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March 31, 2009
Camden libraries shut all their branches
No, not another April Fool's day story - but true again. Today my cheery journey to the local library was met with an A4 sheet on the door advising me that all the libraries in the borough were shut for a 'Staff Day'.. i hope they had a nice time. Mums turned away at the door etc. You could hardly imagine Tesco's doing that could you.
Posted by Perkins at 8:09 PM | Comments (4)
A statue in Brighton
Contemplating what might make a suitable item for the morning of April 1st, blow me over and a true story outstrips anything I could think of.
Brighton and Hove council are considering placing a statue of the great library campaigner in a prominent place. This blog will follow the story as it develops.
Posted by Perkins at 8:04 PM | Comments (4)
March 30, 2009
Advertising on this blog
A special thank you to the organisers of the Library and Information Show who have placed an advertisement on the site (at the top of the page). Please buy your ticket for the show immediately - it is a fun packed unmissable day in Birmingham (England) without which your life will be deprived and forlorn..
This blog is now the place to advertise all matters relating to books, authors, publishers, extremely clever and well read and informed people and libraries all over the world.
Posted by Perkins at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)
March 29, 2009
Save New Mill Library
The newspapers are reporting that Kirklees council are closing more libraries
Here is the story of the battle for New Mill
Councillor Firth is doing what ward councillors everywhere (including those in Swindon) - should do.
Posted by Perkins at 11:45 AM | Comments (6)
National Year of Reading Report
Someone has kindly sent me the report on the National Year of Reading. It is long ( 130 pages, 229 paragraphs plus several appendices, comment, articles and many photos)
For the moment I post paragraph 54, (which is where I have got to), without comment
54. Is the term ‘reading’ inclusive? The things young people read tend to be the things that they claim schools and parents discourage. The authors of the report conclude that those who make and influence policy should be cautious about encouraging children to become ‘readers’ in the conventional sense, when many do not see being a ‘reader’ as something desirable.
Read on, I told myself.
Posted by Perkins at 11:10 AM | Comments (2)
March 28, 2009
Web 3.4
This blog has come across the most interesting and rather futuristic technical information storage and retrieval system and its wide social applications. Look at this
If this link doesn't work I suggest you Google "Medieval Help Desk English" (sic-- and also that you keep the sound up when playing the film)
Posted by Perkins at 9:16 PM | Comments (1)
March 26, 2009
Ed Vaizey on the radio
Here is a report of a discussion on You and Yours today on radio 4. Roy Clare was also on, responding to what Ed said
Posted by Perkins at 9:43 PM | Comments (0)
The Reading Agency
There is a fascinating argument going on in emails at present, none of which are private so here they are
from Miranda McKearnie, director of the Reading Agency:
I attach a piece we did recently for Book Brunch, looking at an important aspect of the CIPFA figures.
The number of children’s books borrowed has risen in each of the last four years, with a modest 0.2% increase in 2007-8, but an increase nonetheless.
We don’t believe book lending statistics should be the only measure of libraries’ impact. But improved book lending tends to be linked to other success factors.
It is no coincidence that the rise in children’s borrowing has followed better investment in libraries’ reading services for children and families, than for adults. Children’s librarians are clear that reading is central to their mission. And tellingly, there has been an explosion of reading activities – author events, story times, reading groups, challenges, book awards, promotions…We’re proud of the contribution the Summer Reading Challenge is making to the turn around. 690,000 children took part in ‘Team Read’ last summer and 2.8 million books were borrowed as a result.
There is no doubt in our minds that the reversal of the downward trend in children’s loans has happened because of a combination of local and national developments to create a much livelier, appealing offer to children. Powerful local partnership work coupled with big national interventions like the Summer Reading Challenge and Booktrust’s BookStart, and investment in new books has all helped.
So can we now write the same success story in adults’ books? As the recession cuts deeper, there is already evidence of growth in library use. Last year’s National Year of Reading created 2.3 million new library members.
What’s needed is a focused plan. At The Reading Agency we defy the notion that a continued decline in borrowing is inevitable or forever. We need to analyse what’s worked for children and apply the relevant success factors to adult audiences. Councils are much more likely to invest in a service that looks like it’s going places.
From Tim
Miranda
I agree with you in this.
I don't think it's too hard to know what the "success factors" are for adult reading in libraries-- if a person finds something that they would like to read, they will do so. If it suits them to borrow it, rather than sit and read it in the library, or rather than buy a copy in a shop, then they will probably borrow it, if the library doesn't make too much fuss. Wide range, agreeable surroundings, long opening hours- and no fuss- are the keys. Experience shows that they always work. While events are important for many reasons, I think for the adult population, for each, what they read is a quite private thing, there is less interest in public sharing of the enjoyment, events are less essential, but good nevertheless. The resource needs to be spent on improved ranges-- a lot of resource, because the collections have become poor; each extra title is a chance to 'include' a new reader.
