The organisation of public libraries

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) consists of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The population of the UK is 56m people of which 5m live in Scotland, 3m live in Wales and 1.6m live in Northern Ireland. The language of the UK as a whole is English. Just over 500,000 people in Wales speak Welsh and Wales is officially a bilingual country. There are communities of people in most large cities speaking various Asian languages, the result of immigration since the Second World War. In 1997 a separate legislative assembly was created in Scotland with powers over virtually all internal matters, including of course libraries, museums, archives, and education at all levels. At the same time Wales also gained a limited amount of devolved government.

Public library legislation in the UK goes back to 1851. The current legislative framework for England and Wales is provided by the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964, and for Scotland, The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 which require library authorities to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service. The Local Government Act 1999 makes it a duty of each local authority to achieve Best Value or “to secure continuous improvement in the way in which its functions are exercised having regard to a combination of economy efficiency and effectiveness”. The Secretary of State for the relevant function may intervene if an authority fails to carry out its functions under this act.

Access and services for people with physical and visual impairments. The legislative framework is provided by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. This act states that service providers must not refuse service, or provide a lower standard of service, to disabled people. They must also change policies and procedures which make it difficult or impossible for disabled people to use their services. Barriers, steps or revolving doors which cause access problems must be removed by 2004. Resource has published Library Services for Visually Impaired People: a Manual of Best Practice and a guide to help museums and galleries improve access for the disabled called Disability Directory .

Copyright protected materials and related licensing initiatives. The legislative framework is provided by the Copyright Designs and Patents Act of 1979 and the Public Lending Right Act of 1979. Under the UK’s Public Lending Right scheme authors receive payment from government funds for the free borrowing of their books from public libraries in the UK. To qualify authors must register under the scheme. Payments are made in accordance with the frequency of loans of an author’s works as measured in a sample of UK libraries.

In the UK the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) aims to improve the quality of life for all through cultural and sporting activities and through the strengthening of the creative industries. The DCMS has the statutory responsibility to superintend the delivery of the Public Library Service in England by local authorities and promote its development. In 2001 there were 4167 library service points and 656 mobile service points in the UK, administered by 149 separate library authorities.

The DCMS has agreed a set of public library standards, Comprehensive, Efficient and Modern Public Libraries- Standards and Assessment, and requires each library authority to submit an annual library plan which is monitored against the standards and benchmarked against other authorities. See http://www.libplans.ws/ for more information and copies of individual authorities’ plans. The introduction of a dedicated library inspection system, along the lines of those in position for schools, has been discussed. See http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla68/papers/155-080e.pdf.

Libraries, along with all other departments in their local authorities, are also subject to the Comprehensive Performance and the Best Value Reviews carried out by the Audit Commission. Reports on the performance of public libraries in general and reviews of particular local services may be seen on the Audit Commission's website. The Audit Commission report Building Better Library Services points to a decline in library visits and book loans and notes a tendency amongst libraries to focus on current users rather than non-users, and patterns of opening which do not match the needs of users. These points and the Audit Commission recommendations have been addressed in the DCMS strategy for public libraries, Framework for the Future, see section on Policies and Strategic Activities below.

Resource, the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries is the strategic body working with and for museums, archives and libraries, tapping the potential for collaboration between them. It replaces the Museums and Galleries Commission (MGC) and the Library and Information Commission (LIC), and now includes archives within its portfolio. Resource’s mission is to enable to collections and services of the museums, archives and libraries sector to touch the lives of everyone. See section on Joint Activities between libraries, museums and archives below for more information. The Scottish Library and Information Council, the Library and Information Services Council (Wales) and the Library and Information Services Council (Northern Ireland) perform similar roles.

Funding

The background funding of public libraries, local archives and local museums in the UK is provided by the local authorities i.e. county, city, district and borough councils and unitary authorities. The local authority budget is financed roughly 50% from money raised by a property tax on householders and businesses and 50% from central government grants. Members of the public may not be charged for the basic book-lending services of a public library (PL&M Act 1964 s.8) but they may be charged for services such as reservations, or the borrowing of audiovisual material. Local authorities are allowed to charge entrance fees to museums and galleries but not libraries. Most public library authorities now raise income by a variety of means which may include charging for: reservations and interlibrary loans; photocopying; computer printouts; loan of audio-visual and multi-media stock; fines; internet access or training sessions; sales of old stock; publications; etc.

The last decade has seen the rise of what has been called a “bidding culture” in the UK’s libraries, museums and archives. There are now a large number of funding bodies, which range from charitable organizations to government agencies, which have chosen to channel funding through competitive tender or the submission of a bid containing specific proposals for action in accordance with guidance material published by the funding body. This competition for money has been seen by successive governments as leading to a more entrepreneurial, market-oriented culture in local government, but critics point out that the costs to unsuccessful bidders are high and that there is a danger that already needy areas to become even more disadvantaged as the assessment of rival bids may not take into account relative local deprivation. Public sector organisations have two problems: identifying bidding opportunities and preparing effective bids. Libraries have the advantage of background statutory funding but local museums and to some extent archives, are becoming more and more dependent on this type of funding.

