Archive for February, 2017

Editorial

The reduction in amount of books libraries have on their shelves made several national newspapers this week while, on the other hand, a local piece ascribes the success of Cheshire East in attracting borrows to its substantial book-stock.  Could be a lesson there. There’s also a question about how much stock is “officially” on the shelves but is actually lost. This is a question that haunts many library services, whether it is down to theft or to inadequate housekeeping practices or both. Meanwhile, a very interesting blog post by Leon questions several aspects of the decision by Dudley Council to pass its library service on to GLL and another news article with some more detail (some of it showing the shocking impact the cut will have on some salaries) on the loss of Saturday enhancements for staff in Devon.  Both posts are worth a read.

Changes

• Devon – Enhanced pay for weekend working removed (£220k p.a. cut).

Media mentions heatmap

This shows longer term trends in authorities than this post alone.  Only authorities with 6 or more are included. :

•  Plymouth (17, -7), Bath and North East Somerset (12, +2), Manchester (9 – this is all positive news), Warrington (8, +2), Walsall (7, =), Cornwall (6), Darlington (6, -1), Devon (6, new), Kirklees (6, =), Lancashire (6, =),

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Editorial

It’s good to see that public libraries have the highest customer satisfaction of any public service. It’s lovely also to be able to report on plans for improving libraries in several authorities. This ties in nicely with a conversation I had with a national journalist today who was clearly interested in the bad news happening in libraries and not necessarily about the good: the good is always there and not “news”. This reminds me to say that, look, good things are happening in libraries. For all the bad news about cuts that I have to include every night, I’m sure there’s a hundred stories about how great libraries are and what a positive impact they are in people’s lives – it’s just that this isn’t reported because it’s always going on. So, nationally, the glass may be half empty but it’s also half full as well. As a post on communication from the Taskforce (also below – it’s like today has a theme) indicates, the great things that libraries do need trumpeting. So grab your musical instrument of librarianship and blow.

Changes

• Cambridgeshire – Milton Road Library may be rebuilt, with library smaller and combined with flats.
• Croydon – Central refurbished.
• Middlesbrough – Central to be revamped, after consultation
• Wandsworth – Northcote Library may be expanded.

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Editorial

Councils in Bath & North East Somerset (“BANES”) and Warrington have both needed to accommodate to public anger at plans to cut library services this week. The concessions may be more apparent than real – BANES are simply going to do a consultation on moving Central into a co-location away from the town centre (and with half the space) rather than a fait accompli.  Of course, seasoned readers of PLN will know the likelihood of a council actually changing its plans after a consultation in anything but in the mildest terms in order to show they listened but, with anger pretty high in the spa town, which is hardly a normal area of mass political dissent, it’s a step in the right direction. Warrington council, while supporting the initial (in my view highly flawed and biased) consultation are creating a group to see how they can best keep libraries open.  Again, PLN readers will suspect this will simply boil down to “volunteer or we’ll close it” but I am sure we all hope to stand corrected soon.

Meanwhile, the Taskforce have produced two posts on mutualising library services. With austerity now in its seventh (eighth?) year, this is seen as one of the best ways of maintaining library services along with volunteers, co-locations, increased use of volunteers and (increasingly) pressuring parish/borough councils to stump up cash instead.  To their credit, the Taskforce do not present any of these options as a panacea. Which is just as well: those councils which make cuts to libraries often find out the items on the efficiencies/savings/cuts menu can be unpalatable when presented to the public. But then it’s the same public so often who voted for austerity in the first place.

Changes

• Blackpool – Management restructure: job losses expected.

Ideas

• Lend out health promotion items

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Editorial

There’s a couple of examples of libraries being used as pawns in political games before local elections in May today, with opposition parties scaremongering and the party in power (often the same party as in opposition doing the same thing elsewhere) crying foul.  Libraries have never really hit the headlines in the media before elections and I’m curious to see if such mentions increase or quiet down.  In terms of actual news, I’m sorry to see that West Berkshire have confirmed a big budget cut, although they’re avoiding closing libraries by relying on volunteers and parish council handouts.  That’s bad news for the staff (which will be reduced by half) but good news for the libraries minister who had been called on to intervene if the council actually closed many,  On the other hand, good news in Torfaen where Unison are claiming a major victory in repealing a £240k cut.  The union has done some notably good work in South Wales, although it has been notably less active nationally in the sector. Meanwhile in parliament, the libraries minister received two friendly questions from MPs of his own party, re-emphasising once more his view that “standing still is not really an option”.  Which, it seems, is true – as people enthusiastically waving placards in Bath, Darlington, Lambeth, Plymouth, North East Lincolnshire, Walsall and elsewhere show.

Changes

• Cambridgeshire – Cambridge Central Library £65k refurbishment of children’s library.
• Dorset – Libraries may be co-located with job/health/daycare centre in six trial locations.
• Leicestershire – Quorn volunteer library opens, in Academy with parish council backing, 13 hours per week.
• Northeast Lincolnshire – Cleethorpes Library to close, services co-located to tourist information centre.
• Swansea – 3 libraries (inc. Brynhyfryd) alleged to be under threat by opposition councillors.
• Torfaen – Proposed £240k cut repealed.
• West Berkshire – £580k cut confirmed: paid staffing budget to be halved.

Ideas

• Donating books for father/children stories in prisons

Media mentions heatmap

This shows longer term trends in authorities than this post alone:

•  Plymouth (25), Lancashire (11), Birmingham (10), Darlington (8), Walsall (6), Swindon (6), Warrington (6).

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Editorial

Two conflicting stories this post. One is the story of libraries facing a big cut in usage over ten years, which I’ve covered in previous posts. The other is how Waterstones has made a dramatic comeback.  Now, Waterstones and public libraries are very different to each other – even Daunt could not have coped with the cuts some libraries are being forced to take and would probably have been driven to madness by council bureaucracy – but there are things that libraries can learn from him.  This is that local control over bookstock is important. You need to have experts choosing for particular libraries to match the needs of local communities.

Driven by budget cuts, many library authorities have forgotten the need for tailored local stock and farmed out book purchasing to large library suppliers. While (very importantly) saving on staff time and cost, this necessarily means a loss of that local connection and, also, a downgrading of the librarian role, with often the loss of professionals who have spent decades learning what goes best where. Sadly, thus is lost one of the many unique selling points (USPs)  that a public library once had, and some still have, that have been lost in the drive for efficiency.  I’ll be coming back to other disappearing USPs in future posts – councils appear in some ways to have spent decades removing them – but for the moment it’s great to see Waterstones rediscovering theirs, not least because I love bookshops more than any other high street outlet. Well, except libraries of course.

Changes

• Barking and Dagenham – Barking Learning Centre includes a spa as well as a library, jobcentre, makerspace and citizen’s advice bureau.
• Cornwall – 40% drop in visitor and book issue numbers between 2009/10 and 2014/15, 44% drop in book budget.
• Sheffield – Tinsley Library reopens as volunteer.

Ideas

• Secret images on fore-edge of books

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