Memorandum submitted by Acumen
A recent paper, published in Cultural Trends[1]
discusses the long-term development of public libraries in England.
That paper is based on statistical information up to 2000-01.
This paper updates the position, using the most recent CIPFA data
which covers the year 2002-03.
EXPENDITURE
Table 1 shows that the level of expenditure
increased markedly between 2000-01 and 2002-03. Total expenditure
on the service grew in real terms by 12.5% over the two years.
Expenditure on staff grew by less than this—7% in real terms
while the expenditure on books and other materials grew by only
5%.
This recent growth in expenditure marks the
end of 10 years of decline. It means that total expenditure in
2002-03 has returned to the level last seen in 1990-91. The impact
on book expenditure has been much less marked: current levels
of expenditure are still only about three-quarters of the level
in 1990-91.
BOOKS
Table 2 shows that the overall number of books
held in stock by English public libraries fell by 4% between 2000-01
and 2002-03—a reduction of nearly 4 million volumes. The
number of books available for lending fell by over 4%, although
the number of reference books fell by rather less—1.5%.
These reductions in the size of the bookstock
reflect reductions in the numbers of new books added to stock
during the 1990s. Put simply, the library bookstock is becoming
worn out and the number of worn-out books that are discarded is
greater than the number of new books that are being purchased.
There are, however, some signs that the position
is changing. The number of new books added to stock increased
by 8% between 2000-01 and 2002-03, with a slightly greater increase
(9%) in the number of lending books added. The rate of new additions
is still, however, about 14% below the rate in 1990-91.
The number of new reference books added to stock
fell by 8%. This could, however, be compensated for by the increased
expenditure on on-line and other digital information material.
While this increased provision does represent
an improvement, it is worth recognising the fact that the current
rate of additions still falls well below the rate at which new
books were being added in 1965-66, well below the rate recommended
in the 1962 Bourdillon standards[2]
and even below the more recent, but less generous, DCMS standards[3].
A measure of the adequacy of the level of additions
is provided by the stock replacement rate (the number of books
in stock divided by the number added). At current rates of addition,
each book will remain in stock for just over nine years. This
is an improvement on the position in the mid-1990s when the average
book was expected to last over 11 years but the improvement is
more the result of the decrease in the overall size of the bookstock
than the increase in the rate of additions.
STAFF
The number of staff employed in English public
libraries has increased by 8% in the last two years, as can be
seen in Table 3. This means that the overall staffing level is
slightly better than that recommended in the 1962 Bourdillon
standards.
A real problem, however, concerns the number
of professionally qualified staff. The number of qualified staff
employed by the service has been falling steadily since 1975-76—a
fall from nearly 7,500 to just over 5,000. The Bourdillon standards
recommended that 40% of the library staff should be professionally
qualified. The proportion is currently on 24%. This makes it difficult
to provide a high quality service.
SERVICE POINTS
Table 4 shows that there has been a real improvement
in the network of service points—the central and branch
libraries—through which the public library service is delivered.
The overall number of service points has remained
broadly constant at just over 3,000 since the late 1970s, during
the 1980s and 1990s there were significant reductions in the amount
of time that they were open for business. In 1975-76, for example,
over 160 public libraries were open for more than 60 hours each
week. By 1995-96 the number had been reduced to nine. The position
has improved since then to the extent that, in 2002-03, 42 libraries
were open more than 60 hours each week and similar improvements
can be seen elsewhere in the system.
The increases in opening hours have been made
possible by the increase in the number of staff employed. The
pattern of staffing has, however, changed. In the 1970s and 1980s,
nearly all libraries open for more than 10 hours each week were
managed by professionally qualified staff. They selected and managed
the stock, dealt with people's enquiries, provided advice on reading,
organised activity sessions for children and developed outreach
activities. Now the service points are mostly managed by unqualified
staff who are unable to do much more than simply process book
loans.
PATTERNS OF
USE
What effect have these changes had on the use
made of public libraries? Despite the recent improvements noted
above, the levels of use are still declining, as can be seen from
Table 5. Between 2000-01 and 2002-03 the number of book loans
fell by 11%, continuing a decline that began in the late 1970s.
In 1980-81, people borrowed about 550 million
books each year from English public libraries. In 2002-03 they
borrowed just 305 million. Looked at another way, the number of
books borrowed per head of population has nearly halved from just
under 12 to slightly more than six.
Various reasons have been put forward to explain
this drop. Some have suggested, for example, that the fall can
be explained by the rise in book purchases, yet in most countries,
high levels of book purchase are usually associated with high
levels of library use. There are three more likely explanations.
First, the quality of the library bookstock has declined—there
are one third fewer lending books for people to choose from than
there were in the mid-1980s. Secondly, there are many fewer qualified
librarians whose job it is to promote greater use of the service.
And thirdly, the libraries are open for fewer hours than they
used to be and have, therefore, become less accessible. In short,
the quality of the service has declined markedly.
The number of visits made to English public
libraries remained broadly constant between 2000-01 and 2002-03,
despite the reduced level of loans and reference enquiries. This
suggests that people are using the libraries for other purposes.
