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January 29, 2010
Where is Robin Hood?
In the last week alone we have heard of palpable reductions in the public library service in Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Nottinghamshire, Southampton, Dorset, North Somerset and West Sussex and I am sure there are a lot of which we haven't heard.
Where is 'Delay'- the department of libraries and archives? They now have a huge and expensive interplanetary structure of regional engagement officers with cars, secretaries, employees. mobile phones, ibooks and all the things you need to get engaged with. They are claiming vast success rates at persuading local councils to behave and be good-- but I don't see it. Do you? They have missed all these. The library service is falling apart, gently like sand through the fingertips. They appear to be having no effect-- and they are stopping anyone else from doing the same job. Should we shut them down? Now? They are too frightened to answer emails-- Mrs Thatcher had the word "Frit" - she said
Posted by Perkins at 9:24 AM | Comments (3)
January 28, 2010
Incentives and honours
This week's closing of submissions to the DCMS review of public libraries (yes- like Leeds United it is still going on) has produced some good sense from some quarters and a flurry of incomprehensible tosh from other directions. The overriding theme from public sector correspondents seems to be a call for a further review
Syrup says "SYRUP believe DCMS should commission a formal visioning exercise to determine the mission of the public library service in a modern context."
And 'Delay' - the department of Libraries and Archives says 'There needs to be a greater understanding of people's attitudes to libraries and library usage gearing towards better marketing and tailoring of the service. 'Delay' recommends that funders undertake a survey of users and non-users before deciding to implement new customer strategies.'
So what have the past two years been about then? Why hasn't this work been done during that time? It's not a new idea-- absolutely every normal human mortal told them at the beginning that this was what they needed to do.
Have they been stubbornly refusing to listen?!
Why do they both write in such awful English ... what are 'visioning?' and 'gearing?' - where do these people come from? !!!
Someone, whom I respect, said that libraries fail to sort out their problems, because there is no incentive for them to do so. That's true, in modern parlance, but in old fashioned speak, public service was an honour and a privilege; there was no more need for incentive than the pride and the responsibility it carried. What happened to those?
Posted by Perkins at 9:26 AM | Comments (0)
January 27, 2010
London Libraries Change Programme has been a waste of money. It is time to stop now.
I'm not sure why Roy Clare has become the spokesman for the London Libraries Change Programme, but he appears to have taken that role. At Christmas he was telling us that direction of the public library service should be determined by what people want. There were several who expressed surprise when he said that, as that sentiment has been notably absent from the actions of the MLA and DCMS. When we heard that he was to make a statement about the LLCP we were all looking to see how that new approach would be manifest. Unfortunately it as absent as it has ever been.
Roy's statement and the response I have posted on Alan Gibbons' blog are below.
My own view is that not one more penny or minute should be spent on the LLCP until after the council elections in May and a new set of portfolio holding councillors have been appointed. Hopefully by then a new Government will have closed the MLA and appointed a new Libraries Development Agency
I'm afraid that, in the same way as the MLA wasted a million pounds on 'Better Stock, Better Libraries' they have now already wasted £300,000 on the LLCP and yet again we need to know why this happened and stop any more expenditure.
Roy Clare on the London Libraries Change Programme
Posted by: Alan Gibbons in Uncategorized
The London Libraries Change Programme has stirred up vigorous debate over the future of London’s libraries. I invited Roy Clare CBE, Chief Executive of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council to submit an article to the blog and the Campaign for the Book Newsletter.
I would like to throw this forum open to readers’ contributions. Over to you.
Improving library services
People have high aspirations for their local library services. The MLA provides a range of ‘best practice’ resources to help local authorities’ make their limited funds go as far as possible.
A number of recent, high-profile cases involving library authorities outside London have highlighted the role of the MLA. We have been able to ensure that short-term savings are underpinned by sound, modern strategies, aimed at ensuring a high quality service is maintained for people and communities.
The best library services have shown that much can be done locally, but there is evidence that more can be achieved when authorities work together. Partnership has benefits for the public in terms of improved services; and is needed in any case in the difficult financial environment.
An example of our work is the lead we have given to The London Library Change Programme (LLCP). This project started from the premise that costs and service quality currently varies widely across London; there is frequently little or no correlation between the two.
