NEWS
Darts7 conference booking open
BOOKING is now open for this year’s Discover Academic Research Training and Support (Darts) Conference. The conference, organised by CILIP’s Academic and Research Libraries Group (ARLG), is now in its seventh year and will take place at Dartington Hall in Totnes, Devon on 10 and 11 June.
The conference will feature a number of speakers from across the sector, including Katherine Stephan from Liverpool John Moores University and Judith Carr from the University of Liverpool; Katy McKen and Katie Evans from the University of Bath; and Andrew M. Cox from the University of Sheffield. There will also be a series of Pecha Kucha sessions for delegates to take part in. Full details of the conference and booking can be found at
www.cilip.org.uk/event/DARTS7.
HLG Bursaries for spring forum event
CILIP’s Health Libraries Group (HLG) is offering two bursaries to help members of the group attend this year’s UHMLG Spring Forum on Friday 3 April in London. Speakers include Judy Wright, Ana Noel-Star, Jane Falconer and Nia Wyn Roberts, amongst others.
The one-day event takes place at the Royal Society of Medicine in London, and each bursary will cover the cost of attending the forum as well as a travel allowance of up to £150. Applications are open until 14 Feb- ruary and any HLG member can apply by completing a form at
https://bit.ly/37ikJXk.
Teaching Info Lit
training session DR Jane Secker will lead a training session for anyone wanting to improve the way they teach information literacy skills. The interactive session will take place at CILIP’s Ridgmount Street offices on 6 March, and is designed to give attendees an insight into best teaching practice. To book a place and for full details visit
https://bit.ly/2urXYBx.
12 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
Volunteers outnumbering professionals by three to one
THE number of libraries fell by 35 in the last financial year – a one per cent fall – from 3616 to 3,583 according to the latest Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Ac- countancy’s (Cipfa) Library Sur- vey figures. Over the last 10 years 773 have closed. According to Cipfa’s figures the latest
drop was driven mainly from the South East, excluding London, which saw a six per cent fall in the number of libraries from 495 to 462. There is no legal obligation for library services to provide Cipfa with their data and this year saw an 81 per cent partic- ipation rate. This is down on previous years – the participation rate was 89 per cent in 2016/17 and then 86 per cent in 2017/18. Once again the number of full time equivalent staff has fallen. This year it was down from 15,483 to 15,300 - a one per cent fall. Although a slow down on the declines of previous years, the over- all change over five years is 15.1 per cent. In contrast the number of volunteers
in libraries went up from 51,394 to 51,478 in 2018/19, another slow down on previous years but again adding to a 24.3 per cent increase over the last five years.
The data show a 3.3 per cent drop
in spending on books and newspa- pers, periodicals and magazines (from £50.5m to £48.8m) and a 10.7 per cent fall in spending on Audio and visual (inc. multimedia and CD-Rom) from £8m to just over £7.2m. In a press release Cipfa highlighted
a 29.6 per cent decline in spend on li- braries since austerity began in 2009/10 when national spending on libraries topped £1bn. In the last financial year it dropped to under £750 million. Rob Whiteman, Chief Executive of Cipfa, said: “While we have seen a small uptick in the amount spent on libraries over the last year, budgets remain tight, with spending remaining well below 2009/10 levels. “Today’s findings show a sustained trend in which many services have been cut or redesigned, with councils’ ev- er-decreasing funds directed to priori- ty areas such as social care. This is the shape of today’s local authorities.” The figures were released just before
the 2019 General Election and at teh time Rob urged politicians from all par- ties to start having: “honest conversa- tions with the public about the role of lo- cal government, and the future of lower priority services such as libraries.”
ACE hints at more support
ARTS Council England (ACE) chairman, Sir Nicholas Serota has indicated more support for libraries could be on the cards.
In an interview with The Guardian he
said: “There is big scope when you talk about what is happening in high streets and communities for libraries to play a much larger role. Many are already. Li- braries are trusted places. They are places people feel safe in. Sustaining libraries and helping them move into the 21st century is an important part of what the Arts Council should be doing.” He also discussed the findings of a sur- vey of 5,000 people carried out as part of the consultation for the 10-year strategy.
Asked what the arts meant to them many replied “not very much” but asked if they listened to music and replied “all the time”. He said: “In sport they don’t have any difficulty at all in recognising the dif- ference between a knockabout game and the Premier League. They recognise there is the professional game and something they can be involved with on a Sunday morning. If we could get to the same posi- tion in the arts we would be well placed. It [arts and culture] is just something that is part of life rather than something which is over there and separate.”
ACE is due to release its 10-year strategy soon and that should give a better indica- tion of how it will support libraries.
January-February 2020
News
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