Public libraries and the Big Society

Volunteers already enrich the public library service but the full value of their contribution is reliant on the presence of skilled and knowledgeable staff working within the direction of a professionally managed service, writes BRIAN HALL

This year I am privileged to be President of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP). It is an honour I treasure but it also a year in which public expenditure cuts are starting to have a real impact. Nowhere is this more evident than in public libraries. As I write, more than 400 face closure or transfer to community management, between 4,000 and 6,000 library posts may be lost and, where this is not happening, opening hours are being slashed and book funds reduced.

And yet, as this is taking place, the government is promoting the idea of the ‘Big Society’, positively engaging communities in helping to shape and develop their own communities, encouraging volunteers and kindling the spirit of local innovation. Public libraries should be key in delivering this agenda. They are much more than a collection of books. They are resource centres for the communities in which they are situated. They provide spaces where groups can hold events and meetings, run activities for children that allow families to meet, help people with literacy problems, promote the enjoyment of reading through library-based reading groups and provide access to the internet and services for the house-bound.

Community engagement

 But, more than that, libraries have also been at the forefront in exploring how communities can actively help shape the service provided locally. Community engagement in the design and planning of new learning spaces and the services provided from them was an essential element in the recent Big Lottery community libraries programme; and the Reading Agency sponsors programmes such as Headspace where young adults partner with library staff to design their own space in the library, choose stock and also volunteer to manage that area. Over the years, CILIP’s Libraries Change Lives Awards have featured many great projects that have empowered disadvantaged groups to participate more fully in their local communities and help engender a Big Society- style voluntarism that is both big-hearted and inclusive and usually based on partnership between staff and volunteers.

Yet on 5 February this year – Save our Libraries Day – I chaired a meeting of CILIP’s Community Libraries Panel and reviewed the plans for cuts that libraries up and down the country were proposing as a way of reducing expenditure by between 20 and 30 per cent over four years. A very different Big Society started to emerge. This was often a society where communities were told that unless they took over the management of their local library then it would likely face closure. In some instances it also appeared that the council-run library service would be offering no support to these ‘community libraries’ or, if they did, a charge would be made. It was unclear whether these libraries would be formally part of the council’s public library network or what level and quality of service they were expected to offer. Occasionally, it seemed that all the council wanted was to be rid of the liability.

CILIP recognises that volunteers contribute a great deal to the public library service but is clear that they should be part of a professionally managed public library service. Volunteers enrich public libraries and should form part of a professionally managed team that must include sufficient paid staff to ensure the direction, development and quality of the service provided. Volunteers are not a free solution; proper management and professional support is necessary. There are already 17,500 volunteers working in the UK’s public libraries providing almost 600,000 hours of support. They enrich and extend the service that can be provided, complementing the skills and knowledge of the staff.

But the range of specialist skills and knowledge provided by paid staff needs to be appreciated as well. They are vital to the overall performance and success of the service. They help the public find and interpret information; develop information- handling skills; provide knowledge about available resources; and work with groups such as children and people with literacy problems. Professional staff help libraries develop new digital services; work with local partners such as schools, health trusts and the police; and engage with national partners to enhance the library service. They assess and evaluate performance, research and plan new developments and services, market the service and advocate its value to politicians and others. This range of skills and knowledge cannot simply be replaced by volunteers.

Most volunteers would acknowledge that the full value of their contribution is reliant on the presence of a paid staff working within the direction of a professionally managed service. I am pleased that culture minister Ed Vaizey acknowledged this in a recent adjournment debate on libraries when he stated: ‘Volunteers are an important element of library provision, but they must never take the place of professionals and must work with them.’

However, Dame Elisabeth Hoodless, of Community Services Volunteers, was not alone when she challenged the government as to how the Big Society could be when the very things volunteers needed, including libraries, were first in line for the cuts. That question still remains unanswered and whether there is an answer will become clearer in the next year or so.

Community-managed public libraries are a new departure for many local authorities. In the statement CILIP issued on Save our Libraries Day we called on the Secretary of State for Culture to provide guidance on best practice for community-managed libraries. I understand that this will indeed be drawn up. I hope that such guidance will be based on a true partnership between staff and volunteers and seek to build on the best practice that already exists.

Brian Hall is President of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals