NEWS FEATURE


Alternative models and the bundle jungle


Does the fate of two outsourced library services shed any new light on whether alternative models are still an option for cash strapped councils?


WARRINGTON Council announ- ced plans to take its leisure and library services (LiveWire) back under its control in the summer ahead of the contract expiry date in 2027.


More recently Merthyr Tydfil coun- cil announced “a managed end of the existing contract” it had with Well being Merthyr that was due to expire in 2035. Unlike Warrington, Merthyr Tydfil is outsourcing its leisure again, but it is keeping its libraries in-house.


Bundle jungle


Attempts to link public libraries to other sectors have proven problematic. It has usually been leisure, and this has been under huge financial pressure since Covid.


But back in 2018 it was the failure of construction firm Carillion, which had expanded into service provision. When it went into liquidation it led to library services in Hounslow, Ealing, Croydon and Harrow being taken back in house. Another dimension of the bundling problem was highlighted in Warrington when it undertook a subsidy compli- ance review with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).


The CMA had a few doubts – like the estimated minimum subsidy of around £9m moving to around £24m – but most persistently about bundling. The CMA said that bundling made it hard to see what proportion of a subsidy was going to individual services or “how the library provision supports the stated policy objective”. In its summary, it made one general point, that its assessment “would be strengthened by differentiating between the range of services that LiveWire provides and considering these separately, rather than bundling all services together.” (https://tinyurl. com/4bjv9kyv)


March 2024 Model shop


Many councils went down the out- sourcing route in the early 2010s to deal with budget cuts in the ‘era of austerity’. It was encouraged by the Government which published the Libraries: alternative delivery models toolkit in 2017.


This said: “The significant pressures facing councils and library services have led many to start considering whether their current delivery model is the right one. While library services may be able to redesign their in-house service to meet immediate pressures, their positioning within the council may make them less able to sustain future funding reductions or react to changes in customer expectations.”


Leaders not models


Many authorities are probably con- sidering these options again as future funding reductions for local authori- ties are looking worse than ever. But library leaders aren’t sure changing models is a key factor.


Isobel Hunter, chief executive of Libraries Connected said that if ser- vices are thinking about it, they aren’t talking about it. In December, asked if outsourcing was being discussed again, she said: “Not at the moment. But spinning out is always on the table when councils are pressed by immedi- ate and long-term funding pressures.” However, she added: “There’s a lot more understanding now that it isn’t so much about the governance model – it’s the leadership. Well-led, well-man- aged services are better, whether they are in-house or out-house.”


Model agnostic


It’s a view shared by Jo Cornish, interim Chief Executive at CILIP who said: “We are aware of strong examples of service delivery in both in-house


Jo Cornish.


and outsourced models. What makes a defining difference is the leadership and strategic vision for the services. A quality service is all about a strong and representative relationship with the community. There needs to be a paid professional staff to lead that work, and continued investment in the skills of the workforce to meet the current and evolving needs.” She pointed to CILIP’s Future Librar-


ies report and future planning toolkit (www.cilip.org.uk/page/future-libraries) – funded by Arts Council England – to support the strategic development needs for public library service plan- ning for the next 20 years.


Useful process


But checking the options for a library service can be helpful. Isobel pointed to Hertfordshire which came close to mutualisation but stepped back: “The process of spinning-out means a lot of management time has been spent on looking at that service and understand- ing its mission and vision.


“That time investment is really valu- able and it certainly has been in Hert- fordshire, where they were all ready to spin-out, but then reversed the decision due to the changed landscape post-pandemic. They had invested all that management time, thinking and leadership time in there, and that has all been for the good.”


INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 13


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