Editorial

So I’m speaking at the CILIP Conference on reasons put forward against libraries and how libraries can respond to them.  One of the big underlying arguments against public libraries, which I will be going into, is the simple “we cannot afford them any more” argument. This is one of the easiest arguments to refute of course. For one thing, the UK is one of the most prosperous nations on the planet and other countries (like Scandinavia, Singapore, South Korea, China, Japan and the USA) invest in them. Some people, fed on a diet of news about austerity, sometimes don’t realise this. What we pay, and don’t pay for, is a political choice, as any discussion about more money for nurses, colour of passports, minimum living wages, MP’s salaries, nuclear weapons or the royal family will show. And, yes, some of those things mentioned you will have strong feelings about, but others will have directly opposing views. See what I mean?

You could also, of course, mention the definition of a philistine (someone who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing) if you want a fist fight.

Another argument, though, and one which I think has more merit to those who use the “cannot afford it” approach is to attack it at root. Which is that spending money on libraries creates money. It’s something that SLIC below puts at the forefront of its video.  Here’s a whole page of surveys which shows libraries, time and time again, bring more money in to a community than they cost. So don’t take my word for it, take that of Queensland, Victoria, Toronto, Ohio, Texas, Bolton and, gosh, also the DCMS.

Charges

• Fife – Largo Library becomes volunteer.
• Thurrock – Volunteer library at Purfleet Community Centre.

More >

Editorial

So, we have another General Election coming up. It’s not unexpected and Theresa May would have been a fool to turn down such a chance to pile on more seats. But what does it mean for libraries?  Well, it almost certainly means a non-stop solid Conservative majority until 2021.  Whereas before there was a chance of a few MPs making a difference, and thus a need to care about smaller issues, this now seems unlikely. Marginal issues – and sadly libraries are most definitely this on a national stage that will be dominated by Brexit and its fallout – can therefore be ignored in the cabinet battles to come, and likely will be. Again assuming a Conservative victory this will mean a continued reduction in council funding and a desire to seek out “alternative” sources for funding such as volunteers, trusts and (perhaps the most vain hope of all) philanthropy.

I was asked recently to say which of the contending political parties would best serve library interests. You know which ones that would be. But forget them. That’s not who you will be getting, except perhaps if you live in Hamilton or elsewhere in Scotland. (and if they break away, it’s going to be rightwing governments south of the border for the foreseeable).  Make an accommodation to that fact now. Work out how to best position libraries in the continuing austerity environment they will surely stay in.  The library sector has so far attempted a Jack Of All Trades approach to proving its worth to government by claiming to be able to help with multiple agendas. I’m not sure if that’s the choice I would have gone with to help libraries stay alive. Rather, I would go with talking more but smiling less. To me, a clear message, a simple one would have been better. After all, if the public are not sure what you stand for, they will fall for anything.

Oh, and by the way, while I’m being depressed and cynical, I see a lot being written about the importance of public libraries to provide neutral and unbiased information and how useful that is at election time. But that’s not what is happening on the ground. Most libraries last year did not make a thing of having all the manifestoes and I’m not aware of a single one that offered a fact checking service. I doubt very much that will change in this one. But, please, surprise me. Don’t throw away this shot.*

Changes

• Derbyshire – Belper Library to move into combined care home/library building.

More >

Editorial

So, this could be a major landmark. The libraries minister Rob Wilson has said in an official letter to Lancashire County Council that his boss, Culture Secretary of State Karen Bradley is minded to hold a public inquiry into how Lancashire decided to cut its library service. This is where Lancashire decided to close 29 libraries from an original number of 73. The council has until 9th June to convince her to move to the council’s side on the following points:

• The council failed to treat its own consultation seriously and had, in fact, already made up its own mind.
• The council failed to consider all possible alternative methods of saving money. Considerable emphasis is put in the letter for the option of Mutuals,.
• The council was not clear enough as to which libraries were under threat.
• The council did not carry out sufficient research into how this would affect the disadvantaged or future trends.

