4th March 2010, 1st April 2010, 6th May 2010, 3rd June 2010, 1st July 2010

Dan Carrier, the well known Camden journalist, will give a talk entitled "Local Community, Local Press" at Camden's Highgate Library on Thursday 25th March at 7.30pm.
More information: localgroups/camden/FOHLNews2.htm

Another Chapter in The Google Book Settlement Saga

A US federal judge has rejected Amazon's request that he withdraw his preliminary approval of a settlement between Google and US authors & publishers to allow Google the right to digitize millions of books.

On 1st December, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said that he would conduct a "thorough fairness analysis" of the settlement on 18th February next year and Amazon would be able to argue its case then.

The original agreement between Google and US authors & publishers was criticized on monopoly & copyright grounds and for its probable consequences in non-US countries. These criticisms have resulted in major changes.

One of these changes has restricted the agreement to the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom i.e. to major English speaking countries.

UK public libraries have an interest in the small print of the final settlement, as Google has promised free access to all US public libraries to its archives. Each library will be allowed to have one terminal with this access. It is unknown whether the DCMS is attempting to ensure that this facility is extended to UK public libraries or whether it is content that the UK is treated as a poor relation by the agreement.

AT Dec 09

More information:
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE5B15KY20091202

The Wirral MBC is Found to be in Breach of its Statutory Duties

The Public Inquiry into Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council’s (MBC) decision to reduce the number of libraries in its area from 24 to 13 has found this to be in breach of its statutory duties under the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964. If the changes had gone ahead (they were withdrawn when it became clear that the Inquiry would comdemn them), the Council would have failed to provide “comprehensive and efficient public library services for all persons desirous to make use thereof”.

The Inquiry, led by Sue Charteris, stated that “the primary reason for this breach was that the Council failed to make an assessment of local needs in respect of its Library Services”. She concluded that financial considerations, rather than those of library users had driven the Wirral’s policy.
The damming report has received a furious counter attack from the Local Government Association and the Wirral MBC leader, Steve Foulkes. Cllr Foulkes is reported as stating that the inquiry report was “fundamentally flawed in its logic, and in many places it is just plain wrong”.

Perhaps Mr Foulkes and the Local Government Association should take some time to consider just what has happened. Unheeding, top-down policy implementation has met grass routs rebellion and the grass routs won. It is certain that the DCMS, the MLA etc will claim responsibility for this demonstration of democracy at work. However, it should not be forgotten that these bodies were very reluctant to interfere. They had to be forced into action by local protesters.

"DCMS REVIEW IGNORES PEOPLE WHO USE LIBRARIES" states a press release from the Library Campaign on libraries minister Margaret Hodge's 'public libraries modernisation review' Perhaps Sue Charteris could take a look at the workings of the DCMS itself. There seems to be little difference between the attitude of Margaret Hodge and that of Cllr Foulkes.

Local comment:
http://www.lgcplus.com/news/council-news/wirral-leader-slams-enquiry/5009118.article
Inquiry report: http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/wirral_local_inquiry.doc

AT Dec 09

Cost Reductions in London’s Library Services

It is no secret that the UK economy is in grave difficulties and that all local government services will have to deliver cost reductions in the near future. When this has happened in the past, Councils have taken the easy option and simply cut those services provided to the public. The easiest to cut have been library services and, as a consequence, these have tended to be the most severely reduced. Coincidently (possibly), the London region of the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council (MLA) has commissioned an investigation of methods of improving the efficiency of London’s library services. At least in theory, these should reduce costs without reducing the quality and quantity of the provision to the public i.e. exactly what local authorities will be seeking soon.

The investigation took into consideration the views of both library staff and Councillors but, very noticeably, not library users. The MLA is thus following its usual top down attitude to service provision. A report has been written and this will be discussed at a meeting on 1st December by borough Councillors responsibility for library services.

The main thrust of the report is the often-cited cost reduction potential of amalgamating some or all London’s library services. However, some other options were considered. The option list was:

• Local authorities to contract out library services to private companies
• Dissolve London library services and create one pan London or several sub regional library services
• Learn from other authorities to use staff more effectively to deliver outputs
• Reduce libraries in close geographical proximity
• Joint strategic planning of library service and workforce deployment and development
• One pan London purchasing model which maintains local accountability for stock
• Secondments of staff to other authorities
• Training, advisory and specialist services to be wholly outsourced
• Shared job descriptions and HR processes
• Specialist posts to cover several library services
• Shared recruitment and advertising processes and costs
• Develop shared training across library services
• Vertical integration of local authority advice services/customer services points with library services
• Joint posts within managerial level of library service

All options were considered to be desirable except for two – privatisation and shared job descriptions & HR resources. Whether library users would be similarly enthusiastic is unknown, as they have not been asked and, one suspects, they will not be asked - just told.

AT Nov. 09

Amazon has announced the availability of its Kindle eReader to customers outside the USA. It is not easily available, as these customers still have to purchase their Kinder from the Amazon US on-line store and pay a premium for the privilege. In addition, there are countries excluded from the new offering, such as Canada, China, South Korea and Singapore. Blogkindle.com has analysed the availability of the Kindle worldwide and its operating restrictions in each country.