Local authorities are statutorily responsible for delivering comprehensive and efficient library services. The LLCP does not make decisions about boroughs’ library services on their behalf. Individual local services will continue to look different, because they will continue to be democratically accountable and designed according to local need, in consultation with local people and communities.
The LLCP has focused on so-called ‘back of house’ functions. These have vital implications for the quality and range of customer-facing services. The next phase is to implement recommendations to bring all boroughs’ services up to ‘best practice’ standards.
For example, we know that many library services still don’t operate automated stock management systems; and we know that these have an important role in offering customers automated self-issue, and in helping to improve overall efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
In an era of round the clock library services, we are also working to develop on-line services. At present, library users can order their books at any time of the day or night, but the consumer cannot access the Inter-Library database so the on-line catalogue is limited. As a result the loans system is staff-intensive and overly reliant on the knowledge of individuals.
Progress in this area depends on some matters that are beyond the scope of the LLCP. But we can already foresee an expansion of the habit of sharing of back-office functions. Of course, this is already happening to a limit extent, for example through the London Libraries Consortium, which includes over a third of London boroughs.
The outcomes of these projects will result in centralised back-office services around requests and a unified approach to stock management and procurement. This will enable the library user to get books more quickly while costs can be contained. Employing ‘best practice’ in deployment of staff will improve productivity, value for money, and ultimately, the customer experience, as demonstrated in library services where this has already happened.
Similar initiatives are under way in the East of England, the North West and Northern Ireland. London’s geography, history of fragmented governance and generally higher costs, mean there is relatively more to be gained from the LLCP approach than in many areas.
No local service is going to be exempt from the effects of the new public spending environment, in which local government budgets may be cut by up to a third. Authorities across the country are already looking at more efficient ways of delivering services, sharing functions across departments and authorities, and looking at new governance models like trusts and contracting out to the private and third sectors.
This is a difficult process but one which is inevitable. None of these is a panacea and it is really important that consumer interests are protected; there have been examples where attempts at cost-cutting have resulted in inferior delivery. The MLA is committed to helping to ensure that the overall system is improved.
Local Government is also moving towards a world in which services are commissioned according to their contribution to local priorities, rather than rationing resources by departmental silos. This is an opportunity for libraries because of the immense contribution they make to learning, community cohesion and tourism. However, it illustrates that arguing to ring-fence existing budgets is fighting yesterday’s war.
The programme, which is being led by boroughs with a strong reputation for delivering a high quality library service, will continue to engage with interested groups to discuss how the projects will work.
We hope individual boroughs will engage actively with staff and residents as they plan how libraries and other cultural services can be improved and thrive, especially in the post-recession climate.
The need for quality services is higher than ever; and funding is under more pressure than ever. The MLA and the LLCP are part of the solution.
Roy Clare MBE
Chief Executive, Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 at 5:33 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
One Response to “Roy Clare on the London Libraries Change Programme”
Tim Coates says:
January 26th, 2010 at 9:23 pm
I don’t think any member of the public would have put interlibrary stock, online services and automated lending as the three priorities for change in London Libraries. In fact we know they would have put improved shelf stock, longer hours and better buildings along with a request that well informed staff be available at counters. It is almost bizarre that the LLCP failed to identify the things that people most want.
I think also people should not feel they have to be grateful for a project which admits that there has been gross ineffeciency for years and years and now thinks that something should be done about it. They should indeed be sceptical that the same library managers who have failed to operate effficiently are being allowed to define the programme of improvement. That doesn’t make sense. Efficiencies should have been sought years ago, and unless someone analyses why the library authorities of London managed to avoid Best Value Reviews, Annual Library Planning, The Gershon initiative and all the other attempts to stop people wasting money, they are unlikely to succeed this time either.
If the MLA is not able to persuade councils to give better service, then this project should not have got so far and have spent so much money (over £300k) and plan to spend more.
There is only so much that can be gained by cross council working. The first thing that must be done is to raise the standard of the service in individual councils. If attention is only paid to sharing some back room roles, those pressures which should drive councils to do better will not be so great. I believe that 80% of the improvement has to come from within councils and only when that has been done should we seek the 20% that will come from partnerships with others. (as in Hillingdon)
As to whether ‘peer’ reviews will ever raise the standard of services within councils, as the programe suggests, ‘to the level of the best’ - one has to observe that this method has never worked in the past. The participants tend to choose to adopt those activities which they find useful– but rarely those that the public would find beneficial. In my experience, with the greatest respect to library managers, it is no use asking them, in committee to make a radical change. Such a drive could only come from strong political leadership of which there is no evidence yet in the LLCP.