Much has been made, for example, of the People's Network and the
access it provides to personal computers and the internet. The
number of computers available for use has increased from nearly
14,000 in 2000-01 to over 30,000 in 2002-03, and they seem to
be well-used.
CONCLUSION
After many years of gradual decline, things
seem to be improving. There has been a real increase in the level
of resources available to the public library service in England
and the roll-out of the People's Network is having a significant
affect, not least in attracting new users to the service. Much
more, however, needs to be done to repair the damage to the library
bookstock—arguably the core of the service—to increase
the numbers of staff, especially qualified staff and to return
the level of opening hours to that which pertained in the mid-1970s.
A start has been made, but much more needs to be done.
Table 1
PUBLIC LIBRARY TRENDS 1965-66 TO 2002-03
ENGLAND—EXPENDITURE
|
| | |
| | | |
| | | % age
change
|
| 65-66
| 70-71 | 75-76
| 80-81 | 85-86
| 90-91 | 95-96
| 00-01 | 02-03
| 00-01 &
02-03
|
|
| Total expenditure (£000s) | 31,807
| 54,438 | 141,902 | 263,022
| 386,127 | 579,946 | 641,251
| 730,894 | 845,197 | +15
|
| Per 1,000 pop | 799
| 1,177 | 3,055
| 5,755 | 8,196
| 12,497 | 13,602
| 14,619 | 17,150
| |
| At 2003 prices | 9,435
| 10,811 | 14,537
| 14,607 | 15,192
| 17,123 | 16,156
| 15,243 | 17,150
| +12.5 |
| Expenditure on staff (£000s) | 14,961
| 26,950 | 74,688
| 139,989 | 198,219
| 287,875 | 345,779
| 400,586 | 441,499
| +10 |
| Per 1,000 pop | 376
| 583 | 1,608
| 3,063 | 4,208
| 6,203 | 7,335
| 8,013 | 8,959
| |
| As % of total | 47
| 13 | 53
| 53 | 51
| 50 | 54
| 55 | 52
| |
| At 2003 prices | 4,438
| 5,352 | 7,651
| 7,774 | 7,799
| 8,499 | 8,712
| 8,354 | 8,959
| +7 |
| Expenditure on materials (£000s) | 9,125
| 12,686 | 26,191
| 44,034 | 68,522
| 95,940 | 107,269
| 99,301 | 107,113
| +8 |
| Per 1,000 pop | 229
| 274 | 564
| 964 | 1,455
| 2,067 | 2,275
| 1,986 | 2,173
| |
| As % of total | 29
| 23 | 18
| 17 | 18
| 17 | 17
| 14 | 13
| |
| At 2003 prices | 2,707
| 2,519 | 2,683
| 2,445 | 2,696
| 2,833 | 2,703
| 2,071 | 2,173
| +5 |
|
Table 2
BOOKS
|
| | |
| | | |
| | | % age
change
|
| 65-66
| 70-71 | 75-76
| 80-81 | 85-86
| 90-91 | 95-96
| 00-01 | 02-03
| 00-01 &
02-03
|
|
| Total books in stock (000s) | 76,435
| 93,783 | 105,669
| 108,392 | 113,979
| 108,306 | 105,384
| 94,372 | 90,637
| -4 |
| Per 1,000 pop | 1,920
| 2,028 | 2,275
| 2,372 | 2,419
| 2,334 | 2,235
| 1,888 | 1,830
| |
| Lending books in stock (000s) | N/A
| N/A | 71,235
| 78,388 | 100,896
| 94,819 | 80,281
| 69,465 | 66,406
| -4.5 |
| Per 1,000 pop | |
| 1,534 | 1,715
| 2,142 | 2,043
| 1,703 | 1,389
| 1,341 | |
| Reference books in stock (000s) | N/A
| N/A | 10,601
| 11,127 | 13,083
| 13,487 | 13,893
| 13,461 | 13,272
| -1.5 |
| Per 1,000 pop | |
| 228 | 243
| 278 | 291
| 295 | 269
| 269 | |
| Total additions to stock (000s) | 9,735
| 10,440 | 11,304
| 10,578 | 11,045
| 10,877 | 9,528
| 9,185 | 9,943
| +8 |
| Per 1,000 pop | 245
| 226 | 243
| 231 | 234
| 234 | 202
| 184 | 201
| |
| Stock replacement rate | 7.85
| 8.98 | 9.35
| 10.25 | 10.32
| 9.96 | 11.06
| 10.28 | 9.11
| |
| Lending additions (000s) | N/A
| N/A | 8,006
| 9,300 | 8,264
| 10,363 | 8,996
| 8,750 | 9,539
| +9 |
| Per 1,000 pop | |
| 172 | 203
| 175 | 223
| 191 | 175
