Luke Burton.


and bins and enforcement. We were much more operational. But if you come from a service that sits within the cultural or the heritage element of the local authority you might be more likely to look to the Arts Council.”


Clearing the view


Luke says Covid boosted the Arts Coun- cil’s­profile­across­services,­pointing­out­ that: “Things like the Cultural Recovery Fund and Libraries Improvement Fund that the Arts Council administered for DCMS put us on the radar a bit more for some people who didn’t know about us. But there is still a piece of work to demon- strate our relevance and support that we can provide for library services.” He said this is being achieved through “a change of emphasis from grant giving to development. The Arts Council is doing a piece of work on repositioning itself, mov- ing from being a grant giving body that does development work, to being more about the development work and making that the priority, while also administering grants.”


Although the grants side may now get less emphasis, he pointed out that the Arts Council grants have expanded beyond purely cultural to cater for the wider remit of public library services. So library services that don’t identify so strongly with the ‘arts’ will connect more with development agency­side­and­still­find­value­in­the­ grants. “There are some things that libraries can do that other disciplines can’t do” he says. “They can apply through the Universal­Library­offers­for­support­that­ goes­beyond­just­the­cultural­offer:­they­ can apply for funding to support digital inclusion or health and wellbeing.”


Gap filling


These funding streams illustrate the mission creep that has been going on in public­libraries­since­they­first­existed.­


34 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL


The­sector’s­habit,­or­role,­as­a­gap­filler­is­ a problem, but also an opportunity. He points to work the Arts Council has funded CILIP to deliver which looks at the future of libraries particularly after they “demonstrated their adaptability during Covid and their ability to identify the needs of­a­community­and­then­fill­the­gap.”­ He said: “It is what libraries do, and we have done that for time immemorial, whether it’s PCs or warm spaces (which libraries have provided since the 1850s) or­digital­skills,­libraries­have­filled­those­ gaps.


“But it’s not necessarily a sustainable way for libraries to operate. The sector has an ability to adapt on a short-term basis – the question is how to turn that into­a­long-term­benefit?”


He says that modern libraries are sup- ported by a system that is too old and slow to acknowledge what the sector does. “We’re essentially still working in a Victorian model and even if you look at what the 1964 Act requires from local authorities, there’s a whole wealth of activity that sits outside that statutory provision. This is where libraries have stepped into the gap. But how does that play out, what will their role be in 2030 or 2050?”


More unique skills


In local government a senior role now means­less­focus­on­a­specific­sector­ while, on the ground the opposite is hap-


pening. The sector’s USP – low barriers to access information – is becoming clearer but the skills required to apply it are increasingly diverse while remain- ing unique to the sector.


“That’s where public libraries have a unique role to play, as that safe space with soft skills and people skills that help their communities gain access to anything – whether it’s access to technology, cultural activity, health, wellbeing, support, business support. They have that lower barrier – it’s less intimidating­to­get­business­or­finan- cial information at the library than the bank, or health and wellbeing informa- tion rather walking into a hospital or a doctor’s surgery, it’s helping people on those journeys.”


The low barriers mean they are good


at­filling­gaps.­But­it­also­means­they­ need people with the skills relevant to those particular gaps.


“Because libraries do so much, you’re looking for a range of skills and expe- rience.­You’re­recruiting­frontline­staff­ who could be dealing with anything, or people who are developing services and programmes.”


He said that the range means that different­services­are­becoming­more­ specialised in particular areas. “There ends up being a focus. Some library ser- vices have real strength and skill around health and wellbeing or working with


July-August 2023


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