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Library volunteers left without 'effective support', says WI
14.01.13 | Charlotte Williams
Library volunteers are, in many cases, being left without sufficient support to deliver services previously supplied by professional staff, according to a report conducted by the National Federation of Women's Institutes.
NFWI chair Ruth Bond has said "all too often" volunteers are running libraries "in the absence of effective support mechanisms", calling with the plan to use volunteers to fill the gaps in library staff "shortsighted at best".
WI members volunteering in, and involved in the set-up of, community managed libraries took part in the research as part of the Love Your Libraries campaign. According to the WI, one of the key concerns arising from the research is the emerging risk of the proliferation of a two-tier system of library provision, with concerns also around the huge demands placed on volunteers' time, "confusion about legal obligations and training, and an unfair and unrealistic weight of responsibility as they take on the running of a valued community service".
Bond said: "This research has confirmed our fears that all too often volunteers are stepping in to pick up the pieces without adequate support. Community managed library volunteers-WI members and non-members alike-are working as hard as they possibly can to try to do the right thing by their communities and protect and preserve their local services across the UK, but all too often they're doing this in the absence of effective support mechanisms."
She added: "Simply assuming community-minded individuals will fill in the gaps is shortsighted at best. Volunteers play a vital role across the statutory and wider community managed service, yet there's a real danger that without a systematic approach and more comprehensive and widely available support and guidance, community managed libraries will be unsustainable. This inevitably has long-term implications and could well contribute to the gradual erosion of the public library service by default."
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No one doubts that volunteers can add value to a service but I am delighted that the WI have added their voice to the concern regarding the sustainability of volunteer-run libraries.
Local authorities are handing libraries over to volunteers, often playing on the best intentions of those who offer, without making clear what is actually involved. I'm horrified when I see how much fundraising some community libraries have had to undertake,in order to keep the doors of a library open, adding heavily to the burden of managing and staffing it.
Local authorities have a duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service for all that wish to make use of it and communities should be holding local authorities to account.
.
Here is a welcome reminder from the WI that suggests an uncomfortable truth: the majority of library volunteers are doing just that because it is the only option given to them; without their compliance, they will lose their local library totally. In many cases residents struggle to find enough people for the front line or find that they do not have the resources and expertise to produce the mandatory *business plan*. Even the most able fear for the project's sustainability because their population is ageing or because they are also faced with burdensome financial, legal and administrative responsibilities (in perpetuity).
Councils, having issued a threat, wait to see what will happen. In some cases they will offer minimal assistance which can fall short of the liabilities to be incurred by the voluntary group.
When a community is blessed with a handful of activists who've managed to muster an adequate response in the emergency, they are heralded: trumpets blast and ribbons are cut. The resulting book-exchange facility, for it may be little more than that, is then described as a library. Alternatively, if a community fights back - for its public library and staff - the council may well decide to go to war against them.
The Minister, Ed Vaizey, said in this publication in March 2009 "the Act very clearly lays responsibility for ensuring a good service at the culture secretary's door" http://www.thebookseller.com/news/vaizey-slams-burnham.html Now that the WI has highlighted its concerns, is he minded to reflect upon his words, speak to the Culture Secretary and take steps to remedy at least some of the mess we are in?
No one doubts that volunteers can add value to a service but I am delighted that the WI have added their voice to the concern regarding the sustainability of volunteer-run libraries.
Local authorities are handing libraries over to volunteers, often playing on the best intentions of those who offer, without making clear what is actually involved. I'm horrified when I see how much fundraising some community libraries have had to undertake,in order to keep the doors of a library open, adding heavily to the burden of managing and staffing it.
Local authorities have a duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service for all that wish to make use of it and communities should be holding local authorities to account.
.
Here is a welcome reminder from the WI that suggests an uncomfortable truth: the majority of library volunteers are doing just that because it is the only option given to them; without their compliance, they will lose their local library totally. In many cases residents struggle to find enough people for the front line or find that they do not have the resources and expertise to produce the mandatory *business plan*. Even the most able fear for the project's sustainability because their population is ageing or because they are also faced with burdensome financial, legal and administrative responsibilities (in perpetuity).
Councils, having issued a threat, wait to see what will happen. In some cases they will offer minimal assistance which can fall short of the liabilities to be incurred by the voluntary group.
When a community is blessed with a handful of activists who've managed to muster an adequate response in the emergency, they are heralded: trumpets blast and ribbons are cut. The resulting book-exchange facility, for it may be little more than that, is then described as a library. Alternatively, if a community fights back - for its public library and staff - the council may well decide to go to war against them.
The Minister, Ed Vaizey, said in this publication in March 2009 "the Act very clearly lays responsibility for ensuring a good service at the culture secretary's door" http://www.thebookseller.com/news/vaizey-slams-burnham.html Now that the WI has highlighted its concerns, is he minded to reflect upon his words, speak to the Culture Secretary and take steps to remedy at least some of the mess we are in?