Public Libraries Section

Country Report: United Kingdom 2002

John Lake, Barbican Library, Corporation of London, UK

During 2000/01, public libraries in England and Wales received 290 million visits and loaned around 400 million books and other items. Almost 30 per cent of the population are active borrowers from libraries, while almost three-quarters of adults say that they visit a library at least once per year.

Councils across England and Wales operate around 1,800 full-time libraries (open 30 or more hours per week) 1,600 part-time libraries and 530 mobile libraries, as well as 17,000 library facilities in institutions such as hospitals, prisons and schools. Councils spent around £770 million in 2000/01 on library services, excluding funding from the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) for the People's Network (see below) and ICT-related training. While this represents only around 2 per cent of total council spending, it is still a substantial sum - equivalent to almost £40 per household.

Building Better Library Services - Report by the Audit Commission

This significant report published on 17 May 2002 looks at the library services provided by councils in England and Wales. It draws on the findings of the first 36 Best Value audit inspections of library services, as well as a range of other research, including nationally collected statistics and findings from consultation with users and non-users of library services. It also follows up a number of key messages from the Commission's 1997 report on library services, Due for Renewal.

Over the last ten years there have been significant changes in the way that library services in the UK are provided and resourced. Total resources, excluding earmarked funding, have remained broadly stable - rising slightly in the early 1990s, before falling back. However, there has been an increase in the proportion of funding raised locally through fees, charges and other grants - up from 6 per cent of total funding in 1992/93 to 10 per cent in 2000/01. There has also been an increase in time-limited and bid-based funding - in particular, the New Opportunities Fund for the People's Network and ICT-related training (with total funding for English and Welsh councils of around £100 million between 2000/01 and 2002/03).

The report notes that while total resources fluctuated during the 1990s, the more significant change has been in how the money is spent. There has been a large fall in spending on books and periodicals, from £118 million in 1990/91 (adjusted for inflation) to £80 million in 2000/01 - or from 15 per cent to 10 per cent of total library service spending. As a result, libraries have significantly fewer books than they had ten years ago, and those that they do have are, on average, older. Although staff numbers have fallen over the last ten years by around 10 per cent, costs per member of staff have increased in real terms, and hence total spending on staff has increased slightly.

The level of service provision has also been cut - nine per cent fewer libraries are open for 30 or more hours per week than in 1992/93; there are 8 per cent fewer mobile libraries; and 7 per cent fewer libraries in total.

On the other hand, the provision of ICT services in libraries has increased significantly. The public now has access to over 14,500 ICT terminals in council libraries, up from 4,500 in 1995/96 - providing access to the Internet, CD-ROMs, databases, local information, training materials and other software such as word processors and spreadsheets. Provision of audio-visual materials, although small compared to books, has also increased significantly. Libraries also increased the amount of space that is available for study.

There has been an increasing focus on 'reader development' work, with a range of local and national schemes designed to promote reading and library use. These have included schemes such as 'BookStart', aimed at families with young children and babies; 'Branching Out', which has included schemes to promote world literature, science fiction, gay and lesbian literature; schemes to introduce older people to the internet; as well as a wide range of local schemes promoting reading to different groups.

1. Libraries need to provide the books and information services people want - or people will have no reason to come.
2. These services need to be easily accessible, in terms of opening times and location - or many potential users may be put off using them.
3. They need to provide a positive and welcoming experience for the user, in terms of the environment and how easy services are to use - or people will choose to go elsewhere.
4. And, people need to be aware of the full range of services on offer and how they can get them.

For more information visit the Audit Commission website at http:www.audit-commission.gov.uk/

DCMS/Wolfson Libraries Challenge Fund 2001-2002

The Department for Culture Media & Sport/Wolfson Public Libraries Challenge Fund is a partnership between DCMS and The Wolfson Foundation to enhance the facilities and services provided by public libraries in England. The Fund has run annually since 1997-98 providing to date over £13 million funding for 139 public library based projects.

2002 is the final year of the DCMS/Wolfson Public Libraries Challenge Fund. In 2001 the DCMS Reader Development programme awarded over £2 million funding for 16 partnership projects around the country.

The Wolfson British History programme awarded £113,530 to five projects in Cambridgeshire, Stoke, Bury, Middlesbrough and Bristol.