So, let's do it! Actually it isn't that hard, but, in my view, leadership in the management, to show that this improvement of the book collections is the priority, would make a great difference. Councils do wonder which direction they are supposed to be going, and with the confused messages they have had for so long, it is hardly surprising that they do some strange things. Keep it simple - more books
from Miranda
I agree with you on some of this (that’s nice!) but not all. It’d be great if the debate could focus less on the object of the book, and more on the impact libraries can have on people’s reading lives.
Of course reading is for many a private thing, and rightly so. But the evidence is that it’s becoming more social too – festival audiences are growing, there’s a huge appetite for reading challenges, author events and things like One City One Read; and there has been an explosion in library linked reading groups (we mapped this last year and groups have nearly trebled since 2004 – 10,000 now)
Your stance assumes that everyone knows how to choose and find what they want to read; indeed that they feel motivated and unafraid to read in the first place. Lots of the invaluable work libraries do is about actively reaching out and helping those most in need of reading support and inspiration.It’s tackling some big social problems and making a big difference to people’s life chances. We’ve just got a case study back from Northern Ireland – about James, a boy in one of our Chatterbooks reading groups. He was very unkeen on reading, and that was causing problems; being in a library Chatterbooks group has totally turned his attitude round – his parents are relieved and astonished: “Maureen at Ballyhackamore library who runs James’ Chatterbooks group has been fantastic. She really understands the children’s ability, and what will stretch them. We didn’t think that first book would be right for him, but now he is going from strength to strength. Chatterbooks has helped his confidence no end. He’s now far more likely to tackle bigger books. That’s been a big sea-change. James has continued to read on his own – in fact last night, around 10pm when he should have been asleep, he came to me and said that he couldn’t put the book he was reading down!”
For confident readers, there’s also evidence that sharing reading with others – through reading groups, author events etc – helps people widen and deepen their reading, and take them in unexpected directions. And that they hugely value that experience.
Since supporting and growing habits of reading is core to libraries’ raison d’etre, we think libraries need to do both – have a fantastic book stock and invest in ways of connecting people to it, ie play an active not a purely passive role. Resource needs to be found for both these aspects of such a crucial role.
All the best, Miranda
From Tim
Miranda
Thank you. This is such an important discussion that needs to be played out in front of those councillors who operate the library service. It is they who have to decide how to allocate the funds that they have in their own library authorities, and they, therefore who need a clear presentation of what they are being asked to pay for.
Much as I would like to, I don't agree and don't think you can, now or ever, continue to expand the role of library staff, when at the same time, the book collections are falling in quality. I am not talking about depriving the children of whom you write of the guidance on reading that librarians are able to give, but I don't think there are unlimited library funds for devoting staff time to reaching the socially excluded or for filling the role that should be played by teachers. Other substantial government funds are intended for such work and library funds are intended to provide libraries.
For too many years the percentage of library funding spent on staff, particularly non-front line counter staff, has increased and as a consequence the funds avaialable for stock has fallen. That is what we talk about when we say that the percentage of spending on books in central London has fallen to just 5.7% of total funds and continues to fall.
Reading groups and author events are, of course, excellent, but not when they cost money which prevents libraries performing their core function, as the Select Committee stressed in 2005. In my view it is time someone realised that the recommendations of that committee were important and need to be realised if the library service is to continue to exist.
With best wishes
Tim
From Christopher Hawtree
I'm all for libraries inspiring readers in all sorts of ways, and of course they can be a terrific way - when there is the stock - of catching up with something one might regret not having read earlier (and that is always going to be the case, and one should be glad that there is so much with which to catch up).
That said, it keeps looking as if libraries are being made into a quick-fix for shortcomings in the education system. Librarians are terrific - and it's dismaying that reference and music librarians are being whittled down - but they have to be librarians and not turned into a replacement for the teachers who are wearying of the bureaucracy of the education system. Librarians are a marvellous guide but it cannot be their job to become de facto remedial teachers. It's asking too much of people who are not made in any princely way. But a good librarian is a priceless inspiration.
If there is "education, education, education", then this should be preparing pupils to enjoy bountiful libraries after they leave school. It has also struck me repeatedly how students who have had recourse to some pretty good libraries are then expected to subsist upon the books in public libraries now. Indeed Brighton and Hove does not get what is deemed "academic".
In talking with hundreds of people - street after street - I keep hearing about books, books, books. There's a craving for that deep content which comes with finding a congenial author of whatever sort.
