Physical buildings closed, but services adapted.
the library side of it is a most helpful group of people. This has resulted in a state of affairs when I discover the DCMS uses my website to find out things going on in the sector – notably over the state of closures in March – and chief librarians will quietly email me with thoughts, views and sometimes questions. I take confiden- tiality very seriously and that has really helped develop trust.”
Has access to information improved during the crisis?
“There have been signs that the sector has become a bit more open now. The inclusion of unions in the group writing the guidelines on reopening libraries and on the DCMS taskforce is both reassur- ing and surprising. And it is notable that Libraries Connected is more open than its predecessor and will engage in conversa- tion with others. On the other hand, there are strong forces in library-land that are highly risk-averse and sadly this means that decisions and performance data continue to be made behind closed doors, even though this means they are less open to scrutiny and thus more likely to be mis- takes. Perhaps it is ever thus in all sectors, but it is sad that public librarians, whose entire job is giving out free information, are not immune and indeed sometimes seem be leading practitioners in closed data.”
It means the sectors news is innately misleading: “I am sure I miss stuff as the default position of councils – and there is no difference with trusts or volunteers – is to hide bad news. What I report is the stuff that comes out, especially as I cannot afford a single lawsuit or want any one of my informants to get into trouble with
46 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
their bosses. But sometimes I can magnify something that has not been said much or is being hidden. For example, there was a recent DCMS request for people to tell them how the sector has coped, challenges and how the government can help. I only just found out about it and immediately tweeted about it. That consultation had been open for over a month, but I bet most people in libraries will find out about it because I covered it.”
Worse to come
Ian said: “I have received strong indica- tions both privately and in the media that the Government may look to either cut payments still further to councils or to in- adequately pay them back for extra costs inflicted during the crisis. If that happens then library budgets may be targeted, and because they’ve been raided almost every year since 2010 then that’s not good news. Libraries have had a ‘good crisis’ digitally and I am aware that we have been immensely safeguarded compared to bookshops but the real crisis for us may not have started yet.”
But he believes the sector is not as vulner- able as it used to be. “If cuts do happen then people will protest. They always do. And they get better at it I notice. For example, recent campaigns in Essex and before that Lincolnshire have been really outstanding. Councils will not be cutting libraries any more because they think that they’re easy targets – they’re not – and thousands of people will argue with them if they do.”
Last word
Economics is not the only unknown. Psychology is one of many other volatile factors: “Will people come back? Inter- national experience is that they will but
at lower initial levels than before … and we’ve been hit particularly hard in the UK. So, the speed at which the elderly, the young children and the vulnerable come back in particular is open for debate. And then there’s the unknown of how many people have got used to digital (not just from us but from the private sector) and won’t come back. I’ve not seen that pri- vately or publicly discussed anywhere but it’s something to think about.” Alongside new problems like these, are old problems that seem harder to bear now:
l CIPFA’s library stats – “For a field that should be so good at information, this lack of open data sharing is tragic and the slowness and lack of accountability is a further tragedy. I get annoyed even thinking about it”
l A Single Digital Presence: “Never was its absence so obvious as now. From talking to a few of the players involved, I think Covid has concentrated minds won- derfully on this and I hope something may actually – cross fingers – happen…”
He hopes the scenario planning tech- niques promoted by the likes of Matt Finch might shed some light: “This crisis shows that everyone, from governments on down have not thought sufficiently about future possibilities and certainly did not act upon them when they did. I hope that somewhere there’s a whole series of workshops planned on possible future scenarios for libraries and they will be taken seriously this time if they are. And I want to be in those rooms. Reporting on it. So everyone else can think about it as well.” IP
l
www.publiclibrariesnews.com June-July 2020
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