Of the five London councils I have heard speak on the subject of the LLCP three have said publicly it is not in line with their own plans. One described it merely as an attempt to create one library card and the the fifth said it is a cost cutting exercise. The fact that London councillors are being re-elected in May means that this project is definitely off the council agendas until after that is over. It risks only being controversial.
What is needed is not a programme now, but to wait until after new councillor portfolio holders have been appointed in the summer. Then there should be sensible discussion with them about the issues raised in the first Capital Ambition report and a concensus agreed with them about what an LLCP can and should attempt to do. This current programme should be stopped. One will rarely find a less persuasive document than the one they have just published , to which Roy is referring.
There will probably be, by the summer, a new Libraries Development Agency - since all three parties appear to support that; it will be an interesting first task for the new people to tackle. Hopefully this time, they will start by trying to work out what the public want
Posted by Perkins at 9:22 AM | Comments (1)
January 25, 2010
London Libraries Change Programme
There is a new bulletin on the MLA London/ Capital ambition website here.
I haven't read it carefully yet, but what I shall look for are the route to
- More, better book stock
- Longer opening hours
- Smarter buildings
- Knowledgeable staff at the counters
Posted by Perkins at 5:57 PM | Comments (0)
January 21, 2010
The Liberal Democrat Party becomes electable
This blog has no association or bias towards any political party. In the matter of running public libraries the evidence is that any party can run them well or badly- mostly the latter. The well run ones do so because of the individual people involved and not the political party in control. The same uncertainties surrounf the parties at national level. Sometimes they say something good, often they don't.
However sincere congratulations and best wishes must go to Shirley Burnham. Shirley has fought relentlessly, honestly, intelligently, kindly, firmly, enthusiastically and extremely hard to keep not only her own local library in Old Town, Swindon, but all the libraries of that town. In doing so she has earned respect of journalists across the country, those of us who campaign for the same things, politicians from Swindon Town Hall to 10 Downning Street, and above all the admiration of her neighbours and friends in Swindon. She is a complete star and a very nice person.
Her contribution to the national campaign and debate is second to none. She is well informed, balanced, articulate and persistently right, much to the chagrin of those who should be responsible.
Shirley has announced that she will stand as a candidate for the council in Swindon this year as a liberal democrat. They are jolly lucky to get her-- she is as well informed on library matters as any councillor in the party- and they should use her as an authority and an advocate.
Good luck Shirley!!
Posted by Perkins at 10:19 PM | Comments (1)
London Libraries Change Programme
In December we werre promised a new communications strategy from the London Libraries Change Programme board and MLA London.
The new strategy appears to be not to communicate anything at all. Probably until after the election, so as to avoid any embarrasment to local councillors.
That's wrong! (do I have to explain?) Democracy is about elections at which politicians say beforehand what they will do if they are elected. One of the dafter slogans of the past decade has been about how public libraries contribute to local democracy. Yes, sure, we can see what that means in the library services in London- "Hide everything and shut the door, so we can decide what to do, without the public having a clue."
Posted by Perkins at 9:13 AM | Comments (2)
January 20, 2010
From the front line
John writes
"What also needs to be recognised is (and never seems to be) in any of the reviews/proposals of government bodies etc. is the pressure on the people providing these services.
Firstly, the library service needs to use less casual staff and temporary contracts (I recognise that some are and always will be needed, but we have about a third to a half of the workforce in our Authority on temporary contracts and in some libraries ALL of the staff are temps/casuals). This is an inherently unstable staffing situation leading to lack of trainig, experience and low pay.
Secondly, the staff need to be trained properly - I know this may sound astoundingly simplistic but believe me in a lot of cases it doesn't happen. (This also comes to the sticky question of losing those staff who have a wealth of experience in libraries and books because they don't want to do computer courses or storytimes - not because they want to be awkward but perhaps because they don't have the confidence in their own abilities).