Christopher
Posted by Perkins at 8:35 PM | Comments (0)
Warwickshire County Council libraries
Gerina Adams writes on the matter of councils reducing their book funds
"Perkins, Have a word with Warwickshire County Council on this subject, too- will you?"
Gerina- Warwickshire is a Conservative administration and Ed Vaizey, who is the Conservative shadow minister with responsibility for public libraries approached Warwickshire County Council some weeks ago on exactly this subject. He has suggested to both Ayub Khan, the head of the library service and to me that we should get together and open a discussion. I have written to Ayub expressing my willingness to do this and he has said that he will respond.
You could write, yourself, to Ayub and encourage him to engage in this, and I am sure he will be eager to follow the wishes of those who are concerned.
Posted by Perkins at 12:15 PM | Comments (1)
Brighton Library
An excellent article in the Brighton Argus today, recapitulating the sad story of the new Brighton Public Library
Posted by Perkins at 12:10 PM | Comments (1)
Strange relationships
One of the reasons why the public library service falters and is failing is the strange nature of the working relationship between 'officers' and 'councillors' in local government.
Far from being united in the common cause of providing an efficient, high standard public service, each of the parties in this arrangement has an agenda of its own, more concerned with their survival and the advancement of the body to which they belong. The pursuit of success of the local Conservative Party and the growth and expansion of a council Communities and Leisure Department are two big wheels that sometimes cross the same path but only rarely point in the same direction. Careful intelligent thought about the real concerns facing public libraries is rarely on the menu.
Add to this the professional duck and dive of the library managers, one or two levels removed, whose concern is to attend lots of conferences, hold on for the pension, and perhaps get an MBE - and the recipe is one for high appeasement and high salaries, and little public interest or interest in the public, who are best kept out of the whole affair.
Officers know that councillors will change at any moment, and therefore only have partially to be listened to, and councillors know that however they try to direct the activities of their highly paid officers, they are normally unable or unwilling themselves to take on the management responsibilities that are required. Sometimes there is Victorian master- servant formality; sometimes there is Marxist Leninist woolly jumperism,.The relationships are fascinating because they differ from council to council and person to person, but they are more the stuff of a Don Camillo story, than of the pursuit of health and efficiency
This year brings more council elections and a new wave of councillors walking cheerily into the blind school in which this whole concoction simmers lightly and smells greatly
A quite normal conversation goes along the lines 'The Director and his officers have written a dreadful ill considered report, which addresses none of the issues'
'Yes, but it is on time and ticks the government boxes. and we need them. They are nice people. Don't make a fuss' Which contrasts mightily with the instant huge abuse which is readily thrown at opposition politicians (who are far more innocent), or even worse, the disdain and disgust which will be piled on honest young local newspaper staff- or the derision which is applied to an earnest and relentless local campaigner, the latter two of whom are always better informed, more honest and more democratic, than officers and councillors will ever be
Not 'Yes Minister', but 'Yes, Councillor'
Good stories ought to make good libraries, but not in this case!
Is there a book in this? Blog readers are given early notice that I am about to hand my book on Aldeburgh to its wonderful publishers. -- hope for publication in September
Posted by Perkins at 9:17 AM | Comments (0)
March 25, 2009
Why cut the book fund in Richmond?
There are reports everywhere telling us that libraries are going to be important in the recession, that reading is most important thing they offer and that libraries offer books to a wider range of people than anyone else
Yet I have been in a meeting all afternoon to discuss the proposal by the London Borough of Richmond to cut the book fund for their library service by about a quarter or about £100,000 per annum
The council is faced with a need to find a budget reduction, but in ten minutes discussion it was possible to see at least three areas of expenditure which were of less priority and which could be cut without affecting the quality of the library service. I could not understand why, other than a misunderstanding of the value of books in libraries, anyone would even think about proposing such a thing.
How does one get the message to people like this that this is the wrong thing to do.
Posted by Perkins at 7:08 PM | Comments (1)
The Financial Crisis will force radical change in public libraries
All the great British institutions which surround the public library service have failed.
During a decade:
CILIP- has had nothing to contribute and has been unable to reform
ACL- has hardly bothered to meet, never mind advise
SCL- has become a confused isolated secret society which shows no responsibility or leadership
The Audit Commission has been inept and ineffectual and achieved nothing
LGA- has been unable to make a coherent statement
DCLG - grandstanded with pompous aspirational nonsense
IdeA - has been pathetic and cowardly
MLA - has been unable to command any respect for its ideas
DCMS- has been abject in its management and failed to respond to being told to 'raise its game'
even Parliament has failed the library service by not following up the work of its Select Committee
Every single Minister has been both arrogant and useless and all the senior politicians connected with libraries have flirted with the subject and then cowered away from it when faced with the need to act
The next rounds of budgets over the next 2-3 years will either destroy public libraries or they will produce the radical improvement that is so overdue. Let us hope for the latter- but you can be certain with sadness that none of these bodies that I list will play any significant role- unless they, too undergo some dramatic but unlikely transformation in the next few months. None of them have yet shown either the courage or the ability. This is a challenge to them
Only the Queen has been any good, as Alan Bennett said (and who would call either of these two an instiution ?)
