Vlogging and library data

Editorial

I’ve just been sent some amazing pictures from Manchester showing crowds and queues for vloggers (video blogging) outside the central library.  I included a description of what it is in the previous sentence because I wasn’t all that sure myself. But the thing is, vlogging is hugely popular. Vloggers get to the top of the bestseller lists and many people, including librarians, have never heard of them.  Mu daughter, nine years old, though, has, and said Joe Sugg, Alfie Dayes, Zoe Sugg, Tanya Burr, Jim Chapman, LD Shadowlady, Smallish Beans and Stampy Longhead without even trying. These people have millions of followers each. Vlogging is a big new media form and libraries run the risk of missing out on it.  And, look at the pictures below for the result when libraries do get on board: these are precisely the age of people we often find missing in our libraries.  The events were arranged with Waterstones and Hodder, thus showing the need for links with partners too.  I understand one thousand tickets were sold online in one hour, with the queue going around the back of the library then looped back past the Midland Hotel and along St Peter’s Square. Security even had to be provided by G4S. And if you’ve never heard of Joe Sugg (2.6 millions followers on Twitter – his signing took four and a half hours) or Tyler Oakley (4.79m) now is perhaps the time to find out more.

The English public libraries taskforce is having a meeting this week on what data is needed on the performance of public libraries.  For many years, the only real data available has been the Cipfa figures, which normally arrive over half a year after the period they cover and, crucially, cost a fortune to obtain. I’m writing my own submission to the task force on the subject but if you want me to add anything from yourselves then do let me know, along with any other news, views and comments, via ianlibrarian@live.co.uk.

Queue around the block for Tyler Oakley at Manchester Central Library

Enthusiastic fans of Joe Sugg. Note the age range.

News

• Are libraries redundant in our technology driven society? – Inquire. “Whilst the Internet and e-books are indeed useful, physical books and public libraries should not disappear because they are an integral part of the reading and learning experience.”
• Fifth meeting of the Leadership for Libraries Taskforce – Gov.uk. Toured Newcastle Library. Considering setting up an email account. Looking at working with health. Aim is to look at role of libraries in fulfilling other agendas. First draft produced on best practice in libraries document for councils. Other points include thinking about National Libraries Day.
• Library of the future: meeting the public’s needs – Axiell. “Public libraries have a clear opportunity to become central hubs in local communities across the UK, but they must develop citizen engagement strategies that deliver new services, embrace digitalisation and empower library staff, according to new research conducted by Axiell UK. The research, carried out among more than 2,000 UK adults, shows that although 56% use public libraries, they only make 23 visits per year on average, compared to 57 visits a year when they were children. Yet the research also reveals a clear appetite from consumers for public libraries to offer much more than a place to find or borrow literature.” Includes infographic. “Yet the research also reveals a clear appetite from consumers for public libraries to offer much more than a place to find or borrow literature. It reveals a number of services that would entice more visits, including social clubs, cited by 64% of adults, cafes (63%), a post office or collections service (61%), the opportunity to meet/listen to authors (55%) and a place to watch short films (53%).“

International news

• Spain – Flash mob at Valladolid Library
• USA – 600 People Pack Wisconsin Library for Reading of I Am Jazz – Advocate. “The library event was organized on behalf of the 6-year-old student who had just transitioned from a boy to a girl; she and her family have chosen to remain anonymous. The reading was aimed at making up for last week’s cancellation of the original event planned by Mount Horeb Primary Center, the girl’s public elementary school.”
• USA – Granite City library staff create art from books – Belleville News-Democrat. ““Rebecca (Bolling) started it because we do crafts with the kids,” said youth services assistant Rhonda LeMaster. “She searched on the Internet and found the porcupine or hedgehog that holds business cards. The kids enjoyed making them and they weren’t too hard.” Reindeer involve folded pages, a red pompom nose, pipe cleaner antlers, googly eyes and a yarn mouth. For the holidays, Rhonda creates wreaths by rolling book pages into cones and attaching them to a circular base …”
• USA – This Library is a blast– Public Libraries Online. “provides structured after school enrichment activities for children in first through fourth grades. In addition to homework help and outdoor play, participants regularly experience new technologies and ideas through STEM activities. Another highlight is the special projects. One year, Blast kids designed a mural that lined the basement hallway as their own “Thank You” to library volunteers. Recently, the group drew pictures of their ideal library. The pictures were then used during a Community Engagement Session.” … “Since its inception in the winter of 2012, the program has been so popular that local schools now include the library as a bus drop-off point and a lottery is used to determine which eighteen children will be able to participate”

