Public Libraries UK Plc or the ACE/Locality report on 'enterprising libraries'.

I'd just like to start off this post by saying that I'm not an academic so i do not have the ability to analyse a report in a trained and rigorous manner, these are just my initial untrained thoughts.


Recently Locality, the well funded armed wing of the DCLG, published a report entitled 'Enabling Enterprise in Libraries'. The report was commissioned by the Arts Council England (ACE), the underfunded unarmed wing of the DCMS.
 
The report looks at;
 

"if/how income generation might underpin a

step-change or service transformation in tangible locations, against a backdrop of

falling visitor numbers and growing interest in e-lending."
 
not just 'income generation but;
 
"significant
income generation"

In the opening paragraph they say that they are not (yet) looking at income generation as a replacement for core funding but as an add-on to improve services and make them more resilient.

They also say that out of all the people they surveyed the ones most interested in 'signicant income generation' are those from social and community enterprise libraries, i take from this they mean SocEnts, Trusts, Mutuals and the like. Although they do say that a small number of public library authorities have employed specific staff to "facilitate retail trading".

But what about volunteer-led so-called 'libraries', according to the Community Knowledge Hub for Libraries, under a telling section called 'How can a library make money?';

"If you are acting as an entirely independent Community Owned Library then you can largely choose what you charge for with the same kinds of freedom as any other enterprise."

but

"Before deciding what you would like to charge for you should be clear about the purpose of your library so that your pricing policy is not at odds with your Social Objectives e.g. charging for book borrowing when you are seeking to encourage reading among lower income families."

In the 'Enabling Enterprise in Libraries' report itself the issue of 'ethos' also pops up;

"The project seeks to support providers to intensify or widen their area of

operations in an enterprising way -

without losing or compromising their ethos

and core objectives"

So they are obviously very aware that many will see the raising of significant income from retail and commercial activities highly problematic for a statutory public service especially one that has at its core the belief that reading, learning and information should be free at the point of access. But then again the NHS also has this at its core and it hasn't stopped them from privatising and commercialising that beloved institution.

In the summary findings of the report they claim that;

"There is growing acceptance of ‘Enterprising Councils’, and an entrepreneurial culture underpins social and community enterprise libraries, although the same cannot be said of all volunteer-led libraries"

I can't disagree with this statement, over the last two decades, or longer, there has been a movement towards a neoliberal agenda in library policy and management as chronicled by Margaret Greene and David McMenemy in their paper "The emergence and impact of neoliberal ideology on UK public library policy, 1997-2010"

And this movement is being pushed further forward by the growth of alternative models of library service delivery by SocEnts, private companies, trusts, mutuals and independent volunteer-led 'libraries'.

The research is only at the first stages but as the summary findings makes clear ACE sees the development of income generation skills for staff/volunteers as a priority;

"Whilst there are challenges surrounding the capacity and skills of employees/volunteers who might be tasked with the design and delivery of income generating activities, development of the same is cited as a priority for future action in Arts Council England’s response to Envisioning the Library of the Future"

So what can we expect, a rise in charges and fines? Well no as they say they are looking for 'significant income generation' which examples of can be found at; http://www.publiclibrariesnews.com/campaigning/increasing-income

So the next time you issue a book to someone, if you ever get the chance due to self-serve, ask them the question "do you want fries with that?", your library buying new books or providing kids events might depend, in the future, on the the answer being "yes and a large coke"!

Disney and Bookshops in Public Libraries; an exciting opportunity or a conflict?

Two quotes recently by Diana Edmonds, Head of Library operations for GLL, that really sum up for me the retail/market led agenda prevalent in public libraries;

"We need to make libraries more exciting for the next generation – they should rival Disney in terms of excitement."
http://www.capita-softwareandmanagedservices.co.uk/news/Documents/protecting_library_services.pdf

"Diana was offering to explore the idea of the bookshop being housed inside Northcote Library. Boundaries would have to be recognised and respected, and a fair rent agreed, but she did not see a conflict between library and shop, they both attract booklovers."
http://www.northcotebooks.com/2013/03/23/first-meeting/

The first one about Disney, something i wrote about recently see; http://dontprivatiselibraries.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-disneyfication-of-public-libraries.html, sends shivers down my spine, a public service being talked about in the same terms as the Disney corporation, it beggars belief.

