NEWS
Hedge fund buys bookshop chain
WATERSTONES which is owned by US hedge fund Elliott Investment Man- agement, has bought the UK’s largest independent bookseller Blackwell’s which has 18 shops.
Waterstones had already bought Foyles and the book shop empire also includes the largest US bookseller, Barnes and Noble.
Toby Blackwell, the outgoing owner and president: “This is a positive outcome for Waterstones, Blackwell’s and all our customers in the UK and abroad, who will still be able to enjoy the individual nature of what both brands offer.”
International library
leaders programme THE British Library is holding an inten- sive five-day leadership course for library and archive professionals.
Taking place this summer, the course offers the chance to learn from BL experts and processes, with behind the scenes access to collections and a visit to the BL’s storage facility in Boston Spa. The course is open to library profession- als from anywhere in the world, looking to take the next step on their leadership path. To find out more, visit https://bit. ly/3HYuf3c.
New Year honour for university librarian
JO Norry, Director of Library and Student Services at Leeds Beckett University, has been awarded an MBE for services to higher education and social inclusion. Jo was honoured for her commitment to increase participation and social inclu- sion in higher education through the work of the library – including the use of learning technologies, student advice and wellbeing, academic skills training, and disability advice.
10 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
CIPFA survey no longer ‘fit for purpose’
THE annual CIPFA Library Sur- vey of UK public library services, which is partially funded by the government, has been described as “not fit for purpose” by Libraries Connected. Libraries Connected, formerly the Society
of Chief Librarians, is a membership organisation, made up of every library service in the UK. In an article on its website (
https://bit.ly/361kUdG) it said survey data from its own members was giving the sector a more relevant picture than those from CIPFA “We’ve been tracking footfall on a monthly basis since libraries began reopening on a limited basis in July 2020 and getting it to the sector straight away, when our members needed it. That’s why we know that since reopen- ing, the picture for libraries has changed dramatically.”
It said: “This more in-depth and cur-
rent data and context demonstrates that the CIPFA libraries report is no longer fit for purpose” saying it was “too late” and “disconnected from the sector”. It said that CIPFA annual figures are published nine months (11 months for the 20/21 figures) after the event mean- ing that “while it may have some use as a historical record, it’s too little, too late in terms of usable evidence”. Libraries Connected went further saying: “The pandemic has highlighted
how inadequate annual releases are. The sector needs accurate and close to real time data to drive local planning and decision making. That is why Libraries Connected, Arts Council England, CILIP, DCMS, Libraries Hacked and others have been working to implement improved and simpler reporting systems for librar- ies. The need for this is now greater than ever.”
In its latest report (
https://bit.ly/3KwnjvR) CIPFA highlights a £20m drop in income in the sector, down 25 per cent to £56.6m over the last financial year. It said that while librarian numbers
fell by 85, the number of volunteers fell by 25,709, almost 50 per cent. The figures show physical library visits
fell from 214.6 million to 59.7 million in the year to March 2021, a drop of 72 per cent. There was also a major decline in the number of books borrowed by read- ers, with 72.9m books issued over the period, down 56 per cent from 165.9m in 2020. Meanwhile the number of web visits grew by 18 per cent up to 154.7m. CIPFA Chief Executive Rob Whiteman
said: “Clearly, physical visits have dropped due to Covid-19 restrictions and the closure of library facilities. But, while this decline may be steep, the increase in digital visits shows that communities still want to use library services. Libraries continue to be of significant cultural value for our com- munities.”
Health inequalities found in digital inclusion
ETHNIC minority people use digital health apps less frequently than their white counterparts according to the Eth- nic Inequalities in Healthcare Report: A Rapid Evidence Review by the NHS Race and Health Observatory. It is one of a number of findings in the review into ethnic inequalities in health- care, the most significant of which were vast inequalities across a range of health services, mainly in mental healthcare for black groups. But in a section called “Ethnic inequalities in digital inclusion and access to health services” it said: “There has been a shift
towards providing healthcare remotely, which has been rapidly accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite this, there has been relatively little research on how this shift may have affected ethnic minority peo- ple’s access to healthcare compared with the majority white British population.” The report said there was “some evi- dence that ethnic minority participants might use apps less frequently” and that “this may, to some extent, be borne out of mistrust of intended uses of data by government agencies”. The full report can be found at https://
bit.ly/3sFwYd
March 2022
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