Local news by authority

• Barnet – Campaigners use crowdfunding in bid to challenge library plans – Local Government Lawyer. “Campaigners seeking to challenge Barnet Council’s plans for the future of the area’s libraries service have used crowd-funding to obtain the funds to pay for preparatory work for a judicial review challenge including drawing up a pre-action protocol letter. Save Barnet Libraries have accused the London borough of the “proposed wholesale removal of staff from Barnet libraries, a step which, if taken, will unlawfully discriminate against the young, disabled, and other legally protected groups who will no longer have proper access to their local libraries”.”
• Birmingham – Last-ditch attempt to save Birmingham Central Library – Telegraph. “An eleventh hour bid is being made to save Birmingham Central Library from demolition – and turn it into an art gallery, hotel or even a museum of Midlands heavy metal. A supporters group in the second city has been lobbying for the distinctive 1974 library to be spared – and received backing from the Twentieth Century Society, the World Monuments Fund, and writers Jonathan Meades, Catherine O’Flynn, Jonathan Glancey and Owen Hatherley.”
• Bradford – Swingeing Bradford Council cuts poised to hit libraries, refuse collections and tourism in Ilkley, Burley and Menston – Wharfedale Observer. “Libraries in Menston and Burley-in-Wharfedale are also among services facing the axe, unless they can be taken over by community groups, with proposals put out to consultation by Bradford Council’s ruling executive this week. But Ilkley Library, as one of the district’s main centres, appears to be safe.”
• Cambridgeshire – Lollipop ladies facing the chop – but mobile libraries and pothole maintenance are handed a reprieve – Cambridge News. Proposed cuts are being reviewed by committees: “The committee refused to endorse cuts to mobile libraries and roads maintenance – but did recommend axing school crossing patrols and grants to the voluntary sector, as well as endorsing old plans to switch off the county’s streetlights in residential areas between midnight and 6am. The mobile library proposals would save £160,000, while cutting school crossing patrols will save cash-strapped Shire Hall £171,000.” … “”The library service is going through a review at the moment. The mobile libraries are a lifeline to the rural communities and that was another one we thought was unacceptable and couldn’t endorse it.” … “The committee also heard about the work of a new group looking at generating income for the library service. Among the schemes it is looking at include sponsorship of the mobile libraries, so the council would be able to withdraw its funding.” Final decision expected in February.
• Derby – Planned budget cuts will create ‘Scrooge city’ says councillor – Derby Telegraph. “”The library in Chellaston is incredibly important to local people. It is used very well by locals and schoolchildren who say it is an important educational tool. “We had a neighbourhood board meeting and the issue of the future of the library was brought up and there was, and is, a great deal of support to keep it where it is. One near to Chellaston is in Chaddesden, and that is new but residents will be unhappy at having to travel that far.”
• Fife – Robinson Crusoe could save our library – Fife Today. “A last minute plea has been issued to save Lundin Links library from closure by partly transforming it into a Robinson Crusoe heritage museum. The idea was put before Levenmouth Area Committee yesterday (Wednesday) by members of Largo Community Council who argued the proposed closure presented “not so much a challenge but an opportunity”.
• Hampshire – Youngster’s plot to save Yateley library to protect children’s ‘right to read’  – Get Hampshire. “[11 year old] Alexandra Kelly has written a letter to Hampshire County Council pleading for it not to close Yateley Library and is urging people of all ages to do the same. ” … “In her letter, Alexandra said her eight-year-old sister has a learning disability and struggles to read, but Yateley’s ‘homely’ library had helped her. Proud mother Sarah said the campaign to save the library started when Alexandra downloaded her first book onto her phone so she could read on the train.”
• Lambeth – Lambeth Council possibly heading to High Court again as library campaigners bring case against bonkers book-ish gyms – Brixton Buzz. “Lambeth Council is facing another possible Judicial Review – only one week after the High Court ruled that the Council acted unlawfully during the Cressingham Garden consultation. This time it is the Cultural Consultation that led to the bonkers book-ish gyms that could be heading for the High Court. A case is being brought by Public Interest Lawyers on behalf of a Lambeth resident who depends on the Carnegie Library.” see also Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell launches Lambeth Momentum movement at Lambeth Academy with calls for local Labour party members to become more active – Brixton Buzz.
