NEWS FEATURE
Public library workforce strategy for uncertain times
Lack of data, unstable political and economic environments and diverse local circumstances are taken into account by a new public library sector workforce strategy.
ADDRESSING challenges faced by public libraries is becoming a more complex job as a lack of data makes it harder to track them and the economic and politi- cal instability make it harder to organise a response to them.
In July ACE, CILIP, Libraries Connected and Libraries Rising made a start in addressing the sector’s workforce challenges by publishing a new workforce strategy – Developing the future public library workforce: Realising our shared ambitions (
https://tinyurl.com/uj74mft2) – to guide services, leaders and part- ners across England.
The strategy sets out a response focusing on widening access and creating clearer routes into the profession. This includes an emphasis on attracting younger people through pathways such as apprenticeships. It also emphasises the need to pro- mote library careers to a broader and more diverse range of people.
It focuses on five key areas for action:
l Planning for a diverse and future-ready workforce; l identifying skills needs; l development pathways; l leadership; l preparing for the future.
Each section provides practical ideas and goals for library leaders. It then does the same for sector organisations with links to relevant resources. Sonia Ramdhian, Chief Development Officer at CILIP said:
“The report was carried out as a unified piece of work with our co-partners with the intention to provide practical and actionable support to guide services, leaders and partners across England.”
Keep building James Pearson, Assistant Director Libraries, Registration & Archives, Kent County Council, said: “The strategy articu- lates well the wide ranging and diverse range of work our staff are delivering,” adding that it “is hugely valuable to supporting services” offering a range of development pathways and “recog- nising one size does not fit all”. He said: “Now launched I think it is good to continue to
keep building on this, take stock on how it is being used in the sector and keep evolving. Public Library services thrive thanks to the fabulous and dedicated work library staff do … every day – ensuring our staff are equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to do that work and develop and
12 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
this strategy supports that as well as looking at further work the sector needs to continue to do this.”
Uncertain times
The workforce development strategy was being developed independently to, but at the same time as the government’s intended national public library strategy. This was due to be published this summer and was also expected to address some workforce issues. At the time Isobel Hunter, CEO of Libraries Connected said that, among other things, a national public library strategy needed to set out how the government would ensure “a properly supported and fairly rewarded workforce.” Publishing the national strategy appears to have been interrupted by the Labour Party leadership change over the summer – one of the ramifications of which has been a reshuffle at DCMS with the minster responsible for libraries changing from Baroness Twycross to Baroness Mackenzie.
In scope The strategy is designed to work despite these uncertainties and has selected areas where it can be effective. It said: “We also acknowledge that low pay and the long-term reduction in staffing levels are significant and ongoing chal- lenges affecting the public library workforce. These structural issues have a considerable impact on workforce sustainabil- ity and morale. However, they fall outside the scope of this document.” Instead, it said: “Our focus is on areas where there is poten- tial to make meaningful progress, while acknowledging the broader context in which this work takes place.”
Making a start
The report aims to help leaders make changes where possi- ble. For example, it said that “a key limitation is the lack of a centralised and comprehensive approach to workforce data collection across the public library sector”. However, it still addresses some of these challenges in its first section: Planning for a diverse and future -ready workforce. The section explains the role of the different paths into the profession and the benefits of professional development. It then looks at the structural barriers standing in the way of its goal to “attract talent from across the breadth of the UK population”. It acknowledges the complexities – that while “women constitute a significant majority of the library workforce,
August-September 2026
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