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 December 2008 Volume 6(6)

Response

Meeting varied needs

With advancing old age I recently had to strengthen the prescription in my varifocal glasses. For a while I struggled to adapt, finding it easy to read and see some things and difficult to recognise others. I feel a bit like that about ‘Public libraries: political footballs?’ in which I don’t recognise some of what is said but do recognise and agree with other things, although I find them a bit blurred around the edges.

I don’t recognise the bleak picture painted of unmitigated decline in public libraries. I know that traditional book borrowing has declined and that many potential users satisfy their information needs in different ways. I also know that there has been a huge investment in delivering services through alternative channels to meet the needs of our 24/7 culture and that this investment has attracted new users in huge numbers. Furthermore, where we’ve invested in more traditional library services, increasing hours and refurbishing buildings, then use has increased: this summer The Highland Council invested in three new joint school and community libraries (new buildings, new stock and extra staff) and the use has gone up by 40%, 60% and 100% compared to this time last year.

Where there is investment, then there are results. One way of attracting new investment is to tie in with national initiatives. Locally we work within a political context reflecting the needs of our users and the political and budgetary priorities of our councils. It would be strange if these didn’t reflect the national agenda and I’d be failing in my duty if I didn’t advocate the relevance of public libraries to those agendas and so maximise the potential for new investment

I agree absolutely that we need to prove ourselves worthy of funding, but I take a more positive view of measures of performance and quality. They are not there for their own sake nor are they about bean counting, but are to help us be accountable. If we can’t show that we do things better and that they make a difference then we don’t deserve to be here.

Seeking staff with the right skills (which certainly differ from the skills we looked for 10 or 20 years ago) is key to engaging with users. While it’s fun to point out buzzwords it’s more profitable to see what lies behind them. We do have many brilliant staff throughout our nation’s libraries, but we also have some whom users see as barriers. We need to change how we are if we are to survive. Again, if we aren’t inclusive and engaging we don’t deserve to be here.

Our libraries are not about telling users what the answers are, but about supporting users with resources and skills to find the answers themselves. If we’re not neutral and even handed then we won’t earn their trust. The definition of literacy in Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Scotland is “the ability to read, write and use numeracy to handle information, to express ideas and opinions, to make decisions and solve problems, as family members, workers, citizens and lifelong learners.” For me that’s also a pretty good summary of what libraries are all about. 

Christopher Phillips is Lifelong Learning Manager at The Highland Council.

Information Scotland Vol. 6(6) December 2008

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