NEWS
CILIP calls for minister to protect library services
CILIP has issued a response to the Chancellor’s Budget Statement, by calling on the libraries minister to step in and protect services. While acknowledging the government’s ambition to make “long- term decisions for a brighter future” and the announcement of new real-terms investment in cultural programmes, CILIP points out that the “budget statement runs counter to the government’s stated ambi- tion by failing to address the severe pressures faced by local councils in providing statutory services – which includes libraries. Instead, the Public Sector Productivity Plan announced today creates new pressure on councils to find further financial savings, which can only be achieved through further reductions in statutory services.” CILIP said: “Our ultimate hope is that Lord Parkinson as the Minister whose portfolio includes libraries at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) will exercise his powers of superintendence as a matter of urgency to prevent a catastrophic loss of services across the nation.” CILIP pointed to the recent Sanderson Review of Public Libraries, which was commissioned by Lord Parkinson and was published earlier this year. One of the key recommendations in the report was a call for recognition of the value of libraries across government.
In his response to a recommendation for the creation of a Librar- ies Minister and a more joined-up approach within government, Lord Parkinson said: “I will seek agreement to change my minis- terial title formally to include my responsibility for libraries. I am already proud to introduce myself informally as ‘Libraries Minister’, and agree that formalising this would be an immediate and tangible way by which we can indicate the government’s commitment to the sector as we move towards the new government strategy. “I will also ask officials to develop options to support further cross-government approaches to raise the profile of libraries, and continue to press for more engagement from other government departments – for example, by committing to the programme of three cross-Government roundtable meetings per year you recom- mend. I will hold the first of these during the first quarter of 2024.” In its statement, CILIP said: “We stand ready to work with the Minister to protect and build on the UK’s world-class library net- work, but we can only do so if those libraries still exist. “We hope that government will take this final opportunity to avert further loss and hollowing-out of library services and to invest in the literacy, wellbeing and opportunity of future generations before it is too late.”
12 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
March 2024
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