Memorandum submitted by Libraries for
Life for Londoners
INTRODUCTION
1. Throughout London the last fifteen to
twenty years of the 20th century have seen a steep decline in
the quality of library services. The previous hundred years had
been notable for the introduction and continual improvement in
universal education, the growth of public libraries, and the blossoming
of a range of social and cultural services. In recent years much
of this progress has been reversed. Libraries in particular have
suffered repeated cuts in opening hours, staffing, and bookstocks.
In several boroughs closures have left large areas devoid of library
services, depleting both quality of life and cultural standards.
LLL—LIBRARIES
FOR LIFE
FOR LONDONERS
2.i. Because of these circumstances and
further severe threats to public libraries all over the capital,
LLL was set up in late 1999 as an alliance of London user groups
to be a concerted voice for library users Londonwide.
2.ii. We call for a comprehensive, high
quality, well-managed, and accessible library service for all
Londoners: and we seek to emphasise the social, educational, economic,
and cultural importance to every section of the community. We
want to see libraries higher up the political agenda.
SOCIAL EXCLUSION
3.i. Libraries are a major force combating
social exclusion. They often provide children's first experience
of being a citizen: of belonging to something, having a ticket,
taking advantage of a public service, having responsibilities.
Children from the deprived concrete estates and children from
the leafy areas come on equal terms and mix happily together.
The under-fives services help to close the gap between children
from homes without books and others. It is a safe place where
many children are allowed to go on their own. Books on parenting
and dealing with crises often make a difference.
3.ii. Ethnic minority communities can be
well served by public libraries. Many of them value learning and
education very highly. Ethnic minority women feel safe and unthreatened
and welcome in the library and can be aided both by the availability
of material in their own languages and by help with their command
of English. The same applies to their children who may get access
to dual language books.
3.iii. For people in poverty the library
is a many-faceted resource. Many areas of London have high concentrations
of people on benefits who cannot afford books, newspapers, or
computers. The library offers all these, with newspapers being
of particular importance to the unemployed seeking jobs. The bookstock
and other materials give the opportunities to discover and pursue
new interests. For people in cramped accommodation who need to
take their children out the library is the only interesting place
that does not cost money.
3.iv. Elderly people read more than most
age groups and value their libraries. Isolated and frail elderly
people appreciate not only borrowing books which are their main
pleasure but enjoy the feeling of being part of the community
which visiting the library gives them. It is also a source of
information about local meetings, courses, or entertainment that
is cheap or free.
3.v. For all these groups the library is
important in lessening their degree of disadvantage and an accessible
service which does not involve using public transport [difficult
to get on for the old, and expensive for families] or crossing
fearsome main roads.
NEW TECHNOLOGY
4. We welcome the Government initiative
in promoting, and to some extent financing, new technology in
public libraries. In view of the fact that there is already so
much information that is available only on the Internet [for example
the existence of your Committee] we consider it essential. We
hope, however, that it will not be allowed to usurp precious resources
such as staff time, shelf and floor space, and quiet study areas,
from traditional library services.
LIFELONG LEARNING
5. The library provides information and
guidance on lifelong learning opportunities, stimulates readers
who want to take courses, and supports their studies by providing
background reading and reference material in all media.
OPENING HOURS
6. Opening times should cater for the working
population and for people who need to use the library in daylight,
such as the elderly and parents with young children. Lunchtime
closing has been very unpopular, and there is a big demand for
Sunday opening. Libraries in London which are open on Sunday are
well-used. Most religious groups consider visiting the library
to be a suitable activity on the sabbath.
CLOSURES
7. Threats of library closures always bring
fear and fierce opposition in equal measure. Closures are certain
vote losers. Where some London boroughs have closed libraries
they have left great swathes of territory where the resident communities
have no access to libraries.
BOOKSTOCK
8. We are concerned at the preponderance
of cheap and `popular' fiction and non fiction on the shelves,
the dumbing down of the service. Quantity and number of issues
should not be the only criteria when stock is selected. Classics
and literary fiction should be available as they once were.
STANDARDS
9. We look for definable standards that
are monitored and enforced. It is important that user representation
contributes to the setting and monitoring of standards. Performance
indicators should include levels of user satisfaction, and should
be published.
FINANCE
10.i. We are in an age in which a nation's
prosperity depends on a well-educated workforce. Education, literacy,
and lifelong learning are government priorities. Libraries have
an important role to play at pre-school and every other age. The
Secretary of State's street corner universities can be effective
only if properly funded. Funding the public library service is
a good investment. It brings returns on capital in terms of the
quality of the workforce.
10.ii. The service is well used and much
valued. It is the one elective local authority service that is
used by the whole community; people of all ages, all levels of
education, and all ethnic origins. Libraries are good value for
money, and lack of them causes additional burdens elsewhere—education,
social services, etcetera.
10.iii. London has many commercial and business
centres where employees flock in each day and use local services.
Libraries have a statutory responsibility to cater for working
populations but are not funded through the SSA for the cost of
doing so.
10.iv. We consider that central government
should be responsible for ensuring that funding is available for
libraries, either through the SSA or by other means.
LONDON
11.i. We should like to see the Greater
London Authority take an active strategic role in the provision
of library services, in promoting co-operation and in preventing
waste and overlap.
11.ii. We welcome the recent setting up
of the LLNG [London Learning Network Group] which fulfils a recommendation
in the Comedia report London Library City and the LPAC [London
Planning Advisory Committee] report Libraries in London: similarly
the LLDA [London Library Development Agency] which we understand
is now about to come on stream. As far as we know the recommendation
to give more prominence to the economic, planning, and commercial
importance of libraries has not been put into effect.
11.iii. One of the disadvantages London
has suffered because of its local government structure is that
although it has rich and unrivalled library resources, particularly
in the non-local authority sectors, it lacks a beacon centre of
library excellence such as the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, and
Manchester and Birmingham central libraries.
11.iv. Now that our capital is to be a single
entity with its own representation and personality we should aspire
to having such a central service.
January 2000
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