Presentation to the Public Policy Exchange event on the Future of Local Libraries

1. The future of local libraries: Session 1
Nick Poole, Chief Executive, CILIP
Public Policy Exchange, 8th June 2016

2. Our goal for 2020 is to put information and library skills at the heart of a
democratic, equal and prosperous society.
Charter: “To work for the benefit of the public to promote education and
knowledge through the establishment and development of libraries and
information services and to advance information science.”
• Unite all persons engaged or interested in information science
• Promote improvement of knowledge, skills, position and qualifications
• Promote study and research in librarianship and information science
• Promote adequate & appropriate provision of library services
• Scrutinise legislation affecting the provision of library and information services
Chartered Institute (CILIP)

3. Securing Britain’s economic future has to be about more than low tax and
loose regulation. We need a more sophisticated model of what drives
innovation, investment, productivity & growth.
• A networked ‘innovation infrastructure’ (physical locations with high-quality IT)
• An ‘advanced skills’ workforce
• A regulatory environment which promotes & protects ideas
• Equality of opportunity and mobility of skills
• Confidence and informed investment
We’re transitioning rapidly from a c20th Digital Economy to a c21st Knowledge & Skills-
based economy, but the majority of policy, regulation and public investment is still
focused on boxes & wires. Advanced economies around the world are building libraries
to ensure they are prepared for this fresh wave of innovation.
An advanced-skills economy

4. A refreshed, revitalised & future-proof public library network is fundamental
to Britain’s future as a mature, inclusive & democratic economy.
• Universal access to learning
• Good books (print & digital), reading & literacy
• Access to life chances
• Urban regeneration
• Rural development
• Networked business & enterprise support
• Digital skills and Information Literacy
• Cost-effective interface to key public services
• Access to local & national Government services
• Informed & engaged citizenship
Investing in libraries yields the same long-term economic and social gain as investing in
roads & rail – it creates the conditions for innovation, enterprise, social cohesion and
economic value-creation.
Ambition and opportunity

5. Like all public infrastructure, securing the long-term benefits of libraries for
society & the economy demands active stewardship, informed investment,
continuous innovation & forward planning.
Libraries have continued to innovate over the past 20 years, but did not proactively seize
the opportunity for structural reform. This left us with an outmoded infrastructure & no
clear plan to meet the challenges of:
• Competition from growing leisure & retail sector
• Technology-driven disruption
• Demographic change
• Societal change
• Devolution & de-regulation
• Austerity
Key challenges

6. “We believe that a situation in which core performance indicators, and gross
throughput, are falling but overall costs are rising signals a service in distress.
We would far prefer to see the re-invigoration of what libraries mean to the
public (by improvement of the services) than the rebranding of institutions.
However, it is equally clear to us that libraries must not be over-loaded with
objectives or expectations that strain their resources or inhibit the fulfilment
of their core functions as outlined above.
Libraries and their staff cannot be expected to constitute a one-stop shop for
all a community’s demands for information and advice without the
appropriate allocation, and clear demarcation, of resources.”
Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Report, 2005

7. Under the 1964 Public Libraries Act, the development and delivery of public
libraries is clearly established as a joint responsibility between Local
Authorities and Government.
• National Government currently treats public libraries as fully-devolved & has
established a practice of disregarding the Secretary of State’s obligation actively to
oversee the development of public libraries;
• Some Local Authorities proactively support their library services. Others claim that
reductions in centrally-distributed funds & rising costs of social care mean they
cannot afford to fulfil their statutory duty to provide quality services;
• The lack of a definition of ‘comprehensive & efficient’ and a meaningful monitoring
regime means that Authorities are making ad-hoc decisions about the quality of
service provision – resulting in the hollowing-out of services, hasty transition to
community ownership & loss of professional staff.
The ‘devolution trap’

8. In order to improve the current delivery of the public library network to be
more comprehensive and efficient, we need:
• A clear balance of local leadership & national stewardship
• Partnership between Authorities, communities & professional librarians
• Evidence-based Local Library Development Plans
• Clear input & outcome-based standards
• A viable plan for ongoing investment in stock, IT, furnishings & estate
• Clustering, consortia, collective procurement & common platforms
• A transparent monitoring regime & targeted support for struggling services
• Standards-based protocols for ‘spinning out’ services where necessary/appropriate
Room for improvement

9. Which future do we want?
Single services? Fragmentation? Partnership?
Independent, self-regulated
single library services (eg. for
England) delivering against
contract
Fully-devolved, based on 2-
3,000 ‘independent service
points’ delivering integrated
services for the Local Authority
National/regional/local
partnership to deliver a joined-
up library service which benefits
from UK-wide brand, national
governance and promotion and
local leadership

10. The only way to deliver sustainable library services that fully meet local needs
is through open partnership between Authorities, communities and library
professionals.
• A successful local library absolutely belongs to its community
• Volunteers have always successfully augmented professionally-run services
• Running an effective, safe and accountable library service is a professional skill
• An organisation that does not deliver the services of a library is not a library
• You can transition a service from being a community library to being a community hub
but this is a fundamental change in the nature & purpose of the service
• It is dishonest to suggest that transferring a library out of statutory provision and into
community ownership is anything other than a reduction in a Local Authority’s service
to the community
‘Community libraries’

11. • Professional librarians commit to a Code of Ethics which includes safeguarding,
protecting the privacy of users and avoiding bias in the provision of access to
information
• Transitioning from a ‘comprehensive and efficient’ statutory service to a community-
led one is not a lossless process
• ‘Spinning out’ is a legitimate option, but only as an option of last resort and based on
evidence of changing need, not financial necessity
• Maintaining opening hours through automated systems still constitutes a reduction in
service – it may or may not be legitimate, but cannot be presented as an equivalent
service
Guiding principles

