AT A MEETING of the RECREATION AND HERITAGE SPECIAL MEMBERS' PANEL of the COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Castle, Winchester, on Thursday,

2 December 2004.

PRESENT:

Councillors: M.S. Geddes (Chairman); R.J. Baulk; P.J. Chegwyn; Jo Kelly; Mrs M.D. Snaith

In attendance: Councillor J. Waddington, Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage; Yinnon Ezra, Director of Recreation and Heritage; Richard Ward, Head of Libraries; Bevis Ingram, Assistant County Treasurer; Tim Coates, author; and Kiffer Wiesselberg, Chairman of the Libri Trust.

1 APPOINTMENT OF CHAIRMAN

RESOLVED:

That Councillor M. S. Geddes be appointed Chairman of the Panel.

2 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or a personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should normally declare at the time of the debate their interest, and having regards to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter is discussed.

3 `WHO'S IN CHARGE?' RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY SERVICE

The Panel considered Mr Tim Coates' report `Who's in Charge?' in so far as it related to the Hampshire Library Service and the response in the report of the County Council's Head of Libraries. Evidence was received from Councillor John Waddington, the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage,; Yinnon Ezra, Director of Recreation and Heritage; Richard Ward, Head of Libraries; Bevis Ingram, Assistant County Treasurer; Mr Tim Coates, author; and Mr Kiffer Weisselberg representing the Libri Trust.

The Chairman opened the meeting by introducing all the parties present and taking part. Mr. Weisselberg and Mr. Coates were invited by the Chairman to advise the Panel of their reasons for producing the `Who's in Charge?' report.

Mr Weisselberg explained that Libri was a charitable trust established in 1999 to explore, develop, provide and support innovation in public libraries. Its aim was to encourage a vibrant and relevant public library network , where the local library could develop a centre of community involvement and which everyone in the local community would want to use. The Trust believed the public library service could learn from all sectors of the book trade and be more efficient. Due to a decline in book lending in the country by approximately 25%, Libri considered that a comprehensive study of the issues to encourage innovative solutions should be undertaken. Mr Tim Coates, formerly a managing director of Waterstones, Sherratt and Hughes and W.H. Smith bookshops, had been commissioned to undertake a study using data provided by a large local authority. Funding had been provided by the Robert Gavron Foundation and the Laser Foundation, with LISU and BML providing assistance in gathering information. Several authorities had been considered and Laser had recommended Hampshire. The "Who's in Charge?" report focussed on three issues - opening hours, increase in range-of-stock; improved environment - all to be funded from performance management improvements, supply chain efficiencies and reduction in bureaucracy without an increase in levels of funding.

Mr Coates believed that it was for Councillors to take responsibility and reverse the decline in the use of libraries He referred to the statistical information set out in "Library Book Lending: Annual Issues per 1,000 residents and cost per visit" which gave statistical figures for 20 county councils (A copy was circulated at the meeting (copy attached)). The figures indicated an average 25% decline in lending for the previous five years. Whilst this seemed to suggest a fall in funding, the cost of the service per visit had risen by an average of 41% over the same period. It raised questions as to how councils managed their library services and by what criteria they judged its successes. He suggested that the public's perception was of a poor selection of books, opening hours not meeting the needs of the public, many buildings in poor condition for studying or visiting in comparison with other public places, being out of touch with people, and a sense of inefficiency.

The Head of Libraries agreed with some of the points made but believed that the issue was more wide. It was not just about books and it was important to examine the changes in society. Since the Net Book Agreement had ended, the price of books had tumbled. More books today were purchased through supermarkets, and the internet which was also a reference resource, magazines were available on nearly every subject and multi-channel television had affected reading habits. He believed that libraries had lost the people who had previously borrowed books for diversionary reading.

Mr Coates believed that the public's reading habits had not changed even though there was more competition. This, he maintained, had been substantiated by the rise in book lending in the seven counties where they had invested more in their book funds. The rise in book sales pointed to a growth in reading with an important role for libraries to play as a resource for students, schoolchildren and adult learners. He contended that only 6% of available funds was being spent on the service in Hampshire.

It was noted that Hampshire's current Book Fund budget was £1.9 million which included the materials fund for DVDs, tapes, major periodicals, etc. Of this sum £1.1 million was spent on books. The £500,000 which had been diverted for refurbishing of library buildings would be available in future for the book fund. Since the Best Value Review many difficult decisions had been taken to improve the service. Examples of improvements were the library in Fleet which had been refurbished and its opening hours extended by nine and a half hours resulting in an improvement of library visitors by 44 per cent. The new style library in Alton had seen an 81 per cent rise in visitors and 42 per cent rise in book lending.

