APPENDIX 22
Memorandum submitted by the Branch and
Mobiles Library Group of the Library Association
The group is the premier professional body,
which deals with and looks after the interests of mobile libraries
and small community libraries. It was set up by the Library Association
with this remit and can speak with some authority on these subject
areas.
The group has organised the successful National
Mobilemeet for over 25 years and this has led to considerable
developments in both mobile library design, including access issues
such as installing lifts, the methodology of route planning, and
service planning generally. Arising from this work we have produced
a document for the Library Association entitled "Charter
for Public Mobile Library Services" which has been adopted
by many local authorities nationally. The group was also asked
to compile the article on mobile libraries for the "International
Encyclopaedia of Information and Library Science" as the
lead authority in the field.
Over the same period we have also organised
training courses, annual weekend schools etc, to help both professional
and support staff, across levels of experience, to understand
and prepare for the major issues confronting mobile and small
community libraries. These include access issues, equal opportunities,
social inclusion, disability discrimination and the impact of
ICT.
Therefore the group does have a view of the
issues likely to be considered by the inquiry.
ACCESS TO
LIBRARIES
The Role of Libraries in Combating Social Exclusion
Mobile and community libraries are a lifeline to
many in rural and deprived urban areas. Many of their customers
have little access to formal educational facilities and have not
got the financial means to exploit these formal establishments
or the choice to study in less formal situations. The elderly,
very young and the vulnerable find local libraries a haven in
an increasingly hostile environment, where lack of independent
public transport means lack of access to vital facilities. In
these cases the only real option for them is the local public
library.
Therefore, it is important that they be retained
as a vital local community facility.
Opening Times/Library Closures
These two issues go hand in hand as a local
facility is of little use unless it has sufficient opening hours
for the local users, and that these hours are at suitable times.
In recent years there has been a steady but increasing number
of instances of community branch closures and reductions in hours.
These have invariably been brought about by the need to make cost
savings, frequently to fund services other than those provided
by the library. It is important in our view that this trend is
reversed with an adequate funding stream directed at these services.
It is important that the role of these libraries
is understood and valued and that the "statutory duty"
local authorities have is reinforced.
Mobile Libraries
To those in isolated rural areas and those isolated
in deprived urban areas, the mobile library is often the only
point of contact with "friendly" authority. They bring
a vital service to those most in need and to those who have little
opportunity to use more formal education, information and recreational
facilities. The growth of car ownership coupled with the growth
of centralised out of town shopping and council facilities and
the decline of public transport, is making it increasingly difficult
for a significant minority of vulnerable and virtually "disenfranchised"
people to access books, information and ICT in a way that most
of us take for granted. The mobile library offers a lifeline for
these people.
Over the past decade there has been an escalating
move to reduce mobile library fleets to meet reducing budgets.
This has caused considerable hardship to vulnerable people who
have little redress. "The mobile library is such a popular
service that if it is reduced or cut the customers (who are mostly
elderly, very young or isolated) dare not complain because of
the fear that it might be cut completely". They see the service
as an "extra", a luxury or some kind of benefit not
as the essential resource which gives them access to information
and educational facilities, which is theirs by right.
It is important that the trend of reducing mobile
libraries is reversed, that these services are funded adequately
and that services to the isolated, the elderly, the rural communities
and the deprived urban communities are maintained and restored.
THE ROLE
OF LIBRARIES
IN THE
PROMOTION OF
EDUCATION AND
LIFELONG LEARNING/PROMOTION
OF, ACCESS
TO AND
AWARENESS OF
NEW TECHNOLOGY
Community and mobile libraries are playing a
crucial role in the promotion and access of these new services,
New library—the People's Network indicates clearly
the need and value of public library availability to the majority
of the public, particularly in relation to the Information Super
Highway. In well-provided for areas, the public have access to
cyber cafes, continuing education centres, colleges, higher and
further education facilities and a host of other educational,
Lifelong Learning and ICT facilities. In the rural, isolated areas,
the urban deprived areas and the remote small/medium sized communities
there is a lack of these sophisticated formal learning centres.
The only facility these communities can use to access learning,
education and ICT is their public library whether static or mobile.
It is essential that isolated and deprived communities
and individuals do not become deprived and isolated from education,
information and ICT.
Over a long period of time the mobile and community
libraries have seen a sustained reduction in their budgets, a
constant marginalising of their services, a reduction in their
opening hours and even closure. This is in spite of the vital,
important and popular image of these services and invariably against
the wishes of the local communities. We have the Public Libraries
and Museums Act 1964 to give some protection against over zealous
authorities and the minister has stepped in occasionally to rectify
blatant errors.
It is time, however, that libraries became subject
to the same kind of official scrutiny that schools and other local
government services are subject to—in effect an Ofsted review
programme designed to ensure minimum appropriate standards, with
the same kind of powers to ensure that these standards are met.
January 2000
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