Has the publishing industry fallen out of love with libraries?

Librarians love books!

Not my view of course, but we’ll come back to that later shall we?  Let’s get the positive out-of-the-way first (I like to start on a happy note)…

One of the great things about using Twitter at conferences is the ability for the audience and presenter to communicate after the event, expanding the conversation and developing ideas.  It has been good to see a number of those involved in last week’s discussion at Bethnal Green library engaging with those that were in attendance after the event.  I personally feel it added a great deal to the evening and has really helped to develop some of the ideas that were discussed.  As a result of these discussions something really exciting has emerged.  Both Dan Thompson (one of the presenters at the event) and Adrienne Cooper have got together to crowdsource a library – really cool stuff.  They have put the word out on Twitter for books on the theme of ‘Order and Chaos’ and are requesting that contributions/suggestions are tweeted with the hashtag #chaoslibrary…so you know what to do!  It’s a great idea and an interesting way for both librarians and non-librarians to come together over a shared love of books.  It was really cool to watch this develop over the course of the day and I hope it proves a massive success (I’m sure it will!).

However, this excitement about librarians and non-librarians coming together to create an innovative project around book collections was tempered somewhat by a rather bizarre blog post by the deputy editor (and presumably professional provocateur) of The Bookseller.  Headlined ‘Have librarians fallen out of love with books?‘ (and published at 4.37pm – after the idea referred to in the previous paragraph was already up and running), Jones makes a series of bizarre statements that are a little divorced from reality and really ought to be put straight (not least because there is a little attack on me).  Yep, given #chaoslibrary, the timing could only have been worse if thousands of librarians had been murdered by a renegade book. It could happen.

Philip Jones writes in reference to my earlier blog post:

The comments on the blog, kicked off by library campaigner Tim Coates are also worth reading, as they further emphasize the split between those librarians on the thread who want to move beyond books, and those who want libraries to be about books. Bizarrely Ian even threatens to block Tim for his use of CIPFA statistics.

Now, previously this made mention to the fact that I was a librarian (which I often and clearly state here and on my Twitter page that I am not – not least because I don’t want to upset the librarians I work with), but, after requesting that this is corrected, I am pleased to see that this has been changed (although it has rather ruined a joke I was going to make…ah well…).  That said, I should point out that the context has been missed a little in suggesting that I ‘threatened to block Tim for his use of CIPFA statistics’.  Have a look through my blog.  Do I look like I am likely to ban someone for quoting statistics?  How many posts relating to statistics can you find on this blog?  How many times have I been asked to go through some statistics on behalf of others to spot trends and identify strengths and weaknesses?  Quite a few.  Blimey, my job involves processing statistical data to aid purchasing decisions!  My objection was not with the use of statistics.  Allow me to explain, I’ll try not to get too statty in the process

I stated quite clearly that book issues over the past two years have been higher than they were in 2007/8 (look it up on here it’s true).  If you were to take into account the number of library closures over that period, one could even argue that there has been quite a marked rise.  My statement referred specifically to the official CIPFA statistics for book issues.  What Tim did was claim that book issues were in decline by producing the figures for loans per adult and charmingly added that “if you call that going up, then I wouldn’t want a ride in your lift.” Nice.  He went on to add in a further comment (when asked for the statistics for book issues) ‘those are the figures in book issues‘.  It was this that I took an exception to.  They are not the figures in book issues and were not what I was referring to (as Tim well knew). I’m sorry, but this kind of thing I cannot tolerate.  I am all for challenging ‘trolls’ but when people start claiming that the sky is green I have to draw the line.  It does no-one any favours, least of all the person making such claims.  Tim’s figures are, of course, the figures provided by CIPFA and therefore factually accurate.  However, that does not mean to say they are a useful measure.  Whilst the statistics for book issues are not reliable in giving an overall picture of the state of libraries, neither are the loans per adult stats.  In fact these are even less reliable as there are too many variables at play to draw anything meaningful from them.  So, to suggest I was going to block someone for using CIPFA stats is a little misleading.