Finally, and this is the crunch one at this time of 'economic meltdown'- staff need to be paid properly. Forget all the spin about public sector workers getting paid more than the private sector and all those lovely gold plated pensions. After working for 6 years and fulfilling training requirements I get paid £8.72 an hour, (about a pound an hour more than the guy who cleans the library), I work 17.5 hours a week (I will not get a large pension, gold plated or otherwise - tin plated perhaps?). I'm one of the lucky one's because I've got a permanent contract. My point is - I am happy to do anything to make my library a success (and the rest of my colleagues are as dedicated) - but the levels of remuneration for the roles we already carry out are pitiful - looking to the future with self service, digital plinths and staff reductions through "natural wastage" we will be expected to do more with even less.
I hope this doesn't sound too pompous and I know that many other people will be in the same position in their jobs, but I do feel that sometimes the Great Library Debate needs to be turned on its head. Before adding to the list of extra things we need to do let's stop destroying the valuable assets we have in the staff (just as we have done with book stock and buildings).
Thanks for your time."
Posted by Perkins at 7:58 PM | Comments (3)
January 18, 2010
SYRUP drizzle
You know how when you pour golden Syrup on the porridge the little brown stream meanders around until it forms a puddle. I thought of that when I looked again a this entry on the SYRUP Dating blog
Posted by Perkins at 7:51 PM | Comments (1)
January 15, 2010
Just about libraries
I use my library all the time. I normally have about 4 or 5 books out on loan. Sometimes I take them all back and start again. I'm just going to do that this morning. I shall probaby only take out one, because I have to go and see someone and one book will last me for the weekend. So I shall put one paperback in my pocket and find somewhere to sit, waiting for my meeting, reading. That's my life!
Even though I have read books all my life, most of which I could not recall if you tried to force me, I know that there is a vast number of authors about whom I know absolutely nothing and that there is a fair chance that I will find someone new, whose books I have never read, whose work I will enjoy and want to read more (or everything) that they have done.
Sometimes I read prize winning stuff. I have read all of Orhan Pamuk's books except the most recent one. You might be surprised (but I'm not) that you can always talk about Pamuk in the Kebab shops round here. Turkish people are more familiar with their own history and literature than people who run fish and chip shops. They know what happened in 1453, where most of us don't. Sometimes (often) I just read the story books that would probably not win prizes. I am reading all Peter Robinson's books at the moment, because they are good stories and they are set in the area where I was a child. I read any of Margaret Yorke's books I can find- because they, too are good stories and I met her and liked her. In December I had a good dose of Katherine Mansfield and of George Orwell. And I have read Hilary Mantel - all from the library.
I also borrow and read non fiction. The title catches your eye and suggests a subject about which I want to know more.
I buy books, too. Sometimes because I just can't resist them. Sometimes because I need them for work and often to give as presents. I have a pile of books I was given for Christmas and am enjoying each slowly.
But without the library, both the local small library and the central library which is open more often, I would be very deprived, and not at all so happy. Someone said the library is a place people seek their communities. I don't- I just look for things to read.
Posted by Perkins at 11:04 AM | Comments (10)
January 13, 2010
MLA London to resite its office to planet Mars
Press release
Having been absent from the capital for such a long time, MLA London have announced what many suspected, that they have moved their office to Mars. The spaceship with all their laptops and filing cabinets has not yet landed, so they are 'hors de realite' for a little while longer.
They have, however, taken with them all the available information about Capital Ambition - Mayor Boris's private scheme for doing something to public libraries, no one knows what. They have also taken, as one might have anticipated, a large carrier bag full of the nation's money, of which there is now not much left.
It is a long path of darkness and expense, probably ending in silence and red faces. That is what happens on Mars
Posted by Perkins at 11:42 AM | Comments (1)
Scoop: London Boroughs to be completely reorganised by Tories
I'm only guessing, but if you add one and one together and make five, out of the confusion of the London Libraries Change Programme (still communicating no news), it appears that the Conservative Party could secretly be planning to reduce the number of London Boroughs from 32 to 5.
The five are 'North, South, East, West and Central'. Presumably they are desperately hiding this plan until after the general election.
It's not a bad idea but, being parochial, will be a long time, if ever, it makes improvements to public libraries. Nevertheless I'm sure it will be immense fun for all those officials, politicians and the press who occupy themselves with these things. The questions will be whether it actually saves more money than it costs to do and whether it makes life in London better or worse-- and I guess we will never ever know the truth about those things.
