortium on a project they are taking forward on joint stock management.
• Identified other partners with an interest in taking forward work in other key areas including the development of:
o better procurement including simplification of requirements, streamlining of procurement processes and the development of a model contract;
o shared standards in key areas such as LMS, EDI and RFID, to support collaborative working; and
o a financial analysis tool to support library authorities in assessing their priority areas for improvement.
• Submitted a Comprehensive Spending Review bid to DCMS to try and secure further financial support for the BSBL programme.
Immediate next steps
We will take the programme forward over the next few weeks with a focus on:
• working with groups of authorities to build momentum for the proof of concept activities set out above;
• agreeing the scope of those projects where groups of library authorities have expressed interest in taking work forward;
• convening the programme Advisory Group for its first meeting; and
• engaging with the libraries sector and other key stakeholders in workshops and other events, setting out in more detail the work already underway, linking up with authorities and groups of authorities who would like to take part in local projects to test and develop our proposals, and listening to feedback on our priority areas for action.
How to get involved
As we have set out above, there is also significant activity amongst library authorities to broaden and deepen joint working, and a commitment to testing our proposals for improvement in stock procurement.
We are keen to extend programme participation across the libraries sector, and we therefore invite contributions from across the sector in a number of areas:
• interest in taking forward a pilot, to test the proposals for change set out in Better Stock Better Libraries, which are priorities over the next twelve months, i.e. shared activities between authorities, improved procurement, and developing common ICT platforms;
• Involvement in the programme in other ways, i.e. participation in one or more working groups to support the priority programme activities set out above; and/ or
• Feedback on our approach to the programme, particularly if you can identify contributions that might be required to support technical elements, gaps in the programme elements, concerns which have not been picked up, or good practice we should be aware of that we have not already picked up within the programme.
We want to keep you informed about the progress of the programme. In addition to the workshops and events we are already planning, we propose to do this through:
• regular email updates and briefings like this one; as well as
• more detailed briefings on key issues and challenges, through SCL regional representatives and Board Members.
if you have other proposals for how best we can update and engage with you on the programme’s progress, please do get in touch with us directly by email at:
bsbl@mla.gov.uk
If you would like to participate in the Better Stock Better Libraries Programme in these or in other ways, please respond to the email that was sent with this update briefing by Wednesday 28 February 2007, identifying the type of contribution you wish to make to the programme.
Posted by Perkins at 8:52 AM | Comments (0)
February 9, 2007
Manifesto for public libraries
I'm putting the manifesto up again, so it is at the top of the blog over the weekend. I would be grateful for comments and I am looking for agreement and approval. Tim
Public Library Policy
There is a need for a new fresh policy for the public library service for these reasons:
a. The library service is for people and its only purpose is to respond to their needs (currently it does not do this adequately)
b. It is essentially about reading (currently it not sufficiently so)
c. Its operation must be simple (improvements are too slow because at present it is too complex)
d. Those most responsible for providing the service are those who work in the libraries (currently they do not have control over the means that would allow them to be).
e. Those accountable to the public are councillors (currently they do not ).
f. We all pay for it through taxation and the law requires its use to be free and accessible. (often it is not)
g. The current law providing library services is good (but not properly operated)
1) The public library service is an end in itself. Obviously it contributes to a civilised, cultured, educated, informed, involved and well-read society-- but only when it is a good library service. The first concern is to ensure that nowhere is it mediocre and dismal or expensive, but rather that it is useful and of high standard. Low standards of service are too widespread and those responsible need to make swift and radical changes.
2) Attempts to identify the “impact” of public libraries or their contribution to other national or community agendas confuse and distract the management; they are not helpful and should stop. Funding should match the cost of the service when it is operated in an efficient manner. Funds should not have to be justified on the grounds of the contribution the service makes or varied as to where it is more or less used. Public libraries are intrinsically good and the Government and local councils should have the faith to say so. These beliefs, however, go alongside the reality that all government funded services must be as efficient as possible and must always strive to improve productivity.
3) National funding, as part of the grant given to local councils should be for the “core” of the service which was well defined by the Culture Select Committee report of March 2005. They described a service of books and reading material of all kinds, a place of private study and for the pursuit of information through whatever media are available. They envisaged open free access, encouragement for children and respect and concern for the disabled and disadvantaged. If councils wish to use the facilities for other purposes in addition to the core operation that is for them to decide- but those other purposes should not distract from nor destroy the intrinsic purpose of the library- and sometimes they can.
4) The management arrangement provided for in the 1964 Act is satisfactory. Local councils are responsible for providing the service. The Minister of State is responsible for gathering information about performance of the service and superintending the efforts of councils and has the right to intervene when performance is not satisfactory. While the Act is well intended, it has not been well used. It is necessary, as the Select Committee also said, for the civil servants of the DCMS who support the minister to “raise their game” so that the Act is operated effectively and with some urgency. Intervention does not have to mean takeover, it can mean all kinds of help.
