FEBRUARY 2025.  .  Welcome to our newsletter round up of February’s UK libraries news! BIRMINGHAM BLUES  The Birmingham story grinds on, with a drastic cut/reorganisation of libraries approved by the Cabinet – but now referred back to the Scrutiny Committee. Tempers were not improved by the news that £90m extra needs to be spent on an IT system (original budget £19m) that has so far been a disaster. What concerns us most is the effect on library staff, and the library service. As we have said in our evidence to the consultations (twice!) the plan is specifically labelled as “community libraries and advice services to be integrated into a new service”. UNISON tells us: “The library provision part is the poor relation of the partnership and the [advice] staff are seen as the highly skilled members of staff. This is actually said in the report to Cabinet. “It is reflected in the proposed new job descriptions. A new Directorate is being created called Connected Communities. As a result, instead of being called library assistants it is currently proposed that they are called assistant community connectors. The current assistant library managers will be Community Connectors and library managers will be Community Hub Managers.” The whole exercise has been led by the Department for “Early Intervention and Prevention”. Not the Head of Library Services, or even the Department for Digital, Culture, Heritage & Tourism where libraries reside. Libraries didn’t get a look-in. £4,000 COMPETITION We have had some smashing entries for our Friends group competition. But not nearly as many as we’d like. It’s your chance to show off what you do – and win £400. Remember, we are not asking for elaborate presentations – just enough to convey the necessary information. We know how busy you are. To get you thinking, we have come up with 10 categories: fund-raising idea, children’s/youth activity, regular activity programme, creative project, all-day event, green project, publicity campaign, joint library/Friends project, joint project with another local organisation, anti-cuts campaign. Full details here. To enter just send a note to us at [email protected] LAMBETH’S LOW POINT  Another awful library cut. But at least we now have a hot contender for the 2025 Secrecy Award! We thought nobody could beat Peterborough (see January newsletter). But Lambeth announced its shocking 25% cut in one line buried in a 700-page set of Cabinet papers (online only, of course) published on the Wednesday before its Monday Cabinet meeting! Just a number. No rationale. The idea had never been seen before by councillors, even by the Cabinet at its previous meeting, though all other cuts had been before the Overview & Scrutiny committee… Telling residents? Heavens, no. The cut itself – imposed without any notice or chance to plan – would devastate the libraries budget, which is just £4.7m. This sum is barely changed in cash terms since 1984. Forty years of inflation make it just one third of what it was then. The council thinks it can do it, mainly by keeping 16 posts vacant and cutting the bookfund by £100,000. Local people beg to differ. They hastily scrambled to protest outside the Cabinet meeting, and will do so again for the Council meeting on 5 March (Town Hall, 6.30pm). FUN FACT: Lambeth’s libraries have just been shortlisted for the UK Library of the Year (see below). SUFFOLK LIBRARIES- BACK IN HOUSE. FOR GOOD? Suffolk County Council has annouced that it is going to take its library service back in house. In 2022 they outsourced it to a specially constructed Industrial and Friendly Society (IFS) – a form of charity – which has run it under contract ever since. This came about as an alternative to closing a number of libraries and the IFS has kept them open. In doing so it has worked well (as far as we know) with local Friends Groups, many of which sprang up around the closures. It has also been praised by the public library sector for some of its work.  The Library Campaign as always taken the view that public libraries should be run directly by local authorities in order to ensure accountability. So we welcome the news that the service is being brought back to where it should be. The detail of the failed negotiations to let the IFS carry on is beyond our pay grade so we await with interest the Council’s plans. They say they won’t close any libraries and will put money into book buying. They also claim that the IFS proposed cutting opening hours by 30% and there was concern about the cost of its head office, which it said equated to 33% of annual staffing costs. To be continued… MONEY FOR ARTS – NOT MUCH FOR LIBRARIES Two Government announcements this month gave some cause for hope that the investment libraries have been lacking for so long, might be arriving. But the detail was less inspiring.  First, Lisa Nandy (the Culture Secretary) announced £270m for arts including “A fourth round of the Libraries Improvement Fund worth £5.5 million, which will enable public library services across England to upgrade buildings and technology to better respond to changing user needs.’ Welcome though this is, it won’t reach all the library services – or libraries – that need it. We remember all too well the leaking roof and cordoned off areas in the library where we held the Library Campaign AGM last year. And that was in Westminster which is probably better funded than many. Even a Local Government Association spokesperson said it is just a ‘sticking plaster’ to cover a lack of overall funding.’On the same day, Nandy and the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner hailed another £67m for culture projects This time the library element will go to the new British Library North in Leeds and also to the National Poetry Centre in the same city, which Simon Armitage said on radio would be the crowning achievement of his Laureateship.E-BOOKS IN LIBRARIESLibraries Connected has published a report funded by the Arts Council of England, on a project to explore easier ways to get e-books into public libraries. At present some of the largest publishers will not allow this at all and even publishers that do often make the cost much more expensive than for a paper copy, not least by making the library buy another copy when the first one has done a set number of loans. The study worked with several library services and publishers and trialled different way of funding / supplying e-books to the libraries. The publishers involved also supplied material to encourage promotion of the e-books. It looked at how much the books were used. Although there were only 250 titles in the project (from 16 publishers) the results were felt to be encouraging. “Pilot titles accounted for about 1% of collections but performed well in checkouts.’ And ‘Titles from independent publishers generally performed well, leading to increased interest.’They also used an independent market research company to find out attitudes to e-books and libraries more generally. 