STV’s RESPONSE TO THE INDEPENDENT LIBRARY REPORT FOR ENGLAND

Share The Vision (STV) welcomes the publication of the “Independent Library Report for England” by the panel led by William Sieghart. The report provides a clear and concise analysis of the valuable contribution made by public libraries to the lives of individuals and communities throughout the country, especially for the most vulnerable in society who need support and guidance, but the highlights the lack of awareness of this value amongst many decision makers at both national and local level.

In order to avoid becoming the latest in a long line of library reviews which have come to nothing it realistically only makes three simple but major recommendations: a national digital resource for libraries; a task and finish force led by local government and that the taskforce should work with local authorities for 3 to 4 years to help local authorities revitalise their local library services. It then proposes 4 actions each to be undertaken by central government, local government and the taskforce in order to instigate the improvements prescribed to revitalise library services.

STV endorses this plan to bring forward an enhanced national digital network; the enhancement of e-lending services; the development of the library workforce; the extension of cooperation between local authorities and greater cross-government recognition and support for libraries.

STV particularly welcomes the proposals to develop a national digital network for libraries and e-lending as digital technology has transformed the opportunities for print disabled people to have access to content of all sorts. It is important that public libraries are able to seize this opportunity to mainstream services for these people who tend to be amongst the disadvantaged 20% the report refers to. Quite rightly the report states “Equipment should be able to be used by everyone with assistive reading technologies and accessible keyboards where required.” However, this requires the “support and guidance” of trained staff who can not only help disabled people to use assistive technology but can also assist them to make the most of the accessibility features of e-reading devices, tablets and smartphones to access digital content.

Mark Freeman, Chair of STV, comments:

“This is a good and reasonably realistic report but the elephant in the room is not mentioned; continuing austerity”.

On the same day as the report was published, the Department for Communities and Local Government announced the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2015-16 which it claimed was an average cut of 1.8% for English councils. The Local Government Association said, however, that the savings were £2.6 billion which is an 8.8% cut in government grants. Perhaps not surprisingly, the LGA did not respond to the Sieghart report’s proposed actions on libraries by local government but in its media release about the settlement the LGA’s Chair is quoted as saying “It is individuals who have paid the price of funding reductions, whether it is through seeing their local library close, roads deteriorate or support for young people and families being scaled back.” It is difficult, realistically, to expect this to change in 2015-16.

The Minister for Culture, Ed Vaizey, did respond by announcing that he was setting up the library task force under the chairmanship of the Chief Executive of Northamptonshire County Council, Paul Blantern, but he did not mention funding. On 30th October, in his other role as the Digital Economy Minister, he announced that over 1000 public buildings, including libraries, in cities across the UK were to get free public Wi-Fi by March 2015. Perhaps a portion of this funding could be diverted to libraries outside cities or extra money might be found from the Government’s digital budget?

References:

http://www.local.gov.uk/web/guest/media-releases/-/journal_content/56/10180/6841467/NEWS

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/1000-buildings-in-uk-cities-to-get-free-public-wi-fi

Note

STV is a UK wide partnership of libraries in different sectors and library organisations which work together to improve access to library and information services for print disabled people.