5) When a service is provided “free at the point of delivery” that arrangement removes from managers the pressures that are created by a need for cash flow. While this is a satisfactory and admirable social arrangement it is very dangerous for managers to be allowed to be remote from the effects of public response to what they do. It places enormous responsibility on senior managers to recreate that need for public approval. It is the absence of this contact with the public response and the failure to replace it with exacting management routines which lie at the root of much of the inefficient management of public libraries.
6) There are too many bodies which exert influence over the service but carry no responsibility for its performance, nor are accountable for its results. Only councils (or “library authorities”) and the Minister are responsible and any other structure and agencies must be limited to those which can assist them in the exercise of their endeavour.
7) On the other hand the public have almost no influence over the quality of the service either nationally or locally; councillors who these days are paid to have responsibility receive no training in that role and the counter staff who actually deal with the public and provide the service are rarely involved in decision making, seldom have control over the resources which they need and are treated as second class operators- which they are not. Over and over one hears them say that there are “too many chiefs and not enough Indians”. All these aspects are serious faults in the provision.
8) The Select Committee also called for an arrangement they described as “carrot and stick”. The carrot needs to be reward for managers who run library services of the highest standard; the stick needs to be applied through the mechanisms of CPA operated by the Audit Commission or through intervention by the Minister. Authority comes, as in most structures, from knowledge, experience, wisdom and leadership- not from the giving of instruction and obedience to commands. There is no reason in the structural arrangement envisaged by the Act why the Minister cannot lead the public library service if he or she has those qualities.
9) Actions are needed to address the problems described in the previous paragraphs and the Government needs to be sure that they are undertaken in a satisfactory way.
Actions
1) Vision: There needs to be a clear and straightforward statement that the public library service is for books, reading and information and provides a private place for reading and study. Libraries and the library service should be of the highest standard everywhere and accessible to all and there should be encouragement to use them.
2) The Government should express its care for the service as belonging to the public and accept its responsibility for its operation. It should acknowledge its duty to pass the service, the buildings and their collections of material to future generations.
3) Councils should publicly acknowledge that they share this same vision of the library service with the Government and state clearly that they do so. It is not for individual councils to re-define what is meant by the public library service, but rather to operate and provide the service to the public.
4) The measurement of performance and cost of the service should be made independent of Government and put in the hands of one or more Consumer Associations who are tasked on behalf of the public to gather and report information which their understanding of the public requires. This information should be available and communicated to the public and councils. This will also be the information that the Minister needs to fulfill his role. This would replace CIPFA, PLUS and LISU.
5) New independently provided training programmes (paid for by councils) using the performance and cost data supplied by these new agencies should be prepared for councillors who are responsible for libraries, directors of councils who are delegated responsibility by councillors, counter staff and library managers and council officers who operate the public library service. The whole training and management development regime for public libraries needs renewal. These programmes would replace the current charter operated by CILIP and others
6) Councils need to devolve library management to local libraries and find practical ways to build relationships with and involve the public in the community that surrounds each library. They should, in doing so, reduce the level of non library operations and seek to outsource back office work. (This implies implementation of the PKF study in place of the PWC supply chain studies)
7) The Audit commission should include these as the CPA measures for public libraries within its “Culture” programme:
a. Library authorities should spend at least £3 per person on books each year.
b. Library authorities should spend at least £3 per person on revenue or capital works to improve library premises
c. Libraries in small towns should be open not less than 40 hours per week, never closed for lunch, and open late at least one evening
d. Libraries in large towns and catchments should be open 60 hours per week and at least two late evenings per week
e. Any measures that would cause old stock to be reduced in quality or quantity should be removed from CPA- the rest of the indicators should made comprehensible to the public.
f. CPA should look for book issues and visitor numbers to be increasing in every single library
g. Permanent library buildings should be provided in population areas with X people or more.
h. Any proposed library closure should be notified to the Minister with proper quantified explanation shared with the public
i. Councils should have a clear method of regularly reporting the key figures of library cost and performance so they are readily understood and available. The presentation and meaning of terms should be consistent across the country.
These measures should replace all other CPA measures, Public Library Standards and Impact measures.
8) There needs to be special attention to the public library service in London; it must be raised in the esteem of the public and its whole operation and structure needs urgent renewal
9) At the other extreme there needs to be attention to those less populous areas in which funding is very limited and the needs for high quality service in small communities is very great.
10) Responsibility for implementation of these plans lies with the Minister of State for the Arts. Currently, provided by the 1964 Act, the Minister has a team of advisers to assist him in his public duty; this is known as The Advisory Council on Libraries (ACL). In order to acknowledge to the public the serious nature of the problems facing the service the nature and role of this body needs to change and its profile to be raised. It could be called the “Public Library Board for England”. The role, duties and composition of this board should be as follows
11) This new Library Board needs to have three roles: to advise the Minister on behalf of the public; to assist the minister in the superintendence of the service and to assist the minister to implement the actions of this new policy it would also have the capacity to provide help to individual councils to implement the detailed work of these policies. In order to perform these functions it needs both executive and non executive management capable of performing the roles. This new board would replace the national and regional public library functions of the MLA’s and the existing ACL;
12) Above all this new policy and these initiatives must recognise that in place of all the bodies of Government that are normally listed when “stakeholders of the public library” service are mentioned: the first and most important stakeholders are the public for whose benefit the service exists and who pay for it to be provided.
