APPENDIX 16
Memorandum submitted by the Community
Development Foundation
1. INTRODUCTION:
CDF
1.1 Community Development Foundation (CDF)
was set up in 1968 to pioneer new forms of community development.
CDF strengthens communities by ensuring the effective participation
of people in determining the conditions which affect their lives.
We provide support for community initiatives; promote best practice;
and inform policy-makers at local and national level. CDF is a
non-departmental public body and is supported by the Active Communities
Unit of the Home Office.
1.2 CDF's work with the public libraries
movement goes back to 1978, when we published a report on communities
and libraries called Libraries are ours. In recent years
we have been particularly active in this field, including:
— representation on National Committee
of the Community Services Group of The Library Association since
1992;
— representation on the judging panel
for The Library Association's "Libraries Change Lives"
Award (formally "Community Initiative Award") since
its inception in 1992;
— preparation, management and CD-ROM
publishing of a database of projects submitted for the above award;
— organising the successful "Public
Libraries and Communities" annual conference, now in its
seventh year;
— participating in a research consortium,
supported by the British Library and The Library Association,
on "The Social Impact of Public Libraries";
— publishing, as part of that research
exercise, a survey of community development and public libraries
(in collaboration with the Community Services Group); and Open
to interpretation, a study of community perceptions of the
social benefit of public libraries;
— representation on the advisory committee
for the Library and Information Commission funded research project
on "public library policy and social inclusion" (1999-2000);
— representation on the DCMS policy
group which prepared Libraries for all, the consultative
paper on social inclusion in public libraries; and
— running an online discussion list
for DCMS on Libraries for all (December 1999-January 2000).
In addition, we have been heavily involved in
promoting the interests of the community sector in the Information
Society. Our work in this area includes:
— providing the secretariat for two
working parties for IBM UK (in 1992 and 1997) on IT and Communities
and on Social Inclusion in the Information Society;
— representation on the Social Exclusion
Unit's Policy Action Team on Access to IT (PAT 15); and
— action research for the Department
for Education and Employment and the DTI on Learning Access Centres
(1999-2001).
1.3 We confine our comments in this submission
to public libraries only. Our comments will cover the following:
— access to libraries: opening hours,
library closures, and the importance of neighbourhood libraries;
— training for public library staff
in community development and social inclusion; and
— the role of libraries in the promotion
of access to and awareness of new technology.
Our understanding of the nature of social exclusion
was fed into the DCMS Policy Group and we refer the Committee
to chapter two of Libraries for all.
2. ACCESS TO
PUBLIC LIBRARIES
2.1 A major constraint on the contribution
of public libraries to addressing social exclusion is the question
of opening hours. This is a complex issue which needs urgent attention.
Libraries, like museums and galleries, are a massively under-exploited
resource in our society. But they cannot fulfil their potential
to address the needs of people on the margins of society while
they are not open for sufficient periods of time, and if they
are not sufficiently local. We address the second of these points
below (see para 2.2). Policy-makers may have difficulty justifying
the required investment in public libraries if their contribution
to social issues and economic development is unclear and difficult
to demonstrate. We address this point in section 3 below.
Library closures and the importance of neighbourhood
libraries
2.2 We cannot have healthy communities,
which are creatively connected to the wider society, unless each
has a dependable physical access point which provides access to
information, communication channels, and learning opportunities.
We argued strongly in our report for IBM on social inclusion,
in 1997, that a socially-inclusive Information Society will not
come about unless there are appropriate buildings at local level
where people can go for their information and communication needs,
and to be connected to a range of opportunities. Libraries have
a crucial, though not exclusive, role to play in this provision.
Our major concern at present is the decline of the neighbourhood
library. Our understanding is that there is extensive re-direction
of resources in many public library authorities, leading to investment
in large central libraries at the expense of small, local "outposts".
Many community libraries are being closed because they are expensive
to maintain and generate comparatively little custom according
to accepted measures. In our view this trend is dangerous, because
in time it could become difficult to reverse.
2.3 Central to this argument is the assertion
that public libraries should be addressing the needs of people
who are on low incomes, who may be unemployed or retired with
mobility problems, who have childcare responsibilities, no independent
means of transport, who are inadequately served by public transport,
who may have had negative experiences of learning and are disinclined
to enter a public building with a municipal image, and so on.
The public library service should be accessible to people who
experience social exclusion, and the above client groups do have
difficulty accessing highly centralised services. It follows that
the service depends upon local access points in low-income neighbourhoods,
within "buggy-pushing" distance and with opening hours
to suit local people. People who experience social exclusion often
have no other option for their information and communication needs
and may not require the more sophisticated services offered by
"flagship" libraries.
