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Libraries for Learning is an 18-month project co-funded by
the London Development Agency (LDA) and ESF to improve the
skills base of Londoners. It leads on from the Londoners Need
to Read project which highlighted the role of libraries, museums
and archives in supporting learning for adults with Skills
for Life needs.
Londoners need to read: research into the current and potential
role of libraries, museums and archives in supporting learning
for adults with basic skills needs. David Brockhurst and
Ian Dodds. ALM London, 2004. Available from www.mlalondon.org.uk/uploads/documents/LN2R.pdf
(The Network Newsletter, February
2007)
John Gehner (coordinator of the Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty
Task Force, Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American
Library Association) gave a talk in November 2006 to the Wisconsin
Library Association Annual Conference, and this is now available
online. The main part of the paper is a valuable section -
Five actions for engaging low-income people- which
gives practical suggestions.
The paper is available from: www.wla.lib.wi.us/conferences/2006/documents/SocialExclusionandLowIncomePeople_v3f.doc
(The Network Newsletter, February 2007)
The Bookseller has reported that the Reading Agency
has received a Lottery award to set up Book Bars - areas set
in aside in 20 libraries across the UK where teenagers can
read books and magazines, and drink coffee. The bars will
be staffed by teenage volunteers, or Book Waiters, who will
work with library staff. Young people will also choose the
furniture and books in the bars. Book Bars will be set up
from April 2007 to March 2010 in the East Midlands, north-west,
south-east and south-west.
(Bookseller, 26 January 2007)
Libraries are turning away from books in favour of computers,
say figures from a yearly analysis of the state of public
libraries by town hall accountants. Less than £1 in every
£10 spent on the local library system pays for books while
spending on computer terminals has shot up. And while book
borrowing is in decline, the number of library users who visit
to surf the net or send emails is climbing fast.
The breakdown of the figures showed the number of books in
public libraries is about to drop below the 100 million mark.
Stock has fallen by 40% since the mid-1980s. 2006's drop was
2.6% and numbers of books actually borrowed dropped by 2.2%,
to 323 million. Libraries spent more than £1.13 billion in
2006 but only just over £100 million went on books - the first
time the figure has dropped below a tenth of the libraries'
budget. In contrast, computer terminals in libraries have
increased by 10% in two years to nearly 40,000.
(Daily Mail, 16 January 2007)
Councils across the country are handing responsibility for
libraries over to local communities, following the breakaway
of five Buckinghamshire branches from council control in October
2006. Northumberland, Gloucestershire, Powys, Dorset and Lancashire
county councils are all looking to see if they can turn small
branches over to local residents, who may have access to parish
grants not open to county councils.
Paul Leivers, head of cultural services for Dorset, where
13 libraries face the axe, said: "We want to see if there
are ways of maintaining the service without it necessarily
being run by the council. We are under huge cost pressure
[and] if there are ways of squaring the circle, that is the
right thing to do." Jo Hand, assistant head of libraries in
Gloucestershire, agreed, saying: "We are looking at new ways
of delivering the service, which can be just as effective,
if not even better."
The new model, whereby councils make local people responsible
for running and often funding the service themselves, was
first implemented in Buckinghamshire and endorsed by minister
for culture, David Lammy, at the Public Library Authorities
conference (see below). Other councils considering the move
are less convinced of its merits. Marguerite Gracey, head
of libraries in Northumberland, where 12 branches are under
review, said: "It's the only way of keeping it going, but
how long for, I'm not sure."
(Bookseller, 3 November 2006)
Delivery of the public library service could be handed over
to local communities, Minister for Culture David Lammy has
revealed. He mooted the move at the Public Library Authorities
(PLA) 2006 conference in Southampton, as part of a wider plan
to loosen central government's grip on the sector and expand
its community role.
Lammy flagged up plans for substantial changes to the way
libraries are assessed. He said the plans would be "leading
to a system with much less red tape. Councils need the powers,
and the freedom, to respond to local concerns". The devolution
could be extended beyond councils, Mr Lammy added: "I can
even imagine community groups being commissioned by the council
to take on and run their library. We should not be afraid
of that."
