Embargoed until 4th May 2007

 

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

 

 

RESPONSIBILITY WITHOUT POWER

 

Public libraries - Does anyone up there care?

 

 

 

England has a failing public library service.   The final report of the Laser Foundation says why.   There are 149 library authorities in England, each with its own agenda.   Nationally the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is responsible for library policy and standards, but has no money; Communities and Local Government is the major funder but sets no goals; the Department for Education and Skills and the National Lottery both fund programmes but have little influence over the national network.

 

Overdue, a Laser sponsored report, described the situation as "poorly coordinated".   The foundation says this is "perhaps the understatement of the decade".

 

In 2005 a House of Commons Select Committee called libraries "a service in distress".   The then Secretary of State at DCMS told the Committee that he was powerless, "I simply do not have the levers to compel local authorities to observe library standards."   Laser comments, "Tom Stoppard put it well, 'responsibility without power, the prerogative of the eunuch through the ages'". 

 

Four themes

Laser's grant-giving had four main themes : the future of public libraries; complying with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995; information technology; and consultation with hard to reach communities about what they want from their library. 

 

Future of public libraries

Two papers on the future of the service caused the most comment.   These were Overdue by Charles Leadbeater, an associate of the think-tank Demos, and Who's in charge?  by library consultant and former bookseller Tim Coates.

 

Leadbeater wrote that libraries would attract additional resources only when those responsible for them - librarians, and local and national politicians - put their house in order : "libraries are sleep-walking to disaster, it's time they woke up".

 

In Who's in charge? Coates went into detail : book borrowing down by 35 per cent, cost of service up by 39 per cent, money spent on books under 10 per cent of the budget, and £20 spent in the back office to put a £10 book on the shelf.

 

Coates claimed that councillors were party to a huge waste of public money.   "They should re-establish their control and deliver a service in line with public expectations."  His views were widely disputed and stimulated fierce debate.

 

 

 

Views of the young

The Audit Commission report on public libraries (2002) and the House of Commons Select Committee both commented on the small, and reducing, use of libraries by 14-35 year olds.   Public Libraries: destination unknown was a Laser and MLA-funded research project to find out why, commissioned by Lord McIntosh of Haringey, a former minister at DCMS.   It made depressing reading.   There is a "deeply entrenched negative perception of libraries", with un-modernised buildings - the majority - seen as dirty, uncared for, with old and poor stock and an oppressive atmosphere.

 

Future library leaders

Many young librarians are also frustrated by the state of their service.   Laser organised a conference for library middle managers to describe how they would like to see it in 15 years time.   They thought the biggest obstacle to progress was structure : "The division of responsibility for libraries between national and local government is serving the public badly.   A radical change in both governance and method of funding is needed".

 

 

The foundation has commissioned and funded valuable research, and provoked more honest debate than the service has seen in decades.   It will be missed.   No other body looks likely to fill the gap it leaves.

 

 

ends

 

 

 

 

For information please contact :

 

 

Frances Hendrix (Laser Foundation): Tel:  01257 274833,  0777 55 888 03 

email:  [log in to unmask]

 

Adrian Olsen (Laser Foundation Trustee): Tel:  020 8658 6128 

email:  [log in to unmask]

 

To access all Laser reports and the final report (downloads available) click on

http://www.bl.uk/about/cooperation/laser-pubs.html

 

Notes :

 

The Laser Foundation was set up in 2001 to fund work which would improve library services to the public.   Its money came from Laser, the former library cooperative founded in 1928 for resource sharing, mainly in London and the south-east.  It took its title, Laser, from the initials of the region it served.   When it closed in 2000 its assets were transferred to the foundation, a registered charity.   These funds have now been used up.

 


Frances Hendrix
Laser Foundation
Martin House Farm, Hilltop Lane
Whittle-le-Woods, Chorley
Lancashire. PR6 7QR
Tel: 01257 274833
Fax: 01257 266488