Speak up for Libraries Conference 10/11/12

After the success of last years 'Speak up for Libraries' conference it has been decided to hold another one this year on Saturday 10/11/12!

More details will be published in the next few weeks on http://www.speakupforlibraries.org/ and at other participating outlets!

Library privatisation on the cards for Cornwall? - A Lanson Boy blog

Thanks to Shirley Burnham for alerting me to this;

http://lansonboy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/library-privatisation-on-cards-for.html

"There's a hugely technical report that has been produced by a group of Cornwall councillors one a process which could have significant impact on the way in which services are delivered in future. At one end of the spectrum, we could be seeing a move towards the privatisation of many front line services like libraries and one stop shops."

The Heart of Darkness?; a trip in to Hounslow Libraries!

In July 2008 John Laing Integrated Services (JLIS) took over the management of Hounslow Libraries on a 15 year deal worth £134m, this was the first truly privatised library service in the country. JLIS is now shortlisted for library contracts in Croydon/Wandsworth and as far as we know Wokingham?

So what does a Hounslow Library look like? Well being an intrepid anti-privatisation campaigner i ventured forth into the unknown and visited the Central Library and one of the smaller branch libraries.
Dressed inconspicuously with my deerstalker hat, 'Frank Pezzanite is Darth Vader' t-shirt and a note book and pen i got the tube to Hounslow Central and did the five minute walk to Hounslow Central Library.

The Central Library is housed along with the Paul Robeson Theatre in the Treaty Shopping Centre and from the tube station is hard to find due to a lack of street signage!


sorry couldn't find any good photos of the current library interior!

The Library is situated on the 1st floor of the shopping centre and the first thing that you see after getting off the escalator or climbing the stairs are notice boards saying 'library events' but most of the notices were advertising volunteer opportunities for different positions including in the libraries, worrying!

The Library is spread out over one floor and is very spacious, but I'm not a fan of open plan libraries, they often don't work very well! There are are plans to refurbish it this year and while i was there there where workmen assembling shelves but the overall appearance was tired, shabby and 1970's, especially the carpet! There are some new tables and chairs and desk/pods for the staff to stand behind when they're not 'floor walking' although i didn't see anyone 'floor walk 'while i was there! There also 4 self-service kiosks and lots of pc's for public use.

The book stock was pretty good especially the non-fiction particularly around the 800's, but the 'quick reference' collection was the worst I've ever seen in any central library and included a 2009 edition of Whitaker's and an ancient copy of Gray's Anatomy! As far as i could ascertain this was the only reference collection in this part of the borough, i was told however that "Chiswick might have one"!
One thing i will say is that the shelves were very tidy, a good thing to see!

A local history collection is also housed on the same floor but was an absolute mess with books out of place and just looked very uncared for!

The children's library is uninteresting and uninspiring but does have an enclosed story-telling area and there is a space for 16-19 year olds called 'the Attic' which offers advice and information on careers etc.

After walking about for 20 minutes taking notes on my phone one of the staff spotted me, obviously suspicious and that is when i made my exit!


I then did the 20 minute walk to the New Heston Library, opened in 1960 and very pleasant from the outside with palm trees, yes i kid you not palm trees, and a seating area! The library interior was re-furbished  2 years ago and is very bright and shiny but as with most re-furbs or new built libraries nowadays it was lacking in character, a bit anodyne and homogenised like a retail outlet or an airport lounge!


The stock was ok but in the terms of fiction tended towards the 'beach read' and the non-fiction selection was small but catered for most general needs however the shelves didn't seem very full, which could mean that they have brilliant issue figures or a reduced stock fund? Also the shelf signing was very poor, so small it was easy to miss! There's a small study/reading area at the front and a few public PCs in the main floor space, yet again the desk is reduced to a pod which is probably linked to the fact that they have two self-service machines and staff are supposed to spend their 'freed' up time 'improving the user experience'!


A visit can tell you quite a lot but what do we really know about working for or using a library service run by JLIS, well not very much due to the lack of information available in the public sphere!
JLIS claim that they have increased "library attendance by 7%" and that they provide monthly performance figures to LBH as well as carrying out daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly inspections!
But it won't be publicly available due to it's sensitivity!

For a rare glimpse we have something written on Alan Gibbon's blog;

“I don’t have first hand experience of Hounslow’s library service, but a recent letter from a library user who would prefer to remain anonymous does raise concerns. The letter describes recent refits as ‘appalling’ and reports that staff morale is ‘low’ with job cuts and forced retirements leading to great uncertainty about the future and the impending strategic review. The company running the libraries, John Laing, apparently has a fifteen year contract.
“The library user reports that staff have to dress in black because the company considers that they don’t look smart enough and will be sent home if they don’t comply.
“It does seem difficult to square these practises with the most cursory reading of the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act whose founders surely did not anticipate that a statutory service would be hived off in this way.”