Posted by Perkins at 9:28 AM | Comments (0)
March 24, 2009
A Google Map of library closures
Here is a clever gadget. When we can we will move this into the tramline so that it is always available
Map of possible library closures
Posted by Perkins at 12:00 AM | Comments (5)
March 23, 2009
Outrage!- Something must be done
From a reader of this blog
"Rachel Cooke's piece in Sundays Observer is excellent, and highlights many of the problems for today's public libraries. Lack of leadership from Government and Quangos down to lack of imagination, and lack of previous strategic planning.
We have had review after review, changes to MLA both in its leadership and range, and all sorts of projects and plans, but the state of the sector is worsening. Yes, some useful things have been done, and some successes, but across the piece things are grim. (just read about our levels of educational attainment and literacy in our schools, we are not top of the class any more internationally)!
I do not advocate never having to close a library, BUT if you were running the library system properly you would make your decisions on hard data. This would include number of population, make up of population, such as age, type,(e.g. working or not, type of work etc.) percentage at work, or school, or elderly, with disabilities etc. etc. I bet you Tesco, Marks and Spencer, train and bus companies, any new business, will have done this sort of thing before setting up, closing down or changing
It is well past time for Action, BUT let's use the perilous situation the country is in to sell to the public the advantage of free access to books and libraries. I know of book shops closing because of the financial situation, so let's get those readers into the library.
Stop all this business of review, review, report, comment etc., and DO SOMETHING NOW! Swindon under Shirley Burnham has shown the way, so there is leadership from the users, lets see it at a local professional librarian and national level also."
Posted by Perkins at 1:04 PM | Comments (3)
"To blither"
I was attracted by this verb in the comment that came to an entry below
"What,pray, are consumer-facing services and professional silos ?
The man is a blithering idiot."
Posted by Perkins at 9:37 AM | Comments (1)
March 22, 2009
"I can't find any failing library authorities"
says Roy Clare, chief executive of the MLA, in today's Observer
Well try these, Roy- where the service is so awful that adults have virtually stopped borrowing books at all ( with the annual loans per adult resident)
Lambeth 1.5
Hackney 2.4
Lewisham 2.2
Southwark 2.1
Brent 2.4
Ealing 2.2
Kingston on Thames 2.4
Newham 2.5
Waltham Forest 2.4
Birmingham 2.2
Wakefield 2.1
Hull 2.4
Inverclyde 2.1
Belfast 2.0
the Rest of Northern Ireland 2.1
And if you don't think, as you keep saying, that book lending is important in public libraries, why don't you ask the people of these places and see what they say. It's about time you (and your cronies) stopped thinking that you know better than the public - and did what they want instead ..
Posted by Perkins at 5:21 PM | Comments (1)
Some Cruella de Vil in Local Government
And several in national government, too
We know them well.
Posted by Perkins at 10:20 AM | Comments (3)
March 21, 2009
What the Government wrote to the Observer
In response to the oft stated view of officers of Government that the Press never give a fair hearing to the Public Library Service, official desks have been tidied this week as a senior columnist of The Observer has been passing around like the Angel of Light.
Anxious of, course, to ensure that such a prestigious publication should not be deceived by the remarks of a small cat on a deceitful blog (or scared witless by what the paper might say about them and their ministers), the Government spokesperson for libraries wrote an open letter, which they asked be 'circulated freely'. It refers to the suggestion made here a week ago that council overhead expenses for public libraries are going up very quickly and are extremely high in some places.
The Government letter is here in full, below, but translated into English in the accurate way that Augustans of the eighteenth century would wish Government language to be, it says
1. The Government has just published figures which say that the overhead expenses for public libraries incurred across the country are rising quickly and in some councils they are very high indeed. The consequence of this, suggested implicitly, is that managers are being paid more and that library services to the public are suffering. In particular libraries are buying less books than they ought to
2. Until some disreputable researcher highlighted this no one in Government has ever noticed them either at this time of publication, or have noticed these figures in the past
3. As a consequence no Government department has had the chance to tell local councils how to present the figures so that they don't say this.
4. There are many departments that could have arranged such a change in presentation- DCMS, LGA. MLA, CIPFA, Local councils or the Audit Commission, to name but several, but as they hadn't paid attention to these figures, none had thought to do so.
