NATIONAL FORUM FOR INFORMATION PLANNING (NFIP) NEWS RELEASE
Apologies for cross-posting
News Release 30 October 1998 For immediate release
NFIP comments on the Spending Review proposals
The National Forum for Information Planning (NFIP) has commented to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on its Comprehensive Spending Review, published in July.
NFIP welcomes Government proposals to allocate Lottery/New Opportunities Fund (NOF) funding for books and IT, in recognition of the declining level of investment in public libraries at a time of increasing demand. But eligibility criteria will need careful thought: targeting funds on perceived areas of "neglect" could in effect reward poor management or past discriminatory investment policies in some local authorities at the expense of others whose services have been well-managed. Also, following Local Government Reorganisation, many public library authorities are inheritors, rather than creators, of their levels of investment or of "neglect". The fairest method of allocating Lottery/NOF funding would be a grant to every public library authority on a population basis.
Proposals for urgently needed investment in IT to enable developments in lifelong learning by public libraries are welcomed. In the context of the National Grid for Learning this will give value for money. The Forum also supports the proposal to merge the British Library Research and Innovation Centre with the Library and Information Commission (LIC). On the proposal to incorporate the Advisory Council on Libraries (ACL) into the LIC, it stresses the importance of the style of leadership adopted by the Commission and cautions lest it be perceived as too public library oriented.
The proposed role of the LIC in leading and co-ordinating development of the public libraries IT network is logical, following New Library: The Peoplešs Network. However, as well as possibly identifying the LIC even more with public libraries, the proposal raises resource issues: while significant Government funding has been identified for training and content, investment in the hardware and software infrastructure is being left to individual local authorities. Some have bid successfully for Wolfson grants, but the funding is modest and not disbursed strategically. Strategic investment in the physical infrastructure of the public library ICT network should be a priority for Government. Without it, staff training and digitised content are of limited value, and it is hard to see what more the LIC could do to co-ordinate ICT development which requires hard-pressed local authorities to divert existing resources from other parts of the library service.
On merging the LIC with the Museums and Galleries Commission (MGC), NFIP says that co-operation with archives is equally important in developing cultural, heritage and lifelong learning strategies. Moreover, the scope of library services and their resources is universal, and wider than implied by DCMS. Technical, business, health, research, governmental and special
libraries all play a vital economic and intellectual role, and the LIC must relate to these as much as to public libraries. NFIP points to the difficulties encountered by public and academic business and technical libraries in winning recognition from DTI, TECs and Business Links. With the advent of Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), this battle may need to be fought again. Distinct Library and Information Commissioners should be retained within a new merged Council, and ideally a Library and Information Department should be formed to represent the sector to economic, business, employment, training and wealth-creating agencies.
NFIP endorses the need for a stronger and more focused regional library structure to mirror those of other DCMS programme areas and to give a stronger voice for libraries in dealings with regional partners. The Regional Library Systems (RLSs) could be the best vehicles, but NFIP does not perceive that all RLSs either want or are capable of the task. The Forum proposes Library and Information Plans (LIPs) and other partnership networks as alternative vehicles for change in the absence of enthusiasm from RLSs. Cross-sectoral and multi-sectoral, LIPs involve a wider range of partners and a broader co-operation agenda than those of the traditional RLS. Their goal is to practise national, regional or local strategic information planning - identified by DCMS as a key function of the Regional Cultural Fora.
Some RLSs are geared up to be key developmental players for the regional tier, others are not. NFIP asks whether the DCMS and LIC should question the need for, or viability of, the current number of RLSs. It asks whether those that are capable and imaginative could be encouraged to absorb and manage other areas. In some cases, there may be a regional LIP with the credentials to take a lead. Either way, DCMS or LIC should not wait any longer for the RLSs to make up their minds on this issue which was first put to them three years ago.
NFIP supports greater financial freedom for the British Library, and better linkages with the education sector and the idea of a LIC working group. It notes the many examples of education/library networking to be seen in LIPs and would welcome the opportunity to provide LIP representation on the working group. On links with the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (RCHM), NFIP believes this underlines the need to include the archives sector in the cultural and heritage equation. On the Wolfson Challenge Fund, NFIP doubts that the challenge approach to infrastructure funding is the best way to achieve consistent standards of quality or provision. Such funding should operate within a policy framework either at national or regional level, as part of a national or regional library and information strategic plan.
/ends
Notes to Editors
1. Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The Comprehensive Spending Review: A new approach to investment in culture. 24 July 1998.
http://www.culture.gov.uk/CSRALL.HTM
2. Library and Information Commission. New Library: The People's Network. 1997
3. The National Forum for Information Planning (NFIP) was established as LIPLINC in 1989 at the request of the Office of Arts and Libraries to monitor the development of Library and Information Plans (LIPs) in the UK. It consists of LIP Directors and Managers together with representatives of other UK library and information networks and of the British Library.
4. For further information on NFIP's comments to DCMS, contact: Nick Fox, Hatrics, 81 North Walls, Winchester SO23 8BY. Tel: 01962 846 077.
Fax: 01962 856 615. E-mail: [log in to unmask]
5. News release issued for NFIP by Pat Wressell & Associates, Press Officer. Tel: 0191 281 3502. Fax: 0191 212 0146. E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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