Kindle 2 World version will start shipping on Monday 19th October. The International version of the Kindle 2 is identical to the one that was released in February, apart from its use of the AT&T 3G network for book downloads and internet connections in the US (the Kinder used Sprint before) and roaming partner networks in over 100 non-US countries.

UK customers will find that the actual cost of buying a Kindle is approximately $345, or $65 more than the list price, due to import duties and shipping. Amazon also charges an extra $1.99 every time a book is downloaded outside of the U.S. Blogkindle.com has generated the following information for the UK market:

The UK is an important market for Amazon and it cannot afford to provide second class service to its British customers for very long. The announcement appears to be an attempt to mitigate the damage being done to the Kinder market potential by its long period of unavailability outside the USA. More or less available is better than not available.

More information: http://blogkindle.com

AT Oct 2009

Minister Warns Councils Not to Cut Library Budgets

Margaret Hodge is the new Minister for Culture, Creative Industries & Tourism within the DCMS. Soon after her appointment, in an interview with the Sunday Times, she said that local authorities should not cut library services as part of the expected reduction in public spending. They should, instead, concentrate on encouraging increased use. So, the underlying message appears to be: central government cuts – ok, local government cuts – unacceptable. The method by which this remarkable stratagem would be accomplished is that of turning public libraries into quasi-commercial organisations.

Of course, this is arrant nonsense but, as the Good Library Blog pointed out, it is the party conference season. Local government in general and library managers in particular do not have the skills necessary to run commercial enterprises. If the existing, semi-commercial activities within libraries (dvd/cd hire for instance) were rigorously costed; it is almost certain that they would be found to operate at a loss. Adding further activities which are loss making does not seem sensible, especially as there would need to be significant initial investment for them to operate at all. If the DCMS is eager for public libraries to follow the Hodge doctrine, perhaps it should provide the necessary capital injection.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6851139.ece
http://www.goodlibraryguide.com/blog/archives/2009/09/dcms_sinks_to_a.html

AT Oct 09

Every Library is a Local Library

From 28th September, it has been possible to borrow books from more than 4,000 public libraries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland simply by showing a valid library card. The new scheme is an initiative of the Society of Chief Librarians (SCL) and, in spite of the hype, is simply an extension of what has been in existence for many years. With the diminishing book stocks in most public libraries, many users have been forced to use public libraries in several boroughs in order to access a large enough stock. There has been no difficulty in doing so, provided filling in a few forms and keeping track of several library cards is acceptable.

The next step under consideration by the SCL is the introduction of a universal library card which can be used anywhere in England, Wales and N. Ireland. This creeping federalisation of the country’s public library services does have advantages. However, the concept does need to be openly discussed, to identify the disadvantages before it is taken too far. Top down decisions, made without consultation, often end in disaster.

One possible disadvantage is that local authorities with no interest in the literacy or culture of their residents will find it easier to dismantle their public library services.

More information:
http://www.thebookseller.com/Benedicte+Page

AT Oct 09

The Virtual Public Library

Ereaders are the new fangled, pocket-sized, electronic gadgets designed to allow owners to easily carry around up to 1000 books and read them wherever the user happens to be. They are usually sold with 100+ ebooks already in the memory, but only a few of these are likely to be what is really wanted by any one person. So, it is necessary to add to this collection.

The Arts Council has something it calls its Literature Team and this is seeking to engage organisations and members of the public in a debate about the role and value of reading. This project is intended to be one of the inputs to the development of a programme to promote reading. This will be aimed at “raising the profile of reading as a creative activity and strengthening its position within national, regional and local policy agendas and the plans and activities of cultural agencies. It will also be a vision, setting out shared aspirations for the future of reading and galvanising a wide range of individuals and organisations, particularly libraries, to help make that vision a reality.”

• Understand how members of the public perceive, experience and value reading and whether they see it as a creative activity
• Explore perceptions of and attitudes towards reading among non-readers, and understand the barriers to greater engagement
• Enable members of the public to help develop a vision for the future role of reading in society
• Generate ideas as to how the Arts Council, the MLA, The Reading Agency, libraries and other organisations can make that vision a reality.
Among the specific questions which the Arts Council wishes to answer is:

What could individuals and organisations, particularly libraries, do to help meet public aspirations for reading?

Sorry for stating the obvious, but would it not be a very good idea for public libraries to stop reducing their book stocks? The reducing number of books on library shelves that are of interest to a reader, reduces the likelihood that he/she will take a book home and, subsequently, come back for more. Removing a major discouragement to read should be a first priority surely. Once the opportunity to read has been improved, more arcane theories can be considered.

Effectively, the UK’s public libraries have been dismantling the infrastructure on which the reading habits of a large part of the population have been built. Over time, as the practice of reading falls, this produces an increase in illiteracy. Research has shown that this is happening in this country.

AT July 09

It is not news that the UK economy is in a bad state. The OECD predicts that the British gross domestic product will fall by 4.3% this year, producing a significant fall in government income, and there is not expected to be a return to economic buoyancy for some time. Thus, heavy cuts in government expenditure are forecast from 2011 to compensate for this fall and also to pay for the recent fiscal stimulus. The magnitude of the required cuts is subject to fierce debate and estimates range from 7.5% to 20%.