5. The Audit Commission, whose job it is is to give local councils a public score for how well they do, don't use these figures when they make their scoring. . In fact they have given a high score to some councils that were listed in the research as being the most expensive. No one should believe an independent reseacher,or indeed actual figures published by another department of Government, when The Audit Commission expresses an opinion which doesn't need or use figures to explain itself.
6. Everything the Government does for public libraries is wonderful precisely because they spend a lot of other people's money, even though they can't account for how they spend it
7. None of this is the fault of the MLA, whose job is to give good advice to everyone. They do not intend to investigate whether some councils have a high overhead cost in the public library service, that, they say, is someone else's job.
We shall have to see whether The Observer is the least bit interested in overhead costs -- probably not, -- but tomorrow will be the day to find out. Make sure you buy a copy.
Having said all this, and it is jolly good fun, don't you just wish that A Government Official when shown some figures that might indicate a problem, would, instead of ruunning off to build the great sea wall, say, 'We need to explore this properly and, if there is a need, we shall do someting about it' .. That's all one asks.
One just would wish that those whose job it is to administer and improve public libraries in both councils and government in this country would actually do the job for which they are paid, instead of creating cloud like confusion and the destruction of what is a very important public service, in order to preserve themselves and their meaningless instutions
The public should be in no doubt that in the discussions surrounding both elected representatives and senior officials connected with public libraries, the words 'Fibbers' and 'Morons' have been much in use. And rightly so.
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From A Govt Dept to The Observer Newspaper
"Support Service Charges - 20 March 2009
If one wants to find data that indicates whether the support service charges (SSCs) of individual local authorities are too high and consequently are putting a burden on public facing services the figures circulated recently are not the ones to use.
Councils don’t measure SSCs in the same way. That’s because, in response to the distinct needs of their local communities, individual councils have discretion over the way they organise and group services and the way they provide support for those services.
These percentage figures don’t indicate whether more or less is being spent, in relative terms, on library services now or in the past. A more reliable indicator, according to CIPFA, is that overall library spend has outstripped any rises in the Retail Price Index since 2001/02.
For a better insight into the use of council resources one should look at the Audit Commission’s assessment of efficiency and value for money, including SSCs, through the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA). http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/cpa/index.asp
Using this as an indicator, instead of the SSC percentages illustrated, the ratings show that some councils cited as poorly performing are actually in the highest CPA category.
The Audit Commission’s last CPA report showed that more councils are improving strongly than ever before and 80% were in the top two categories.
The MLA is in the business of best practice and improvement and we are satisfied that, using the data provided by the Audit Commission and CIPFA in the appropriate context, we can work with local government to implement improvements in library services.
The MLA should not attempt to duplicate the work of the Audit Commission – that would not be a good use of public money.
20 March 2009
MLA "
It does not take a sharp eyed accountant to see the flaws in the statements of this letter: The figures weren't 'circulated' - they were published on behalf of local councils by the Government, last week;
even if councils have their own structures, their accounting conventions are consistent and unless they change them every year, the trends shown in figures should be reliable information;
the 'CPA scores' do not go into the detail of costs within library services, so it is perfectly possible for a council to score well and still have issues in this area;
the reference to the increase in councils scoring well is a circular statement-- if the appropriate evidence is being ignored, then they will do;
and the statement that overall library spend has exceeded the rate of inlation, raises more questions than it answers: particularly, why, then, has use of the service declined.
Consequently, with these points in mind, one wonders about the quality of executive scrutiny of the letter that was sent to The Observer, who sent it and with what authority and review?
Posted by Perkins at 10:35 AM | Comments (1)
March 19, 2009
Respect please
Dear Perkins
I am contacting you in relation to a publishers cricket match between an Indian Publishers eleven, and a rest of the World publishers eleven, to be held on Sunday 19th April at the West Hampstead cricket club.
Your name has been given to me by Richard Charkin who suggests you may be of sufficient talent and interest to be considered for the WORLD team. Please let me know if you are available to play that day. It will be a 20 overs each game starting at 10.30 and as we have a sponsor there will be a tea and drinks. We expect it all to be over by 2.30 as many participants have to go to receptions etc in the evening.
At this stage, all I need is an indication if you will be available and a few lines on you previous cricket experience, and whether you are a bowler, batsman, wicket keeper, or none of the above !
A final selection will be made by the Mon. 30th March. The day is promoted by the British council and the London Book fair, and we expect some trade press coverage.
I have the dubious honour of captaining the ROW team, and look forward hearing from you in this regard.
My best regards,
Ray McLennan,
Posted by Perkins at 9:26 PM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2009
North, South, East or West ?