2.4 The concept of local provision needs
to be normalised and access standards set. Neighbourhood access
needs to be defined, taking account of:
— service provision through an outlet
or access point run by another agency, such as a village hall,
community café or health centre. (An analysis of existing
experience of multi-functional use of community buildings is needed);
— appropriate provision per capita,
making allowance for the circumstances of people in sparsely-populated
areas; and
— being within "buggy-pushing"
range and taking account of the physical proximity of other local
services.
We would like to see the Committee call for
DCMS and MLAC to establish a working group to develop a specification
for neighbourhood access, and to draw attention to the undesirability
of the trend to centralise resources in the public library service.
A neighbourhood libraries good practice fund
2.5 One option here might be to establish
a fund for visits to examples of good practice in neighbourhood
library services. It is often the case that witnessing an innovative
initiative first hand can stimulate activity more effectively
than any policy directive. We suggest a small national fund, to
which library staff could apply to cover the costs of travel and
subsistence, in order to visit other libraries. Local community
representatives should also be able to join library staff on these
visits.
3. DEMONSTRATING
THE IMPACT
3.1 It is widely believed that public libraries
have significant social benefit, but have never been expert at
demonstrating that. As a valued public resource, it ought to be
possible to show the extent to which libraries contribute to various
social and economic objectives: how they support local businesses,
underpin the work of community and voluntary agencies, provide
opportunities and channels for Lifelong Learning, and so on.
3.2 In 1997 a consortium of organisations
collaborated on a research programme on "The Social Impact
of Public Libraries". This resulted in the "social audit"
study carried out by Professor Bob Usherwood at Sheffield University,
a report by Comedia called Beyond book issues, and the
CDF report Open to Interpretation. While drawing attention
to the importance of this work in beginning to establish methodologies
and criteria for measuring the performance of public libraries
as a "public good", we wish to point out that the work
is unfinished. What is needed is a set of indicators which public
library authorities can adopt and apply in order to assert with
confidence that their services justify the allocation of resources.
Such indicators should also be available to assess performance
in accordance with the principles of Best Value. We would like
to see the Committee call for further research in this area. Without
it, the proposed requirement on library authorities to mainstream
social inclusion as a policy priority in their annual library
plans, may come to be seen as rather empty.
3.3 It is important to stress that such
work should not be carried out in isolation from other fields
of activity. We are aware that DCMS is interested in developing
indicators for arts and sport, for example; and some work has
already been carried out in the field of health and elsewhere.
Work on demonstrating the impact of public libraries must take
advantage of such initiatives.
4. TRAINING FOR
PUBLIC LIBRARY
STAFF IN
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
AND SOCIAL
INCLUSION
Our involvement in the public library movement
over the years has convinced us of the need for informative training
for library staff, many of whom are inadequately prepared for
work with socially-excluded groups. In 1999 we ran a successful
pioneering course for the London Borough of Merton, covering the
nature of the community sector, community development, partnership,
and social exclusion. As far as we can discover, this was the
first course of its kind but it appears to have struck a particular
need. Recent discussions with the Library Association have confirmed
this impression, and we would like to see MLAC support the development
of a training course and pack which could be made available on
a "roadshow" basis, to all library authorities (ie it
should be provided locally, attended by staff who work together
on the same patch, and be tailored to local circumstances).
5. THE ROLE
OF LIBRARIES
IN THE
PROMOTION OF
ACCESS TO
AND AWARENESS
OF NEW
TECHNOLOGY
We have argued above that local libraries have
a crucial, though not exclusive, role to play in providing access
to ICTs. The forthcoming report of the Social Exclusion Unit's
PAT15, on "Access to IT", stresses the importance of
a diversity of ICT access at local level. It also highlights the
need for "local determination" of the conditions of
access, and for the need to provide programmes of familiarisation
and awareness of the technology. The potential role of libraries
in such developments is beyond dispute. We would like to see public
libraries providing more support for other agencies, such as community
networks and regeneration partnerships, which are seeking to exploit
ICTs. Libraries often have high-speed access which might be used
for demonstration purposes; their staff have expertise in assessing
information resources, such as reference material on CD-ROM for
example, and expertise in exploiting the Internet; they have,
or ought to have, contacts within local government who can help
community groups run successful "ICT Awareness" days
or identify a local Internet provider. All these resources need
to be brought into play if people at local level are to have meaningful
opportunities to develop their awareness of the potential of the
technology.
January 2000
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