Editorial

Some major cuts announced in Telford & Wrekin as well as in Flintshire today. In other news, there’s a heap of blogs on the Libraries Task Force webpage, although they are of widely variable quality.  The best is the one on Amazon lockers because, although it does not point out the obvious downside of advertising the ethically dubious and cut-throat competitor to libraries, it provided usable statistics and analysis.  The danger with some of the others produced is that they read awfully like press releases (and in one case something like a holiday postcard) and, being they are on the gov.uk site, will be give more credence than if they were directly published by the councils themselves.  Libraries don’t just need ideas and innovations, they need evidence to work out which options are best to go down … and that means statistics and analysis, not just blurb.

One problem caused by library services not sure as to what to do is in internet filtering their public access machines.  Recent research shows that such filtering not only can block useful search terms (including LGBT) but also cost a fortune as well.  As librarians we should be able to work out what keywords make sense to block, if any, ourselves. It’s notable that some services don’t filter at all and yet have somehow managed to avoid imploding. Library services are often shamefully unsure about the IT side and, to be fair, sometimes these filters may be put on by corporate IT without even any consultation with librarians. However, spending a load of money on services that may block genuine searches is perhaps not the best thing to do, let alone what it may be say about our willingness to censor when we should all be about freedom of information.

Changes

• Flintshire – 30% cut in funding over 3 years, smaller libraries will pass to volunteers or close.
• Telford and Wrekin – Dawley, Donnington, Hadley, Madeley, Newport and Stirchley will close.

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Editorial

It’s that dead time between between Christmas and New Year but it gives me a chance to catch up on a round up of the last week.  Stand out news for me are in the counties.  The ridiculous news that Lancashire is paying £6 million to consultants in order to be told by them how to save money (answer: do it yourself and don’t pay consultants) is the one I’ll remember. That money could pay for 200 people on more than average national wage for a year by the way.  Or, at the moment, goodness knows, for a lot of much-needed flood defences. More to the point, it’s more than the £4.1 million proposed cut to the library service. Good to know the consultants are doing well out of austerity anyway I guess. Not doing so well is Buckinghamshire who have been taken aback but how much money the government is taking back, or rather the speed which the Government is not going to give them money in the first place.  This is the county most synonymous with volunteer libraries and have been resolutely cutting library budgets year on year since I started tracking them in 2010. It’s not hard to worry about their surviving libraries when push comes to shove over the next couple of years.

Changes

• Argyll and Bute – Considering removing school librarians.
• East Lothian – (One) mobile library suspended until at least April.
• Swindon – Community radio station to move into Liden Library.

Ideas

• Scavenger/treasure hunt across multiple branches

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Editorial

I normally don’t give so much space to one person writing a guest blog but I have done so today for two reasons.  One, it’s the chief executive of CILIP and I’ve never had that honour before (Ed Vaizey, you know I’m here for you if you want to write something, ah go on).  Secondly, and far more importantly, the statutory nature of libraries is one of the most important weapons in the library armoury but it has been systematically ignored by government and councils for years. Everyone knows, including crucially the councils that this Government that will never intervene (regardless of what its new guidance, published just yesterday, may suggest). In addition, barely a week goes by without some news article saying that branches are at risk because the money needs to be kept instead for “statutory services”, not realising that that is precisely what a library is.

A campaign on the subject will remind everyone that libraries should not be so easy to cut and may even, if one is optimistic, encourage the government to actually start obeying its own laws. If we do not, not just as a profession but as a whole sector, stand up for it now then the cuts which are wiping the service we love out will continue.  What, frankly, do we have to lose? This campaign should have been done years ago, it is true (and it’s timing just before Christmas is going to raise an eyebrow or two) but let’s not carp about that.  We cannot change what happened then or now. What we can help influence is the future.  So get behind this and stand up for the public library service. After all, folks, it’s the law.

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Editorial

Every year, for three years now (see 2014 and 2013) I’ve had a think about the trends that I’ve noticed over the last twelve months. Such observations are obviously subjective and liable to the whims of the moment but hopefully give you a snapshot of what is happening. I’d be delighted to hear your views on the ones I included – and any that I have missed – by email via ianlibrarian@live.co.uk.

1. The General Election.  The election of the Conservatives for the next five years means deep cuts to local council budgets up to 2020.  We have seen what that has meant since 2010.  The vote is the most important thing that has happened to public libraries this year, and for the next five.  Expect deep cuts to public libraries, with as hands-free direction as possible from central government. Councils are going to find it very hard to maintain libraries (indeed some, like Herefordshire and Lincolnshire, are barely trying now) and, with library services already cut to the bone in many places, it hard to see much light at the end of the tunnel for smaller branches nationwide.

2. The Leadership for Libraries Taskforce begins.  This got up and running this year, with the main thing resulting from it so far is a whole ton of visits to public libraries and interested agencies, including government departments.  Not overly much else has been achieved yet (with the debatable but not insignificant exception of finally getting pretty much every public library to receive WiFi) and the fear of many is that the group will have insufficient actual leadership.  However, at the very least, they’re another voice supporting libraries and they have started making a (limited) impact.

3. CILIP taking a more active role. It’s been a pleasure to see Nick Poole take over as CEO with a new bunch of trustees. The organisation has finally started commenting on the news when councils announce big cuts to libraries. I know from conversations held that they also have big plans for campaigning in the future, including on the all important statutory nature of libraries (on which they have received pro bono legal advice). I just hope that the organisation can avoid the obsession with internal matters that so dogged the previous five years (rebranding anyone?) and actually start doing things for public libraries. Fingers crossed. [declaration of interest: thanks very much for the honorary fellowship this year, CILIP – Ed.]