Posted by Perkins at 9:24 AM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2010
Absolutely right thinking, and good news from The Reading Agency
If a clothes shop said - 'our sales are down, people must have decided to go naked' - you would know that the owner was barmy, had a lousy shop and was incapable of giving people what they want. Yet, so often we hear councils and officials saying 'people have stopped using the library, reading must be a thing of the past' They are mad
So Miranda McKearney (who is extremely good and sane) is quite right when she says:
The analysis of libraries’ current position sometimes implies that the public are no longer interested in what libraries offer readers.
At The Reading Agency we have found this to be misleading. When libraries take positive steps to attract readers through creative initiatives, the public respond with alacrity. There is a real demand for reading groups, author events, challenges and promotions, as preliminary figures from The Reading Agency's 2009 partnership work with libraries shows (more to come later when we have our final year’s results in)
- 725,000 children taking part in the Summer Reading Challenge, up 35,000 on 2008
- 50,060 people joining a library to take part in our reading challenges (the Summer Reading Challenge and the Six Book Challenge)
- 25% more Chatterbooks reading groups running in libraries, with schools set to join the Chatterbooks network in 2010
- the 8372 people who came to our Reading Partners author events in libraries
The best library services are creating an exciting, lively reading offer and the public are responding. We should look to the growth trends in carving out a new vision for a new role for libraries in promoting reading in the community.
Miranda McKearney
Posted by Perkins at 7:13 PM | Comments (2)
January 8, 2010
Let's just take everybody's money and have a good time
Nothing has made me more furious than to read this total rubbish from Edinburgh City Council From every direction we hear civil servants and public officials moaning and groaning about how they are so short of money that they can no longer keep libraries open with books in-- and here they all are having a wonderful party in Edinburgh at our expense.
Somebody should be run through.
Posted by Perkins at 4:30 PM | Comments (0)
West Sussex County Council
There is an article being circulated from 'egov' - a sort of internal, within the citadel, magazine for government and local government cronies. It is about the public libraries in West Sussex and opens with the sentence
"Already the West Sussex Library Service has been bucking national trends in recent years by increasing its lending, and the easy access it provides across a range of services. "
I looked up the figures for West Sussex library service and found that in West Sussex county council, from 2001 to the last published figures, visits to libraries fell by 13%, book issues fell by 27% -only 8.7% of the library budget is spent upon them. The book stock has fallen in number by 23%. The active membership of the service has fallen from 34% of the population to 21%.
The article talks about additional opening hours, but it does not address the question of the quality of the book stock.
By every measure used by any government or local government method, this is a service that has totally failed. But no one says so!
I reflected that, as we have been hearing performance figures of some major retailers announced in the past few days, that if, for example, the ceo of Marks and Spencer, or of John Lewis, had given out figures for their results like the actual performance data for West Sussex, they would have lost their respective job many years ago.
It is wrong to allow the same managers who have been running it to continue to use public money to run West Sussex library service. Simple.
If councillors aren't told the full and realistic truth about how library services perform, how can they possibly do the job we ask them to do and apply some commone sense when working out their plans for the future.
Why do we let this go on year after year?
Posted by Perkins at 9:33 AM | Comments (1)
January 1, 2010
Margaret Hodge is determined to close libraries and ruin the public library service
I watched this Channel 4 news item last night and wondered who on Earth is telling Margaret Hodge all the nonsense she spouts about publishing? I have heard enough of what she says, over a long enough period, to believe she is apparently not able to understand or reason with the issues. Nothing will change her views. People speak highly of her political skills, but on this subject it is hard to see why. As minister for libraries, with such an opportunity to do and say important things to restore the service, I cannot comprehend why she is so keen to close them down.
It is particularly irresponsible to talk in the way she does. A Public Review and hearing in the Wirral demonstrated that both the public will and the logic of provision of the service call for sustenance of small community libraries. Yet at the same time council chief execuitives are hanging on every word she says for the opportunity to close libraries to which they have stifled resources over the years- on this film they will only hear her approval of their plans for closures.
Long suffering readers of this blog will recall that almost her first utterance was to describe the work in Hillingdon with derision when she had not even troubled to find out what the work was about-- and yet it has been the one most successful project in the public library service showing that people are still desperately keen to read and use libraries and that the service can be restored and run at less cost.
On the same programme it is good to see Roy Clare saying that people's needs are the starting point. If he can articulate what those needs are, in a way that they recognise and understand, then we will make progress.
Incidentally where are CILIP while all this goes on?
Posted by Perkins at 9:51 AM | Comments (1)