These are average figures and there will be services which fare better and services which fare worse than the average. For instance, health can be expected to be less affected than culture. In fact, culture will probably be one of the most heavily cut areas. Public libraries are firmly in this sector, although it could be argued that they are also in the education area.

Thus, it is inevitable that central government money allocated to public libraries will fall substantially in the coming years. However, this is not the only bad news for library services. Past experience suggests that central government will try to pass more than a pro rata funding cut onto local government in general and to London local authorities in particular. Thus, London’s Councils will be in desperate trouble and will cast around for any way of saving money. Again, history suggests that, in this situation, one of the first budgets to be cut will be the library budget.

When budget cuts are demanded, the choices are: improve efficiency or cut services. Sadly, most Library Services will automatically opt for the latter, as it is the easy option for senior managers.

The value of sales in Britain's £4bn book publishing industry fell 6.5 per cent in the first quarter of this year. People are earning less and becoming unemployed at an increasing rate. They simply cannot afford to buy books as before. Of course the poor have always had this problem and their local public library provided the answer. Sadly, falling book stocks in the UK’s libraries have limited the degree of help available from this source. Now, those stocks will undoubtedly have to stretch further, as the new poor also turn to the traditional provider.

Thus, library services will have to meet a greater demand on an already inadequate resource and there is a grave danger of further mindless cuts to that resource. Library users need to start preparing their defences to against further reductions in library book stocks or worse - remember the Wirral and Swindon (click to see Shirley Burnham's desciption of the Swindon mess).

AT July 09

Google Books Investigation

A long awaited U.S. Department of Justice formal investigation has started into possible antirust violations in the Google Book settlement with US publishers and authors on digital publishing rights.

In October 2008, for a payment $125 million, Google reached an agreement with US publishers and authors. This gave Google the right to digitise and publish books that are out of print, but still protected by copyright law. This would put Google in the position of a monopoly supplier and has caused concern. The in-copyright facility cannot be offered by Google until a federal judge has authorized it and the current Justice Dept. investigation is part of that authorization process. Google continues to digitise public domain books and has negotiated deals with some publishers for current works.

Google is proposing to allow all public libraries in the US free access to all digitised books from one terminal. For more terminals, the libraries would have to pay.

Whilst the Google Book situation is a little unclear at the moment in the USA, it is completely opaque elsewhere in the world. If it is allowed to go ahead, it will have enormous affects outside the USA. However, there seems to be no interest from other governments.

AT July 09

The Telephone Box Cometh

No not the Tardis, but possibly a library link. Roy Clare, the head of the MLA, has proposed a third tier of public libraries which will have book stocks of about 1500 books. He specifically suggested that the new type of library, christened “library links”, could be housed in doctors’ surgeries or post offices (I thought that post offices were being phased out), but he has obviously not thought this through. A telephone box would hold approximately 1500 books and BT is not very keen on them any more. Therefore, he could solve a problem for two organisations, local authorities and BT, if the existing public libraries are replaced by telephone box libraries. Of course, library users may find that this new public service is a little limited, but when has that ever been a valid consideration?

Those that have taken more than just a passing interest in the UK’s public libraries, will recognise this new idea as one which has been proposed several times before. The last time it was seriously suggested was during the wave of public library closures which swept the country, ten years ago. Then, the new model libraries were to be located in community centres. However, there probably are not enough of these left open for this type of location to be considered, even by our policy makers.

Perhaps quite innocently, Roy Clare has wandered into the library closure minefield. There are just too many people around (both library users & staff) with bitter memories of past slight-of-hand exercises for this particular initiative to pass unchallenged.

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/89615-clare-calls-for-mixed-economy-of-libraries.html

AT July 09

Five Months Later: The BBC has reported that the village of Westbury-sub-Mendip in Somerset have bought a telephone box from BT and have turned it into a library containing approximately 150 books and CDs. It is open 24 hours per day. So, what it lacks in size, it makes up for in persistence.

Actually, the villagers use the telephone box as a convenient way of swapping books and CDs. However, that is really what a public library does. The only difference is that the original purchase was made by an individual and not by a local authority.

DCMS Ministers

Ben Bradshaw was appointed Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in Gordon Brown’s recent Cabinet resuffle. He will thus have overall charge of the department. He has been MP for Exeter since 1 May 1997

Barbara Follett is the Minister for Culture, Creative Industries & Tourism. The subdivisions of the Culture remit include the arts, heritage, architecture, Royal Parks, galleries, archives, libraries and museums. She is also the East of England Regional Minister

More information: http://www.culture.gov.uk/about_us/our_ministers/default.aspx/                            

AT June 09

Scanning Delivers the Goods

The scanning of documents and artefacts in libraries and museums around the world has been going on for a couple of years now and the results of this are beginning to appear on the internet.

