Call it a spade and let's transform
Jinfo Blog

By Joanna Ptolomey

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There has been much talk of "savings" in the public sector and especially so in libraries.  Best selling and world famous authors and playwrights have been complaining and campaigning – and that is only in the last five days.  I remember being at the Edge2010 conference last year and the mood was very much "we are in savings mode".  This year we are making "cuts" – and none of the speakers were shy about saying that.

So we are calling a spade a spade now and some at the EDGE2011 Conference think this is a good thing.  To be honest, if we want public libraries to continue to be free at the point of need then something has got to give in this economy.

Like most of the other speakers, Nicky Parker at Manchester City Council, was vocal about sharing and partnership approaches.  Articulate your needs and influence people that have political clout was also key.  She reminded the conference that libraries are making "cuts not savings".  There will be library closures, a reduction of book funds, staffing restructures and also a channel shift in service delivery.  This will mean less face-to-face and more automation.  She quoted staff costs of renewing a book loan - face-to-face transaction (£8.23), phone (£3.21) and web (£0.39).

Who can argue with the costs and she believes that most of the population are quite happy with "doing it for themselves".  After all we live in a world with less face-to-face transaction – express tills at the supermarket where you beep your own barcodes, the ATM machine, and pump and pay petrol stations.   This may be the hard edge and real world of public library service delivery, but surely libraries are the one place where we should be cognisant of the issues around literacy and especially the digital divide.  Does, or can, everyone "do it for themselves"?

Nicky Parker acknowledged that some of the ideas were controversial – but having a hard economic edge was acknowledged by many of the speakers to be the way in which libraries will survive in the public domain.  Radical interventions are called for – archives are really a tourism attraction when you think about?

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