Archived decisions

Andrew Stevens

Framework for the Future Manager, Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA)

1 The Museums Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) is a Non Departmental Public Body, funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). It is the lead strategic agency for museums, libraries and archives, working to improve people's lives through access to collections and resources, building knowledge, supporting learning, inspiring creativity and celebrating identity.

2 My role at MLA is to lead the development and delivery of strategies and programmes to improve public libraries, under the umbrella of Framework for the Future. Framework for the Future was published in 2003 by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) as the government's ten year vision for public libraries - how they can best change and improve to serve their communities in the twenty first century.

3 MLA is leading programmes to address critical issues identified in Framework for the Future:

    · Fragmentation of governance and service provision

    · Uneven levels of service and unclear offers to the public

    · Inward looking service and difficulty applying best practice consistently

    · Lack of focus of resources on frontline delivery

    · Lack of leadership and workforce capacity

    · Lack of profile for libraries and recognition of their contribution - marketing and advocacy

4 The priorities of Framework for the Future are currently being reviewed through a consultation called Blueprint for the Future, led by my colleague John Dolan.

5 Programmes delivered through Framework for the Future, by MLA and with a wide range of other partners, include:

5.1 Putting the public at the heart of the service

    · Supporting the Big Lottery Fund's £80m investment in community engagement and library buildings. This is about finding better ways for libraries to involve the public more closely in defining and shaping and making decisions about their service. Public involvement will change how libraries provide services and how they communicate with communities, and will be a major driver for people-centred improvement.

5.2 Capacity building

    · Leading the development and delivery of reading and learning programmes, including commissioned projects from The Reading Agency and others.

    · Buildings development - including promotion of best practice, advice and support for library PFI projects, audit of investment needs and building the case for investment

    · Leadership development programmes

    · Services for the People's Network, the public libraries service offering access to digital media for all

5.3 Performance framework

    · I have led the review of public library standards on behalf of DCMS and developed a new performance framework in 2006/7. The new framework aligns public libraries with the wider local government framework, emphasising local decision making and accountability, re-inforcing the need for libraries to be responsive to local people and to be assessed by how well they do this.

    · Supporting work on libraries and Local Area Agreements will help libraries' advocacy and positioning in local authorities

    · Peer reviews of library services, carried out jointly by MLA and IDeA, have helped 14 local services improve, addressing key issues such as leadership, positioning and advocacy within the local authority, performance management, resources allocation and openness to learn and apply good practice from outside the service.

5.4 Models of service delivery

    · Better Stock, Better Libraries is a programme to reform radically how libraries buy books and other stock that is better matched to customer needs, as quickly as high-street and online booksellers, and at a highly competitive price. It is a catalyst for a radical change in how public libraries work together, helping address the current fragmentation, strengthening local diversity and responsiveness, streamlining processes and reducing costs. The programme includes 4 main strands:

      1. Enabling each local authority to understand how much it costs to buy stock and apply best practice. Nationally, for every £10 spent on stock, around an additional £3.50 is spent in buying that stock. This costing tool will be re-published at the end of August 2007, along with guidance that highlights how any authority may reduce its costs.

      2. Shared services to reduce the duplication of processes currently performed by each library service, releasing staff, premises and process costs for potential re-investment or to achieve savings. These arrangements are based on systematically and effectively capturing local community needs, strengthening the local authority's role as commissioner and performing processes in the most effective way possible. A pilot study is also setting up trading relationships between authorities for specialist stock and services to make best use of available resources.

      3. Developing national deals for stock (including electronic resources - MLA in second year of deals to do this, saving over £3m). This reduces the cost of procurement and enables libraries to get the best they can from a weak marketplace.

      4. Developing and implementing standards for electronic transactions, processing and other activities to reduce costs and improve efficiency. With publishers, MLA is encouraging libraries to re-consider how they can learn from the simplicity and standardisation of retail practices.