Memorandum submitted by Surrey County
Council
INTRODUCTION
Surrey is a large, affluent county in the South
East region. The Library Service is one of the largest in the
country, with a reputation for innovation and efficiency.
It was graded "Good with promising prospects"
by the Audit Commission in 2002, and has achieved exceptional
levels of customer satisfaction as measured by MORI and PLUS:
In the Household Survey 92% of respondents cited
libraries as best service, 85% of users satisfied with the service
and 42% (one of the highest levels recorded by MORI in such surveys)
"very satisfied".
Our PLUS results show 96% of users rate the
knowledge of staff as good or very good, and 97% rate the helpfulness
of staff as good or very good.
Against this background it is disappointing
that the 2003 Public Library Position Statement received Grade
1 for our compliance with the Public Library Standards and Grade
2 for our approach to Framework for the Future. We therefore welcome
an opportunity to contribute to an enquiry that should assist
library authorities to use resources wisely for the benefit of
their users.
Our comments on the areas of enquiry are:
1. ACCESSIBILITY
Although we welcome the concept of defining
the statutory duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library
service, the accessibility standards have been a cause of concern
for Surrey County Council.
Meeting the opening hours standard would cost
a considerable sum for marginal benefit; despite the fact that
Surrey falls well short of the Standard, customer satisfaction
(as measured by PLUS and the MORI Household Survey) is very high.
The Standard for the number of households within
two miles of a static library makes rationalisation of the library
estate even more difficult than the normal controversy surrounding
library closure. Section 3 below describes the rationale for estate
reconfiguration.
Good quality mobile provision (Surrey has almost
completed the renewal of its fleet of mobiles) can provide a better
service than sub-standard static libraries.
2. INCREASING
USE
It is important that measures of use go beyond
the conventional measures of issues and visits, important as these
are.
There is ample evidence that improving the quality
of the environment produces measurable results; our own experience
demonstrates this clearly.
At the new Epsom library visits more than quadrupled
in two years compared with the old library it replaced while more
recently, two small refurbished libraries (Ash and Horsley) have
increased issues by over 10% compared with the equivalent three
month period the previous year.
The level of investment required to transform
libraries is relatively modest by comparison with some other services
and projects but significant in comparison with library budgets.
A capital investment in the range £5 million-£10 million
is required to bring Surrey County Council's library estate up
to the required standard.
Remote and web-based services are increasing
library use, but do not feature in the conventional measures.
Enquiries Direct, Surrey's centralised information service has
handled 7,673 enquiries during its first eight months of operation
while use of the website has increased from 276,306 visits in
2002-03 to 479,425 in 2003-04.
3. FUNDING AND
BALANCE OF
SPENDING
The annual budget of just over £13 million
is stretched thinly to provide a range of services from 52 static
libraries and six mobiles together with the newer electronic services
described in the next section. It is not sustainable to continue
these levels of service with this degree of geographical dispersion
with the current budget levels, therefore it will be necessary
in the future to increase the budget, to rationalise service provision
or to become even more efficient.
Surrey County Council has pursued commercial
partnership as a means of securing the investment in improving
libraries described in Section 2 above. The procurement process
led us to the conclusion that the only source of significant investment
was reconfiguration of the library estate—selling properties
that were wrongly sized or located, or clustered in such a way
that there is over-provision, and re-providing through fewer and
less expensive outlets.
This procurement process has been suspended
as it has not been demonstrated to be more effective that investment
through, for example the Prudential Code for capital expenditure,
and it does not avoid the inevitable controversy surrounding library
closures. The approach taken by Cambridgeshire, using the Council's
own Property Service to dispose of surplus property and re-provide
where necessary may well be more productive.
The balance of spending has moved towards ICT;
in 2003 £300,000 per annum was transferred from the book
fund to the ICT budget. In the future, it is likely that there
will be a further transfer of spending from books to electronic
resources, and from staff to technology for automation eg self
issue.
4. NEW MODELS
OF PROVISION
— The Ebbisham Centre, Epsom is a library
situated in a town centre re-development.The project was completed
in partnership with Epsom and Ewell Borough Council. The Library
is situated a very short distance away from the railway station
and the High Street bus stops. In the Ebbisham Centre the library
is well positioned next to a café, with a gym and activity
rooms and doctor's surgery nearby. In 2000-01 the old library
had 100,732 visits, in 2003-04 the number of visits had increased
to 422,169. The computers in the library have the highest use
of any in the county.
— As part of fulfilling an aspiration
to co-locate services in multipurpose buildings, so facilitating
the re-configuration of the County Council's estate as well as
increasing convenience for service users, New Haw library houses
adult education and youth service provision while the new Haslemere
library will be a shared building with a new youth centre.
— Surrey's Library Service receives
£400,000 from the local LSC to support learning in libraries.