I've deliberately not talked about the staff and my interactions with them, i don't think this would be right as i wasn't there on a 'mystery shopper' exercise and they are colleagues and some of them fellow union members!

for more insight see the excellent blog
http://thoughtsofawannabelibrarian.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/privatisation-and-the-failure-narrativ/

also
http://www.laing.com/uploads/assets/JLIS_CaseStudy_Outsourcing-Hounslow.pdf
http://www.laing.com/uploads/assets/JLIS_CaseStudy_Hounslow_2.pdf
http://www.max-associates.com/casestudies.asp?casestudy=1 
http://www.hounslowchronicle.co.uk/west-london-news/save-our-libraries/

“I

“In the past 18 months we

have undertaken significant

improvements to libraries.

The council has reduce

cost of the service by

approximately £1 million

in the last 18 months

through efficiency savings

in back office costs and

the introduction of

self-service terminals.”

“In the past 18 months we

have undertaken significant

improvements to libraries.

The council has reduced the

cost of the service by

approximately £1 million

in the last 18 months

through efficiency savings

in back office costs and

the introduction of

self-service terminals.”

n the past 18 months we

have undertaken significant

improvements to libraries.

The council has reduced the

cost of the service by

approximately £1 million

in the last 18 months

through efficiency savings

in back office costs and

the introduction of

self-service terminals.”

Sham Croydon Libraries consultation exposed!

Inside Croydon and local library campaigners, including Elizabeth Ash, have uncovered council documents that prove that the consultation held last year didn't show that residents had an "overwhelming desire" to see their library service privatised, even though that is what the Council has claimed ever since!

“This evidence confirms that the consultation was a sham,” said Elizabeth Ash, a Sanderstead resident and leading figure in the national save libraries network.
“It is absolutely appalling that residents have been duped into believing that Croydon Council is acting on their views. To consult but ignore the comments and ideas offered and then fabricate the findings is a total betrayal of residents’ trust,” Ash said.

There were four in the bed and the little one said....!

Essex CC have been knocked out at the latest evaluation stage for the Croydon/Wandsworth Libraries contract, leaving GLL, Laing and a Wandsworth Libraries management bid.

http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/news/article/11299/libraries_plan_moves_a_step_closer

"These organisations will now undergo further detailed dialogue before submitting their final submissions. The preferred bidder is due to be selected later this year."

"The successful contractor will be expected to continue providing core library services free of charge to users, while library buildings will remain in the ownership of the local authority." I find the use of the 'expected' a little bit worrying!

Conservatives Delay Decision On Library Privatisation - Earley Lib Dems - 05/07/12

Thanks to http://savewokinghamslibraries.org/ for alerting me to the fact that the Wokingham Conservatives have now delayed the decision over the privatisation of the Library service untill November 2012!

http://www.earleylibdems.org/2012/07/conservatives-delay-decision-on-library.html

"Now it appears that although the Conservatives have decided to privatise our library service, they can't quite make up their minds how they're going to do it. They were supposed to announce who they were awarding the Library Contract to in March but delayed the decision until June, now we learn - thanks to a question put to Wokingham's Executive Committee by Lib Dem Cllr Prue Bray - that the decision has been delayed once again until November.

Could it be that the Conservatives are having second thoughts? Unlikely, but until they get around to figuring out what they want to do with the library service there is always hope."

Unstaffed Libraries (a contradiction in terms?)

Some time ago there was a request on Lis Pub Libs for information on 'self-service without staff' and this got me wondering "how many authorities have libraries that operate like this"?
Depressingly it seems that there are quite a few, but as usual with these kind of set-ups things are never straight forward with a trend towards shared services and co-location.

In a recent story, from March, Hertfordshire piloted a scheme in their Radlett branch where the Library would open on a self-serve basis every Monday morning, this would be done in conjunction with the space being used by a community group. In June, they decided to widen the service to three points, one in partnership with a local school and the other in a one-stop shop!
In Swindon, the Old Town Library, is only staffed for certain hours during the day and the same for Sutton Libraries.

This concept is very popular in Denmark
"In Denmark, staff-less public libraries have appeared recently in many local communities. The first was established in Jutland already in 2004; however, it was first in the last two years, 2010 and 2011, that it became a trend through the establishment of more than 80 staff-less or open libraries in Denmark in 2012 the number has, furthermore, risen to 104"
in Taiwan
"The first "staff-less" library located at a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station opened yesterday evening, offering about 15,000 books targeted at teenagers and MRT commuters.
The "Ximen Open Book Smart Library" at the Ximen MRT station is the nation's second staff-less library; the Taipei Public Library had set up a pilot library in Neihu's Carrefour store in July last year."
and in the US
"So, how to expand library service on a tight budget? Some libraries have tried vending machines (such as the Go Library/Library-a-Go-Go) or kiosks. The King County Library System (KCLS), WA,just opened an unstaffed 300-square-foot Library Express @ Redmond Ridge, in partnership with the Redmond Ridge Residential Owners Association."

I was going to put forward my own arguments against this worrying development but i think I'll just let 'We Heart Libraries' do it for me in their excellent submission on the issue to Hertfordshire CC.