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Editorial

The Department for Work and Pensions has announced that job advisors will be placed in different settings including libraries.  It’s been interesting to see the negative response from some tweeters about the cost to the public library service in terms of damaged neutrality, making the service more linked, in the public mind at least, to the government. It may indeed turn off some people from coming into the library, being worried that the DWP officers will spot them doing something they shouldn’t. On the other hand, of course, supporters of the scheme would say that this will improve the service to the user – professionals being emplaced to help get people employed is not a bad thing after all.  Government will also likely place more value on libraries if they see them as somewhere they can reach the hard to reach. The scheme is therefore not entirely good and not entirely bad: like so many things, it lies somewhere in the continuum between the two.  We all need to be think through the implications to our own libraries.

And now for something a bit more, well, librarian, than most of the news normally contained here. My thanks to Graham Bell, the executive director of EDItEUR, to agreeing to explain something I simply had no idea about: the new subject classification theme called Thema. The piece is too long for being part of this post (so it gets its own page) but I recommend it to you if have you have an interest in saving money, being international, or, actually, simply in the ordering and finding of books, which is kind of important, still, for most public librarians.  See this page for the article.

Changes

• Wokingham – 3 libraries (Wokingham, Woodley and Lower Earley) to have unstaffed hours using Open+ to extend opening hours. (For more information on Open+ see this page)

Ideas

• Update book/e-book covers with creative commons non-commercial images

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Editorial

Big protests in Lancashire and Lambeth against library cuts have taken place, with the London one benefitting from the prevalence of celebrities that live in or near the capital. The situation in Lancashire is worsening, with several branches having temporary reduced hours due to shortages of staff.  Hollowing out what used to be one of the best library services in the country is clearly continuing apace. No less than 40 of its branches (one fifth of all libraries places under threat in the last year) will soon turn volunteer or close.

The DCMS reply to queries over the number of libraries being under threat was very interesting. Basically, because CIPFA only asks for the number of service points each library authority has open, the argument is that one cannot tell how many have closed.  So, if there are 4000 branches one year and 3900 the next, one can’t say definitively that 100 have closed.  It’s possible that one (or five or ten) new library has come online meaning the figure could be 101 (or 106 or 111) have closed, therefore one cannot – the argument seems to go – use the CIPFA figures. It’s an interesting argument and one that shows the weakness in the CIPFA figures and has, of course, nothing to do with a political desire to underplay what is happening.  A better way needs to be made to keep count.

Finally, a beautiful story from Orkney Libraries, whose award-winning Twitter account was responsible for JK Rowling travelling there to attend a reading group. Major credit to the Orkney Twitterer and also, of course, to the wonderful JK Rowling.  Watch out, incidentally, for the new book “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” – it’s slated as coming in as adult non-fiction, which is unlikely to be where users will look for it on the shelves.

Changes

• Lancashire – Staffing shortages mean temporary reduced hours at at least five libraries (Leyland, Upholland, Skelmersdale, Ormskirk and Parbold)
• South Ayrshire – 3 libraries (Coylton, Dailly and Dundonald) to close. 10 others (Alloway, Ballantrae, Carnegie, Forehill, Girvan, Maybole, Mossblown, Symington, Tarbolton and Troon) to reduce opening hours. Total cut: £150k per year.

Ideas

• Book Fair game – to get kids (and adults) thinking about books.
• Fitness bikes – some exercise bikes allow you to read at the same time as you pedal.
• Virtual reality in the library – various options examined.

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Editorial

So I have a page listing what august publications have linked to Public Libraries News or quoted it. One of the first I put on there, many years ago when I was impressed by such things, was the House of Commons Library which mentioned the total number of threatened libraries which I had pieced together.  It was therefore with some deja vu that I read their new report (I wonder if they do one every five years) and noticed me quoted again.  Not that my name is mentioned. No, apparently I’m an “online campaign group”, which is amusing. It then notes that while the blog covers the issue, “the DCMS has not made any assessment of the accuracy of the information” which I publish. That is also a bit funny as I know they use the website quite a lot. So how come the caution? Everything I count has the original source linked to. Just click on the links guys. Hmm, odd.

The same research paper notes that the DCMS estimate the number of library closures in England since 2010 as a mere 110. As anyone with half an interest in the subject knows, this is a laughably low figure and can only, charitably, have been reached if every library which has become staffed by volunteers is not counted as closed.  Which means the DCMS is counting them as statutory. Which goes directly against what the minister has said time and again.  They’re also not counting mobile libraries, naturally. The report also then mentions 77 new public libraries in the same period. Wow, sounds like a golden time. Of course, they don’t mention the majority of these are replacements or co-locations.  The DCMS also seems unaware of the official CIPFA figures when quoting the figure of 110. Which is strange, as Ed Vaizey has this very week very carefully quoted them to show an increase in libraries in Wiltshire (I assume they took some time looking down the list until they came to a service which reported an increase  – they must have been getting very frantic as they got all the way down to the Ws) and that Labour-controlled Wales had a decline in comparison. It almost looks like, and imagine my shock at this, that the government is selectively quoting figures to back up its case and carefully ignoring anything which may get in the way of their rose-tinted narrative. Shocked gasps all round.

