Editorial

It was a real tonic to read about Idea Stores. Set up way before the austerity, and well-funded, they’re continuing to be successful.  The tricks appear to be to genuinely co-locate with an allied service, to invest in buildings so people want to come to them and, well, several other things, including avoiding supplier selection. Good also to see Manchester Central (in stark contrast to its brash debt-laden Birmingham cousin) doing so well.  As it should, the place is a palace and such a pleasure to visit. Extra bonus points also, apparently, for Oxford where the Central Library is to be redeveloped with the – ever important – children’s library being extended.  Good also to note that the level of protest against library cuts in Bradford has meant at least more libraries will retain paid staff than previously thought. In other new, Bibliotheca have launched what seems to be a real alternative to Overdrive for e-books. Hmm, this is sounding really positive, I love it. In other news, Bucks are considering some serious cuts so are examining being a non-profit trust (but that’s just a continuation of news from a year ago) and there’s yet more on the Open+ seriously-self-service library option.

In fact, for genuinely new without doubt all-bad news, one has to go to Australia. Yes, Australia. Where there’s something depressing going on with their National Library.  Please try not to do any more of that, my Oz friends.  You might make Public Libraries News gloomy.

Changes

• Bradford – Cuts reduced: 3 to retain full paid staff  (Wibsey, Wyke and Laisterdyke) 2 to be hybrid paid/volunteer (Baildon and Clayton)
• Buckinghamshire – to consider moving to non-profit trust; to implement by April 2017 if agreed. At least £1m (20%) cut expected by end 2009.
• Oxfordshire – Oxford Central Library to be redeveloped. Temporary library in Castle Quarter for one year while work takes place. Will have new foyer and extended children’s library.

More >

Editorial

More than 200 libraries have been placed under threat since the start of the current financial year, April 1st 2015.  They’re spread over 36 authorities, of varied political hue. Lancashire – with a whopping 40 endangered – represents a fifth of the total.  It’s therefore an apt time for CILIP to call for a strategy for public libraries in England.  After all, pretty much everywhere else has one and you’d think actually having a plan for the future is a basic requirement of any service that, well, wants a future.  Mind you, we’re talking about a country, England, whose library service, quite literally, does not have any Standards, as the people of Lancashire (and West Berkshire, and Bracknell Forest and the increasingly ironically names Reading) have recently found out. In fact, CILIP are not asking for much.  That they’re unlikely to get even that is not to discredit them but the laissez-faire disinterest of the politicians ultimately in charge.

There’s a load of other changes today, including a worrying trend by two authorities to say that libraries are at risk without actually naming them. Clever that: it means that local opposition does not get an early start.  That’s something quite vital at the moment as the Government, keen to ease through cuts, has reduced the consultation time from a widely accepted 12 weeks to a vague “whatever is appropriate”.  In other news, there’s also another Open+ library  and the now normal range of opening hours cuts and co-locations.

One (welcome) correction: Plumstead Library is not closing but is being redeveloped, with improved facilities being planned.  There are also two new builds scheduled for Greenwich right now, plus one major refurbishment. So that’s good news at least. They must have a strategy or something.

Changes

• Aberdeen – Officers propose closing 8 libraries (£500k cut): councillor “guarantees” none will be cut.
• Bracknell Forest – 4 libraries, un-named, at risk.
• Highlands – £325k cut to council funding for High Life Highlands: library opening hours cuts expected.
• Leeds – Pudsey Library to be co-located with One Stop Shop, registrars, housing etc.
• Nottingham – Aspley: joint library/One Stop Shop/housing office to be built. Replaces Broxtowe Library.
• Reading – Southcote and Whitley Libraries to close – to co-locate into community centres. 100 hours per week cut in opening hours. More self-service.
• Telford and Wrekin – Newport Library to remain open (threatened before) with self-service.
• Wiltshire – Calne Library will have staffed opening hours cut: Open+ will mean overall hours increased. Newspaper purchases cut.
• Wokingham – Consultation.

More >

Editorial

A good point has been made in Leon’s Library Blog about a trend which has been notable in recent years of public libraries effectively being farmed off to parish/town councils. This maintains the service but causes other problems. At the moment, though, as with volunteers, the mere fact that the library service survives is seen as reason enough to do it by many.  Expect to see this becoming a standard weapon in the armoury of cutting councils, if it is not already, from big rural authorities like North Yorkshire to smaller urban ones like Swindon.