This message popped up on lis pub libs , the chat page for cheerily idle public librarians this afternoon, I am not sure which drection it sends us in...
Dear Colleagues,
Just because I don’t contribute too often does not mean we in MLA are not always listening…….! Perhaps I can help with the following comments:
Delegates at the LGA conference in Brighton this week will have heard DCMS and MLA jointly on a panel (together with Sally McMahon (of Brighton)). We described the progress on the Libraries Review, which reports in June. There is strong political backing for libraries leadership and a united commitment to public libraries. The question of ‘national identity’ is being picked up; I feel sure that the recent creative writing of this Forum will be materially useful. The Review team is working hard on as exciting an agenda as the combined brains can devise.
In the meantime, there is nothing to stop individual library authorities establishing their own brand and slogan right now. My personal prize for ‘best practice’ branding goes to Leicestershire, where each library has a good, clear statement at the door, on an eye-catching, attractively designed board with common logo and colour pallet, describing exactly what’s on offer inside. I wish more would do that right now; no prizes for libraries I have visited lately where even the front door is hard to find …. I have a list.
Leadership, branding, slogans ….. these are everyone’s business. To which I would add shared delivery, more political join-up, convergence with other consumer-facing local services and fewer professional and practitioner silos. The best get it; the rest need to. The MLA’s new website includes ‘best practice’ examples in these areas that I commend to all Forumites.
In a separate post, the Reading Agency writes this morning: QUOTE: As the recession cuts deeper, there is already evidence of growth in library use in the US. ……What’s needed is a focused plan….. Councils are much more likely to invest in a service that looks like it’s going places. With the right focus and partnerships, libraries can become more important to their communities than they have ever. UNQUOTE
I agree wholeheartedly with TRA, with the following supplementary points: there is also evidence of strong growth in the UK; and the MLA is indeed analysing IMPACT, just so that we can present more evidence and obtain stronger national and local support for our fantastic library services. But the best services also recognise that ‘book issues’ are no measure of success. Just as library buildings are not the key issue, but library services certainly are.
More I could say, but probably enough for now. Hope this fuels debate on this never dull Forum!
Kind regards,
Roy
Roy Clare CBE
To the asylum, perhaps, for some of us. Generally speaking the public put buildings and books at the top of the things they would like libraries to do better... but that's just the public. Who are they?
PS The CIPFA figures reveal that Brighton and Hove spent just a whopping 3% of their library funding in 2007/8 on books. And 0.5% on books for children. Wow. Of course that's not 'a key issue' unless you were a person in Brighton looking for a book to borrow and .. urgh... read,.
Posted by Perkins at 6:15 PM | Comments (2)
March 16, 2009
Hillingdon
I was away on Friday and missed the launch of the new library in Harefield. However post haste this morning I went out to see it. In the olden days, like many others, the Harefield library didn't open on a Monday, but now it does. Bright, airy, spacious, beautifully designed and laid out, well stocked and equipped it is the latest of the refurbishments in the Hillingdon programme, led by Councillor Higgins and his brilliant officers.
Visits and issues on the first Saturday - with no advertising at all- exceed that of a whole week in former times. The trick is to get in some local schools and they are so impressed that word has spread around the small town in no time at all-- 'you have to see...'
Readers of this blog will know that this whole programme, which will be complete in all 18 libraries within the 4 year electoral cycle, has cost the council taxpayers absoutely nothing. It has been funded out of savings in the operating cost of the service. At the end both visits and issues will exceed 10 per resident - and will therefore be the highest in the country.
At the recent conference in Hampshire, when I mentioned this programme, the leader of Bournemouth council pronounced in superior tones that the prices I quoted 'simply were not possible' (in local government I suppose he meant). He had only to ask me- as I was sitting in front of him- and I would have explained that by creating a set of high standard design elements to be consistent among 18 (or 80) libraries, enables one to achieve much much better value for money..... but then people who work in local government seem determined not to learn anything except how to acquire and spend other peoples' money.
When we ask the MLA to report this programme as good practice the emails go unanswered, and when Councilllor Hiiggins and I offer to talk at CILIP conferences or meetings, the response hardly merits begin called rude. what is one to think?
At least the Observer newspaper seem interested. Let's hope they have nice things to say.
Posted by Perkins at 8:57 PM | Comments (3)
March 7, 2009
The black hole of administration that is destroying public libraries
The long awaited CIPFA figures- the government statistics for public libraries- were published in the past week. They relate to the performance of and expenditure in public libraries for the year ending March 2008.
Over the next couple of weeks this site will publish more entries showing leading councils and poorest councils and other interesting information which can be derived from the figures, but for the moment I shall concentrate on a few headlines.