Anyway, I spent Saturday in the glorious library at Oldham.  They were holding a TEDx there.  It was a sold out event and absolutely fascinating. The auditorium at Oldham can only fit around eighty so it’s possible to hold these at many other libraries too.  Think of the street cred for your library service if you do.  I also spent a good hour or two walking around the building.  I was seriously impressed by it and there were some good ideas there. All in all, I recommend a visit to you all.  Just don’t be put off by their naff website if you do plan a visit. Read my review of the place here.

Changes

• Aberdeen – Proposed cuts to libraries withdrawn.
• Manchester – Chorlton Library to be refurbished
• Nottingham – Bakersfield and Sneinton Libraries to close: to be replaced by library in refurbished police station.
• Staffordshire – Lichfield Library may move to St Mary’s
• Telford and Wrekin – Stirchley Library to move to parish council offices and be run by them.
• Walsall – Threatened libraries (Beechdale, Blakenhall, New Invention, Rushall, South Walsall, Walsall Wood and Pleck) to remain open. £211k proposed cut withdrawn. Aldridge, Bloxwich, Brownhills and Willenhall libraries to have extended opening hours via Open+

Ideas

• Drag Queen storytimes
• Lockers for visitors
• Robot librarian to take users to the book
• Food for fines – St Helen’s waives fines if donations are given to food bank.
• TEDx – Host a TEDx talk at your library, like Oldham did.

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Editorial

A few things this post.  The first is there’s a lot of Arts stuff going on, not least in the small Slough authority (just seven branches) which has been given £625k for events by the Arts Council. That’s a lot of money for a borough of 140,000 people and we can hope to see some brilliant things coming from it, even though much of the money is not for libraries. On the other side of the scale, there’s a lot of the now standard cuts happening, with the notable difference being that it is now as likely to happen in Scotland – long seemingly protected from cuts – than it is south of the border.  Special mention nationally must go, again, to Birmingham where, unsurprisingly, drastic cuts to funding has led to a decline in usage. The cost of the Library of Birmingham is staggering (superlatives get used a lot when talking about this place: it’s £70,000 per day due to the repayments and interest) and, even though visits still work out at a very impressive 3 or 4 per resident per year, it’s hard not to expect further worrying headlines about it in the future.

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by BBC Radio Lancashire on Friday morning about volunteer libraries (link here: Locality at 1′ 10″, myself at 2′ 14″).  The general tone of the breakfast show was very pro-volunteer, with a speaker from Locality being a notable salesman for the income opportunities possible.  Sadly, of course, libraries are simply not geared up for income generation (if you’re making money from a library, you’re doing it wrong) and, although, volunteer libraries can be – and are – successful (with caveats like long-term uncertainty etc being hopefully understood) in some places, it so depends on the location and number of willing volunteers. Finding enough for 40 branches in Lancashire (one-fifth of all libraries put under threat in the least year are from that council alone) is going to be a tough ask.  And pretending otherwise does no-one any favours.

Changes

• Argyll and Bute – All school librarians made redundant.
• East Sussex – Pevensey Bay Library has been closed since January 2015 while “a full assessment of the building’s condition takes place.”
• Fife – 16 libraries will change: 8 libraries (Markinch, Pitteuchar, Kinghorn, Falkland, Colinsburgh, Crail, Pittenweem and East Wemyss) to remain open while “alternative delivery models explored”. 2 libraries may move into high schools (Glenwood (Glenrothes) and Abbeyview (Dunfermline)). 5 libraries to close end of March (Thornton, Freuchie, Bowhill, Crossgates and Lundin Links). Townhill will close March 2017.
• Slough – £625k Arts funding given by Arts Council England.

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Editorial

Three library closures confirmed in East Ayrshire (following on from three more last year there) and a proposed co-location in Greenwich are the main physical changes. In other news, there appears to be a combined response to library cuts in northeast England.  There are also, unusually, two positive stories about volunteer libraries, although I know from campaigners to take the one about Walcot Library in Swindon with a large dose of salt. Going abroad, there’s a lovely story about a Greek library – inspired by bustling British ones – that shows what’s possible in austerity, even if that austerity is in Greece and not in England.

Changes

• East Ayrshire – Catrine, Hurlford and Ochiltree Libraries closing in March (source; email from council).
• Greenwich – Plumstead Library may close: to be combined in new library/leisure/cultural centre.

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