In this context the huge sums of money generated and distributed by the National Lottery must be mentioned. They are disbursed to deserving causes by several different organisations among which are The New Opportunities Fund, The Heritage Lottery Fund, the Arts Councils and The Millennium Commission. Other organisations which donate money on a competitive basis include: the Department for Culture Media and Sport, the British Library, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Victoria and Albert Museum and English Heritage. Sponsorship may also be sought from private and commercial organisations. For full details see: The Bidding Culture and Local Government

Expenditure – general (£ millions) 2000-01

	Public libraries	University & HE libraries	National Libraries
Staff	485	218	67
Books	91	49	13
Periodicals	7	77	5
Audio visual	16	in books	-
Automated systems	30	17	-
Overheads, premises etc.	251	37	46
Total gross expenditure	878	426	130
Income	87	64	25
Total net expenditure	792	361	105

Source: LISU: Library and Information Statistics Tables 2002

Professional development

CILIP is the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, a new professional body formed following the unification of the Institute of Information Scientists (IIS) and The Library Association (LA). Vesting Day on 1 April 2002 saw the birth of CILIP, but the new organisation will not be fully grown for some time after this. An action plan has been mapped out for the transitional period to December 2004 during which a number of important elements of the new organisation will be put in place, including:

· a new structure of qualifications;

· new arrangements for regional Branches in England;

· a new code of conduct and ethics;

· new arrangements for Special Interest Groups;

· a new subscription framework;

· a new Website

For some time CILIP will be a "work in progress" - in consultation with the Membership - while at the same time providing a full range of products and services for CILIP Members and the wider library and information community.

CILIP currently accredits undergraduate and postgraduate library and information courses in universities up and down the country. Courses accredited range from first degrees to post-experience courses, where candidates are expected to have previous library and information experience at a professional level. Courses come in all forms - full and part time, face-to-face or distance learning, and often in combination with other subjects such as business or health information, art history or languages. All are regularly re-accredited by CILIP's experts, to ensure that they remain up-to-date, relevant to today's issues and effectively delivered. There are also courses leading to para-professional/vocational qualifications that are designed to assess levels of competence in a current job, and to improve an individual’s chances of employment and promotion by honing their skills and demonstrating their commitment to the profession. They provide a combination of practical experience and theoretical knowledge and can help people find a first job in library and information work. See Qualifications for Library Assistants, Chartered Membership, and Continuing Professional Development for more information.

Resource has an ambitious agenda relating to workforce development. It takes it very seriously as a key issue facing museums, archives and libraries. As part of the Annual Workplan 2002/3 it will be working on a strategy for workforce development which will reflect the concerns of, and address the issues facing, the sector. This strategy will define Resource's role alongside those of the professional bodies, colleges and training providers, the new Sector Skills Councils, and museums, archives and libraries themselves. Its intention is to look at all members of the workforce within the sector, paid and unpaid, and at levels and roles. Resource's more recent activity on workforce development is outlined below.

· Leadership. One of the ten key objectives listed in Resource's Manifesto was the need to set out what needs to be done to improve the quality of leadership in the sector, and to pilot a sector-wide leadership training course. Leadership is an issue of concern across the sector; identified in Renaissance in the Regions for museums and in the Public Library Workforce Survey, Recruit Retain and Lead for libraries and in Resource's Archives Strategy.

· Training - Sharing Museum Skills Millennium Awards (SMSMA). Resource and one of its predecessor bodies, the MGC administered the very successful Sharing Museum Skills Millennium Awards scheme whose aim was provide professional development for the individual and to improve the quality of museums, archives, and library special collections for their users. The scheme provided grants to enable staff and volunteers working within these organisations to share, learn and apply new skills through paid secondments. The Awards were funded by the Millennium Commission which is one of the 'good causes' supported by the National Lottery.

· SMSMA came to an end in March 2002. In order to maintain the scheme for the interim while its future and Resource's overall strategy is considered, a pilot scheme of nine secondments, one from each of the English Regions and to be drawn equally from museums, archives and libraries will be run in the year 2002/3. Resource will also be working and liaising with individuals in the Regional Agencies and other related organisations regarding the assessment of applications and awarding of these secondments and future models for professional development programmes.

· Sector Skills Councils. The Sector Skills Development Agency website is http://www.ssda.org.uk. Resource's position is that there should be a single SSC covering the entire museums, archives and libraries domain. Other links for example with community education may well be worth exploring. Resource will continue to work with DCMS and other stakeholders to achieve this end.

· Volunteers. Volunteers play a vital role in our sector, yet clear and authoritative information on precisely who volunteers and why, has been hard to come by. To address this gap in our knowledge, Resource commissioned the Institute of Volunteering Research to develop a demographic profile of volunteers in museums, archives and libraries in England. The final report, its appendices and its recommendations will enable Resource to formulate a strategic view of volunteering across the sector which recognises their contribution and will assist us in future policy decisions.

The library profession by occupation 2000-01

		Library Associa	tion *
	Chartered	Other	Total members
Public libraries	4,483	1,188	5,671
National libraries	398	366	764
Higher education	1,822	1,039	2,861
Further education	664	538	1,202
Schools	1,247	459	1,706