(ii) The book and new technology
19. The traditional heart of the public library system
is the book. Books are valuable and valued resources and have
enjoyed an unrivalled position as the preferred medium for recording,
storing and disseminating information. That position has begun
to be challenged by the rise of information technology, but there
are undoubtedly sectors in which the book will retain its preeminent
position. However, in some instances, the book may no longer be
an alternative. Lord Evans, Chairman of both MLAC and publishers
Faber & Faber, said: "There will be a book budget and
increasingly part of that book budget can only be spent on electronic
material because in academic publishing and medical publishing
the book is disappearing; it just will not be there".[42]
20. Doubts have been expressed about the impact of
information and communication technology (ICT) on libraries. The
Library Campaign said that new developments "must not be
allowed to detract from the provision of the more traditional
services".[43]
However, Ms Kempster said that library users "do want everything.
They want access when they want it; they want a range of books
melded with technology and they want access to both information
and also imagination."[44]
The Library Association said that the attraction of public libraries
was the "mix of resources ... You can get a whole mix of
stimuli and there is nowhere else that offers that."[45]
Mr Neville Mackay said that local authorities had started to re-examine
the library's role and had begun to recognise both the need for
a combination of resources in public libraries and that "it
is not a matter of investing in either books or technology but
in fact the investment is in both because that is part of the
new integrated, holistic library service which their public require".[46]
21. The challenge for libraries is, as Mr Batt asserted,
"understanding different resources for different occasions".[47]
Those who expect the library to continue as simply buildings with
books are, Lord Evans stated, "in for a terrible shock, speaking
as a publisher".[48]
He continued: "What we must move away from is the notion
that there is a rivalry here between the book and electronic".[49]
The library will have to provide both in the future. He went on
to explain that now "it is not a matter of investing in either
books or technology but in fact the investment is in both".[50]
22. There is a continuing tendency in some analyses
of trends in library services to stress the competition between
the book and new technology. This is a false antithesis. Their
development must be complementary not competitive. We are convinced
that the book will survive for the foreseeable future. It will
be supplemented, not superseded. The challenge for the library
sector is to ensure that the development of information technology
in libraries broadens library services and does not take place
at the expense of the book.
(iii) Book stock and book funds
23. As at 31 March 1999, the total book stock held
by public libraries was just over 123 million volumes, held at
4,823 locations. Annual additions to book stocks have fallen in
recent years to just under 11 million for 1998-99, a reduction
of 14.3 per cent on additions for 1993-94.[51]
Of books registered under the Public Lending Right in 1998-99,
52 per cent were adult fiction, 19.4 per cent were adult non-fiction,
22.2 per cent were children's fiction and 6.4 per cent were children's
non-fiction.[52]
24. The public library service will have spent an
estimated £95 million in 1999-2000 on books and pamphlets,
and just over £6.5 million on newspapers, periodicals and
magazines.[53]
The LGA stated that it was "deeply concerned ... about the
level of book funds".[54]
Councillor Heinitz, Chair of the LGA Cultural Services Executive,
admitted that in his local authority "the quality of materials
being purchased and the quantity of materials purchased has fallen
dangerously low".[55]
He explained that "cuts have tended to be in the book fund
rather than in closing libraries".[56]
Library authorities have made cost savings in book purchasing,
as a result of measures such as preferentially buying paperbacks
that are more cost effective.[57]
Libraries may also have benefited from the ending of the Net Book
Agreement, although in some instances the savings made by libraries
have been rewarded by further cuts to the book fund.[58]
The LGA contended that at any one time approximately one third
of the total book stock of a local library will be in the homes
of local people.[59]
25. The size of the book fund affects both the quantity
and the quality of books held by public libraries. The LIC observed
that quantitative and qualitative declines in book stocks had
been the result of reductions in funding from local authorities.[60]
Libraries for Life for Londoners expressed concern at the "preponderance
of cheap and 'popular' fiction" on library shelves, which
constituted a "dumbing down" of the service.[61]
Such concerns are not new: in 1868, Liverpool public library issued
200,000 romances and novels, and in 1858 more than half Bolton
lending library's book issues were novels and romances. The trend
for libraries to lend popular fiction was heavily criticised and
led in 1901 to the Lancashire town of Darwen banning all popular
fiction.[62]
26. The book stock is rightly seen as central
to the quality of a library service. The DCMS has recently set
out its proposed standards to monitor expenditure on books and
other materials and the quantity and quality of the book stock.[63]
We welcome these standards in principle, although we have not
had an opportunity to examine them in detail. We note that the
Department canvasses the possibility of determining quality "as
a percentage of the titles nominated for the major literary prizes
in the year of the report combined with a selection of the top
500 best-selling titles".[64]
We are surprised that no reference is made in the proposed criteria
for determining quality to the popularity of books as indicated
by the Public Lending Right scheme.
29 Q 12. Back
30 Evidence,
p 144. Back
31 Q
1. Back
32 Evidence,
pp 4, 25. Back
33 Public
Library Statistics 1998-99, Actuals
(hereafter Public Library Statistics 1998-99) published
by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy,
p 3. See also LISU Library Statistics 1999, p 19. Caveat:
Statistics in this Report are indicative-statistical information
about libraries is primarily from information published by CIPFA
or LISU. Back
34 Evidence,
pp 39, 115, 133, 134, 144. See also memoranda from Department
of Information Studies, University of Sheffield and from Garth
Residents' Association. Back
35 Q
74. Back
36 Evidence,
p 12. Public Library Statistics 1999-2000 Estimates (hereafter
Public Library Statistics 1999-2000) published by the Chartered
Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, pp 2, 23. See also
LISU Statistics 1999, p 21. Back
37 See
Vincent, J (1986), An introduction to community librarianship.
London: Association of Assistant Librarians. Back
38 Evidence,
p 49. Back
39 Q
126. Back
40 Evidence,
p 101. Back
41 Public
Library Statistics 1998-99,
p 3. Back
42 Q
263. Back
43 Evidence,
p 37. Back
44 Q
66. Back
45 Q
50. Back
46 Q
264. Back
47 Q
12. Back
48 Q
264. Back
49 Q
263. Back
50 Q
264. Back
51 Public
Library Statistics 1998-99,
p 3. The footnote to the total bookstock statistics states "no
information is available on the quality of these books, ie currency
and conditions". See also LISU Statistics 1999, p
210. Back
52 Memorandum
from the Public Lending Right Advisory Committee, appended tables. Back
53 Public
Library Statistics 1999-2000,
p 3. Back
54 Q
54. Back
55 Q
56. See also Evidence, p 124. Back
56 Q
56. Back
57 Paperbacks
in public libraries, Library
and Information Commission research report 2. Back
58 Memorandum
from the Booksellers Association. Back
59 Q
56. Back
60 QQ
26-27, Evidence, p 13. Back
61 Evidence,
p 40. Back
62 Public
Libraries and Social Exclusion: The Historical Legacy
(hereafter The Historical Legacy), Public Library Policy
and Social Exclusion Working Papers, No 2, 1999. Back
63 Comprehensive
and Efficient Standards,
paras 49-52. Back
64 Ibid,
para 53. Back