The suggestion follows a similar move by Buckinghamshire
residents, who defeated plans to close eight libraries with
proposals to run the service themselves. Residents in Caton,
Lancaster, have laid plans to open a community-run library
which would charge members £5 to £10 a year.
Lammy also responded to ongoing calls for the Department
of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to ringfence book funds
or to seize control of failing authorities. He said: "What
one community may want can harm another and a national policy
or initiative is not always the answer to the problem." However,
the Shadow Minister for Culture, Tory MP Mark Field, said
the DCMS had a statutory responsibility to provide a "proper
library service" to the nation.
The news comes as The National Lottery released £80 million
of capital funding to public libraries to help strengthen
the service's "place in the community life". Grants of between
£250,000 and £2 million were made available to local authority
library services in England to improve buildings or expand
the range of activities on offer.
(Bookseller, 13 October 2006)
Book spending by England's public libraries continued to
fall in 2005/06, despite a 5.6% increase in the overall library
service budget to £756 million. The findings were revealed
in the latest LISU Pubic Libraries Materials Fund and Budget
Survey, which was this year backed by Nielsen BookData after
the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) pulled its
funding.
Only 8.8% of the total library budget was spent on books
(£66m), down from 9.3% in the previous year and 14.4% across
the whole of the UK a decade earlier. That percentage is forecast
to drop again, to 8.5%, in 2006/07. Desmond Clarke, chair
of libraries charity Libri and a former director at Faber,
said spending had got "seriously out of balance". He added:
"It is encouraging that the total funding is being increased
significantly ahead to inflation but how the money is spent
is an issue." Funds are being spent on staff and replacement
computers instead of books, Mr Clarke said: "What we're ending
up with is lots of buildings with lots of people working in
them but seriously dwindling resources."
However, Andrew Stevens, head of library development at the
MLA said spending was becoming more efficient. He said: "Although
actual spending on books has declined, the latest figures
from [rival survey] CIPFA show the same number of books being
bought in 2004/05 compared with 1994/95. Through strategic
initiatives such as the reform of library stock procurement
to release over £20 million a year, the MLA is actively working
with local government to improve performance at every level
and make the best possible use of libraries' resources."
(Bookseller, 1 September 2006)
A new report, commissioned by the Department for Culture,
Media and Sport shows that negative perceptions of public
libraries are deeply entrenched among the 14 to 35 age group,
and they are unlikely to connect with the service without
significant change. Public Libraries-
destination unknown? Has been funded by the Museum,
Libraries and Archives Council and the Laser Foundation and
was conducted by Define Research and Insight.
The authors state: "The 'one size fits all' approach is currently
pushing many potential users away as they find it very difficult
to recognise anything relevant for them within a library's
offer." Instead, Define Research segments the potential market,
identifying and profiling several potential user groups. Common
characteristics shared by 'disconnected' users include high
internet usage, little spare time, a rich social life and
a focus on quality lifestyle.
With very few options in terms of places to socialise, the
library is somewhere for 'Teen Space Seekers' to go, if it
makes them welcome. The common view was: "You need to have
libraries but they aren't places we want to go. You can't
relax and be yourself there." However, if it offered activities
and material that matched their interests, the library could
also be 'compelling' to this group. The authors said: "With
little disposable income, it was something to do independent
of adults and family.
Recommendations for attracting 14 to 35 year-olds into libraries:
- Modernisation of style (décor, buildings, furnishings,
not school-like)
- Enhanced environment (a 'destination' fell; a stylish
café adds enormous value)
- Variety and separation (people, especially teens and families,
need to be able to see something that 'fits their needs
and not others')
- Comfort (no restrictions on noise in some parts of the
library)
- Classes (short demonstrations, tasters, etc)
- Multimedia activity
- Recent/latest stock (request service could ensure new
stock is considered)
- Electronic access (for online reservations and extension
of loans)
- Location/access (being part of the commercial landscape;
evening and weekend opening hours)
- Assistance/support (friendlier staff, especially for 'Teen
Space seekers).
