JLIS bought out by Carillion

A few weeks ago a couple of big birdies told me that JLIS, the company that manages Hounslow, Ealing, Harrow and Croydon Libraries, where soon to be bought out. And lo and behold;

"The company John Laing, which includes Croydon LBC and Tunbridge Wells BC among its contracted clients, announced it had sold its support services and facilities management business to Carillion plc because it no longer fitted with core business.
All staff in the division, called John Laing Integrated Services (JLIS), have transferred directly over.
The sale was unconditional and took place on 18 October 2013."

http://www.lgcplus.com/laing-sells-out-to-carillion/5064520.article?blocktitle=Latest-Local-Government-News&contentID=2249

What this will mean for users and staff who knows? Although it must be a little unsettling to say the least as staff and users in Ealing, Harrow & Croydon have only just got to know JLIS in the last few weeks (Hounslow has been run by them for over 5 years) and are now going to have to start again. A recent article also raises concerns about the lack of communication and consultation involved in the takeover;

"It is understood members of staff at the libraries were not informed of the sale and only realised a change had taken place after they noticed their emails had changed last weekend.
There is also confusion as to how the handover with Carillion will take place, with employees being told that previous arrangements with JLIS such as child credits are now suspended until further notice."
 

The other thing that might worry staff is the Carillion's reputation for being anti-union and for cutting jobs and terms and conditions, see;
http://www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/gmb-carillion-swindon-protest-over-cuts  

I'm sure we will find out soon enough!

For an excellent analysis see;

http://insidecroydon.com/2013/10/25/library-operators-carillions-shady-record-on-blacklistings/
http://insidecroydon.com/2013/10/22/laing-exit-library-business-after-taking-over-in-croydon/

Speak up for Libraries Conference 23/11/13; Resisting, Improving and Promoting!

Public Libraries and library staff across the UK are doing great and crucial work..

We work with local communities to improve literacy levels, we help bridge the 'digital divide'; helping those who need assistance with online information and benefits, we work with schools/nurseries/playgroups to support the curriculum and to foster lifelong learning, in fact we are a crucial public service and are seen by many as a lifeline, especially those who are socially, geographically and economically disadvantaged and isolated.

But all this brilliant and crucial work we do is done under severe pressure brought about by savage local government cuts.

Library services have been hollowed out, 3000+ jobs gone, 500-600+ libraries closed or taken out of public control, many specialist staff with decades of invaluable local and professional knowledge lost, staff are often being forced to work on their own or at or below minimum staffing levels, staff are being forced to take on extra work and duties often linked to co-location, shared services, short staffing and deprofessionalisation, staff are being forced to operate with and conform to often conflicting service delivery models (privatisation, commercialisation etc), vital outreach work has been curtailed etc etc etc. for more detail on the cuts to public libraries see https://www.unison.org.uk/upload/sharepoint/On%20line%20Catalogue/21589.pdf

And what effect is all this having on users? For those who see their local library closed it can be devastating and there are many more who manage to save the building but have a gun put to their heads and told "run your library or we'll close it", but this is leading to a two-tier and fragmented service, many are not happy doing it but don't see any other choice. Many more are marching and protesting against the cuts, setting up friends and campaign groups and mounting legal challenges. And this is why 'Speak up for Libraries' is crucial, SUFL brings together campaigners, users, union members and library professionals, not only to fight to save library services but also to improve and promote them.

This years conference is a not to be missed one, it's very unlikely that you are ever going to have the chance to listen to and question a line up like this;

• Yinnon Ezra, Advisor for Libraries at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)
• Brian Ashley, Director, Libraries at Arts Council England (ACE)
• Janene Cox, President, The Society of Chief Librarians (SCL)
• Alan Gibbons, author and founder of Campaign for the Book
• Phil Bradley, President, the Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals (CILIP)
• Heather Wakefield, Head of Local Government, UNISON
• Steve Davies, Lecturer in Social Sciences, University of Cardiff

So get booking, see https://speakupforlibraries.eventbrite.co.uk/

Is privatisation the next step for libraries in Kent - Voices for the Library - 08/10/13

http://www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk/2013/10/is-privatisation-the-next-step-for-libraries-in-kent/

Recently, a number of articles have appeared suggesting that Kent Library Service might be privatised:

Libraries and residential care homes could be among the first key frontline services to be privatised or run by other organisations in a wide-ranging County Hall shake-up.

The two are listed as among the first wave of services Kent County Council intends to subject to what it calls a “market review” under a three-year plan which will get under way next month.

The so-called market review of a dozen services represents the first step in the authority’s move to re-shape itself as a commissioning council – meaning it will focus on contracting out more services to the private and voluntary sector.”

Campaigners fear for future of Croydon libraries uncertain after facilities outsourced - SWLondoner - 10/10/13

“The council has decimated the arts by privatising libraries and selling off the Riesco collection of Chinese pottery,” said Elizabeth Ash, founding member of the Save Croydon Libraries campaign and trustee of Speak Up For Libraries."

http://swlondoner.co.uk/content/10102265-campaigners-fear-future-croydon-libraries-uncertain-after-facilities-outsourced

A 'clearly expressed vision' for London Libraries?

These are just some of my initial and rudimentary thoughts and findings from hours and hours of looking at London LA websites and info.

 

 

I decided to look at all 33 London Library Service websites for information on and links to their library strategies and plans. I was looking for accessible information, something that a member of the public could easily find without having to trawl through the council minutes or the ‘Democracy’ sections of the sites.