The significance of this now is:

• This is the first time the current, or previous coalition, government has issued a “minded to” letter. Before, the Government, under the laissez-faire Ed Vaizey, always considered cuts to libraries, no matter how deep or forced, as acceptable.
• The council will have to consider the possibility that it will be forced to reverse all of its actions. Being it has already passed control, or put on sale, multiple sites, and made many staff redundant, this is quite the headache. The council may well therefore put any further transfers on hold while a decision is taken. Or it may call the minister’s bluff and carry on regardless, daring the minister to be anything other than the paper tiger he is normally seen as being since Ed Vaizey made the speak-softly-and-go-unarmed role his own in 2010.
• The Conservatives look tough just in time for the local elections on 4th May. And, of course, they can then rescind the decision in June, once they have won the votes.

The significance of this if the government does run an inquiry is:

• The DCMS ceases being a toothless laughing stock amongst cutting councils and starts being taken seriously.
• All councils will start genuinely consulting and looking at alternatives, rather than that being the happy exception.
• Mutuals are likely to become (even) more popular.
• Councils may look elsewhere to cut before libraries.
• The principle of Localism – where (in my somewhat cynical view, admittedly) government makes the big headline cuts and give councils the freedom to cut what they like in response – takes a bit of a tumble.

The last two inquiries, by the way, were Wirral in 2009 and Derbyshire in 1991, so they’re not exactly common. Both, interestingly, ended up being local inquiries, paid for by the councils concerned, in order to avoid the ignominy of the Government Inspector.

So, interesting times. But at least hopeful ones, if a little late for Lancashire.

Changes

• Conwy – Closed Llandudno Junction Library becomes café, with 1000 books to loan for £5 deposit.
• Lancashire – Libraries Minister “minded” to intervene over cuts to library service.
• Swindon – DCMS formally considering letter of complaint, with question being if reduced service is “comprehensive and efficient”.

More >

Editorial

I remember the days when I thought that a dementia-and-autism-friendly library meant having a book on both subjects available for lending. Thankfully, with the help of dementia friends and autism-friendly libraries, those days have gone. Hopefully, all library staff will soon understand what the conditions mean and how to best serve those with them and that every library will have a social story to help their usage. However, it needs to be that everyone working in those buildings understands the training. The story of the security guard from the private company who expelled a parent reading loudly to his autistic daughter needs to become one of those shocking tales of how things were in the past, like workhouses. This also needs extending to volunteers. Speaking of which, last weekend marked the start of many North Yorkshire libraries becoming fully volunteer. What that means to the community, and to the staff who have had to see it happen, can only be guessed at but this heart-rending article in the Big Issue perhaps gives a clue.

Changes

• Barnet – Staffed opening hours reduced. Funding to volunteers / groups to start at £35k per year and cut down to £25k in final third year.
• North Lincolnshire – Riddings Library to close: will move to co-locate with swimming pool.
• North Yorkshire – Starbeck Library now entirely volunteer.  Ripon Library now almost entirely volunteer (1 paid staff, 80+ volunteers). Kirkbymoorside and Norton libraries both now fully volunteer, Pickering Library a “hybrid” with some paid staff but mostly volunteer.

More >

Editorial

Some more fall-out from the release of the abbreviated mailing list, er, sorry, dataset of English public libraries today – no-one is impressed and, I mean, no-one – but also there were a couple of big protests this weekend in Lambeth and Bath. I know Bath, I worked as a library trainee there back in the 1990s. It’s not a hotbed of political discontent. To get a big protest there is going some. So, well done to Bath and North East Somerset Council, I guess,  for mishandling the situation so terribly that there was a sit-down protest involving hundreds in the town-centre there. Doing wonders for political activism there.

Changes

• Bedford – Mobile library service likely to be cut.
• Essex – Silver End Library co-located into village hall.
• North Lincolnshire – New £1.2m Winterton Library opened: co-located with council desk and gym, twice size old library.
• Scottish Borders – Council reduces leisure trust budget by £320k (5%).

Ideas

• Charging for car parking
• Hackathons

More >