The first is that no one in the Government, or its agencies, seems to read, understand, digest and act upon the information.. It is as if the performance of an institution which employs 25,768 full time people and a further 15,008 volunteers, which costs the taxpayer £1,164,341,689 in a full year and which occupies, mostly free of charge, 4,540 national buildings, does not merit scrutiny or serious management analysis of any kind at a national level, or indeed any explanation or account to the public of what it does. There is no published document, no parliamentary report, no account from a quango, and no management review. The press releases from both CIPFA and the MLA that accompanied the data were misleading, and trivial and appeared to show no understanding of the issues at all nor interest in them.
Indeed the figures themselves came out 11 months after the event, which, in the days when data can be posted on prepared internet sites is ridiculous. They are, as always, in a format which would be incomprehensible to anyone who has not studied them for years and they contain no comparison with previous years. They are not readily available to members of the public at all, unless they search an even more incomprehensible pamphlet in their local library. In spreadsheet form, which is the only practical way to read them, a member of the public has to pay several hundred pounds, for access.
The lack of public access to performance figures of public libraries was a point made in a recommendation of the Culture Select Committee of 2005, and improvement became an agreed action of both the DCMS and MLA. Neither of these bodies have taken the least step, it seems, to undertake such work. The so called 'new MLA' has, one gathers, decided unilaterally, to ignore the undertakings of the old MLA, without reference to or comment upon them in this matter at all. I say in this in the most constructive spirit, knowing that neither the new management of the MLA nor its board, nor the current officers of the DCMS were in their posts when responses to the Select Committee were made. These included various promises which were extracted with some difficulty. One feels it would be of value for the current MLA board to go back to those agreed responses and implement fully those which remain unaddressed. Indeed it would be even better if the board of the MLA were to ask the new executive to go back to the recommendations of the Select Committee and improve the response that was made at the time, which was unhelpful and of poor quality.
Having said all this, as a preamble, the figure in the report to which I want first to draw attention, because from the document it is the matter which stands out as the most serious, is the level of "Support Service Charges". These are the amounts of money which a library service is charged for its portion of the administrative cost of the council of which it forms part. If you like, it is their share of the cost of those substantial activities which are not directly services to the public, but which the council needs to undertake and are the basis of all its services (like tax collection, or council internal communication and IT, the expenses of council meetings etc). They are an overhead cost which the council needs to manage and make efficient as they must any cost, where they are making use of taxpayers money.
Within any council the officers of the 'public facing' services are given little choice but to bear a share of these costs. They are rarely detailed, but they are often enormous. Indeed, it is very often difficult to find who is responsible for challenging and reducing them. They fall into a black hole in council administration, wherein no one is allowed to look or upon the edge of which it is dangerous to stand.
Currently the dramatic increase in this cost is destroying public libraries. While there is much talk of lack of national leadership and direction - or a confusion of purpose, or the costs of internet use in comparison to book stock, all of these are trivial matters in comparison to the sharply rising overhead cost of operating public libraries from within individual local councils. National leadership in the culture sector, for libraries, would not affect this matter in the least way. It is a management of basic financial control of public expenditure in local government, and from such evidence as these figures provides, it is a serious and potentially crippling problem. Yet I scanned the Audit Commission reports on local government also published last week and could see no mention of it. The current figure is 11.8%, and I think any chief executive of councils or any other body of this kind, would want reduce it to below 5% - whuch would make a saving or a very useful addition to the book fund of about £75m across the country.
Between 2000 and 2008 the major changes in the percentage costs of the public library service were (gross cost excluding capital charges)
The cost of Library staff and management fell by -0.5% (from 55.2% to 54.7% of the gross, total, cost)
The cost of Books fell by -2.4% (from 10.3% to 7.9%)
The cost of Other 'materials' for loan (dvd's etc) - no change (3.5%)
The cost of providing internet access fell by - -0.1% (from 3.4% to 3.3%)
The cost of Other service and supplies fell by -1.4% (from 5.8% to 4.4%)
The cost of Property rose by +0.4% (from 11.0% to 11.4%)
And the Support Services Cost- (Council recharge) rose by +3.4% (8.4% to 11.8%)
Exrapolated across all local council activities this represents about £2bn annually of inefficient or insufficiently productive expenditure. And that is just the council overhead- it says nothing about the services themselves.