(Library and Information Gazette, July/August
2006)
A Victorian public library, at Richmond in west London,
is one of three in the UK which re-opened in July 2006 with
extra books and visits by celebrity authors after intensive
12-week makeovers. The idea was to make them more exciting
and convenient for users as "models of a future library service
with reading at its heart".
The transformations, each costing £90,000, are designed to
turn them into national showcases demonstrating how catastrophic
declines in book borrowing and visitor numbers could be reversed.
The declines have put the UK's free library service under
threat. In the first six months of 2006, 21 (1.4%) of the
country's libraries closed, five were due to close and 67
were under review for closure according to figures in the
Bookseller magazine. The other two showcase buildings tackled
by the official Love Libraries campaign are at Gravesend,
Kent and Newquay, Cornwall. The re-fits are based on surveys
of what the public wants.
In Richmond, the library's security gates have been abolished
- the front doors are now automatic. The counters have been
moved aside and downsized. The newer dominant feature of many
libraries, the free People's Network terminals, have been
tucked away. Instead, there are books just inside the door,
in a new Quick Choice book exchange section for customers
in a hurry, with bestsellers and titles in the news on bookshop-style
cabinets and tables, and a fast automatic checkout terminal
for borrowers.
Further inside the building are sofas and tables with browsable
newspapers and magazines and a tea and coffee machine. The
Victorian Gothic interior has been repainted and the shelves
revarnished. Richmond is among the first councils to let library
members download audio books on their MP3 players. Shortly,
it will introduce a wi-fi zone for laptop users. Opening hours
have gone up from six days a week to seven.
Aileen Cahill, head of libraries, said: "There is enormous
will to face up to the challenge. Books are where our past
lay, and I think they are where our future lies, if we can
drive home the point to users. I am excited by the idea of
putting this to the test."
Facelifts on a similar basis for the country's other 1,800
full-time public libraries would cost £1.6m. In 2005, a Commons
select committee report indicted 50% of library services as
"persistently below standard" after decades of underfunding.
The committee calculated that up to two-thirds of a billion
pounds would be needed to wipe out the backlog of building
repairs and refurbishments.
(Guardian, July 4 2006)
A total of 107 libraries across Britain are threatened with
closure, the culture minister, David Lammy, confirmed. But
Mr Lammy said that this was only a small percentage of the
3,500 libraries in the country, and that counties including
Northamptonshire and Surrey had recently reversed plans to
shut libraries. Mr Lammy wrote to councils in January to urge
them to keep libraries open. Britain's libraries receive around
288 million visits each year.
(Independent, 14 June 2006)
Libraries are to benefit from a new fund of £80 million
of lottery money, but not a penny will be spent on books.
Instead it will pay for buildings to be adapted for "services",
including Citizens Advice Bureaux, crèches, mother
and toddler groups, t'ai chi and fitness classes.
The move comes as 50 libraries are believed to be earmarked
for closure in 2006. Library campaigners are outraged, saying
that libraries are about books and bookshelves, not about
facilities for politically correct services. Christopher Hawtree,
an author who ran a campaign to save a library in Brighton
from closure, said: "They should not become one-stop
shops for council services. This is preposterous, they're
turning librarians into de facto social workers."
The plans were defended by The Big Lottery, which hands out
money from the Lotto. The Big Lottery is preparing to distribute
its £80 million "community libraries" fund
in June 2006. Stephen Dunmore, its chief executive, said:
"The whole idea is that libraries provide a focus for
community activity, converting the space so that it can be
used in a more imaginative way. Libraries are about books,
but there are ways of learning which don't have to be book-based."