Books Connect: The Reading Partnership

Reading promotion has taken a front line in public libraries in the UK again over the last 2 to 3 years and this new agency was formed in 2002 by merging three significant reading agencies. The Reading Partnership is a library development agency funded by the Arts Council of England and endorsed by the Society of Chief Librarians and CILIP (see below). It focuses on public libraries' work with adult readers, and supports library advocacy, research and partnership development.

The Public Libraries ICT Peoples Network

The Public Libraries ICT Network will link all UK libraries, where practicable, to the National Grid for Learning by the end of 2002. By August 2002,approximately 70% of library service points are Internet connected, compared with just 5% in 1997. The process of implementing the People's Network infrastructure involves every library service in the UK, of which there are more than 4000. Each library service is receiving funding from the New Opportunities Fund through a programme called the Community Access to Lifelong Learning (CALL PN) programme to enable the installation of a local network that will deliver the People's Network requirements. The infrastructure strand of the People's Network provides the necessary 'IT kit' into public libraries so that people can access the Internet and other IT services. ICT learning centres come in all shapes and sizes. For a small (branch or community) library, this means between 2 and 6 publicly accessible Internet terminals, while larger libraries, such as those often found in cities and towns, house between 10 or 50+ Internet terminals. Running alongside the People's Network project is the rollout of the government's UK online programme. One aspect of this initiative is the UK online centres programme. This will see 6000 UK online ICT Learning Centres in England by the end of December 2002 of which 3000 will be in public libraries

A $4m (£2.6m) gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has provided a valuable addition to the People's Network project. The gift is being used to purchase local ICT hardware (terminals and printers) for libraries that are situated in areas of social deprivation. This will lead to a further 1903 Internet terminals being implemented in 413 libraries across the UK.

For more information visit http://www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk/

Public Library Standards (England) - Library Buildings

Comprehensive And Efficient - Standards For Modern Public Libraries: A Consultation Paper - Library Buildings In the final stages of preparing this document published in 2001, a piece of text dealing with floor space was omitted.

The net floor space (in square metres per thousand population) of the library buildings to which the general public shall have direct access will be no less than the following thresholds.

The space for public access is for borrowing any materials available for loan, or for studying, or reading any materials, or use of ICT equipment, or consulting library staff. The standard applies across an entire authority, however, and is not applicable to individual libraries. For more information visit http://www.culture.gov.uk/heritage/index.html

Public Library Standards (Wales)

These were produced in February 2002 and although similar to the English standards go further in providing standards for levels of staff although professional staffing is not seperately identified. However, they are significantly different from the English standards in that there are not two levels (Standard and intervention point) and intervention by the Welsh Assembly Government is not mentioned.

For more information visit: http://www.wales.gov.uk/subiculture/content/libraries/libstandards-cnts-e.htm

Regionalisation

Your Region, Your Choice: Revitalising the English Regions

The Government published a White Paper on regional governance - Your Region, Your Choice: Revitalising the English Regions - on 9 May 2002. The White Paper sets out proposals for strengthening the existing regional institutions in England and takes forward the Government's Manifesto commitment on elected regional government. If implanted after a public referendum, England will be divided into regions with elected assemblies and libraries, along with many other public services, will be resourced and controlled by local communities.

For more information visit: [http://www.regions.dtlp.gov.uk/governance/whitepaper/summary.htm]

Comprehensive Performance Assessment

In England, the Local Government White Paper Strong Local Government - Quality Public Services detailed the introduction of comprehensive performance assessment (CPA) for local authorities.

CPA is a key element of the Government's performance framework for local government. It will support improvement planning in local authorities and is intended to lead to co-ordinated and proportionate audit and inspection and increased freedoms and flexibilities for local government.

The Audit Commission's role in CPA is to form a judgment on the performance and proven corporate capacity of every single tier and county council in England by the end of 2002. a similar judgment will be made for district councils at some time in the future.

Once a judgment has been formed, the Audit Commission will produce a 'balanced scorecard' for every authority, available to the public and categorizing each authority's performance as: high, coasting, striving or poor.

For more information visit http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/

CILIP - The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals

The Library Association and Institute of Information Scientists merged to form this new professional body in the UK on 1 April 2002. A corporate plan for the next 5 years is currently being consulted upon with members. For more information visit http://www.cilip.org.uk