News

Select committee hears of librarian job loss toll

21.02.12 | Benedicte Page

Research by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) has indicated that as many as 700 of 3,500 professionally qualified librarians have lost their jobs in the current financial year, chief executive Annie Mauger told the culture select committee at its second oral evidence session, given this morning (21st February).

Meanwhile Arts Council England chief executive Alan Davey announced a new programme of research and consultation, Envisioning the Library of the Future, beginning today.

Mauger also told the cross-party select committee of MPs investigating the issue of library closures that the CILIP research, based on responses from 55% of local authorities, had also indicated that when a library is closed in a community, 44% of children don't travel to use a different library instead. We therefore need a "distributed network" of local libraries, she said.

She told the committee: "We recommend that the secretary of state set out a framework for what a local authority should be delivering and how local needs should be assessed." She added: "My concern is that where the secretary of state has not seen fit to intervene at the moment, local authorities have seen fit to introduce unacceptable reductions. I am concerned the longer the secretary of state doesn't intervene . . . that gives license to other authorities to say, 'We are not going to get scrutiny and we can do what we like.'"

The Envisioning The Library of the Future programme is to begin with an assessment of trends in society which may affect the delivery of library services in the future, followed by a programme of consultation with library experts, plus an online consultation open to all, to be held in mid-March.

Davey told the culture select committee the consultation would be "quick, detailed and based on research", and would "get to the bottom of what the public value of libraries is". The consultation will help provide some of the tools which will help people argue the case for libraries within local government, he said.

Asked by panel member Damian Collins MP whether the consultation was not coming "a year or two too late" because a lot of local authorities are far advanced in their library plans, Davey replied: "We are where we are. I want us to motor."

Davey also stressed that Arts Council England did not have a superintending role on libraries, and in that respect was different from its predecessor, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, from which it took over library responsibility in autumn 2011. "We made it clear when we took it on that we are not an inspectorate," he said.
 

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By Dave

As a long time library campaigner on the Isle of Wight, from those of us still trying to save our traditional libraries- Thank you Ms Mauger, you have told the select committee exactly what we have been telling the IW Council and the DCMS for the last 16 months or so. Our council not only refused to discuss alternatives with the opposition on the council, they refused point blank to meet with campaigners, and yet they claim to have 'had a full consultation' before taking the decision to remove funding from 5 of our 11 libraries. They are now saying how wonderfull the new 'community libraries' are, what they forget to mention is that these libraries, staffed entirely by volunteers are only open for very limited hours- my own local library was open for 36 hours a week the community version is now open for 12 hours a week (provided volunteers are available to open up), and for which we not only pay the IWC council tax but now also pay an increased Town Council precept (21% increase in 2011/12) Those that are suffering are the young, the disabled, the unemployed and the elderly. What sort of Council makes cuts that hit all of the vunerable groups in our so called civilised society?

Tue, 21/02/2012 - 18:03
By Adele Ward

This is incredibly sad. To see such a high percentage of librarians losing their jobs, and how can they find new jobs when these cuts are being made to all libraries? As Dave comments, libraries are essential particularly to the most vulnerable in society. I could never have imagined that a government would damage libraries in this way. They're such a central part of our communities.

Fri, 24/02/2012 - 01:46
By Anne Welsh

*Speaking solely for myself in a personal capacity*

Well done to Annie Mauger for making her point.

I hope that Bookseller readers are bright enough to do the Arithmetic and work out that the starting figure of 3,500 professional librarians must be thinly spread across the many public libraries in the country, never mind the implied 2,800 that will remain.

Long before the current round of volunteers running libraries, we have seen the de-professionalisation of public libraries through the cutting of professional staff, so that most public contact is with assistants (trained on the job, and paid, naturally, lower salaries than librarians). As a society, we have been stripping our library services of funds for years, and now we are in danger of losing them altogether.

I hope that the professional librarians who have lost / are losing their jobs will find academic, commercial or other sector employers who will appreciate their skills.

I hope that something can be done by the voting public to turn this tide, and keep our public libraries - many of which have served their communities since the mid-19th century.

*This is my own personal opinion and should not be seen to represent my employer, publisher or any other organisation or person associated with me*

Fri, 24/02/2012 - 17:19
By Dave

As a long time library campaigner on the Isle of Wight, from those of us still trying to save our traditional libraries- Thank you Ms Mauger, you have told the select committee exactly what we have been telling the IW Council and the DCMS for the last 16 months or so. Our council not only refused to discuss alternatives with the opposition on the council, they refused point blank to meet with campaigners, and yet they claim to have 'had a full consultation' before taking the decision to remove funding from 5 of our 11 libraries. They are now saying how wonderfull the new 'community libraries' are, what they forget to mention is that these libraries, staffed entirely by volunteers are only open for very limited hours- my own local library was open for 36 hours a week the community version is now open for 12 hours a week (provided volunteers are available to open up), and for which we not only pay the IWC council tax but now also pay an increased Town Council precept (21% increase in 2011/12) Those that are suffering are the young, the disabled, the unemployed and the elderly. What sort of Council makes cuts that hit all of the vunerable groups in our so called civilised society?

Tue, 21/02/2012 - 18:03
By Adele Ward

This is incredibly sad. To see such a high percentage of librarians losing their jobs, and how can they find new jobs when these cuts are being made to all libraries? As Dave comments, libraries are essential particularly to the most vulnerable in society. I could never have imagined that a government would damage libraries in this way. They're such a central part of our communities.

Fri, 24/02/2012 - 01:46
By Anne Welsh

*Speaking solely for myself in a personal capacity*

Well done to Annie Mauger for making her point.

I hope that Bookseller readers are bright enough to do the Arithmetic and work out that the starting figure of 3,500 professional librarians must be thinly spread across the many public libraries in the country, never mind the implied 2,800 that will remain.

Long before the current round of volunteers running libraries, we have seen the de-professionalisation of public libraries through the cutting of professional staff, so that most public contact is with assistants (trained on the job, and paid, naturally, lower salaries than librarians). As a society, we have been stripping our library services of funds for years, and now we are in danger of losing them altogether.

I hope that the professional librarians who have lost / are losing their jobs will find academic, commercial or other sector employers who will appreciate their skills.

I hope that something can be done by the voting public to turn this tide, and keep our public libraries - many of which have served their communities since the mid-19th century.

*This is my own personal opinion and should not be seen to represent my employer, publisher or any other organisation or person associated with me*

Fri, 24/02/2012 - 17:19

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