As for the rest of the post, Jones seems to paint it as one of a hostile audience giving all the speakers hell.  So, was it?  Well, no.  On the evening itself I approached two presenters to tell them that I enjoyed their presentations very much (Kirsten and Trenton).  I have also stated on this very blog that I enjoyed the presentations by Dan, Peter and Rachel.  That’s five presentations. Five out of nine.  By my calculations I enjoyed the majority (55.55% recurring apparently).  You wouldn’t think that reading Jones’ post though would you?  I bet you thought I only liked one if any didn’t you? Go on, admit it.  Well, I can’t blame you, even I thought that I must have hated it that much if Jones says so.  Then I remembered what I had written about the event:

I’m not sure if a fully formed vision emerged from it (if that was even the ultimate goal) but there were certainly plenty of ideas thrown around and lots to think about.  Above all, it was great to see so many people discuss libraries so passionately and argue in defence of such a great and vital institution.  People actually care about libraries and care enough to present a vision for the future, that alone was an encouraging sign.

No, doesn’t sound like he really read my post does it? Well, it was quite long to be fair.

Which brings me to my earlier poser…have the publishing industry fallen out of love with libraries? They’ve certainly been keen to stick the knife in of late.  Maybe they’re broadening their attack to take in the people who work in them too.  Not my view, obviously.

Library Usage Increases

Library usage is on the rise...

There’s a headline you don’t see very often!  Yep, another statty type post I’m afraid, kinda sums up my week really.  Anyway, I’ve been digging a bit further into the library statistics provided by CIPFA and found some more interesting results.  Most interesting of all are the statistics related to library usage.  Often library usage statistics simply refer to the numbers of people walking through the door.  However, this does not take into account the increasing numbers of people who search the catalogue from home, reserve items or renew books they have on loan, borrow ebooks or eaudiobooks, consult reference resources like the Encyclopaedia Britannica – all things that once required a library visit but can now be achieved virtually.  So, with that in mind, here are the overall figures for library usage for the past four years:

2006/7 – 401,332,115

2007/8 – 404,677,184

2008/9 – 438,480,469

2009/10 – 441,721,165

Yep, library usage has grown by 40 million in just 4 years, not bad going eh?  Yes, I know, this combines physical visits with virtual visits and is perhaps misleading but, as we all know, many of the online visits have replaced the previous need to visit the library (ie for book renewals, reservations etc) so I think it is fair to combine the two.

A good indication of this change in usage can also be identified in the number of requests for items.  Again, worth keeping in mind that it is now much easier to reserve items than ever before now you can do so from home:

2006-07 – 10,917,385

2007-08 – 12,026,938

2008-09 – 13,629,479

2009-10 – 15,025,060

Unsurprisingly given the ease with which people can now look items up on the library catalogue and reserve as appropriate.  Certainly it indicates, as I have repeatedly argued, that people are changing the way people interact with their library but, crucially, they are interacting with their library and more so than ever.

However, this change in usage does bring to mind a number of questions.  If, as appears to be the trend at the moment, libraries are devolved to local communities and handed over to the voluntary sector, what will happen to the IT part of the service?  Who is going to ensure that those staffing the library have the skills to deliver the level of service that is required?  I am not denigrating those that do volunteer but one wonders, where are all these highly computer literate volunteers going to come from?  How are local communities and volunteer groups going to ensure that not only are their IT skills up-to-date, but that they also provide the equipment and variety of online services that current users require?  Maybe I am misjudging the types of people who are likely to take over these services, but I do not see how they can possibly maintain these aspects of the service without sizeable funding.

I guess this all stems from the belief that libraries are all about issuing books and the only skills required are those needed to put books on shelves when they are returned, and stamped when they go out.  Never mind the need to deal with complex queries that require advanced skills in Internet usage (it isn’t just a case of first result on Google you know!).  Never mind the ability to provide a wealth of services online (including ebooks and digital collections).  I’ve not seen a single person outline how these services will be provided by volunteers and local communities, perhaps because these services will no longer be provided.  Given the figures provided above, it rather demonstrates how little people at the top understand both how libraries work and what libraries users expect from them.

Library Book Loans Still Going Strong

Book loans are higher than two years ago.