• Lambeth – Library campaigners on camera – Brixton Blog. “Brixton Blog journalist Helen Reid has created a short video in which users of Lambeth libraries and the people campaigning to keep all of the borough’s libraries open speak out.” see also New Lambeth library consultation complaint – Brixton Blog. “Forms for the Lambeth council consultation on the future of Tate South Lambeth Library (TSL) ran out at the library after four days and no more have been supplied, campaigners have charged. Christina Burnett of Vauxhall CIC, a social enterprise that works closely with the library, said this made the consultation period invalid”
• Lincolnshire – Save Lincs Libraries gets ‘holding’ reply from DCMS – Save Lincolnshire Libraries. ““I have received the attached holding letter from the Department of Culture , Media and Sport. It is the first communication I have received since April. Maybe the appointment of GLL to run the library service has quickened the pace of response, and I look forward to receiving a full reply in due course. It is likely that the Secretary of State waited for the outcome of the Judicial Review, but a simple acknowledgement would have been helpful and courteous in the meantime.””
• Manchester – Enlighten Manchester – Festival of Light and Sound Art – Librarylive. “Celebrating UNESCO’s International Year of Light, a new Festival of Light and Sound Art -‘Enlighten Manchester’ – is set to bring a stellar programme of world premieres, award-winning installations and international artists to the city. From 10-12 December contemporary artists will transform the public spaces inside Manchester Central Library and The Bridgewater Hall, offering visitors an immersive, inspiring cultural respite from the festive hustle and bustle.” … “Nightly performances in the unique setting of the Central Library from incredible musicians including Psappha Ensemble, Kaj Duncan David, Kathy Hinde and Matthew Olden.”
• North Lanarkshire – Fewer books on the shelves in our libraries – Cumbernauld News. “CultureNL, the council-run company operating local libraries, reported that its expenditure on new books has dropped by £179,000, or 41%, over three years”
• South Tyneside – New South Shields theatre work imagines a town without books in the future – Chronicle. “A new theatre work imagines a grim world only 50 years from now where libraries have been closed, books have been destroyed and stories of any kind are taxed. Mmm, cynics among you might think, are we not nearly there already? Well, no. An exciting new library and media centre called The Word is a key element of a £100m regeneration plan for South Shields town centre. And the new theatre work, called If Words Weren’t Free, was commissioned from Newcastle-based theatre company Precious Cargo as part of Arts in Libraries, a celebration of how libraries can be a catalyst for creativity.”
• Swindon – Threat to libraries as more cuts loom in Swindon – Swindon Advertiser. “There are 15 libraries across Swindon but talks have begun at several on how to combine them with other services. A new library strategy is being developed that aims to see how libraries can be linked up with other amenities to cut costs.” … “Shirley Burnham, a member of the Save Old Town Library Group, said: “The substitution of paid staff by volunteers is a false economy. Fragmentation of our library service may result and that will have a reputational risk for the council.
• Walsall – Have your say on library closures at meetings – Express and Star. “Residents can have their say on plans to shut seven libraries in Walsall at a series of consultation events taking place across the borough” … “A library questionnaire is online at www.lovelibrarieswalsall.co.uk ” see also Closures of Walsall libraries go to public consultation – Walsall Advertiser. “The draft budget options for consideration in the year of 2016/17 include the closure of seven libraries from the current Walsall network. These are Beechdale, Blakenall, New Invention, Pleck, Rushall, South Walsall and Walsall Wood. Under the plans the mobile library service would also cease to operate but the home library service would continue. A book exchange would also be established in the new Oak Park Active Living Centre to cope with the loss of Walsall Wood library.”
• Worcesteshire – Bromsgrove mum voices concerns over cost of parking at new library site – Evesham Journal. ““Sadly we will not be able to attend every week any longer. All because we will now have to pay to use a public car park away from the new site. It is very poor that the council could not provide a few spaces to use for half an hour free of charge”.  Council responds; “The decision was therefore taken to provide spaces for the Registration Service (two spaces only) and first-responding frontline staff only … We understand that this may cause some inconvenience, but providing space for free parking would have resulted in a significantly smaller library, with fewer services and facilities.”