Members of the Lifelong learning team are working on a variety
of projects. We currently have two learndirect Centres
in Surrey Libraries and also offer taster sessions for Silver
Surfers and Webwise in all our libraries. We are working with
Adult and Community Learning on Widening Participation courses,
including shopping on-line and first aid. The team are also producing
material giving basic help notes for self learners to use either
in the library or at home. Family learning is being provided in
partnership with local schools with sessions being run for parents
and children at local libraries which have included computer sessions
and a poetry workshop. We are able to record the number of hits
on Educational websites through the library website. In September
2004 there were 382,256 hits. This level of usage is only possible
due to staff having been trained in web use and able to guide
users to this online information.
— The Legal Services Commission has
granted Partnership Initiative funding to Surrey County Council
Libraries for a two year project to develop information and advice
about Community Legal Services across the wider network of providers
and problem noticers in Surrey. The project will prioritise the
needs of two groups for legal information and advice: victims
and survivors of domestic violence, and those in need of information
and advice on income maximisation. Two access co-ordinators have
just been recruited. Both will contribute to the objectives of
Surrey's Public Service Agreement in these two areas. The funding
will therefore leverage additional funding for development of
services to these groups if successful. This is the first time
that the contribution of the Library Service to wider service
provision goals has been acknowledged in terms of the Public Service
Agreement.
— Looked after children in two children's
homes receive library books from their local library while a special
"corporate parent" membership category and ticket are
being developed to encourage looked after children and their carers
to use libraries.
— Outreach to target neighbourhoods
especially involving support for the SCC Self Reliance projects
working with partners to promote the use and value of books and
assist in language, literacy and learning skills development.
In North Leatherhead, provide support for the All Saints Family
Project and their Literacy and Activity weeks. Books have been
bought to loan out to the children and a small selection of ANF
and FIC has been made available for parents. This has included
reading stories and arranging for a visit from a professional
storyteller, Winston Nzinga. A book passport scheme ran during
the summer holidays using the books at the project. At Aarons
Hill in Godalming the library service has deposited a collection
of books in St Mark's School. This collection is aimed at the
parents of the children attending the school. The stock consists
of books for the parent or carer on aspects of child care, on
personal development, and material for younger children not yet
at school. Library staff visit the nursery class to do a story
session. They have adapted the national summer reading scheme
for children and run it at the school in the autumn term with
a presentation of certificates. They also run quizzes for the
children. Activity at Sandy Hill in Farnham currently focuses
on visits to talk about reading and holding storytimes.
— Library Access to Surrey Services
(LA2SS) is a pilot scheme at Staines Library that allows citizens
to have online and telephone access to a range of services offered
not only by SCC but the district and borough councils as well.
The proposal is to roll the concept out to libraries in each of
the 11 Borough/Districts in Surrey. Although the Library as Gateway
to Surrey services is only one of a number of channels, the intention
is to raise the local profile of County services, and to provide
mediated and supported access to the comprehensive range of e-enabled
services provided by SCC and other statutory bodies. Surrey County
Council Libraries has been the linchpin of SCC's successful implementation
of BVI157.
— Enquiries Direct is a centralised
Information and Customer Service provision that is leading the
service into a new model of service. It is initially providing
a high quality information service to complement the self-service
and enquiry provision of the individual library. The service is
promoted to exploit all potential channels for requests for service:
networked requests from libraries; telephone, fax and written
enquiries; enquiries via e-mail and the Surrey County Council
website; and enquiries channelled from the Surrey County Council
Contact Centre. Surrey County Council Libraries Enquiries Direct
is participating in the national pilot People's Network information
offer. It already operates to cover the opening hours of all our
libraries, and it is working towards an out of hours offer by
working in partnership with other library services under the People's
Network banner.
5. EFFECTIVENESS
OF LEGISLATIVE
FRAMEWORK
The legislative framework is reasonably effective,
as the Public Library Standards and Framework for the Future go
a considerable way towards defining "comprehensive and efficient".
It is helpful that current thinking, as exemplified in the MLA
publication "A Quiet Revolution" recognises that core
library services contribute directly to the well being of citizens
and their communities. It might be helpful to strengthen this
emphasis on the value of library services in their own right,
as opposed to as an adjunct to other services such as education
or social care.
6. RECRUITMENT
AND TRAINING
Recruitment
Surrey is an area of high employment, high average
earnings and qualifications and a high cost of living. All of
these factors present problems in recruiting staff in some geographical
areas and from some sections of the population. It is more difficult
to recruit staff in Woking and Guildford than in Epsom. Most of
the vacancies are for part time library assistants on a salary
of £11,000-£12,000 which does not provide opportunities
for young people looking for full time employment with a salary
which allows them to leave home.
We also find it difficult to recruit younger
people into professional posts, again because the salary is relatively
low compared with other professions and with London salaries £19,000-£23,000.