The second one is more interesting because it talks of "boundaries" and "conflict", the very same issues that arise when you introduce retail models and private finance into a public service but it doesn't seem to bother Diana, who appears to see the crisis in public libraries in the same way as a young child would as it peered longingly into a sweet shop window.

GLL currently manage Greenwich and Wandsworth Libraries and it will be interesting to see what models are introduced, what boundaries are crossed and what conflicts arise?
 

My submission on Library Cuts to the European Workers Conference in Tarragona, 16 & 17/3/13

Public Library cuts and the effects on working class communities in the UK; a brief overview

 

In 1913 Lenin, in a sharply satirical piece written for Pravda (What Can be Done for Public Education), extolled the importance of Public Libraries to the masses;

 

“There are quite a number of rotten prejudices current in the Western countries of which Holy Mother Russia is free. They assume there, for instance, that huge public libraries containing hundreds of thousands and millions of volumes, should certainly not be reserved only for the handful of scholars or would-be scholars that uses them. Over there they have set themselves the strange, incomprehensible and barbaric aim of making these gigantic, boundless libraries available, not to a guild of scholars, professors and other such specialists, but to the masses, to the crowd, to the mob!”

Rabochaya Pravda No. 5, July 18, 1913

For full text see; http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1913/jul/18.htm

 

And 100 years later we find ourselves in the situation where 347 libraries in the UK have been closed or are at threat of closure, between 2000-3000 staff made redundant, opening hours slashed and services being handed to volunteers, private firms or in other ways divested.

According to recent figures in the first two years of the Condem government investment in libraries fell by 16%, so no wonder services are being cut but in my opinion this isn’t the only reason for the decline, the neo-liberal agenda prevalent in senior management and policy makers over the last 10-15 years has been equally, if not more, too blame for the current crisis.

 

Library users are now called ‘customers’, libraries are ‘re-branded’ as ‘Discovery Centres’, ‘The Hive’, ‘The Lounge’, library staff are now ‘customer service assistants’ or ‘customer service managers’, self service is rife and the whole vision is for a more market led service with choice as the new mantra. But as we will see the concept of ‘choice’ is often delusionary and is linked to class and access to services and resources.

 

Library services are also being over-diversified to the point where they are barely recognisable as libraries, turned into ‘one stop shops’ that offer a whole host of services not traditionally linked to libraries.

In my opinion this over-diversification not only detracts from core purpose of public libraries as bastions of freely accessible information/knowledge and educational/learning opportunities but crucially if the public and political perception is altered then it can make it easier to cut or divest them.

The plot thickens when you look at the links that The Society of Chief Librarians have with the Chief Leisure Officers Association which in my opinion is not an informal or coincidental relationship.

 

Three councils in the UK, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Hounslow, (with Croydon, Ealing and Harrow in the pipe line) have privatised their library services, JLIS in Hounslow are a building firm and GLL (a Social Enterprise) in Greenwich and Wandsworth run Leisure Centres and swimming pools. Workers transferred over to these companies often experience detrimental terms and conditions and are often denied union recognition. And there serious concerns with private firms that if profit is the overriding motive then users and the service will suffer?

For more details see my blog www.dontprivatiselibraries.blogspot.com

The Arts Council, the body given the development remit for libraries in England, has had its funding cut and has had a new Chair, Peter Bazalgette, with his links to and experience of private finance thrust upon them, the old Chair, Liz Forgan, was ousted for allegedly being too close to the Labour Party? So there is a clear political agenda to attract private money to the sector and to sideline and actively divest the service.

