Threats to library services and latest on Painswick

Library cartoon strip from: www.unshelved.com

Bad news for the library service - the local newspapers are warning that the axe might fall on some of our County libraries - see Citizen report here. This blog entry looks at an update on Painswick library and the broader picture re libraries plus includes mobile library times for this area.

Locally I am very concerned by the County plans - a consultation is due to start on 20th August - let us hope it is an opportunity rather than an excuse to make more cuts - I have to agree with Liberal Dem leader Coun Jeremy Hilton, who says: "The new strategy for libraries is a backward step. They plan to keep the service at the two-star rating of adequate. This shows a complete lack of ambition - we should be striving for a four-star service of excellent. No new libraries are to be built other than finishing off projects started by the Liberal Democrats in the previous administration. Library hours will stay the same, whereas we would be extending opening hours, including opening more libraries on a Sunday."

Painswick library update

See 'Library' label below for various previous blogs on this topic including getting the save the library campaign into an international magazine.

The District Council at Cabinet last week approved a £20,000 grant towards the Painswick Gateway project (see previous blogs for info on the Gateway Project) - it still has to go to Full Council but with Cabinet approval it looks set to go through. While I support the Gateway project I have to say I am deeply concerned by the failure of the County Council to come up with more funds.

Why are the District effectively subsidising a service that should be provided by the County? Maybe there is a good reason but I am yet to hear it! This also happened in 2002 when the Council made a £40,000 capital contribution to the development of a new Dursley Library and continues to invest revenue resources in order to secure a staff presence at the facility.

I would like to hear a lot more noise about why the County are not properly investing in library services before I feel comfortable with District Council money being spent like this. Of course it is a hugely valuable and important project....anyhow here's some of the background info....

Background taken from Stroud District Council Cabinet papers:

During 2005 Gloucestershire County Council reviewed the long-term provision of Libraries within the County. It was subsequently decided that Painswick Library would close during 2009. In April 2006 a ‘Friends of Painswick Library’ (FPL) was established with the aim of retaining the library service and examining how the Stroud Road building could be better integrated with the assets managed by St Mary’s Church (to the rear of the Library) for the benefit of the village as a whole. In June 2006 4 members of FPL formed a core group to research the matter further and report their findings to the Parish Council and community. In September 2006 the Core Group concluded that the community of Painswick should seek to purchase and reunite the various buildings mentioned above for a wide range of community and other uses which would bring social and economic benefits to Painswick. It also recommended that an independent charitable Trust be established to negotiate the purchase of the buildings from the County Council, oversee the regeneration of the site and operate the new facility in due course. The Parish Council and community supported the recommendation and the County Council confirmed in April 2007 that it would be happy to work with a Village Trust.

The Village Trust is currently being set up legally and negotiations with the County Council are about to commence. The Community has already raised significant resources in order to contribute toward the purchase price. The Council has also been invited to make a contribution towards the purchase of the building and to contribute on-going revenue in order to secure a service presence in the new facility. Such a decision would be consistent with the approach taken at Dursley Library and other community facilities.

The project has already been offered revenue support of up to £1,000 from within existing budgets, to match fund that pledged by the Parish Council, and to be used for initial surveys. The Trust have also be advised that any future requests for funding from the Council, over and above the initial £20,000, will need to be considered through future rounds of the Village Hall and Community Building Scheme. Talks about a customer service presence within any new facility and securing the current Tourist Information point are being taken forward by the Strategic Heads of Customer Services and Regeneration and Culture respectively.

The national picture

Nationally the picture is also not looking great with fears that Gordon Brown's cuts to arts funding will damage the country's leading museums, libraries and archives. See Observer article here. Plus public spending by Councils is about to be squeezed - see here local Green party comment last week.

20 years ago the library service in Councils was one of the most vibrant of services - "the university of the street corner" writes John Whelan (Lambeth's opposition Conservative leader). Libraries lent some 600 million books a year but over the past 10 years book issues have declined by 40% while high street book selling has boomed. The amount spent on books by Councils has fallen each year in the last 10 years and now stands at £90 million.

Restoration is possible - the whole service only costs the country £1 billion a year in England to run, but we need to restore book collections, library opening times and repair dilapidated buildings. Where that is happening the results are clear: library use in Richmond is up 13%, in Newquay 97%, while in Kent children's book readership is up 50% and even in Dursley where the new library has opened figures are good.

So why have libraries been run down allowed to become run down? And why is the County not suggesting investment? John Whelan suggests that at a meeting this year at the Smith Institute with leading lights in the libraries debate the suggestion was that elected members - library policy makers - are to blame - sometimes they showed they held libraries in low esteem. Here were some of the other comments about elected members:

- Ignorance - while some were passionate about libraries they were not familiar with details or able to vision the future.
- Failure to listen - some failed to listen to Officers prefering outside organisations
- Responsibilities - who should encourage councillors to understand more and become prop-library people? One Council leader in London recently proudly boasted that he was a "Philistine about libraries" - maybe they will listen when it hits their CPA scores (targets to show how good Councils are compared to others)?

If people are voting with their feet and not going to libraries then the profession must perhaps also share some blame? But not too much as the evidence of continually being squeezed financially and in other ways is not a conducive environment for development. One other aspect I've not mentioned in this entry but have in other blogs, is the role of private companies in our libraries - for example companies like Civica are keen to see more outsourcing and privatisation of our public services - still more worrying is that Civica reported that the hand of private equity was felt - a hostile takeover bid from an unnamed private equity firm....none of this is good news for developing good quality public services.....

It is clear people value their libraries. Some areas are investing in many new and exciting ways: Cumbria County Council is embracing new technology to ensure that residents in rural areas can order library books from their corner shop. In a deprived area of Hackney people queue for the library to open while in Havering a massive refurb programme is linking all libraries to the arts agenda and contain one-stop shops for accessing Council services.

We also see Tim Coates, a former Waterstones managing director on the lecture circuit about libraries - he suggests significant savings are possible from libraries due to unwarranted overheads like library indexing services and poor supply chain management. He asks why Waterstones can buy a book for £10 but libraries pay £20 for the same book? As John Whelan notes Tim Coates "believes that libraries could be more welcoming by using shop fitters, yes, like Waterstones."

Anyhow I await with interest the nature of the County consultation and also hope that support for the Painswick Gateway project continues to come in.

Five Valleys Mobile Library

Photo: Mobile library service in Bread Street

Meanwhile while I was writing this by coincidence someone asked me today what were the times of our mobile library service. So here they are:

Based at Stroud Library Tel (01453) 751651 Fax (01453) 762060
Route C - alternate Wednesdays - Mobile stops at:

Duderstadt Close, Paganhill 9.10 to 9.40 am
Humphries Close, Randwick 10.55 to 11.10am
Bread St, Ruscombe 11.20 to 11.35am
Carpenters Arms, Westrip 11.45 to 12 noon
Victory Road, Whiteshill 1.50 to 2.20pm
St. Paul's Church, Whiteshill 2.25 to 2.45pm
Maple Drive, Whiteshill 2.45 to 3pm

Read more about Gloucestershire libraries

Library Club for Housebound

And don't forget there is also a meeting at Stroud library on the last Wednesday of each month 11 to 12.30 for housebound - free door-to-door community transport plus tea and coffee. Next dates 25th July and 26th Sept - book a place with Village Agent Pam Thorne on 07776245791.