The majority of our staff are "returners" to work.
In general, the educational qualifications of
library assistants is high and we do attract a high calibre of
staff, because it is seen as more prestigious than working as
a shop assistant. However, graduates completing Librarianship
qualifications frequently do not want to come into the public
library field.
Training
Training and development is very important for
all staff. As part of their induction, staff are trained in basic
operations, customer care, health and safety and legal issues.
Ongoing training includes support to customers in the provision
of information and learning, reader development, services to client
groups, eg children and basic resources management. Managers receive
ongoing training in health and safety, legal, personnel and building
management as well service development training. Librarians and
other teams members also undertake service development training
as appropriate.
All staff are given the opportunity to undertake
a range of NVQ qualifications, Administration, Assessor Award,
Customer Service, Information and Library Service and Management
up to level 4, through Surrey County Council Community Services
NVQ Centre.
The ICT training for Public Library Staff funded
by the New Opportunities Fund enabled us to complete a four year
training programme for all staff which was completed on time and
under budget. Ongoing ICT training is now part of the training
plan.
We intend to use the new CILIP Framework for
as part of our training programme. Staff on B and C will be encouraged
to obtain Certification (ACLIP) and staff on D and above who are
not currently qualified librarians will be encouraged to obtain
Chartership (MCLIP). Chartered Librarians will work through a
revalidation programme and will be encouraged to obtain Fellowship.
7. ROLE OF
INSTITUTIONAL AND
SPECIALIST LIBRARIES
Inspire England will make access to further
and higher education libraries much easier. An "Inspire Surrey"
project is well advanced, in partnership with the two universities
in Surrey as well as a number of colleges.
The British Library and other specialist libraries
fulfil an essential role in our Interlending service, which will
be further enhanced in the future by developing the sub-regional
partnership. As well as introducing CRX technology, this will
enable efficiencies to be made by reducing specialist holdings,
sharing procurement and creating a single reserve store.
8. PEOPLE'S
NETWORK
Surrey County Council Library Service fully
embraced the People's Network concept and the maximum practical
amount of pc equipment was provided in each library. SCC has committed
funds to a five year fully managed library data services contract
which covers the desktop equipment, network services and includes
the PN equipment. This ensures, that as PN equipment reaches the
end of its useful life SCC has committed funds to enable replacement
with the latest equivalent.
In some of our libraries demand for terminal
time exceeds supply at peak times. The initial response to this
is to introduce a more sophisticated terminal management product
that will enable users to book slots on terminals in advance,
and not have to queue (thus avoiding a customer care flashpoint).
The alternative—provision of more terminals—is made
difficult not just by funding constraints, but by space in our
buildings, and the perception that total occupancy rates are below
70%, even in libraries where there are queues at peak times.
There remains the question of the sustainability
of the People's Network installation in Surrey County Council
Libraries. Surrey County Council Libraries is in the minority
in that it has already moved funding from traditional to electronic
resources, yet all this enables us to do is to guarantee the provision
of an ICT installation at the current level and type until 2008.
Funding for new services (wireless networking; services for the
digital lifestyle etc) needs to be the next national priority.
Technology is moving too fast for a single injection of funding
(however generous and effective at the time) to be enough to keep
public libraries relevant to users in the 21st century.
Charging for People's Network provision: Surrey
County Council Libraries undertook a detailed investigation of
options to charge for the use of People's Network terminals. The
rationale would be to manage demand and to create income for future
ICT developments. The conclusion is not to proceed to a charging
scheme. The projections indicated that the benefits would currently
be outweighed by the disadvantages of decreased visitor numbers
in libraries; decreased use of a high-value resource; an income
potential that does not allow for extensive investment in ICT;
and a vastly increased staff overhead in administering the scheme
and collecting the charges. A decision has been taken to introduce
terminal management and booking software to maximise the throughput
of the People's Network resource.
We propose to continue to examine the potential
to introduce value added chargeable services, based around extending
expert research services and assistance in using complex online
data services. Proposals will be ready for consideration in early
2005.
9. OTHER ISSUES
— The work on marketing commissioned
by MLA is very promising, and we hope that the implantation phase
will bring resources to give libraries the higher profile needed
to reverse trends in use. It will be important to secure adequate
resources nationally and locally to maximise the impact of this
work.
— Reporting to several government departments
for different aspects of funding and strategic development does
not help the library service to progress in a planned and structured
way.
— Efficiency in the context of the
Gershon review is being pursued in Surrey County Council through
a "Policy and Productivity Review". For the library
service, it is likely that efficiencies will be found through
the following:
1. Property reconfiguration as described
in Section 3 above.
2. Sharing procurement and management of
stock with neighbouring authorities as described in Section 7.
3. Using libraries to access Council and
other public services, described in Section 4.
11 November 2004
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