Changes

• Bradford – Volunteer libraries open in Methodist churches in Lees, Oxenhope and Haworth to replace mobile library stops.
• East Renfrewshire – School library service to close.

Idea

• Don’t ask for marital status when joining a new library member – is irrelevant and avoids incorrect terminology e.g. with LGBT community.
• Hunt for a golden ticket – Find the bookmark, win a prize.  Could be a good compo for the Roald Dahl themed Summer Reading Challenge this year.

More >

Editorial

The campaign for public libraries hotted up still further with the Speak Up For Libraries lobbying for parliament. Some great speeches were made. Sadly, it looks like the only national news source to pay attention was the Guardian, although it has to be said that that newspaper has covered a lot of library stories recently.  However, it’s only when Conservative papers like the Telegraph start paying attention that one feels a breakthrough will have been made.

In other news, more details of the deep cuts announced in West Berkshire and some new information about cuts to Darlington.  Both authorities would, if cuts happen as proposed, be down to nearly one library each, like Swindon proposed last week.  This looks like the new lowest level in the “race to the bottom” that councils are willing to go to with cutting libraries.  After all, it’d be hard for even the current minister to keep a straight face about the statutory importance of libraries if a council proposed no libraries.  Although one feels that even that is only a matter of time. Deep library closures in rural areas may be less than expected, however, as it looks like the Government is reducing the level of cuts in the countryside at least in the next year or two.

News

• Darlington – Cockerton, Crown Street and mobile libraries may close. Replacement library at the Dolphin Centre.
• Warwickshire – Southam Library opens (part of £12.4m development project)
• West Berkshire – Confirmed that 7 out of 9 libraries under threat (Wash Common, Burghfield Common, Hungerford, Lambourn, Pangbourne, Theale and Mortimer).

More >

Editorial

Swindon are introducing some of the toughest cuts in the country to their library service, aiming to keep just one council-run out of 15 at the end of the review.  The council directly quotes recent DCMS guidance saying that this is allowed.

In other news, the SCL are inviting one senior librarian from each service to attend its annual two-day session in order to work out how to cope with the drastic budget reductions being introduced as a result of central government austerity and the removal of effective statutory protection. Not that the SCL phrases the invite like that but everyone attending will know full well why the conference is being called “Changing Horizons: challenges, trends and new ways of delivering“. It is the job of chief librarians, after all, to implement some really hard choices and they need to learn about how best to do it.

Conservative libraries minister Ed Vaizey, whose government is mostly responsible for these tough times, will be speaking (to be fair, the SCL would invite any relevant minister, regardless of their record – it’s just that they’re Conservative this decade and the Conservatives, lest we forget, are in power due to the electorate) at the meeting as will also be, I notice, a former RAF fighter pilot as well as one or two genuine library experts such as Professor David Lankes. Although costing up to £435, the two days were fully booked last year.  Many senior managers appreciate the chance to discuss issues in private, with the invitation letter saying “Times are hard, budgets are tight, and the planning team know how difficult it is to justify attendance at the Seminar, but we know how much you value the time to reflect and to talk about the development of our services”. In their position, I’d want to do the same thing.

Those wanting to know what’s going on at those meetings but who are not senior librarians will likely be disappointed. If previous years are anything to go by, a minimum of publicly available information will come out of these sessions.

Changes

• Brent – Abandons proposed move to libraries non-profit trust. £160k budget cut will therefore be made in another way.
• East Ayrshire – Kilmaurs Library closed, Dalmellington Library closed, Mauchline Library closed.
• Lincolnshire – Deepings Library reopens as volunteer-run with one paid member of staff.
• Northumberland – Leisure/Library Trust asks for £1m bailout: £3.5m cut to Trust over 2 years.
• Oxfordshire – Bicester to move into new £6.6m co-location on 11 April. Library to be “larger and have better facilities”.
• Pembrokeshire – Newport Library may close or become volunteer.
• Swindon – 14 out of 15 libraries to become volunteer/group run or close.

More >