Cast your minds back, if you will, to the days of 2008.  A time of despair for libraries.  A time when they looked like they were in terminal decline (with 6/7 years of continual decreases in lending and visiting numbers according to official statistics).  A time when people said that they had no need to borrow books from the library as they could buy them cheaply from Amazon etc.  A time when library campaigners were claiming that:

…..the heart of the problem of the UK public library service is the quality of the stock on offer in each public library……

Sad times indeed.  Fast forward two years and where are we? Well, in many ways we are in much the same place.  Same old, tired claims about libraries in decline, librarians are apparently making poor decisions leading to people losing interest in libraries at a time when reading has never been more popular (or lucrative).  Except….there is one big difference between then and now:

2007/8 – Library issues: 307,571,240

2009/10 – Library issues: 309,350,755

Yep, that’s right, a rise in book loans of 1,779,515.  And, I’d wager, there have been a fair number of libraries closed in the past two years, not to mention hours and staff cut.  Makes you wonder how many issues there would have been had library authorities not indulged in cuts.  I look forward to library campaigners talking up the strengths of the library service in the face of cuts and closures, instead of constantly harping on about the negative aspects (and there are some don’t get me wrong).  So how about it?  Let’s talk up the positive side.  By talking about the bad aspects, all we do is play into the hands of the government and local councils who can point to libraries and say that they are failing and need to be taken over by people who can ‘make it work’.  The same old trick played before any attempt at privatisation – talk the service down, increase public sympathy for handing it over (see the Royal Mail – 26% increase in profits, but the ‘negative’ side is talked up so it can be handed to the private sector). It can work without palming them off to volunteers and the private sector.  The proof is there, now just give them some funding.

Public Libraries – The Secret Truth

One of the things I found frustrating about my recent Guardian piece was that I had to condense everything I wanted to say in just 800 words. And guess what….it’s really not much to play with. Thankfully, the comments picked up on much I had wanted to say (and some things I definitely did not want to say!), but didn’t have enough space to say so myself. One of things that really stuck in my mind was the lack of understanding of the change in behaviour of library users over the past few years. There is a belief that libraries are not being used quite as much as they used to which is patently untrue. Don’t believe me? Well, I’ve been digging out some stats to prove it to you! I’m good like that! By the way, these stats are all obtained via CIPFA and cover England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Library Visits

Ok, let’s start with the not so good stuff:

2007/8 – 328,485,042

2008/9 – 324,991,354

Decrease of 1%

Sure, that’s not great, but it’s a decline of only 1%…and as I will explain later, that is easy to account for.

Library Issues

2007/8 -307,571,240

2008/9 – 310,776,757

1% increase

Yep, despite what the politicians and the media would have you believe, there was a 1% increase in issues last year on the year before…the first such increase for some time. Who would have though it eh? And now comes the really good news……

Web visits

2007/8 – 76,192,142

2008/9 – 113,489,115

49% increase

As I tried to get across in my piece, libraries aren’t in decline, people are simply changing the way they are using them (as these figures underline). It is worth underlining a couple of points in relation to these figures. Firstly, the decline in physical visits is easily explainable. In recent years, libraries have allowed patrons to both renew and reserve books online, saving them a trip to the library. It seems fairly obvious that this would result in a slight decline in visits. After all, a patron making a reservation before would have had to make a trip to reserve an item, and a further trip to collect it. Now they only have to visit to collect the item, resulting in a 50% decline in visits for just this person. Extend that on a national scale, and you can see the effect that this would have – a slight decline in visits.

What these figures also suggest is that patrons are using the library as much as ever (if not more) and there is a great opportunity for libraries to expand their services online to cater for this demand (as opposed to reducing the service as part of a general cost-cutting drive). With the growth of online access there is the potential to expand provision of ebooks and digitisation projects. Of course, if the narrative of a decline in the service were to persist, funds would dry up making it difficult for the service to meet the changing needs of the users.

So, in short, are libraries in decline? No. However, the narrative is not being controlled by the profession but by those who either do not understand the service or are trying to undermine it for their own ends. The best way to challenge these myths? Personally, I agree with others who say there is a need to break out of the ‘echo chamber’ and take back control of the narrative. Only then can we bury the myth that libraries are irrelevant in the digital age.

324,991,354