(Times, 21 January 2006)
Celebrities joined the ranks of demonstrators protesting outside
the House of Commons about the closure of local libraries around
the country. The demonstration, organised by London campaigners,
aimed to highlight underfunding, reduced hours, and library
closures in London and elsewhere. Between 1987 and 1997, 88
libraries were closed in England. The number of libraries open
for 60 hours a week has fallen from 67 to 39, of which 33 are
in Scotland and just six are in England. Twenty years ago there
were more than 200 libraries open for more than 60 hours the
Library Association said.
(Times 11 February 2000)
Library cutbacks put learning at risk
In the summer of 1999, the Times Educational Supplement
launched a library campaign entitled Open All Hours
to reverse cuts in the library service and make Britain's
4,187 libraries once again a first rate public service. In
the past five years, spending has fallen by £54 million.
Its investigation revealed that since 1976, the number of
libraries in England and Wales open at least 60 hours a week
has fallen from 173 to six. Spending by libraries on books
is down by more than a fifth since the late 1980s. The amount
authorities spend on books per head has fallen sharply, even
though book borrowing is the reason most people visit a library.
The squeeze on library spending shows no sign of ending,
according to a TES survey of local authorities. More than
two thirds of the 55 authorities which responded expect to
cut funding to their library service in real terms this financial
year. A decade ago, for every person in the UK, libraries
were spending £2.26 on books. By 1996/97 this has fallen
to £1.75. That real terms cut accelerated last year
- with a further 13 per cent reduction to less than £1.50.
There are now almost a thousand fewer full time professional
staff than five years ago.
Strong public support for the library service
Results from the opinion poll, conducted for the TES by Lancaster
University, show that public support for libraries remains
strong. More than half of the 300 people surveyed had visited
a library within the last month, three-quarters in the last
year. 75% of the population still use libraries. A MORI poll
for the Campaign for Learning found that adults put libraries
third on the list of places where they learn most -after home
and work. Two in every three people who use libraries do so
to borrow adult books - with a further 9% borrowing children's
books. Fiction is by far the most popular choice followed
by books for study and biographies. About one in every 30
library users is such an avid reader that they claim to have
read everything the library has to offer. Most people use
libraries for recreation, rather than formal education or
work. However, one in 10 use libraries to study and a further
15% to find out information. Once there, a third of people
make use of other facilities, including children's books,
newspapers and information.
Government response
Ministers plan to introduce minimum standards for council
library services next year. The government is investing up
to £200 million to connect libraries to the internet.
This is through a project called the new Library Network.
The aim is not only to make the internet available in every
library but also to provide access to content created specifically
for the new network. The new network means that even the smallest
branch library will have access to facilities previously found
only in central libraries. A lottery-funded programme will
pay for librarians to be trained in using ICT and in showing
library users how to find what they are looking for.
(TES, 16/7/99)
Chris Smith, Culture Secretary, welcomed the TES's proposals
and announced that new regulations will lay down requirements
on 'the range of opening hours' not just how many per week
but when in the week, to match the available leisure time
of different age groups in the local population.' Libraries
had to be open at times to suit the whole community - including
children, the elderly and working people. Chris Smith insisted
that they must respond to changing lifestyles in the same
ways as banks, supermarkets and bookshops.
He is also establishing a set of national minimum standards
so that, for the first time, services will be assessed and
proposals set out in annual plans by testing them against
a jointly agreed and enforceable set of benchmarks. These
will cover such factors as the level and regularity of book
purchase, the provision of trained staff and the range of
opening hours. One of the TES campaign's key aims is to ensure
that a central library in each local authority is open 60
or more hours a week, at times suitable for modern living.
Other public libraries should be open at least 45 hours a
week. However, the LGA warned that there are cost implications
to these proposals.
The DCMS has also made available £200 million through
the New Opportunities Fund programme for community access
to lifelong learning in order to help develop the new public
library IT network and a further £50 million to create
content for it. It has set aside £20 million to train
public library staff to get maximum value out of the network.
It has created a co-ordinating group to develop these different
funds in a complementary and strategic way and to ensure that
libraries and LEAs work together.
(TES, 23/7/99)
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