The big national libraries, such as the British Library and Library of Congress were among the first to start this process and we can now see what has been achieved in their websites ( www.bl.uk/onlinegallery , http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/browse/index.html ). The BL offering has some particularly interesting, world-class subjects e.g. the da Vinci notebooks (www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/leonardo/accessible/introduction.html ), Mozart’s composition books for 1784 – 1791 (www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/mozart/accessible/introduction.html ) and Jane Austen’s “History of the World” (www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/austen/accessible/introduction.html ).

The huge libraries and museums of the developed world are not the only organisations digitising collections and Unesco has provided a website for these other, less well-known, establishments (www.wdl.org/en/ ). For instance, it is possible to view Christopher Columbus's diary for 1493, in which the explorer describes his discoveries, from the Center for the Study of the History of Mexico Carso ( www.wdl.org/en/item/2962 ).

This is only the beginning. The central libraries and museums of the world have such large collections that it will take decades to scan all those items of general interest, let alone those of purely academic interest – the New York Public Library has scanned 30,000 items in 9 months, but has 50 million items to go.

In the short term, the present economic chaos will probably slightly dampen the ongoing increase in the digitisation rate. However, the experience of the past two/three years and the lessons which have been learnt are now beginning to significantly improve the quality of the scanned images. Further, it has been discovered that it is possible to combine techniques from other fields to produce images of documents and artefacts which have previously been impossible to view by any means. The use of multi-wavelength scans, CAT scans and X-ray technology to read invisible images and brittle scrolls without unrolling them is now feasible. This would have made the reading of the Dead Sea Scrolls very much easier. However, there are very many scrolls in a similar or worse condition than them which now become candidates for serious investigation. A large range of new and forgotten knowledge is on the brink of becoming accessible.

AT May 09

In a new report, the Communities and Local Government Select Committee of the House of Commons stated “that local authorities need both sufficient formal powers and more general autonomy to pursue a leading local leadership role”.

The Committee recognises “the frustration that, regardless of their track record, local authorities remain subject to invasive central government scrutiny and interference”. and urges “the Government to take a more flexible view of decentralisation, and to deliver on its promises of earned autonomy”.

Full report:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmcomloc/33/3302.htm

AT May 09

Library Service Modernisation Review

A spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) said that publication of its Library Service Modernisation Review, led by culture minister Barbara Follett, has been delayed to July. Observers point to the fact that Follett’s review may want to take into account the results of the Wirral inquiry (see below). These will investigate whether the council’s plans are consistent with its statutory duty to provide a "comprehensive and efficient" library service under the 1964 Museums & Public Libraries Act and will therefore have broad implications.

AT May 09

Andy Burnham’s U Turn

Andy Burnham, Secretary of State at the DCMS, has removed the telescope from his blind eye and has seen that there is considerable, countrywide opposition to the proposed mass closure of (11) public libraries in the Wirral. The previous DCMS position of "not minded to intervene at this time" has been modified to: “They [public libraries] should never be an optional extra for local authorities."

The Secretary of State has ordered a local inquiry into Wirral Council's plan and the Council has promised that the libraries will remain open during the inquiry.

Laura Swaffield’s Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals blog commented: “It will open up quite a can of worms. The last time anyone even tried to do this intervention thingie was in 1991. One can almost (I said almost) sympathise with Andy for trying to dodge it”

Perhaps it will open a can of worms. However, that is not what Andy Burnham will want. A quiet burial would be his preference and he will choose a Chairman of the inquiry who will be sympathetic to this viewpoint.

The Cilip blog: http://communities.cilip.org.uk/blogs/update/archive/2009/04/03/public-libraries-andy-acts-at-last.aspx

AT April 09.

Addendum
Sue Charteris has been chosen by Andy Burnham to Chair the Inquiry. She is a Founding Director of Shared Intelligence and a public policy consultant specialising in local government and public service improvement. Her comment on her appointment was: " I am very pleased to have been appointed to lead this Inquiry into the Wirral library service. Having been involved in local government and worked for local authorities, I fully understand the challenges that they face in the provision of services - particularly in this difficult economic climate - but also know the valuable role that libraries play in local communities. My advice to the Secretary of State will be based on a thorough study of the evidence, and I will give all interested parties the opportunity to comment."

Sue Charteris' report is due in June, and the Secretary of State's decision will follow shortly after.

Reference: http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/media_releases/6121.aspx
http://www.sharedintelligence.net/viewstaff.php?staffid=22
AT May 09

London Boroughs Comprehensive Performance Assessment - 2008

The 2008 Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) scores for Local Authorities have been published by the Audit Commission. The CPA measures how well councils deliver services for local people and communities. The new report contains comparisons of council performances since the last set of results was published for 2007.

Each score is on a scale from 1 to 4, where 1 is the lowest score and 4 is the highest. The relevant category for libraries is the Cultural one and the table below gives each London borough’s score for that.

The change assessment given below covers all council services, but can be assumed to be a measure of the commitment to the improvement of cultural services as well as other services. Only one London borough has been assessed as not improving adequately. This is Haringey, where there are well known problems.

In general, the lowest assessment made for any service is 2. The exception to this is for "children & young people’s services". In this very sensitive area, a more critical regime now seems to exist and some “1” assessments have been made. As is to be expected, Haringey appears in this list, but no other London borough.