 

What I found was, to me anyway, quite shocking, 18 of the 33 Library Services had no policy or strategy information at all on their pages, and only 5 out of the 15 that did have had links to up to date documents, the rest had a mixture of 'Stock Policies', 'Customer Charters' and out of date info.

 

Library Authorities at one time submitted annual ‘Library Plans’ or ‘Position Statements’ to the DCMS as this archived website demonstrates http://www.libplans.ws/ and according to Yinnon Ezra (DCMS), Graeme Mc Donald (SOLACE), and Janene Cox (SCL), in a recent blog post for the Chief Cultural & Leisure Officers Association (CLOA), it's still important that LA's clearly express their vision;

 

“The important first step for any LA should be a clearly expressed vision for the public library service. This must be informed by the views of local people, it is not about recycling the views of existing users, but ensuring that the vision embraces those who do not/will not/won’t use the service. This must also suggest how these aspirations will be met – collecting this information can sometimes be a challenge – but many Councils have wide experience of testing the quality of services through regular citizen surveys using good inexpensive market research is also well worth doing.”

 

Does “clearly expressed vision” include making a plan or strategy available online? You would have thought so?

 

I also looked at how libraries where described/grouped on the council websites which usually is a good indication of where they are positioned with the councils directorate structure.

13 x Leisure & Culture

4 x Community & Living

6 x Libraries

2 x Leisure & Libraries

2 x Leisure

1 x Leisure, Culture & Tourism

1 x Libraries, Leisure & Culture

1 x Library & Heritage Services

1 x Community & Leisure

1 x Libraries & Archives

1 x Education & Learning

 

As you can see there is a strong trend towards positioning libraries with ‘Leisure & Culture’ and only one council places libraries with ‘Education & Learning’, 11 councils still use the words library or libraries which is a positive in these dark times.

 

So what does all this tell us? Well nothing we didn’t already know and that is that over the years there has been a deliberate positioning of libraries with leisure and culture as Yinnon, Janene and Graeme touch on in their blog post;

 

“Many local authorities would argue that making savings particularly around Cultural Services, the label under which public libraries find themselves is NOT a new phenomenon. These services, which often include Arts, Archives, Heritage & Museums, Parks, Leisure, to mention a few, the latter having no ‘statutory duty’ attached to them, always struggle to attract recourses, but do better when Grant from Government for the other main services is steady or expanding. When this is reduced the impact is more direct, particularly when mixed into this is the regional variation in Grant distribution”

 

It's also clear to me that many London LA’s are failing to make their "clearly expressed visions" easily, if at all, accessible online for public scrutiny unless that is they are 'consulting' about cuts and closures.

Why I can't get excited about the new Library of Birmingham.

"a new library opening must be a positive thing, right?" - this is a question that was put to me the other day, you see I've not exactly been upbeat or towing the party line on the opening of the new Library of Birmingham.
I just can't get excited about a £189m (or is it? see http://thebirminghampress.com/2013/09/six-years-late-and-way-over-budget/) city centre library when all around it local libraries and library staff are being slashed.
See http://www.publiclibrariesnews.com/about-public-libraries-news/information/changes-by-local-authority-a-to-fife for information on cuts to libraries in Birmingham (28% budget cut, 10% cut in opening hours, 37% cut in staffing, colocation, volunteers and low staff morale mentioned)

"yes but it will act as a catalyst", yes a catalyst for more councillors to build more expensive (mostly PFI) city centre vanity projects at the expense of local and rural libraries.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/29/library-birmingham-local-services-austerity
"The new £188m Birmingham Library will open with a fanfare to the public next Tuesday, with 400,000 new books – nearly twice the previous library's capacity – and an eye-catching design by Dutch architects Mecanoo.
At the same time, in other parts of the country, austerity-struck council leaders slash funding for professional librarians and close local library branches or hand them over to be run by groups of volunteers. Campaigners predict that there will be 400 library closures in the next three years."

I, and others, have concerns about the future of project and whether it will remain publicly managed, I/we also have concerns about the commercialisation of the library as touched on in a recent Economist article;

http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2013/09/library-birmingham
"He is equally pragmatic about the need to monetise the library (local authority funding is frozen at 2007 levels): “We need to find ways to generate commercial income, whether that’s from hiring facilities, making a greater success of retail or catering than in the past, or through business sponsorship or private sector philanthropy.” Though no community libraries have closed in Birmingham, library hours and staff will be reduced and much of the core lending facilities will become self-service, he says."

So as you can see I'm not overjoyed and i'm not the only one!

"But Margaret Bailey, of Brent, north-west London, said she would not be sharing in the enjoyment.

She has seen six of her 12 local libraries close since 2011 due to spending cuts and said she was angry so much money had been spent on just one.

"We are told you can't keep libraries open because of the cuts forced by central government and yet Birmingham finds £200m for this," she said.

"If staff are being cut and services being reduced I would not want £200m spent on one library. It makes a bit of a nonsense of them saying there is no money."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-23854509


 

The 'We Own It' campaign.

Congratulations to the 'We Own It' campaign for fighting for public services, see;
http://weownit.org.uk/

"We want the UK to have high quality public services, owned by and accountable to the public. We are happy for private companies to produce some things – like coffee, shoes and computers. Other things – like health, education, energy and water – are public goods that belong to all of us and they should be run publicly. Privatisation isn't working; it's time for public ownership."

for Public Libraries see;

http://weownit.org.uk/evidence/libraries