The councils which are making the greatest charge for 'support services' are (with the percentage of the cost of the library service this cost represents)
Camden 31.6%
Greenwich 20.8%
Westminster 29.8%
Trafford 22.5%
Gateshead 32.7%
NE Lincolnshire 27.2%
Plymouth 21.8%
Poole 21.0%
Southampthon 25.6%
Swindon 29.6%
Thurrock 27.1%
Cambridgeshire 22.2%
Lincolnshire 25.0%
Oxfordshire 25.2%
Suffolk 20.2%
Surrey 38.7%
Warwickshire 31.2%
Ceredegion 20.5%
Vale of Glamorgan 23.6%
Clackmannanshire 28.4%
and those where the percentage is least are
Lambeth 3.8%
Bolton 2.2%
Salford 1.2%
Tameside 2.8%
Knowsley 0.3%
Sheffield 4.0%
North Tyneside 1.8%
Birmingham 2.4%
Solihull 1.1%
Darlington 2.5%
Isle of Wight 0.4%
North Lincolnshire 2.1%
Buckinghamshire 0.1%
Hampshire 2.6%
Kent 3.5%
N Yorks 1.5%
Highland 1.7%
N Ayrshire 3.4%
Scottish Borders 3.3%
S Lanarkshire 2.2%
Shetland 2.8%
Urgent action on this point, during the summer and before the next budget round, requires work, not only in individual councils, but also within the DCLG and the Audit Commission as well as the DCMS and MLA.. They cannot undertake this without a thorough investigation of last week's figures from CIPFA. Someone with leadership responsibility for public libraries should table this action immediately, identfying those responsible for carrying out the work, and ensure that it is carried out. Perhaps it is the responsbility of a senior manager of the Gershon Intitiative for Efficiency in Government
Those who say that the CIPFA figures are insufficently accurate or useful are wrong. It is true that they have weaknesses and they are imperfect in some ways, but they do carry a wealth of inportant and valuable management information.
(With apologies for errors, ommissions and misunderstandings)
Posted by Perkins at 10:37 AM | Comments (2)
Birmingham City Library
A comment from Del
"Current book stock are woeful and a lot of the book series have volumes missing.
The design of the new library is woeful too, a square box built on a small car park whereas the original location opposite millennium point would have been ideal for an iconic building. Had the labour party still been in control it may well have been there. Another wasted opportunity for Birmingham to make an architectural point."
Posted by Perkins at 10:33 AM | Comments (0)
March 5, 2009
Ed Vaizey's speech
A very good speech - is here
Posted by Perkins at 9:44 PM | Comments (2)
March 3, 2009
Ed Vaizey
Ed Vaizey has been very active and very visible in public libraries in the past few months.
"Vaizey slams Burnham
03.03.09 Benedicte Page, The Bookseller"
Shadow culture minister Ed Vaizey has accused his opposite number Andy Burnham of "ignoring his responsibilities as secretary of state" by refusing to intervene in the library closures in the Wirral.
Burnham last week told the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) that he "is not minded at this stage to investigate further or intervene" in Wirral, where the council intends to close 11 libraries, nearly half its service.
Vaizey said: "Andy Burnham's refusal to take action in the Wirral effectively renders the 1964 Public Libraries Act meaningless. While it is local authorities' responsibility to provide libraries, the Act very clearly lays responsibility for ensuring a good service at the culture secretary's door. It Andy Burnham is not prepared to intervene when library provision is slashed in a local authority such as the Wirral, it is clear that he is ignoring his responsibilities as secretary of state, which in the process renders any sense of libraries being a statutory requirement for local authorities meaningless."
Posted by Perkins at 6:43 PM | Comments (1)
Lost the plot
Book lending falls by half as libraries 'dumb down'
By Steve Doughty in the Daily Mail
Book borrowing from libraries has dropped by half in less than 15 years, it was revealed yesterday.
Records show increasing numbers of people are going to their local library to surf the net or send e-mails.
The shift towards state-subsidised internet cafes was hailed by the Government's library agency as welcome evidence its services are 'becoming more relevant' and 'adapting to the changing needs of users'.
Records show that an increasing number of people visit libraries not to read a book but to surf the net bu critics accused libraries of abandoning readers and betraying their mission to educate.
The figures, released by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, showed that in the year to March 2008 book borrowing amounted to just over five issues for everyone in the population.
In 1994 there were 9.5 books lent for every member of the public, with more than 550million books lent in total.
Last year 307,571,000 library books were issued - down 2.3 per cent from the previous year.
However, the number of internet sessions was up in the same period by 19 per cent, to more than 76million web visits.
Libraries also lent more than 30million CDs and DVDs.
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, an agency that answers to Culture Secretary Andy Burnham, said: 'The library service is heeding our advice by becoming more relevant, adapting to the changing needs of its users, and meeting the challenge to supply information in the most suitable way.'
But Robert Whelan of the Civitas think tank said: 'These figures show that the people who are running the library service have lost the plot.
'Unfortunately the public library system seems to have moved from education to entertainment and as a result we are becoming increasingly illiterate as a nation.'
Posted by Perkins at 6:23 PM | Comments (0)