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CILIP: libraries report 'does not meet needs'
09.08.11 | Benedicte Page
The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals has added its voice to criticism of the report issued following the first year of the DCMS-backed Future Libraries programme.
The report, "Future Libraries: Change, Options and How to Get There", draws on the pilot scheme run with 38 councils, and includes recommendations such as putting libraries in the hands of community groups, private sector funding and self-service borrowing points in shops and village halls.
However, CILIP chief executive Annie Mauger said the report was not a "robust" enough piece of work from which to draw proper conclusions for the service. She said: "A Tory government made libraries statutory, now here we are with a Tory government supporting a programme that is not giving anything that will meet people's needs. I feel quite strongly that it is such a limited document in scope and doesn't change the underlying issue that libraries are being hit more than any other service."
Mauger joined shadow culture minister Gloria de Piero and the Women's Institute, which is campaigning on libraries, in critiquing the report's recommendation of community-run groups. Mauger said: "We recognise the need to save money, but we don't have any evidence that this will. The idea that some of these alternative models cost the council less is not right. I've run several charities, and volunteers are a wonderful part of them, but they need management, training and co-ordination. There are also technical issues, over data protection, and managing assets is not something that one can hand over to volunteers. It's a simplistic model."
Yesterday WI chair Ruth Bond said she was "disappointed" in the report and that volunteers were "not a replacement for a professional service." Meanwhile, shadow culture minister Gloria de Piero said she was "extremely sceptical" that a volunteer-run library could be achieved without compromising the service, and accused culture secretary Jeremy Hunt and culture minister Ed Vaizey of standing by while the cuts happened.
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Volunteers may not be a "replacement for a professional service ", but they certainly could be a partial replacement . The public library service needs to be de-engineered and simplified and as a result drop cost and refocus on purchasing books .
If a Waterstones mega store like Gower St with about 200,000 different titles in stock can function without Dewey and serve its customers well, why can't Wellingborough library with less than 1000 lines?
Libraries are far more than booklenders and also have a far more diverse range of stock than would any commercial bookstore. More than half my work in a large public library is information retrieval and ICT assistance e.g. with printing / searching / wifi - Would waterstone's staff do this ? Volunteers will take time to train and supervise - why sack experienced staff who can assist much more quickly and effectively ?
No one should be sacking library staff or closing libraries if the demand, usage and funding are genuinely there to maintain them.
Council funding is undoubtedly tighter than ever and unlikely to improve. The first area for economy has to be the central core - the internal services that get their funding by charging an arbitrary levy (central recharges). After that, it seems reasonable to look for the next tranche of savings in services like libraries that aren't life-critical.
If the demand is there for a library but the funding won't stretch to staff, why not explore the volunteer option? We've been using volunteers very successfully for years for everthing from storytimes to IT mentoring. Volunteers are no less able to be trained than staff and can make the difference between no service and one that is sustainable in the long-term.
So let's push for councils to look elsewhere for savings but at the same time let's be creative and positive about the potential for using volunteers more.
To: the 'Volunteer Enthusiasts'
So you are prepared to rely on volunteers, who may or may not turn up on any given day and who will have no obligation to follow rules on Data Protection and other regulations, to run a statutory public service that you (and all other taxpayers) continue to fund at the same level as in previous years? In which case, why is our Council Tax not being reduced in line with the reduced costs of a de-professionalised and de-staffed library service? Perhaps you are also happy to be treated by volunteer doctors and have your children taught by volunteer teachers?
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