We also have a Secretary of State, Ed Vaizey, and his sidekick, Maria Miller, who not only refuse to intervene when councils slash library services but publicly state that the service is in rude health!

 

Having less paid staff also poses major problems, outreach programmes are reduced, staff are put under severe stress and strain, specialist knowledge is lost, morale and motivation levels plummet and the ‘ethos’ is eroded. Slowly but surely the service is ‘hollowed out’ leading to a less responsive, professional and accountable service. The introduction of self serve into libraries also leads to staff cuts and changes the relationship between users and workers to that of one that is more akin to a retail transaction.

The formation and development of volunteer run so-called ‘community libraries’, which although was originally put forward by Labour and has been taken up as a desperate option by many communities who have had a gun put to their heads and told “run your library or we’ll close it”, is now being orchestrated and bankrolled by ‘locality’, the political wing of the DCLG and last year for the first time more volunteers where working in public libraries than paid staff;

 

“in 2011/12 there were 23,397 volunteers, and 21,780 staff, the first year that volunteer numbers have surpassed staff numbers.”

http://www.civilsociety.co.uk/finance/news/content/14025/number_of_volunteers_in_libraries_overtakes_number_of_staff

 

So what effect do all these political shenanigans, budget cuts and changes of perceptions and agendas have on library users, many of whom are working class and socially and economically disadvantaged?

 

Well in practical terms having less library buildings, or costly new PFI ones built in town centres, means that some of the poorer, vulnerable and less mobile members of a community may have to travel further to use the service and if they haven’t got enough money for petrol or a bus or train fare then they are denied access (many mobile and housebound services have also been cut). Ah! but couldn’t they just access e-books and online resources I hear you say, well many do but there are still many caught up in the digital divide without internet access or the skills needed to utilise the technology. For detailed figures see http://www.21stcenturychallenges.org/60-seconds/what-is-the-digital-divide/

 

Also instead of the national service being ‘comprehensive and efficient’ as stated in the 1964 Act it has now become a postcode lottery in respect of which level and model of service you are lucky or in most cases unlucky to have in your local area. This is further complicated by the issue of class; middle/upper middle class communities often have more time and resources to fight cuts and to run and develop services themselves which often means that working class communities lose out.

 

Public Libraries play a crucial part in the socio-economic wellbeing of many working class communities, they offer free, although many now charge for IT use, access to lifelong learning opportunities which leads to an increase in empowerment and social equity, the very reason that the Condems are trying to destroy them.

 

Austerity is a myth perpetrated by the ‘Troika’, banks and reactionary, imperialist and capitalist governments to attack the working classes, Public Sector and the Trade Union Movement. We need to mobilise workers, trade unionists and local working class communities together in a combined and focussed fight back against these savage attacks before we lose libraries and many other crucial public services, which it goes without saying would be a disaster.

The Myth of the 21st Century Library - Part 2

I've been asked by someone who has read, yes someone has read it, my original post to talk about changes that i would make to the Public Library service.
The answer to this lies in the practical problems I outlined in my original piece, lack of leadership/bad management, underinvestment, poor training/staff development/opportunities and two bigger more complex factors that to me underpin the whole discussion 'ethos' and 'community involvement' by which i don't mean volunteer run libraries!

The underinvestment issue to me is the hardest one to address and apart from a change in government to one who truly believes in taxing the rich to fund Public services I don't see an easy way around this. The way out of this quandary certainly isn't in my mind commercialism and private finance, this to me only detracts from the ethos and community involvement argument! So maybe we need to go back to basics on this one and look at what we are currently spending money on and if it could be spent better on things that the public actually need and want, such as books (ebooks included, although I'm still not totally convinced by this in relation to extent), local, welcoming and accessible branch libraries, properly trained paid staff and freely available quality IT provision, invest in these four key areas and to me you can't go far wrong! Overdiversification and the building of new PFI city centre libraries has not only taken our collective eye of the ball but also has diverted valuable resources into irrelevant and unnecessary sidelines and press friendly 'good news' stories for local and national politicians! Yes some will argue that the public want DVDs, coffee shops and a myriad of other diversions but we are not just another leisure option and shouldn't be competing in this market and shouldn't be building new libraries on a finance scheme akin to a credit card!

