APPENDIX 14
Memorandum submitted by the Publishers
Association
BOOKS FOR PUBLIC LIBRARIES
A Statement Issued by the Book Trust on behalf
of the National Book Committee
Questioned on public library book expenditure
by Dr Howard Stoate, Member of Parliament for Dartford, in the
House of Commons on 26 July 1999, the Minister for the Arts, Alan
Howarth, stated that such expenditure had fallen from £83.4
million in 1996-97 to an estimate of £77.5 million in 1998-99,
a decline of nearly £6 million. He added that there had been
a "very destructive squeeze" on this area of public
library expenditure over recent years and pointed to library authorities'
statutory responsibility to provide a comprehensive and efficient
library service and the Government's determination that they should
do so.
These concerns were also reflected in the statement
by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Chris
Smith, in his response to the Comprehensive Spending Review. Here
he affirmed that the improvement of public library book provision
would be a key priority for his Department. He initially suggested
"opening up a new stream under the Heritage Lottery Fund"
which "would help libraries to renew their supply of books
and materials as a one-off exercise following a substantial period
of neglect." Speaking to the Bookseller, Mr Smith
said "This is an area of need we have identified and that
we want to try and do something about."
Following a consultation exercise, the Government
decided that it was not possible to assist public libraries via
this channel. It was not seen as suitable to use the Heritage
Lottery Fund to repair deficiencies in what should be areas of
adequate ongoing expenditure and it was thought that such a policy
might be seen as rewarding failure.
The "very destructive squeeze" on
public library book spending remains a matter of deep concern
to the National Book Committee. Although the first course proposed
to remedy the situation has had to be abandoned, we would wish
to continue to urge the Government to take all steps within its
power to arrest the alarming decline in expenditure and to enhance
public library book stocks.
A SUBSTANTIAL PERIOD
OF NEGLECT
Figures produced by the Library and Information
Services Unit at Loughborough University provide ample evidence
of the "substantial period of neglect" of public library
book funds cited by Ministers. In a recent publication, Perspectives
of Public Library Use 2: 1999, expenditure per capita on public
library books is shown to have fallen in real terms from £2.27
in 1986-87 to £1.75 in 1996-97, or by 23 per cent. Indications
for 1998-99 and 1999-2000 are that there will be little or no
improvement on this performance (Public Library Materials Fund
and Budget Survey 1998-2000). The decline in book provision
is recognised and regretted by those who use the libraries. High
levels of dissatisfaction are recorded over "the range of
books and other items of stock."
While some library authorities have managed
to increase their expenditure significantly, others have made
substantial cuts, even those whose expenditure was already very
low, such as Barnsley and the Vale of Glamorgan. Those who were
spending around the average (Aberdeen, Bedfordshire, Caerphilly,
Comhairle, Nan Eilean Siar, Hampshire, Kingston-upon-Hull, Midlothian,
North Lanarkshire, North Lincolnshire, Rotherham, South Lanarkshire)
have seen their position heavily eroded, and there are also discomforting
declines in authorities that previously spent at a higher level
like Bournemouth, Bromley, Redcar and Cleveland, Southampton and
Walsall. "Substantial cuts" are here defined as those
that amount to 15 per cent or over in two years, but cuts in individual
authorities in one year can exceed 20, 30, 40 or even 50 per cent.
STANDARDS FOR
PUBLIC LIBRARY
BOOK SPENDING
The situation is clearly unsatisfactory, and
the Secretary of State recognises this. He has therefore made
the welcome announcement this year that the Government aims to
publish proposed standards for public libraries in the spring
of the year 2000, and that these will include the amount of new
books and other materials to be purchased annually. The circular
outlining this development draws attention to the requirement
placed on local authorities to provide a "comprehensive and
efficient library service" and makes clear the Government's
intention of defining what local library users can expect, and
what local authorities must provide in order to comply with the
law.
Announcing the proposals, Chris Smith described
each library as a "street-corner university" with a
vital place at the heart of its community. He stated that a new
set of standards would allow councils to plan for the future knowing
that they will be meeting their statutory duties, would reassure
library users that they will receive the service to which they
are entitled and would assist him in carrying out his duty to
oversee the public library service.
In what we must hope to be an earnest of positive
things to come, the DCMS/Wolfson Trust Fund is providing £3
million for reader development and £1 million for history
collections, both of which will allow for the purchase of books.
WHAT SHOULD
BE DONE
The National Book Committee believes that it
will be vital in the context of the setting of these standards
that the exercise does lead to an enhancement of book provision
in public libraries. At the very least, the aim should be to regain
the levels of spending that prevailed 20 years ago. Careful attention
should be paid to the study of current public library acquisitions
and to the levels of expenditure that are actually required to
provide people with the books and information they need. Details
can be received from public libraries of those publications that
they cannot purchase at present to the detriment of the service
to their readers. Organisations such as the newly-formed Museums,
Libraries and Archives Council will be able to play a central
role in encouraging this process.
When the standards have been established, it
will be very helpful if the Secretary of State can give strong
consideration to allocating any available funds to public libraries
specifically to boost their book stocks and not to be substituted
for existing expenditure. To avoid rewarding failure, sums could
be passed to the library authorities on a broadly equal basis
as has been the case with the Department for Education and Employment's
book grants to schools. Such grants could perhaps be made conditional
on meeting the new DCMS standards for expenditure on books to
discourage local authorities from cutting library book funds to
off-set the grants. Through initiatives of this kind, it should
be possible to solve the problem of shortages in book provision
which has plagued the public library service for too long.
PUBLIC LIBRARIES
AND THE
FUTURE
In announcing his plans for standards, the Secretary
of State also made reference to the crucial role which libraries
can undertake in providing access to the new technology to people
who would otherwise be denied it, a theme previously explored
in some depth by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. The National
Book Committee endorses and supports very strongly the Government's
aim of creating a public libraries' information technology network
as set out in its response to the report of the Library and Information
Commission on New Library: The People's Network. The Government
intends to spend £270 million over four years on this development,
with a considerable proportion of this sum going towards the provision
of quality content materials. Organisations represented on the
National Book Committee are at present working and co-operating
on plans for the network to be facilitated and for libraries to
receive electronic publications of the standard at present delivered
via the printed word. The public libraries of the future will
use new technology hand in hand with the printed word in delivering
information to the people.
READ ON
. . .
The Secretary of State also makes it clear that
"the Government expects books and the printed word to remain
at the core of the public library service". Experience in
university libraries with the Joint Academic Network and in the
book trade with the development of Internet bookshops indicate
that the sourcing of information on electronic networks increases
the demand for books and other printed materials. The novelist
Umberto Eco admitted in 1995 that he sometimes spent up to 12
hours in front of a computer but said: "Books will remain
indispensable not only for literature, but for any circumstance
in which one needs to read carefully, to receive information and
also to speculate about it. To read a computer screen is not the
same as to read a book." The National Year of Reading has
been successfully completed, but the National Campaign for Reading
continues under the slogan Read On. While deficiencies in public
library expenditure each year on books are currently probably
running at around £25 million, the National Book Committee
must welcome the initiatives being taken by the Secretary of State
for Culture, Media and Sport and express the hope that the important
task of improving book provision in public libraries is seen,
as resources allow, as a continuing commitment over the period
of this Government.
The National Book Committee represents all those
concerned with the place of books in society: readers, authors,
publishers of books and journals, new and antiquarian booksellers,
literary agents and librarians.
January 2000
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