| 193 | |
| Lending replacement rate | |
| 8.90 | 8.43
| 12.21 | 9.15
| 8.92 | 7.94
| 6.96 | |
| Reference additions (000s) | N/A
| N/A | 470
| 549 | 449
| 514 | 509
| 420 | 387
| -8 |
| Per 1,000 pop | |
| 10 | 12
| 10 | 11
| 11 | 8
| 8 | |
| Reference replacement rate |
| 22.55 | 20.25
| 29.17 | 26.24
| 27.28 | 32.01
| 34.29 | |
|
Table 3
STAFF
|
| | |
| | | |
| | | % age
change
|
| Table 3 Staff | 65-66
| 70-71 | 75-76
| 80-81 | 85-86
| 90-91 | 95-96
| 00-01 | 02-03
| 00-01 &
02-03
|
|
| Total non-manual staff | 16,273
| 18,787 | 22,831
| 20,944 | 21,040
| 21,848 | 20,820
| 19,936 | 21,527
| +8 |
| Non-manual staff to population | 2,446
| 2,461 | 2,035
| 2,182 | 2,239
| 2,124 | 2,264
| 2,508 | 2,289
| |
| Professional staff | 4,877
| 6,316 | 7,492
| 6,832 | 6,729
| 6,456 | 5,748
| 5,164 | 5,133
| -1 |
| Professional staff to population | 8,162
| 7,320 | 6,200
| 6,689 | 7,001
| 7,188 | 8,202
| 9,681 | 9,600
| |
Percentage of professional
staff |
30 | 34
| 33 | 33
| 32 | 30
| 28 | 26
| 24 | |
|
Table 4
SERVICE POINTS
|
| | |
| | | |
| | | % age
change
|
| 65-66
| 70-71 | 75-76
| 80-81 | 85-86
| 90-91 | 95-96
| 00-01 | 02-03
| 00-01 &
02-03
|
|
| Open 60+ hours per week | N/A
| N/A | 160
| 66 | 35
| 21 | 9
| 19 | 42
| +120 |
| Open 30-59 hours per week | N/A
| N/A | 2,062
| 1,976 | 1,947
| 1,955 | 1,789
| 1,682 | 1,766
| +5 |
| Open 10-29 hours per week | N/A
| N/A | 894
| 1,037 | 1,112
| 1,178 | 1,315
| 1,331 | 1,240
| -7 |
| Sub-total open more than 10 hours | 1,982
| 2,060 | 3,116
| 3,079 | 3,094
| 3,154 | 3,113
| 3,032 | 3,048
| +0.5 |
| Number open less than 10 hours | 942
| 860 | 906
| 411 | 317
| 223 | 215
| 130 | 91
| -30 |
| Mobiles | 423
| 448 | 527
| 499 | 478
| 506 | 496
| 465 | 462
| -0.6 |
| Homes, hospitals, etc | 6,066
| 5,296 | 7,089
| 9,724 | 13,347
| 16,542 | 17,445
| 16,819 | 15,128
| -10 |
| Total service points | 9,413
| 8,664 | 11,638
| 13,713 | 17,236
| 20,425 | 21,269
| 20,446 | 18,729
| -8 |
|
Table 5
USE
|
| | |
| | | |
| | | % age
change
|
| 65-66
| 70-71 | 75-76
| 80-81 | 85-86
| 90-91 | 95-96
| 00-01 | 02-03
| 00-01 &
02-03
|
|
| Loans (000s) | N/A
| N/A | 532,760
| 550,776 | 540,028
| 475,527 | 437,158
| 342,914 | 305,112
| -11 |
| Loans per head of pop | |
| 11.47 | 12.05
| 11.46 | 10.25
| 9.27 | 6.86
| 6.16 | |
| Loans per lending book | |
| 7.48 | 7.03
| 5.35 | 5.02
| 5.45 | 4.94
| 4.59 | |
| Reference transactions (000s)N/A
| N/A | N/A
| N/A | 31,248
| 45,462 | 52,548
| 50,051 | 48,771
| -2.5 |
| Transactions per 1,000 pop |
| | | | 663
| 980 | 1,115
| 1,001 | 985
| |
| Visits (000s) | N/A
| N/A | N/A
| N/A | N/A
| N/A | 321,059
| 275,660 | 274,053
| -0.5 |
| Visits per 1,000 pop | |
| | | |
| 6,810 | 5,514
| 5,533 | |
|
Table 6
COMPUTER TERMINALS
|
| | |
| | | |
| | | % age
change
|
| 65-66
| 70-71 | 75-76
| 80-81 | 85-86
| 90-91 | 95-96
| 00-01 | 02-03
| 00-01 &
02-03
|
|
| Terminals available for public use | N/A
| N/A | N/A
| N/A | 513
| 976 | 4,278
| 13,718 | 30,657
| +123 |
|
| 11 November 2004 | |
| | |
| | | |
| |
1
Nick Moore (2004) Public library trends. In Cultural Trends
13(1) March 2004 pp 27-57. Back
2
Ministry of Education (1962) Standards of public library service
in England and Wales (The Bourdillon Report) HMSO. Back
3
Department for Culture Media and Sport (2001) Comprehensive
and efficient: standards and assessment. Back
|