Leading on from this is my bigger concern that we as a service/profession have lost our sense of ethos, why and who are we here for? Most of us, apart from a few Directors and Heads of Service, are not in it for the money, so why do we do it? Is it just another 9-5 (or 9-8 in some cases or longer) job where we just go through the motions and then go home, if it is then you really should question your involvement! Is it just another career option, something to put on your CV, something that allows you to network and climb up the ladder? What it should be, in my opinion, is a public duty, a job that has at it's core a belief in social equity and fairness!

So in practical terms how do we reclaim this 'ethos' well to me it not only requires a total shift away from the market/retail led agenda prevalent in library management and service delivery but a re-examination of how we do things.

Let's start with recruitment, how many library job ads do you see that start with
"Do you believe in a local communities right to empowerment and self sufficiency? Do you want to work with them to achieve this goal?"
this might be a start and then have questions in the interview itself about books, reading, learning, information and community involvement. I would also as a part of the induction process take new staff on a tour of the local community and would have a session/discussion focussing on local socio-economic data and how to utilise it when planning service delivery.

With staff training the first thing i would do is bring everything back in-house, i would tap into the knowledge and experience already in the service rather than spending valuable cash on consultants and lean management gurus! In this way good practise and problem solving could more easily be shared and it might also help to break down the hierarchies that exist and to make staff feel that they have 'ownership' of the service and foster a sense of pride?

And last but most importantly i would actively encourage the forging of links with the local community by encouraging the setting up of Friends Groups, by 'embedding' library staff in community groups and organisations, by increasing visits to schools, nurseries, care homes etc., by holding regular meaningful consultations/surveys (not the sham ones we have become so used to!) and by publicising outcomes and actions for public scrutiny. These links with the community would hopefully help to foster a feeling of mutual respect and pride in the service which would not only help to develop it but would make it harder for politicians to cut it!

Anyway there you are simples!

The Myth of the 21st Century Library!

There's a myth being banded around 'libraryworld' by the so called 'modernisers', the 'neoliberals', the 'transfromation' merchants, of the '21st Century Library'; a vision of things to come, the library of the future, the 'Holy Grail' of service delivery models! Everything we have done in the past is outdated and wrong and library staff are too blame, we haven't been innovative, creative or 'modern' enough!

http://www.culture.gov.uk/news/news_stories/8378.aspx - A library service for the 21st century
http://www.goscl.com/libraries-of-the-21st-century-scl-launches-four-national-offers-for-public-libraries/ - Libraries of the 21st Century: The Society of Chief Librarians have this morning set out their vision for the future of public libraries
http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2011/12/19/a-vision-for-a-21st-century-library/ - A vision for a 21st century library

The year by year drop in user and issue stats is down to our inability to grasp the 'Brave New World' of online buying and new technologies; our failure to give the public what they want, even though the majority want exactly what we are providing only better resourced, has led to our downfall! We are not 'customer focussed' enough, we have a 'slacks and trainers mentality', we don't understand the realities of the market place, we need to 'rebrand', 'transform', 're-invent' and slim down!

http://redquadrant.com/focus-areas/libraries-plus/
http://www.slideshare.net/tlanders/transforming-libraries-for-the-21-st-century
http://blog.civicalld.com/2011/07/22/21st-century-learning-have-you-rebranded-yourself/

Well lets get one thing clear, it's reactionary, reductionist bollocks!