The Director of Recreation and Heritage agreed that although it was right to consider the book fund, other issues had also had to be considered, including the importance of broadening the base of people using the libraries, the state of the buildings and making them accessible places for everyone. A MORI study had stated that the 50 plus age group were deserting libraries and museums and the core business was in irreversible decline but that niche collections, genealogy and projects to nurture curiosities would help to reverse the trend. The County Council was in the business of serving the whole community.

Mr Coates did not agree that in order to make libraries more interesting it was necessary to diversify. He believed that the service should have modernised by improving the range and collections of books, improving access to information, more agreeable buildings and longer opening hours.

The Executive Member stressed that the County Council supported the recommendations contained in the Government's policy document `Framework for the Future'. The diversification of services was reaching out to more people and, once widened, they would then be reading books.

Mr Weisselberg commented that 70 per cent of people go to the library to read books but when the expenditure was inadequate it should not be surprising that numbers decline. With the right stock and longer opening hours, improvements in figures were clearly seen. He had no objection to broadening services, but to remedy the decline in book borrowing he believed it was necessary to have longer opening hours and better stock.

The Chairman stated that the Council recognised that it was important for the Council to broaden its range of services to remain at the heart of the community. Much action had already been taken with 8 libraries already refurbished and opening hours extended at 11 libraries and more to follow resulting in an additional 75 hours per week across the county.

Members commented that the County Council did not have unlimited resources and that many people nowadays preferred the freedom of owning their own books. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport had recently stated in its report that Hampshire's library service was good and excellent in parts and that the new Discovery Centres were a way forward in improving the service.

During the course of the discussion the following other significant points were made:

Staffing

· Mr Coates suggested that of the 500 staff involved in the County Council's library service, 190 of those were not on the opening rota and should these people be absent due to sickness, the libraries would still operate. Given the staff budget of £11 million, this would equate to £4/5 million and with added employment contributions a saving of £6/7 million could be achieved and that amount allocated to increase the book stock

· The Head of Libraries responded that only 70 staff were not on the opening rota, staff were engaged in answering enquiries, helping adults and children choose books, assisting visitors with the computer terminals, working with the travelling community, running reading schemes, helping the visually impaired with talking books, and engaging with schools and interest groups and carrying out other community activities. As an indication of the types of work undertaken by libraries, the New Forest Development Team achievements for year ending September 2004 was circulated at meeting,


· Schemes run for children in deprived areas had developed in them a love for books among younger readers. Those children were now encouraging their parents to join the library.


· Whilst the County's Library Service had undergone a recent restructuring and had been criticised for de-professionalizing the service, the County Council's expectations were that the outcome of the Review would lead significant improvements in the Library Service.


· Mr Weisselberg believed there was room to improve performance management and that Councillors were not given the financial information to enable them to make effective decisions in relation to budgets and expenditure.

Opening Hours

· Hampshire's opening hours were 102 hours per 1,000 population compared to the national standard of 128 hours.


· The County Council was working towards longer opening hours, with Easter Saturday Bank Holiday opening commencing in 2006 and decisions being devolved to local staff to extend other opening hours depending on the needs of their communities.


· Very few libraries were close to stores open on Sundays, and it was suggested that some mobile libraries could be used to visit superstore sites at those times.


· Experiments were currently being conducted in the north of the county for mobile visits on Sundays to different locations.

Acquisition


· With catalogues capable of being downloaded from websites, Mr Coates considered that the process of ordering, discounting and cataloguing could be done by one person, 1 or 2 days a week. The figures supplied by the County Council showed that 27 members of staff were engaged in the County Library Stock section. The process of acquisition was an area the Audit Commission would be looking into nationally.


· It was agreed that there were inefficiencies in the supply chain but staff needed to be involved in the process to deepen their product knowledge and buying books. They were also engaged in moving books around the county. The non-staffing costs covered premises, and mobile libraries and book transfer.


· Mr Weisselberg suggested that a designated financial officer was required to work alongside the Head of Libraries to analyse financial performance and to advise him.


· Hampshire was part of the inter-loan library system with Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. The partners shared the same computer system and catalogues and other authorities in the south-east region had indicated their interest in joining the loan scheme.

Performance Management

· Mr Coates considered that Hampshire Libraries should have a Performance Management Manager to assist the Library Service to optimise the resources available to it.


· The Director of Recreation and Heritage explained that performance management was already embedded within the library structure as it was across the County Council.

Mr Coates thanked the Panel for the opportunity to speak to Members . In conclusion he considered that it was essential that market research was conducted into the reasons for the decline in borrowing.

Mr Weisselberg also thanked the Panel and in closing suggested that investing in the community was the key issue and that closures should be avoided. The concept of volunteer libraries should be considered if necessary.

The Executive Member thanked the Panel for the opportunity to join the discussions. He considered that a good measure of agreement had been reached. He believed that Discovery Centres were one way forward, but flexibility was the key to delivering a service which would meet the needs of the whole community and satisfy the people and Council taxpayers of Hampshire.

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