The inevitably low 2008 Haringey score highlights the overly rosy picture which the CPA usually gives of local government performance. The 2007 scores for this borough were 3 star overall, 3 for culture and improving well (see LondonCPAScores1.htm). There was no indication that things were about to fall apart in Haringey - rather like the assessment of Enron by its auditors.

Reference: http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/reports/NATIONAL-REPORT.asp?CategoryID=&ProdID=D97994F2-F25D-4402-8861-CEA711AC40A6&SectionID=sect30#

AT Mar 09

Unison Library Campaign

Unison, the public sector trade union, has launched a campaign in support of public libraries or, more accurately, in support of public library jobs. The campaign, “defend the public library service” pointed out that there had been 60 public library closures in the UK during the last year and that more were planned.

Like some library users, Unison disapproves of a shift towards computer services within public libraries and the fall in expenditure on books. Worryingly, it suggests that the use of volunteers is a cause of reducing services, rather than a method of maintaining and improving services. It would be interesting to find out if there was any concrete justification for such a allegation – beyond the long standing antipathy to a community helping itself.

The demands put forward are not completely restricted to special pleading on behalf of library staff, but do have some relevance to users.

“Taking stock: the future of our public library service” is a 59 page Unison document which has recently been published and contains a lot of useful data on national trends in library service provision. This data has been abstracted from CIPFA publications, so can be considered to be reliable. However, care must be exercised in using it to make comparisons with individual local authority performances. A better method of carrying out comparisons is to compare the individual authority with its peer group e.g. an inner London authority should be compared with all 12 inner London authorities.

More information:
http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/17301.pdf
http://www.unison.org.uk/localgov/library.asp

AT Dec 08

Bloomsbury Open Access

Bloomsbury, the publisher, is to offer free, non-commercial, downloading of books from the internet. Initially the books will be in the social sciences and humanities areas. It intends to build thematic lists on current global issues and expects to have approximately fifty new titles available by the end of 2009.

Bloomsbury is assembling a high-power advisory board for its new venture, drawing in academics from the British Library, MIT, Open University, Max Plank Institute, LSE and Johns Hopkins University.

The works will also be sold as books, using the latest short-run technologies or Print on Demand. The Print on Demand method of distribution is ideal for academic publishing, as it avoids the high set-up costs of normal book printing.

Academic authors are not primarily interested in earning money from their books. They are more interested in gaining greater peer recognition for themselves and for the ideas which they espouse. As their works will not be subject to the normal long production process, the authors will benefit from having them distributed very quickly. Also, the books will be capable of being searched more easily and need never go out of print.

The first book to be made available by this new venture was published in October and, appropriately, it was written by Lawrence Lessig, the copyright reform campaigner. In his new book, Remix, he makes the point that the present copyright laws tend to criminalise people, especially the young.

Bloomsbury's German partner, Berlin Verlag, will be actively participating in the new venture and discussions are also underway with Melbourne University Publishing.

Further information: http://www.bloomsburyacademic.com/

AT Nov 08

European Online Library

The European Online Library (described here in Sep 2006), Europeana, was launched on 20th November and proved immensely popular. It received 10 million hits an hour and promptly crashed. The site was relaunched in early January 2009.

More than 1,000 cultural organisations, including The British Library in London, are making contributions to the library. National libraries from all over Europe have contributed printed and manuscript material, including digitised copies of rare and valuable books, such as the Gutenberg Bible. Also among these institutions are the Louvre in Paris and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam which have supplied digitised paintings and other objects from their collections.

The intention of Europeana is to provide digital access to information on Europe's history; in the form of image, text, sound or film; which is held in libraries, archives or museums.

The Institut National de l'Audiovisuel has supplied 80,000 broadcast recordings from the 20th Century, in addition to early footage shot on the battlefields of France in 1914, and The British Library has provided access to its vast collection of sound recordings, covering British accents and dialects, British wildlife, and early ethnographic wax cylinder recordings.

Internet users will be able to access more than two million books, maps, recordings, photographs, archive documents, paintings and films, without charge.

The Noise Issue

Mobile phone conversations, teenage chatter & giggling, the hiss of espresso machines, the rattle of coffee cups and a liberal scattering of food waste - these are all desirable attributes of a modern public library. At least they are according to national politicians.

It is a well known phenomenon that, as politicians claw their way up their particular greasy pole, they become increasingly divorced from reality. Their contact with ordinary life is restricted to a very few hours per week and they begin to live more and more in a fantasy land containing only other Westminster-village virtual people. Of course, part of the fantasy is that they all believe that they are in close touch with their electors. In these circumstances, it is not surprising that the nonsense of noisy libraries should be given such wholehearted support by some of these arbiters of what is good for us.