4. Remote control libraries. For better or for worse, the Bibliotheca Open+ system has attracted the attention of many authorities. This allows for an unstaffed library to be open to the public, with CCTV remotely supervised buildings and the public getting in via their library card and PIN.  A big problem is that it looks like under 16s are not allowed in without a parent (and that’s a massive issue) but for councils who see only the headline of “library kept open” or even “library opening hours extended” and not the deeper issue of the quality of service, it’s very tempting.

5. Decline in usage and funding. The recent CIPFA figures show a big drop in usage, most notably in children’s issues.  This is very distressing. My suspicion, strengthened by seeing what is happening in other countries where there is no such drop in popularity, is that usage depends on budgets and, at least five years into an absence of money, people are seriously starting to notice the “hollowed out” nature of many library services. My worry is that politicians, and insufficiently interested observers, will see only the decline in visits and not the reasons behind them and draw the entirely erroneous conclusion that libraries are declining entirely by themselves.

6. CIPFA in need of reform. It’s not just a case of shooting the messenger but an increasing realisation that data on public library performance is in an awful state. For the full figures to come out a full eight months after they are collected is abysmal in 2015 and for them to be available to the public for the massive cost of £475 (plus VAT, naturally) is positively hateful. Then we have the lack of easy comparison with previous years, avoidance of anything on outcomes (it’s all outputs, folks) and the realisation that this whole mess is about a sector which should specialise in giving out relevant information to the public and one realises something needs to be done.  Thankfully, the Taskforce and others appear to be on the case on this one.  We’ll see what influence they have this time next year.

6. The joy that is Manchester Central Library. This was the most highly visited library in the UK last year and the reasons are obvious. I am highly privileged to visit this library on a regular basis and it is always a pleasure. After a major refurbishment, the place is positively palatial and packed. There’s a ton of different things on offer, from the essential (but sometimes overlooked) big quiet study space to a media lounge, big events and, interestingly, quite a lot of income generation (donation boxes, café and library shop).  Their recent collaboration with Google won’t hurt their reputation with the bosses, or with business, either.

8. The embarrassment that is the Library of Birmingham. This place should have been the most highly visited library last year, considering its new build and massive cost, but instead does not even make the top five. The reason is not hard to see: cuts to the budget.  Opening hours were almost halved to a pathetic 40 hours per week due to lack of money. To make up for this, the LoB is now looking to moving a foreign language school into it – losing a lot of space in the process – to make ends meet.  The sad thing here is that the new Library should have been a symbol of how superb the city is, instead it’s a byword for its incompetence. Let’s hope that lessons are learned and the library returns to its rightful place in the forefront of the city’s civic pride.

9. Coding, lego and makerspaces.  It was great to see the very useful (if strangely named) Code Green guidance from SCL about coding being very useful and a statement of intent.  It’s also been good to see a smattering of 3D printers and other Maker facilities being made available but, well, they cost money and code clubs are low-cost thanks to the volunteers.

10. Cuts seriously start hitting Wales and Scotland. One of the things that have been highly notable over the past five years is how the experience of austerity in English libraries has not been so notable in the other nations of the UK.  All that came to an end this year, with their being big reductions to library numbers in Wales (a 11% cut no less) and the announcement in Fife of the lost of 16 branches.

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Editorial

Scotland faces its deepest cuts to public libraries since at least 2010 (when I started PLN) with the confirmed closure of 16 libraries to “save” £500,000 per year. Recent research from Canada, also below, suggests that the cut will reduce the local economy there by £2.5 million per year. In other Scottish cuts, Falkirk are cutting a similar amount to Fife by hollowing out libraries.  South of the border, East Sussex are suggesting a deep 25% cut in opening hours for that same, seemingly magic, £500k per year figure. More details from Croydon suggest up to 9 libraries are under threat, although this time the annual budget reduction is a “mere” £217k. On the positive side of the ledger, Wolfson Foundation have given £250k (not annually alas) to beef up some children’s library in cash-strapped Birmingham and Derbyshire have opened a new library, boasting a health and wellbeing zone, no less, in Heanor.

In the broader picture, Penguin Random House have announced all of their 23,500 ebooks are available for libraries to lend, as long as they’re willing to pay.  What will be charged is something I’ve not had time to check out yet.

The Society of Chief Librarians have put out a £8,500 tender today for someone to work out how to share best practice in public libraries. Hang on, I thought that was me, but if you do have any other ideas (and I’ll just mention SharePoint, Facebook groups and/or Moderated Forums here) then do let the SCL know before 20th December.

Finally, I’m very pleased to have Aude Charillon writing about her experience of being a Carnegie UK LibraryLab innovator over the last year. I know that many authorities are already thinking hard about their entries so innovation is still thriving, despite the best that councils like Fife, Falkirk and East Sussex throw against it.

Changes

• Birmingham – £250k investment by Wolfson Foundation into five children’s libraries.
• Croydon – 9 of 13 libraries under threat. £217k cut p.a.
• Derbyshire – New £892k library opened at Heanor, including health and wellbeing zone.
• East Sussex – Library opening hours to be reduced by around 25%: £500k p.a. cut.
• Falkirk – £432k cut.: 17 FTE posts to be lost, mobile library lost, bookfund cut, events at risk.
• Fife – 16 libraries confirmed to close. £571 cut p.a.

A LibraryLab winner writes

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