Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the Laser Foundation
BACKGROUND AND
CONTEXT
In the light of the increasing debate in libraries
and the wider cultural services sector on how services can demonstrate
a broader impact on a wide range of local, and indeed national,
priorities, the Laser Foundation has commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers
(PwC) to establish whether, and how, it is possible to develop
measures to enable a library service to identify its impact on
four of the shared priorities between central and local government
that were highlighted by the Laser Foundation in commissioning
the work.
The project should be seen in the context of
a number of activities and developments that are currently underway
and that share some common themes with our work. These include
the revised DCMS library standards and the development of impact
standards. More widely, we have also taken into account other
potentially significant developments, such as the revisions to
the Comprehensive Performance Assessment process and the work
to develop a performance profile for cultural services that has
been developed on behalf of the DCMS.
THE SHARED
PRIORITIES
As I have mentioned, the project is focusing
on four of the seven shared priorities that were originally agreed
between the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Office
of the Deputy Prime Minister in July 2002. The shared priority
programme has built on the experience and lessons learnt from
a whole range of local and central government programmes, which
have been designed to improve the well-being of local communities.
The shared priority themes on which we have
been asked to focus are those covering:
While we are looking in detail at four of the
shared priority areas, it is important to note that there are
of course overlaps between the shared priorities, and that our
work may also link to other shared priority themes that we have
not been explicitly asked to cover—such as those relating
to safer and stronger communities and to economic vitality. Moreover,
while the content and nature of the shared priorities themselves
may change over time, it is likely that the four themes that our
work covers will continue to be priorities for both local and
central government.
APPROACH TO
PROJECT
The project is overseen by a Steering Group
chaired by Professor Fred Bullock (the former chair of the Laser
Foundation), with membership from a range of key partners, including
DCMS, Society of Chief Librarians (SCL) and the Audit Commission.
The work has been divided into a number of stages which we describe
below.
The activities that we undertook in the first
stage—a "baseline stage"—included a desk-based
research exercise that drew on a number of useful contextual sources
and wider research. We have also undertaken an analysis of key
policy themes in each of the four shared priority areas on which
the project was asked to focus.
The next two stages of our work were the examination
of possible measures and identification of pilots and the refinement
of possible measures with the project Steering Group. In the former,
we have attempted to link the measures to library activities in
the relevant shared priority areas, as well as the central and
local government policies and targets that underpin each of the
shared priority themes.
PROGRESS WITH
WORK—WHAT
WE HAVE
DONE AND
WHAT WE
WILL BE
DOING
We are now engaged in the next stage of our
work—namely work with pilot authorities. In identifying
eight pilot authorities to support our work, we have been conscious
of the need to develop measures that are practical and that should
not represent an onerous burden to staff.
The eight pilot authorities that we have identified
were chosen to give a selection of authorities of different size,
type and geographical location.
The full list of pilots are listed below, alongside
the shared priority area in which they are supporting the study:
— Bournemouth—older people.
— Cambridgeshire—education.
— Lancashire—older people.
The final stage of our work will involve producing
a final report in which we set out a set of measures—drawing
on the experience of pilot authorities—that we believe could
be used in showing libraries' impact on wider policy areas through
the shared priorities. In addition, we have also been asked to
develop methodologies to show how the measures could be implemented
in other library authorities.
It is important to underline that the work is
not intended to produce a complete toolkit of "how to do
impact measures"—it is instead a way of testing how
some impacts can be assessed and evidenced and the lessons transferred
to other areas of impact. The work will provide a starting point,
and our discussions with the Steering Group and other partners
have highlighted the importance of identifying the need for longitudinal
research to evaluate impact in the longer term. Similarly, in
undertaking the work, we have sought to take into account—either
through direct contact or through our research—the work
of other organisations with potential interest in the study.
IDENTIFICATION AND
DEVELOPMENT OF
POSSIBLE MEASURES
The measures that we have developed have been
strongly based on library activities undertaken in the shared
priority areas on which the study is focusing. To support this
focus, we have drawn upon the project Steering Group, the desk
based research, existing evidence of libraries' contribution in
the shared priority areas and reports showing the value of, for
example, reading—such as the OECD report Reading for
Change.
We have also taken into account other measures,
which have been used in local government in relation to the shared
priority areas—though we have found that many of these do
not necessarily show "impact". As well as basing the
measures on the range of activities undertaken by libraries, we
have also sought to identify themes that have a high priority
for both central and local government under each of the shared
priority headings.
PILOT AUTHORITIES
In our work with pilots so far, we have aimed
to identify a selection of activities that offer relevant qualitative
and quantitative data, which can be used to show impact in relation
to each of the areas. For some of the shared priority areas, particularly
education and children, pilot authorities have identified a range
of data that is currently collected and could potentially be used
to support the study.
Examples include data collected in education
in relation to work with adults through programmes such as Learndirect
and other detailed evaluations, such as those undertaken for Summer
Reading activities. For other shared priority areas, such as health
and older people, pilot authorities have found fewer sources of
existing data (particularly qualitative data) and, as a result,
have developed other approaches—including surveys and questionnaires
of service users—to look in more detail at their impact
under these themes.
FUTURE PLANS
Two key next steps for our work are as follows:
— Further work with pilot authorities
through further data collection and analysis;
— Developing and testing methodologies
to show how measures could be used in other library authorities.
Work with pilots will continue until February
2005, with the development of a final report, including recommendations
for longitudinal research, in March/April.
November 2004
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