12. Our public library network is a great success story for the UK. It is currently suffering
from neglect, lack of leadership & chaotic management. We need:
• A refreshed understanding of the value and impact of a modern library offer
• Proactive structural reform to deliver (and maintain) a network that is fit-for-purpose
• A clear and consistent UK-wide core offer
• Libraries open for business
• Libraries driving digital capability
• Libraries for learning
• Libraries for life
• Collective leadership & decision-making across Authority boundaries
• Improved capability in enterprise & marketing for library staff
• Celebrating the successes & supporting the stragglers
• Behavioural insight & rich data not blunt (& inaccurate) footfall
Priorities for a c21st Library Service

13. The evolving nature of library services –
challenges for LA & their partners: Session 2
Nick Poole, Chief Executive, CILIP
Public Policy Exchange, 8th June 2016

14. Public financing of library services is not a subsidy. It’s an investment in local
economies, growth, community and opportunity.
• “89% of respondents support investment in public libraries (even where they are not
regular users of the library service)”*
• Libraries suffer a similar challenge to all public services – the costs are specific and in-
year whereas the benefits are diffuse, complex and long-term
• The shift from subscription libraries to public libraries was a tremendous act of
equality and democratisation – public libraries enjoy one of the most diverse audience
profiles of any public service
• Arguably, taxpayer investment is the most transparent & equitable means of securing
a universally-accessible service
Funding arrangements for libraries
* Independent MoneySavingExpert.com poll. March 2016

15. There is no centralised ‘UK library budget’ (or policy) – funding decisions are
made by Local Authorities. In planning our way out of the current economic
crisis facing public libraries, we need to decide our strategy:
• Revisit our core cost model & identify the appropriate balance between staffing,
investment, promotion and stock (to make better use of existing investment)
• Collectivise our buying power to obtain better value-for money
• Strengthen the case for support to Local Authorities to emphasise ROI & cost-savings
• Seek to make a case for direct intervention or support by central Government
• Maximise inward investment & engage with funders to ensure that ‘additionality’
principle does not create yet more pressure on core budgets
• Diversify revenue sources (but not in such a way that resources are diverted from core
delivery or we risk establishing the principle of a 2-tier society)
Failing to balance the books
* Independent MoneySavingExpert.com poll. March 2016

16. Alarm bells were sounded in 1997, 2002 and 2005 that the decline in
investment in books and content & increased diversification of library services
was triggering a decline in usage.
All evidence suggests that investing in books, IT and furnishings triggers
significant increases in repeat usage.
Speaking of books...

17. Recent work initiated & led by the Reading Agency highlights the
transformative value of ‘reading for pleasure’ (ie. self-directed reading and
learning not attached to a course of study or particular goal)
• Personal outcomes including enjoyment, creativity and imagination and emotional
intelligence;
• Social outcomes including empathy, communication skills, improved parent-child
communication &c;
• External outcomes including attainment, numeracy, literacy, knowledge of other
cultures and motivation to learn
Engaging children in libraries

18. Libraries currently run a tremendous range of successful programmes, locally
and nationally, to engage children, support their development and promote
reading...
Existing programmes - reading

19. Libraries are delivering a creative programme for children to develop both
digital skills and core information literacy
Existing programmes – digital skills

20. Pilot initiatives in Scotland and Wales have yielded mixed results...
• Giving a child a library card does not automatically make them a library user
• Without investment in programmes, stock & staffing it is purely a symbolic gesture
• Encouraging children to use libraries while allowing libraries to be hollowed out or
closed looks confused at best
• There are successful programmes that are struggling to find sustained investment –
arguably better to invest in existing success
A library card for every child

21. “Libraries play a key role in every part of the digital journey from access and
inclusion to information literacy and skills development”
Colin Cook, Head of Digital Public Services and Business Transformation, Scottish
Government
And yet...
Libraries in the ‘digital age’

22. The Peoples Network stands as one of the most successful public policy
interventions in recent history in developing digital capability and skills.
• 30,000 internet-connected terminals in 4,000 libraries
• Significant increase in usage by key demographics (teens/young adult)
• 68.5m hours of supported internet access per year
• 11.7m user sessions in one year (2003)
• 16% of the UK population had used the internet in a public library in past 12 months
• Digital skills sessions for users aged 50-70 across the whole of the UK
• Significant increase in library usage by people categorised as ‘excluded’
• Delivered on-time and under-budget
A new ‘Peoples Network’?

23. Times have changed, and modern users demand high-quality, easy-to-use
online services that flow effortlessly across devices and platforms. Key
challenges in securing a compelling digital offer for libraries:
• Fragmentation and barriers to engagement – library services are buried in Local
Authority websites which inhibits the establishment of a compelling online identity
• Core audience proposition – an ‘iTunes for books’ or ‘plan a trip to the library’? A
destination or a content channel?
• Multiple platforms, standards and protocols
• Governance – no clear ‘owner’
• Financing – initial capital/development costs too high to be funded at risk by the
taxpayer
• Market failure – cost of content is increasing where budgets are decreasing
A new ‘Peoples Network’?

24. The creation of an attractive, consumer-grade digital proposition for public
libraries is fertile ground for partnership between stakeholders – libraries,
users, publishers, intermediaries and suppliers.
• Cost of content is set to diminish (buying power)
• Quality of content is set to spike in next 2-3 years
• Cost of ownership is far lower, requiring less at-risk investment
• Need to create a culture of innovation & experimentation
• Bring platforms rapidly to market, scale and iterate
Potential solutions...

25. Nick Poole
Chief Executive
Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals (CILIP)
Nick.poole@cilip.org.uk
http://www.twitter.com/NickPoole1
www.cilip.org.uk
Thankyou!