Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport Appendices to the Minutes of Evidence


APPENDIX 21

Memorandum submitted by the London Library Development Agency

  1.  I would like the following brief memorandum to be submitted before the House of Commons, Culture, Media and Sport Committee inquiry into public libraries on behalf of the London Library Development Agency and its members.

  2.  The London Library Development Agency (LLDA) is the first Regional Development Agency to be charged with the task of developing a co-ordinated strategic vision for the library and information sector across London.

  3.  The primary members of the new Development Agency are the London Boroughs who hold the statutory responsibility for providing library and information services to their local communities. However, library providers in academic and work place environments also have a key role in making the strategic vision a reality, and in creating seamless library and information services for those who live, work and study in the capital.

  4.  The London Library Development Agency will work in close co-operation with a wide range of other organisations and agencies to place London's libraries at the heart of many social, educational and cultural initiatives. Partners will include, amongst others, the Government Office for London (and the new Greater London Assembly), the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, professional library organisations (including the national umbrella organisation, the Library Association), as well as the private sector.

  5.  Those public library services that subscribe to the LLDA cover a very diverse range of actual and potential customers. Ranging from some of the wealthiest parts of the capital and the country in Kensington and Chelsea to some of the poorest in Hackney, Southwark and Tower Hamlets, the Capital's public library services have become adept at adapting and pioneering new forms of service provision. In the face of some of the most stringent budgetary reductions in the country, this flexible response helps to ensure that London's public libraries continue to provide some of the most valued of London's local government services.

  6.  LLDA subscribers, in common with many other professionals connected with library and information services and partner organisations, are convinced that public libraries have a crucial role to play in the educational, cultural and social development of many library customers.

  7.  Public library services can be the learning venue of choice for many adults and children and young people. Support for Lifelong Learning and the reality of often free access to these "street corner universities" mean that public libraries have a vital role to play in helping individuals to help themselves in improving their life chances through learning. Crucial developments in ICT, and the widespread and often free access to these new learning tools through public libraries, mean that customers can now complement the traditionally excellent book stock available through the local library. Lifelong Learning Centres, sometimes in collaboration with private sector companies, are increasingly frequent in public libraries.

  8.  For children and young people, developments such as access to Homework Help Clubs have transformed the local library from a helpful source of information into a dynamic and interactive place where, not only is information held, it is actively searched out and then exploited.

  9.  In a city where so many have poor educational attainment, open access to these new opportunities can be a vital opportunity to many.

  10.  Providing access to information is also one of the hallmarks of the high standards that have been maintained in London's public libraries. From the excellent charged for business services to the free community information provided, the local library is very often the first port of call for many individuals and businesses.

  11.  Public library services also play a clear and active role in promoting and enriching the cultural lives of those who live and work in the Capital. Through the tremendously varied range of carefully selected books and other materials, customers can experience cultures, lifestyles and life experiences that may, at that point in time, be entirely unknown to them or denied. And through the active programme of live events and activities that many public library services promote, often in collaboration with a wide range of other agencies, "live" cultural experiences again enhance the lives of many.

  12.  Public libraries have also proven to be excellent and pro-active in relation to arts and other cultural services providers. Live performances, exhibitions and displays all help to expand cultural awareness, and as one of the most regularly visited public venues, public libraries help take these experiences to more people than many other venues.

  13.  The London Library Development Agency will have a key role to play in contributing to the Cultural Strategy being developed for London, and will be instrumental in ensuring that the new opportunities such a strategy offers, for cross sector working as well as within public libraries themselves, are capitalised upon.

  14.  Issues of social inclusion have been drivers for London's public libraries for some time.

  15.  London has some of the highest populations of minority ethnic communities in Britain, and the public library remains one of the key places where people from these communities can access materials in their own languages, and see their own experiences reflected. Public libraries in London were amongst the first to develop properly managed and maintained collections of such materials, and have a proud tradition of being open and welcoming to people to whom many other services are inaccessible.

  16.  Being free, open and accessible to all, public libraries are also one of the few community venues where people from any background can use the service without any need to disclose their social or economic status. Whilst this inclusivity has occasionally lead to public libraries becoming the "service of last resort", on the whole, the welcoming and pro-actively tolerant stance has made public libraries well used services for many more "segments" of London's population than is the case for many other services.

  17.  Libraries have also played a key role in targeting people with disabilities or learning difficulties. This active seeking out means that for some of these people, the public library service may be one of only a handful of contacts with the outside world they enjoy.

  18.  London's libraries have been some of the hardest hit by changes in local government. After a period of instability and uncertainty, London's services are now emerging as some of the most exciting. One of the key reasons for this may be that library services are increasingly adept at working in partnership with other service providers to achieve successful outcomes.

  19.  The London Library Development Agency will, as noted, help to cement links with a range of service providers and businesses across the Capital. But there already exists a large number of successful working relations with other local government agencies (the Youth Service, Social Services and with Local Education Authorities for a wide range of initiatives), work with the private sector (key conduits for initiatives such as the National Year of Reading and likely to play a key role in the modernising local democracy agenda).

  20.  The willingness of library and information providers to work collaboratively has also resulted in a range of effective networks, from inter-lending arrangements to mutually beneficial training arrangements. Such responses to current issues are a hallmark of all public library services.

  21.  Public libraries have changed and mutated over many years to respond flexibly to the many challenges and opportunities that have faced them. Having "survived" some very difficult years, many would consider public libraries to be on the threshold of an exciting time. Rediscovering new roles, for example as key players in revitalising local democracy through access to ICT, coupled with maintenance of existing services—the ever-popular loan of books—signal that the potential of the public library service to continue to be the most popular local government service of choice remains as potent as ever. Championing the lifelong learner, seizing the reader development role, empowering citizens, valuing diversity, offering a little light relief in a stressful world—all agendas where public libraries can and do lead.

  22.  With increasing resources and fresh awareness amongst library leaders that to survive and prosper change must come, public library services should be set for a period of rapid transformation.

  23.  If you require clarification on any of the points raised in this very brief paper, or would like a further discussion, do please contact me.

  24.  Thank you for instigating this inquiry—as one of the most popular local government services of choice I sincerely hope your inquiry results in keeping the debate about how to re-shape public library services so they continue to be fit for purpose for many years to come.

January 2000


 
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