27,000 people were surveyed and a few interviewed in more depth. One of the most interesting results of this was that those who borrow e-books are more likely to buy them. Given that publishers are worried that letting e-books into libraries will have a bad effect on general sales, maybe some publishers will take a different view now. They also found that e-book borrowers are more likely to be women aged 45+, particularly 55-74.On the other hand, and perhaps unsurprisingly given the cost of equipment on which to read e-books, 28% of e-book borrowers come from lower-income households, compared with 39% of all library members. There are a series of recommendations, the most important of which are perhaps that the piloted licensing models should all be continued, and that prices of e-books should align more closely with those for print books, while the range of title made available to public libraries should be expanded.  LIBRARY OF THE YEAR 2025 The shortlist for the British Book Award Library 2025 has been published. Libraries across the UK have continue to shine in the face of extreme cuts to their funding and it is wonderful that there are spaces such as this award for these crucial public spaces and their staff to receive some recognition. 36 UK libraries have made it to the shortlist for being awarded British Book Award Library of the year 2025 which is sponsored by The Reading Agency and DK Publishing.The British Book Awards (aka the NIBBIES) highlight their enthusiasm for the entries: ‘The exceptional entries to this year’s Library of the Year award demonstrate the vital role that public libraries play in our communities. Each finalist has shown remarkable innovation in developing projects that not only promote reading but also create meaningful connections and support local needs’Best of luck to the finalists and we will keep you posted when the winners have been announced. Picture above – finalist Exeter library. UNIVERSITIES IN LEICESTERSHIRE Universities in Leicestershire – the University of Leicester, De Montfort University, and Loughborough University – are opening their doors to the public. Non-university users will be able to borrow up to 10 books and have access to study space. These traditionally academic spaces will be open to all who live within Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland. The participating universities will also have separate membership schemes allowing access for Sixth-form college students, giving them some exposure to community university academic life and research. Paul Engrave of the Universities Partnership scheme is quoted saying “Universities are fantastic assets to their regions and by opening their library doors to local people, we are not only welcoming them onto our campuses – we are providing a wonderful additional service.” We are pleased that more people will have access to resources and hope that this is not happening so as to cut services or close regular public high street library services. FACEBOOKROUND UP  Two friends of Friends of Save Greenhall Library and a representative from Hall Green South were interviewed by GB News in a piece due to be aired in early March, around the time of Birmingham budget announcements. Keep up to date with these tireless Friends groups on their Facebook pages for further announcements and links to the news story and website piece once aired. Southampton’s Friends of Woolsten Library have been advertising their upcoming chess club – they are seeking new members for their Tuesday afternoon meet ups. They are also busy advertising their June 5th talk about Jane Austen. The Friends of Batley Library (Kirklees – Yorkshire) are working hard to let people know all about their Storytime session for young ones on Thursday mornings as well as their donation based free soup and roll keep warm service for anyone who needs it. Also in Kirklees, in Mirfield, the library is playing host to a new art club for 12-16 year olds that is offering youngsters specialist teaching in techniques such as painting, photography, collage and more! Bristol’s Friends of Whitchurch Library had their first coffee morning this month. We’ve seen lots of these popping up recently across UK libraries and hope that they can be a space to network and keep up with any changes to the running of their libraries as well as a time for socialising and meeting up. In preparation for World Book Day (March 6th in case you’d forgotten), Oundle Library has found a way for children to get dressed up as their favourite characters and help the environment at the same time. People can take previously worn children’s costumes to the Costume Swap Rail where they can pick up another pre-loved costume for free! Save Coventry Libraries, who campaign against the council’s plan to close local public libraries celebrates LGBTQ+ History Month, on their Facebook page. This year, with a focus on “Activism and Social Change” they’ve shared images remembering the figures from history who have been instrumental in social change in this country, and a great one from the archives of protesters standing outside Rugby Town Hall campaigning for the rights of gay men and women. We’ve seen similar posts this month all over our social media feeds as well as in our local libraries. AND FINALLY… LOVE FROM SLIC… The Scottish Library & Information Council (SLIC) launched a national Love Libraries campaign on Valentine’s Day, encouraging more people to join libraries and make use of all they have to offer.  The campaign is organised by the National Library of Scotland and partner organisations including SLIC, the Chartered Institute of Libraries and Information Professionals Scotland (CILIPS), the Association of Public Libraries Scotland (APLS), and the Scottish Consortium of University and Research Libraries (SCURL).During its centenary year the National Library of Scotland says it “wants to support and promote libraries of all kinds. The focus is on the impact and value of libraries everywhere”.As we have said many times, we want something similar for England and Wales!Please get in touch with us if your local library is under threat, you have a Friends group that you wish to promote or you would like advice about how to start a Friends group for your local library – currently under threat or not. Feel free to ask any questions about what Friends groups get up to. We have now created an archive of our previous newsletters, which you can view here – check it out if you haven’t already and share the link as it’s also a place for new subscribers to sign up. If you are new to getting our monthly newsletter this is a way to see what we’ve been getting across since we started this newsletter in Autumn 2022. Copyright (C) *2023* *The Library Campaign*. * Registered Charity No: 1102634 * All rights reserved.  |
