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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