Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal June 2006 Volume 4(3)

Branching out

Norma McDermott spoke at this year’s Celtic Connections conference. Here she outlines how Irish libraries have been given a great chance to present to a national forum their case for combating social exclusion.

Public notices in the Irish press announced in February that the National Economic and Social Forum (NESF) invited the public to make submissions on the role of the Irish state in promoting cultural inclusion. A public plenary session in November at which government ministers and the opposition parties may attend will have an impressive international line-up and the major findings will be presented. NESF will publish a report in 2007. Librarians are taking stock. Why?

NESF is a state agency which focuses on the achievement of equality and social inclusion in Ireland and is considering for the first time how culture could combat exclusion.
NESF comprises representatives from four strands:
>>the Oireachtas, the Irish houses of Parliament;
>>employer, trade unions and farm organisations;
>>the voluntary and community sector and
>>central government, local government and independent representatives.
The chair and vice chair are appointed by government.

A 15 member project team representative of all the strands is reviewing all types of cultural activity but concentrating on drama, visual arts and libraries. NESF has received 80 submissions including a strong library dimension. The policy analyst consulted individuals and groups including the Library Association of Ireland. The Donegal County Librarian and I addressed the project team and NESF members.

Irish libraries believe the NESF will focus on their collective value. Areas of particular concern which the marginalised could and do benefit from include policies and measures contributing to strengthening civility and cultural citizenship, raising learning aspirations and improving educational attainment. NESF has recognised libraries as agents of cultural inclusion through this intervention and is concentrating on the instruments used and their effectiveness.

What happened at the forum? We told our story and NESF listened, made comments and asked questions.

A culturally inclusive library service provides, through its staff, stock, buildings and facilities, the necessary conditions to welcome all users. Library services are inclusive when they respond and attend to the sensibilities of their users, when they discern and are thoughtful about their users’ requirements, and alert to developing further engagement as and when appropriate. We submitted a detailed overview of policy instruments and evaluated developments, outlined the barriers and proposed solutions and further areas for research. A flavour of the interchanges follows.
We proposed that inclusion in the library context can be participation in a cultural experience/activity (personal or collective), the production of creative works, enabling creativity in the cultural domain, decision making or a combination of these elements. Cultural inclusion in and through the library service matters because library resources, including staff, contribute to these elements as a means of realising the potential of all their users. We gave examples from both a national and a local perspective. The Taobh Tire project illustrated the issues and challenges of delivering a culturally inclusive library service to rural and island populations in Donegal, on the sparsely populated northwestern seaboard of Ireland.

The public library service, we contend, has further collective unrealised potential. Particular target groups are, and should continue to be, the focus of intensive cultural inclusion measures. We gave examples of those that are hard to reach, among them, the new Irish, the disabled, the unemployed, the homeless, rural and isolated populations and the newly literate.

Progress in relation to participation and access is measured and assessed through a range of instruments: user and non-user surveys, consultation, focus groups, submissions, statistical analyses, partnership arrangements, reviews of interventions including the public library government programme, our eight year Branching Out agenda. All of these are in place and show growing engagement. We gave the figures and made recommendations for further progress. We demonstrated the intention to be inclusive as outlined in national and local policies and strategies that form the context in which library services operate.

Library services are engaging in cultural processes, developing products and services. We share the concern of NESF in broadening access. The public library is growing at a time when we are experiencing shrinkage in the civic space in local communities. The library as a long serving symbol of free access, as a space to be as well as to do, has to be valued all the more. With ever more churches closed in the evening, police stations in rural Ireland disappearing, the loss of a local post office in our neighbourhoods, the marginalised will otherwise have less local resources to enhance identity, to encourage engagement and to value them, either collectively or as individuals. How is one otherwise a part of civic life? A beautiful, open, civic and cultural space serves to reflect our sense of what we are and aspire to be. NESF would like to have an exhibition at the Plenary Session showcasing some 40 libraries that have opened their doors since Branching Out was launched in 1998.

We argued that reading is one of the most enduring, popular, habitual, enjoyable and enriching means of accessing culture. The commonplace nature of reading in a generally literate society might lead us to overlook its importance as a cultural experience. Reading has a value for the individual and benefits communities, society, and the collective cultural life of the nation through the contributions of ‘well-read’ individuals.

Through access to cultural resources, library personnel help to equip users with the tools and confidence to enjoy and participate in culture, ‘to dwell in possibility’ (from the Emily Dickinson poem of the same name) as well as make sense of the world. 68% of adults are or have been members of a public library, with 36% having visited recently. More people visit each year than attend all the Gaelic Athletic Association of Ireland senior championship football and hurling matches in Ireland. Many come to borrow, of course. They also seek information, attend a reading or other event; learn a language, use the internet, read the paper, browse through the resources. or simply sit and reflect. The value of the space to be and the purchasing power for the range of stock were noted.

In Ireland, as in Scotland, reading groups are prospering. Like you, we have a strong sense of place. In collecting and making available resources for the history and culture of communities, people and places, we have the primary function in cherishing the collective community memory for present and future generations. Making parts of these collections available over the internet has connected us to a wider world. We deliver a credible service while preserving and enhancing understanding of who we are through targeted products based on needs identified by users and those who serve them. Could we show examples at the Plenary Session?

Providing materials in foreign languages is a new and exciting challenge in Ireland. Would you imagine that reading Roddy Doyle in Italian is popular? We provide books in translation of the literature of Ireland in order to help our newest clienteles to come to know us. The non-Irish nationals are the most enthusiastic newcomers to using the internet. Of course, they want material in their own languages. We are renting and buying and pushing for larger bookfunds to keep up with demands. The need to contact home, learn about their rights and how to prosper in Ireland are pressing concerns. Of course, it is the quality of the welcome in the library that really matters. We have been used to emigration and now we must open up the world through libraries to those who come to our shores. Could we highlight work to new emigrants and asylum seekers at the Plenary Session?

NESF is, we feel, noting the impact that libraries are having in raising aspirations, in broadening participation and access to culture. The social capital of libraries can grow and we can play our part in meeting the challenges set by developing further the cultural inclusion agenda. The chair said that the NESF needs to tell our story.

Issues needing further intervention include adult learner support and improving the size and quality of some of our spaces for cultural activities. Opening hours have grown by 20% since 1999. Access to libraries after 5pm, on Saturdays and in the evening has grown to a quarter of the national total for all branches. This is in response to public demand. We want to provide more. This may well have implications for staffing levels. All of these issues are being addressed in Branching Out and more besides. We are moving in the right direction. The chair of NESF was impressed with the commitment of library staff to providing a service outside the nine to five, Monday to Friday hours, and the footfall.

Marketing and reaching the ‘hard to reach’ is a particular challenge when you consider geographical and social isolation in both urban and rural areas. We still need to enhance the levels of literacy. Strengthening the concept of a space for all is a continuing focus. Projects are underway addressing these issues and the stage is set to combat cultural exclusion through targeted niches. We are changing libraries through ICT services in order to extend availability and simplify access to cultural services and collections. Partnerships with other national institutions cultural players and information providers are in hand.

We need to create more synergies with schools and the education authorities to improve lifelong learning. The list goes on. NESF can endorse these challenges and influence the capacity to deliver results through appropriate mechanisms. At the forum, members voiced support for the school service, the mobile service, local study resources and reader support.

NESF will hold its Plenary Session in November to present its major findings. All parties to submissions will be invited to attend. Watch this space.

Norma McDermott is Director of An Chomhairle Leabharlanna (The Library Council, Ireland).

Information Scotland Vol. 4(3) June 2006

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