It is the nature of adversarial politics that everything is viewed as a black & white issue. In real life, most issues are actually just shades of grey and the noisy library is one of those. If the argument was about what should go on in large, modern libraries only, there would be some sense in the suggestions. These buildings usually have some spare space that can be used for coffee shops etc and their structures can often be fairly easily modified. Even in this circumstance, care must be taken in applying these transiently fashionable concepts, to avoid more people being driven away from libraries than are attracted to them. A few simple rules should be used to ensure that it is the library user that is really the beneficiary, rather than the victim, of any changes:
· Ensure that there is a noise barrier between the quiet, library areas and any new facility.
· Do not steal space from the library proper for the new activity.
· Use the voluntary sector to run any commercial enterprise, in order to keep all the benefits in the local community.

The vast majority of Britain’s public libraries are more friendly institutions than the large monuments to civic pride that politicians and librarians love. However, they are also small and elderly – suitable for their original purpose of housing a largish collection of books, but little else. The addition of a few public-access computers into each of them necessitated considerable modification to their layouts and often resulted in the loss of bookshelves. Perhaps the politicians believe that the loss of bookshelves is a bonus and should be encouraged. Surely they cannot be that out-of-touch, or can they?

The main supporters of the noisy library idea in the Palace of Westminster are Andy Burnham MP and Lyn Brown MP (ref: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-libraries-should-be-about-books-955421.html , http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/04/lyn-brown-libraries-mla )

AT Nov 08

The subject of Library Volunteers is becoming a popular topic of conversation among members of London’s Public Library Friends groups and the new issue of CIPFA Library Statistics has some data to add substance to those conversations (see below).

Just over half of London boroughs have public library volunteer schemes,but there appears to be enormous variability in how the boroughs use those volunteers. Some have very few volunteers and use each of them intensively. Others operate in exactly the opposite manner.

Inner London boroughs (42% have volunteer schemes) are less enthusiastic about volunteers than their Outer London counterparts (60% have volunteer schemes).

Some boroughs (3 of the total of 17 boroughs with volunteer schemes) are so off-hand about this form of help that they are unable to say how many hours of work are freely given by their volunteers per year. However, on average, London’s public library volunteers give only one hour per week to their library service (allowing for holidays). For the widespread, major improvements in service which advocates of volunteer programmes suggest is possible, there has to be a great increase in this commitment. Relying on a large number of people coming forward is unrealistic.

As with all published statistics, the CIFA figures are historic and tell us nothing about what has happened since the end March 2007. Because of this, the picture painted of the Hackney library service volunteer activities is quite average – an average number of volunteers occasionally helping out in the borough’s archives. This picture changed radically in March 2007, when Hackney reopened a library which had been closed since 1996. This small library is completely volunteer run and has proved to be a notable success. A LLL delegation visited Woodberry Down Community Library and has come away impressed. A report on the visit can be viewed at: VolunteerLibrary.htm

AT Aug 08

Inner London Growing Faster Than Anywhere Else in UK

HBOS plc compiled a very useful digest of population statistics just before it fell victim to the Credit Crunch. The statistics were taken from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates and show that the four local authorities with the biggest percentage population growth between 1997 and 2007 are all in Inner London. These are the City of London (40%), followed by Westminster (29%), Kensington and Chelsea (26%) and Camden (25%). Population growth in the rest of Greater London is not far behind these leaders. For comparison, the country, as a whole, only increased its population by 5% in the same period.

The organisation representing London Local Authorities, London Councils, has expressed deep concern about the ONS figures. It believes that they significantly understate the populations of London’s boroughs. London’s library users should also be concerned. Any underestimate of a borough’s population automatically reduces the money received from central government and most of the income of the boroughs comes from this source. History tells us that library services are the first to suffer, when money is short. So it is extremely important to get the estimates right. It is actually doubly important, as London is already financially penalised by central government in its robbing Peter to pay Paul exercise of local government funding – London is always cast as Peter - see below.

HBOS Report: http://www.hbosplc.com/media/pressreleases/articles/halifax/2008-09-27-londonboro.asp?section=halifax
London Councils’ Comment: http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/media/current/pressdetail.htm?pk=604

AT Oct 08

Brave New World

No, not the Aldous Huxley book but a study of the possible affects of digitisation on the publishing industry. This “Brave New World” is a 120 page report containing an in-depth analysis of the changes that are beginning to be forced upon the book trade. The sober assessments of the study are in marked contrast to the hysterical reactions of the music industry when faced with the same problems and they deserve wide consideration. The report can be freely downloaded (see below).

More information: http://www.booksellers.org.uk/documents/digitisation_of_content/Brave%20New%20World.pdf

AT April 08

The MLA, London has collected a wide range of statistics about London’s public libraries in a new document. It is well worth reading and is available for download from:

http://www.mlalondon.org.uk/uploads/documents/Fact_not_Fiction_2008_v6.pdf

AT July 08

The beginning of the public library movement was marked by the support of public-spirited individuals. Visionaries, such as Andrew Carnegie & John Passmore Edwards, were willing to use their energy and wealth for the betterment of less fortunate citizens. Now, in the UK, these nineteenth century philanthropists are only dimly remembered and are considered to have little relevance to present day circumstances.

However, under the influence of tightening local government finances, those circumstances have been changing for some time. For over twenty years there has been a slow drift away from a firm official belief in the importance of providing the poor with free access to a wide range of literature. That belief is now quite conditional - hemmed-in by many provisos. The nature of the link between education and the public libraries has been almost forgotten. The library safety net has been allowed to decay and many more people are now falling through it.