We all know that underinvestment, a lack of leadership, poor staff training, opportunities and development and the sidelining of libraries through adopting a market/retail led agenda then handing the remit over to a politically controlled organisation, the Arts Council, so far out of its depth it needs breathing apparatus and oh yes and that little thing called 'false austerity' that a government to the right of 'Atilla the Hun' has chosen to hit the poor, the working classes, the Public Sector and the Unions with is too blame for the crisis! But oh no we still get fed the bullshit and the sad thing is we swallow it with a "mustn't grumble" "cuts need to happen" unquestioning acceptance!

I'm all for change and innovation, don't get me wrong but not if its forced, doesn't fit with our ethos (ethos remember that?) and not what users/members (users/members remember them?) want or need!



 

Brand or Ethos?

I started working in Public Libraries when i was 17 years old, i was brought up in a Marxist household and believed in public services especially libraries and the role they could play in empowering and educating working class communities. I also loved books and reading and was enthralled to have free access to a treasure trove of literature, knowledge and information..

My passion and belief hasn't wained over the years in fact it's grown stronger!

Public services, including libraries are under attack from 'austerity' cuts, commercialisation, deprofessionalisation, privatisation, divestment and library staff are under pressure to conform and 'keep their heads down', something I've never been very good at! This is why more than ever I truly believe that Public Library staff need to re-discover their public service 'ethos' but what do i mean by this? To me it means a commitment to advancing social equity, integrity, pride, listening to and involving the community in service provision, impartiality,  and specifically in relation to public libraries providing free access to information, knowledge and educational opportunities, in other words empowering communities to take control of their own lives. To me it's political as is everything!

I didn't want to work in libraries to improve my own personal 'brand' or to aspire to senior management, for me it's never been about that and anyway career advancement in public libraries is a very difficult path and poorly resourced. I've now got 20+ years experience and due to a nasty re-structuring which meant being downgraded or promoted I'm now a Librarian for the first time which means i have more independence and control but this also poses problems due to personal conflicts of interest and confrontations due to my disagreement with many in the profession about the way libraries are moving.

One of my major disagreements, and i can assure you i have a few, is with the introduction of commercialisation and retail models (see i can refrain from using the word neoliberalism!) into the service, this to me goes against everything that i believe a statutory, publicly funded and accountable library service should be. We see it all around us in the language we use and the approaches we adopt, from calling 'users/patrons' 'customers' to employing consultants to re-brand and market our services. I get really angry when i hear colleagues harp on about the miraculous benefits to users of 'face-on shelving', 'quick reads', bright shiny colours and self serve, do we think the average library user is a moron that can only function in an HMV, Top Shop environment and have we really ever properly asked them if this is what they want or need?

There appears to have been an "unquestioning acceptance" (thanks to David McMenemy for this phrase) of this agenda and it really does puzzle me, why do we as a profession think that we need to accept this, and why are some welcoming it with open arms?
We are allowing ourselves to be hijacked by marketeers and consultants when we have the expertise and knowledge within our own service, we know how to talk to and involve communities and users, we know how to publicise events/services/stock, we know how to make our libraries welcoming and accessible, we know how to innovate, we have been doing all this and more for years!
for a classic example of what's being sold to us a profession see;
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=ind1210&L=LIS-PUB-LIBS&F=&S=&P=65139

So what's happened then, have we taken our collective eye off the ball, have we lost our pride and confidence as public sector workers and instead become caught up in our own profession and careers? I know some of it's got to do with low morale, poor training. out of touch senior management with their own agenda, lack of sector leadership, lack of political will, ideological cuts but surely we have to take some personal responsibility for the state we're in? We have to regain our confidence and pride and start a fight back, unless you are one of those who truly believe it's the best way forward for libraries in which case i suggest that you either apply for a job as a 'wrangler' with Anythink or hope that LSSI or JLIS win some more contracts!

The question is not what can we learn from the retail sector it's what can they can learn from us after all we're the ones with the history, legacy, expertise and oh yes that other "elephant in the 'library' room" (stolen and bastardised from Lauren Smith, sorry!) ethos!