Posted by Perkins at 10:32 PM | Comments (6)
Jacqueline Wilson
When Jacqueline Wilson gave evidence to the Parliamentary Select Committee on public libraries in Decemeber 2005, her testimony was the most powerful of all. She explained that children write to her and ask questions about her books and her characters. She said you can tell immediately the difference between those who have merely read her website and those who have read the books. Of course you can. She spoke about the importance of books and libraries in our society and our communities. The distinguished members of Parliament were in thrall to her - it was a memorable moment
Today she is quoted at length in the Independent. After her words come the deceiving officials of responsible departments galloping along to tell the journalist that Jacqueline Wilson doesn't know what she is talking about and how lovely our libraries are.
Posted by Perkins at 8:30 PM | Comments (1)
February 8, 2007
Books, buildings and opening hours
Are the three things lacking in the public library service
And this press release shows that the MLA and the Government still can't bear to mention any of them. (or can't spell them, I suppose)
Here is the report of the Tavistock Institute who tell us how successful have been the Government efforts to improve public libraries in the past 5 years. The report not surprisingly contains absolutely no figures to explain their conclusions, just a few random quotes from cheery members of the brotherhood of chief librarians.
Posted by Perkins at 9:06 PM | Comments (3)
February 7, 2007
Kolly Kibber writes
from Brighton
The keen, even vocal readers in Brighton and Hove have succeeded with two recent petitions which have duly reached the Council's Culture Committee.
Before Christmas these petitions, completed at the rate of a signature a minute, urged that the book stock be increased in all libraries and that opening hours be increased - including Sundays. At this month's Committee meeting, these petition rubrics were read aloud by Councillor Sue John, and it then emerged that, whichever party takes charge after
the May Elections, the new Brighton library will begin to open on Sundays. This is a great breakthrough, and we hope that other libraries, such as Hove, will do likewise. What's more, throughout the meeting, councillors referred to the matter of the book stock - a subject which
drew the most comments and the most dissatisfaction in the recent PLUS survey. The library service is aware of this, and it will be addressed. Readers want books.
It is certainly encouraging that attention is being given to these key elements from which everything else follows - stock and opening hours. Residents, and librarians, elsewhere can take heart from the fact that well-aimed petitions can work an effect.
Meanwhile, the wide-ranging, three-year libraries plan raises curious matters not answered at the Committee meeting.
One "objective" is to "develop new sources of revenue funding to replace current time limited sources such as hire charges from audio-visual material, working in line with Divisional income review and regional research into income generation opportunities for libraries".
Evidently Council documents stint on the hyphens, but it is clear that this means looking for income from elsewhere because - a national trend - DVD loans are falling in libraries (competition from on-demand and from postal, no-fines set-ups). This knocks on the head that DVDs get people somehow to borrow books. But does "income" mean "charges"? It is very vague. Especially as, elsewhere it mentions "raise income from Rare Books and Special Collections". How exactly? By charging non-residents?
It also intends to "plan and implement annual marketing campaign to increase use by existing members and recruit new members". This is all to the good, of course, but there are no details of what form this "marketing" takes, let alone what proportion of the budget it takes. There is little evidence of past "marketing" to go by, and in fact it is the case that increased stock - of all kinds - is its marketing: word of mouth is particularly strong among library readers.
What "marketing" has gone on elsewhere in the country? What expertise do libraries have in this?
At any rate, the fact that readers' voices - opening hours and stock - are being heard is distinctly encouraging.
Readers around the country must keep at it. If Councils keep hearing about libraries - as they do in Brighton and Hove -, then things begin to happen.
Posted by Perkins at 9:06 PM | Comments (3)
Good news at last
Where publishers, parliament, library professionals and local councils have all failed-- school students have shown the way to us all.
The Regional Finals of the national sixth form debating competition, "Debating Matters" will debate the motion “Books should remain the essence of public libraries” at 5 of the 8 regions that are taking part in this year’s competition.
The Institute of Ideas say that they would be delighted if anyone were able to attend any of the dates below-
Regional Final Dates and Venues
South East Regional Final- 2nd March – Canterbury Christchurch University
Scotland Regional Final- 16th March- Royal Society of Edinburgh
West and South Wales Regional Final- 20th March- University of Bristol
North West Regional Final- 16th April- Manchester Museum of Science and Industry
East Regional Final- 19th April- University of Cambridge
That is good news from a very interesting source..
Posted by Perkins at 1:45 PM | Comments (1)