In contrast to the UK, the USA has never lost a strong voluntary aspect to the delivery of public library services. Thus, it is probably not very surprising to Americans that a financier, Stephen A. Schwarzman, should donate $100m to the New York Library Service. Indeed, one member of the NY Public Library’s board thought that he should have given more – an astounding reaction when viewed from this side of the Atlantic.

Are there no UK billionaires interested in improving the literacy of their fellow citizens? There is little doubt that they will soon be sorely needed.

Reference:
http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/03/11/billionaires-library-donation-biz-cx_af_0311schwarzman.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/mar/11/useconomy.usa

AT Mar 08

Books on the Internet

HarperCollins, the publisher, has begun to make available selected books on its website. The free electronic editions are complete books, not extracts. Since November, HarperCollins has provided electronic extracts from about 15 of its current books and has obviously found that the initiative has paid-off in higher sales.

The HarperCollins move is a shrewd one. Although the entire contents of a book may be freely available via the internet, the rather clumsy nature of current computers, PDAs and e-book readers makes reading the complete electronic book an uncomfortable experience. Browsing the books, as in a bookshop, is another matter. The release of the Apple MacBook Air does not really alter the basic premise. Meanwhile:

• Random House has digitised all its new books and is now proceeding to do the same to its back catalogue.
• Tor, the science fiction publisher, is making one of its books available for free downloading each week.
• Borders, the US bookshop chain, has unveiled a new concept - a store where shoppers can mix and burn CDs, explore their genealogies and even publish their own novels.
• The digitalisation of out-of-copyright book collections by Google and Microsoft continues apace.
• The first production rollup display e-book/cell phone has been announced by Polymervision

What was predicted in the LLL technology webpage a long time ago is beginning to happen. The digitisation process is building momentum and will result in fundamental changes to the way public libraries operate.

More Information:
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/news/default.aspx , http://www.polymervision.com/frameset.php?id=&page=

AT Feb.08

2007 Comprehensive Performance Assessments

The 2007 Comprehensive Performance Assessments (CPA) were published on 7th February. These provide a measure of the quality of services provided by English councils to their local communities and their commitment to improving these services in the future.

Six of the 33 London boroughs are among the 13 authorities receiving the highest possible rating under CPA. The figures also show that 97 per cent of London’s boroughs are rated as improving well or strongly with 94 per cent gaining three or four stars (Harrow was the only borough to have less than 3 stars). Seven of the 13 inner London authorities were awarded 4 stars but only three of the 20 outer London boroughs were judged to have reached this standard.

The star rating gives a headline CPA result for a borough and thus provides an average picture for the performance of each Council. However, within this average, there are areas of high achievement and areas of low achievement. In almost every London borough, the cultural area was found to have performed below the average for the borough. The only exceptions to this rule are The City of London, Westminster and Richmond upon Thames. The culture area is where a borough’s public library service is usually grouped.
Click for a comparison of cultural performance with overall performance for all London authorities.

More information:
http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/ , http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/cpa/

AT. Feb.08

First Consultation on the Amendments to Copyright Exceptions Recommended by Gowers

On 8 January 2008 Lord Triesman, Minister for Intellectual Property, launched the first of a two part consultation on the recommendations made by the Dec. 2006 Gowers report on Intellectual Property.

Lord Triesman pointed out that it was necessary to ensure the IP protection systems are “robust enough - and sensible enough - not only to protect the rights holder from illegal activity, but to ensure that the consumer and user can make sensible use of protected works and also respect the rights attached to them.”

The consultation will cover recommendations for changes to copyright law that will:
· enable schools and universities to make the most of digital technologies and facilitate distance learning;
· allow libraries and archives to use technology to preserve valuable material before it deteriorates or the format it is stored on becomes obsolete;
· introduce a format shifting exception to allow consumers to copy legitimately purchased content to another format, for example CD to MP3, in a manner that does not damage the interests of copyright owners; and provide a new exception for parody.

The responses to the consultation will be analysed and then a further consultation on the resulting draft law will follow.

Further information:
http://www.dius.gov.uk/speeches/triesman_copyright_080108.html
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/policy/policy-issues/policy-issues-gowers/policy-issues-gowersreport.htm

AT Jan 08

Busy Libraries

The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) has published its 2007 ranking of the UK’s 20 most busy public libraries. The Norfolk & Norwich Millenium Library was the clear winner with 1,506,344 visits in the year and 1,158,080 issues.
The leading London library was Croydon Central Library with a 4th place based on visits (868,088) and 15th place based on issues (491,888). London public libraries performed better on the visits measure than on the issues measure.
CIFA’s data could possible suggest an issues problem in London’s public libraries and, more worrying, a general problem in inner London libraries (no representative in either table). With the high levels of deprivation in inner London and a great need to raise literacy levels, this would not be good news. However, judging the effectiveness of a borough’s Public Library Service on the performance of one “flagship” library does not take into account the other libraries which are usually better integrated into their local communities.
The inclusion of a borough library in the top 20 list could actually be a good reason to look more carefully at the overall library provision in the borough. One way to achieve a high ranking would be to reduce the service elsewhere in the borough i.e. restrict opening hours or simply close libraries. Such a policy would force people to travel to the “flagship” library and would, of course, result in the poor being penalised.

