Fifty shades of volunteer library
Apr 14th
Editorial
In another welcome addition to data on the use of volunteer-run libraries, Mike Bedford from Chalfont St Giles Community Library has been in touch about the one he helps run. The rise in lending figures there is in stark contrast to the figures looked at recently from Lewisham and Swindon:
“We now have six examples of poor to terrible performance by community libraries based on hard data”
Apr 13th
Editorial
More data is coming in on the actual performance of libraries that have been transferred from council control, this time from Lewisham. The council there stopped running five libraries in June 2011 with three being transferred to non-profit Eco Computer Systems (now Eco Communities), one to the charity Age Exchange and one was saved by volunteers.
Of these, the most expensive was the Age Exchange takeover of Blackheath Library. The building is now a community centre and a cafe. £500k came from city financiers, £200k from Lewisham council and £30k from the Blackheath Assembly. It’s transfer saved the council £75k per year. It’s book issues since takeover are below:
Withering on the vine: six-year figures for volunteer branch show danger
Apr 9th
Editorial
Hard information on the impact of turning a council-run library into a volunteer-run one is hard to come by. There’s not many examples over two years old, for a start. It was therefore interesting to read this post about a comparatively long running volunteer library in Swindon backed up by some hard figures. The article – called “We will economise on the beaches” – is worth a read but, if you don’t have the time for that, then the difference in usage figures for Walcot (volunteer-run since 2009) and for its parent authority is probably informative enough:
This Card Makes You Smart
Apr 8th
Today we see some pretty good news for libraries, all in all, including refurbishments and a new library building. There’s darker news, if one looks for it (especially if one worries about the increasing use of volunteers) but let’s stay positive today. I especially love the slogans used in Edmonton Library (Canada) such as “This Card Makes You Smart”. Loans increased by 13% due to the publicity that is sometimes so sorely lacking in the UK. For what is happening over here, a new archive of resources has gone public, with the UK Web Archive listing 41 sites so far and on the lookout for more.
Wales shows the way: £1.5m in library grants massively more than English equivalent
Apr 4th
Editorial
The Welsh Government has once again highlighted its difference to England with an impressive list of investments in public libraries. It has announced funding of over £1.5m for libraries. This is a quarter of the amount Arts Council England has to play with for a population of less than one-seventeenth. Furthermore, it appears to be for a year, as opposed to the two years of the ACE funding, meaning an investment nearly nine times more substantial per capita than that of England. Wales has long since held on to public library standards, meaning that its councils are taken to task if they cut libraries, unlike across the border. All is not well in the principality as campaigners in Newport will attest but this announcement will emphasise the importance of different approaches. Wales is taking a hands-on role, with supervision and substantial investment. England, under the decidely non-interventionist Ed Vaizey, is far more laissez-faire. It would be a rare library supporter who would say that the larger nation comes out better in such a comparison.
Libraries cannot be around long enough, and they do not belong to any one person
Apr 2nd
There’s a very interesting article in the Guardian looking at how different non-profits and social enterprises are faring in taking over public libraries and a, frankly, beautifully powerful piece on the value of libraries from an eighteen year old in Nottingham. Meanwhile, in Lancashire, the underperforming computers in the libraries there show the need for more investment if the Digital By Default government agenda stands any chance of being fair.
“Have all other less harmful possibilities been explored?”
Apr 1st
Editorial
The quote above is from a letter protesting about a library closure in my home town of Newport in South Wales. It sums up to me what is happening in threatened libraries for the last few years, in that there are a whole pile of possibilities to look at before closing a building. One of these options, of course – running it with volunteers – is at once the most controversial and the most common. Others include less books, less staff, less opening hours, less everything in fact, except charges and self-service machines. Another is co-location with others services. Another is passing the running of libraries to another organisation such as a Trust or (whisper it quietly) a private company. I must make a flowchart some day …
Public Library E-Lending Review published
Mar 27th
Editorial
So it has come at last. The findings of the independent review on e-lending has been published and it looks, at first blush, pretty good. The Government has also, to its credit, not backed away in horror from it. A summary of its findings are below with the (completely positive) response to it so far. For myself, I think it is as good as could have been hoped for and, in its pragmatism, offers a way forward that was perhaps not there before.
There are a series of tests the results of the Review will now go through to see if it amounts to anything which include (a) the response to it by publishers, (b) the willingness of Government to push through the legislation and to knock heads together if either side refuses to play ball (and I’m looking at you Amazon and you Big Publishers) and, finally (c) how library services can afford to pay for both an adequate supply of e-books and printed books at a time when its budget is under threat as never before. The devil is in the detail but the Review itself looks pragmatic and a solid basis to work on.
Far more sadly, and on the same day, it has been announced that the Public Lending Right unit will be absorbed by the British Library. This is despite 948 out of 1015 responses being against this move.
Guardian reports that paid staff “have learned a lot from the volunteers”
Mar 26th
Editorial
The Guardian have published an article on cuts to public libraries that positively portrays volunteers as an alternative to paid staff. This is noteworthy as that newspaper as been at the forefront of covering the impact of cuts to public libraries over the last couple of years. The article, “Libraries run by volunteers as councils look to save money“, looks at the cuts in the Isle of Wight where five libraries are now volunteer-run, with a local councillor saying that it was the only way to save the branches and that the “permanent staff have learned a lot from the volunteers”.
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