AT Jan.08

As London has been repeatedly penalised in this way over the past decade, services to residents have been under pressure for some time and this has resulted in library closure programs being proposed in Brent, Southwalk and Waltham Forest. The public library service is one of the few services in which central government allows local discretion to exist. Thus, it is easier to cut library services than almost any other locally provided service to the public.

It is the Local Authority, of course, which receives the criticism of library users, whilst central government is able to claim that it is in favour of public libraries. Perhaps it is in favour of public libraries outside London, it is certainly not within London, as its policies make it inevitable that they be cut back for the 7 million Londoners.

Oxford University’s Department of Social Policy & Social Work recently published “The English Indices of Deprivation 2007”. In this, London was ranked as the second most deprived region in England in absolute terms (after the North West) and the third most deprived region in % terms. London was also ranked bottom in a measure of the least deprived areas i.e. prosperity was spread more widely in all other regions. If these facts are combined with the knowledge that local taxation is not based on the ability to pay, the conclusion can be drawn that the poor of London are being forced to subsidize the rich in other regions.

More information: http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/doc.asp?doc=21594
http://www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/0809/grant.htm
www.communities.gov.uk/documents/communities/pdf/576659

AT Jan 08

Loughborough University’s LISU research unit has published its Public Library Materials Fund and Budget Survey for
2006-08

LISU found that total library expenditure for the UK fell by 0.3% in 2006/07, with a further fall predicted for 2007/08. Although the reported fall was small, LISU suggested that it was particularly disappointing as, at this time last year, libraries were predicting an increase of 3% in spending for 2006/07.

Expenditure on materials fell by 1.5% in 2006/07 and a further fall of 2.3% is expected for 2007/08. Within this overall fall, spending on books continues to decline slowly and, although spending on audio-visual materials (including electronic resources) rose slightly in 2006/07, it is predicted to fall again in 2007/08, by 1.4%.

Staff expenditure represents approximately 60% of overall public library expenditure, so small percentage changes in this figure has a far larger affect than other elements in a public library service’s budget. LISU reported that staff numbers have fallen for the first time for many years, and are predicted to fall further in 2007/08. The most expensive staff members are the professionally qualified ones and much of the decrease has been in this area.

Free download from: http://www.nielsenbookdata.co.uk/controller.php?page=91

AT Dec 07

The Literacy Disaster

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls) is undertaken every five years (2001 & 2006) in over 40 countries around the world and measures the "reading literacy" & associated factors for children aged approximately 10 years old. Thus, in most countries, the Pirls investigation is aimed at children with four years of formal schooling. However, in some countries, including England and Scotland, it takes place after five years of schooling.

The score for England in 2006 was 539 and was 527 for Scotland. The highest 2006 score was 565 for the Russian Federation. The average score was 500 and the lowest score was 302 (South Africa).

The 2006 study found that children’s performance in England and Scotland had fallen in the previous five years. The reading performance of children in England had fallen from third to 19th in the world and Scotland also fell, from 14th to 26th. Top scoring Russia only managed to equal the Scottish score in 2001.

In England, the Department for Children, Schools and Families commissioned a separate report on the findings, from the independent National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). This concluded that lower achievement among the better readers had contributed most to England's overall fall, rather than the small increase in the proportion of weaker readers. Perhaps the most worrying comment from the NFER is that there had been significant increases in the proportion of English 10-year-olds with the "least positive" attitudes to reading and who said they very seldom read stories or novels outside school.

The fact that both England and Scotland had a 2006 score somewhat above the average value of 500 has been suggested as a mitigating circumstance. However, if allowance is made for the extra year of schooling provided in these countries, this appears very much like grasping at straws. It is obvious that the rate of children's progress in most other countries is greater than England or Scotland.

Ed Balls, Children, Schools and Families Secretary, suggested that the same story was emerging from the government's consultation on its Children's Plan as from the Pirls study. He said "I'm calling today for everyone's help to get our children reading more and to kick-start a new national debate about the value of reading." As the public libraries have traditionally provided the UK’s educational safety net, Mr Balls would do well to ensure that Library Services are provided with sufficient funds to take up his challenge.

More information: http://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/pdfs/downloadable/PIRLSreport.pdf

http://timss.bc.edu/PDF/p06_international_report.pdf

Saving Your Library
This is the subject of many emails and telephone calls to LLL.

Lewisham Council tried to close 3 of its public libraries a little while ago. You can read about the methods used to successfully fight against this at
localgroups/SaveYourLibrary.htm You can still email and telephone us, if you wish.

email us : mail
@librarylondon.org

Disclaimer:disclaim.htm

The Library Campaign

www.librarycampaign.com

HOW TO SAVE YOUR LIBRARY
a strategy document has been produced by Blackheath and Manor House LibraryUsers-
details:

localgroups/lewisham/lewisham.htm