Corporate report

Minutes of the eighth meeting of the Leadership for Libraries Taskforce

Published 28 June 2016

Meeting date: Thursday 26 May 2016: 14:00-17:00

Meeting location: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 100 Parliament Street, London SW1A 2BQ

Attendees:

• Dr Paul Blantern (Chair) – Chief Executive: Northamptonshire County Council
• Kathy Settle – Chief Executive: Libraries Taskforce
• Brian Ashley – Director, Libraries: Arts Council England
• Rebecca Cox – Principal Policy Adviser: Local Government Association (LGA)
• Laura Caton - Senior Adviser, LGA
• Ciara Eastell – President: Society of Chief Librarians (SCL) and Chief Executive, Libraries Unlimited
• Jane Ellison – Head of Creative Partnerships: BBC
• Felix Greaves – Deputy Director of Science: Public Health England (PHE)
• Roly Keating – Chief Executive: British Library
• Liz White – Head of Strategy Development: British Library
• Mark Taylor – Director of External Relations: Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP)
• Simon Richardson – Head of Libraries: Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)
• Iain Varah – Chief Executive: Vision Redbridge Culture and Leisure and Immediate Past Chair: Chief Cultural & Leisure Officers Association
• Sue Wilkinson – Chief Executive: The Reading Agency
• Sheila Bennett – Policy and Secretariat Manager: Libraries Taskforce
• Julia Chandler – Communications Lead: Libraries Taskforce
• Charlotte Lane – Programme and Project Manager: Libraries Taskforce
• Foluke Oshin – Business Support: Libraries Taskforce

Observers / Presenters:

• Nick Partridge - Sheffield Libraries: Libraries Taskforce secondee
• Anna Matthews - Project and Programme Manager, Libraries Unlimited

Apologies:

• Dominic Lake – Deputy Director of Arts, Libraries & Cultural Property: DCMS
• Nick Poole - Chief Executive: CILIP
• Pat Ritchie – Chief Executive: Newcastle upon Tyne City Council

Reminder of Taskforce priorities to July 2016

Digital enablement – including the provision of universal WiFi access, e-lending, digital shared network and quality content.

Libraries adding value – making stronger, strategic links between libraries and other policies such as health and wellbeing and business and economic growth.

Best practice – helping local authorities and library services through sharing and linking to existing/new best practice. Building sustainable long-term models for libraries/community hubs.

Workforce development – building the skills needed to help the library workforce deliver these priorities and to take on new roles as part of wider service provision.

Communications – promoting the value of libraries, highlighting innovation and good ideas.

1. Introduction

Minutes of the 7th Taskforce (10 March 2016) meeting were published on 24 March. All actions have been, or are in the process of being, completed.

2. Dashboard and roadmap

The dashboard and updated roadmap set out the recent key developments for the Taskforce.

The Taskforce noted:

• the roll-out of WiFi to public libraries in England has now been completed with over 99% of libraries now offering free access to WiFi
• Arts Council England are undertaking 5 follow-up projects to identify best practice examples in exploiting the use of the free WiFi
• an evaluation of The Reading Agency’s Chatterbooks scheme has been published
• SCL have rolled out an e-learning module to support library staff in assisting users with Universal Credit enquiries and applications and have also updated all their digital skills modules on the e-learning platform
• SCL are developing an Innovation Network (with Arts Council funding) enabling library leaders across the country to share best practice and innovative service developments
• CILIP have launched a Libraries Fund to support innovative modernising projects across all libraries sectors, for which they are seeking crowdfunding
• CILIP have also launched a Famous Faces poster campaign supporting libraries; the first celebrity featured was Stephen Fry with more posters featuring other celebrities being rolled out over the coming months
• BBC’s Year of Reading has been renamed #LovetoRead, there will be a particular push on events for this over the 16-17 July (CBBC Awesome Authors) and the 5-6 November (#LovetoRead) weekends
• British Library has written out to invite formal expressions of interest in the Living Knowledge Network
• British Library has also been working on live streaming events to supplement both its Punk and Shakespeare exhibitions

PHE was actively seeking outcomes and financial benefits data to support its advocacy of libraries as a delivery channel for preventative health advice. It was agreed that the September Taskforce meeting being held at PHE would focus on libraries’ role supporting health and well-being outcomes. A suggestion was made that the Wellcome Foundation be invited to the meeting (diaries permitting) to discuss the recent SCL secondment and their future plans for working with public libraries in England, along with SCL / The Reading Agency leads outlining their priorities for the health Universal Offer.

At the last meeting, it was agreed that Taskforce priorities for July 2016 onwards will flow from the finalised Ambition document. They will be formally agreed at the 9th Taskforce meeting on 20 July. The action plan outlining Taskforce activity will be accompanied by a dashboard setting out risks and actions to alleviate them.

Members also asked that any other activity being delivered in addition to, but separate from, the Ambition action plan items (including that which was delivered by individual members) continue to be collated and shared for information.

ACTIONS:

• note the changes to the dashboard and roadmap
• all - to ensure dashboard / roadmap is kept up to date by feeding in any information / updates on relevant activity to the Programme Officer
• all - to send PHE examples of outcomes/benefits data they hold related to libraries’ contribution to health and well-being
• PHE, SCL, TRA to work with the secretariat to agree the format of the September Taskforce meeting

3. Presentation: lessons learnt from setting up a mutual

Ciara Eastell had become chief executive of Libraries Unlimited, a mutual established in April 2016 to provide library services in Devon. She and Anna Matthews gave a presentation on the process of establishing the organisation and issues encountered in doing so.

Points raised during the presentation included:

• the importance of building a strong team to develop and launch the organisation, which included the commissioner and local councillors as well as the mutual management team itself
• whilst learning from others who had already gone down this route had been invaluable, the form of each mutual would inevitably be different to respond to local needs and conditions
• building and maintaining strong connections to other partners is vital to help develop a sustainable future service portfolio
• challenges which had involved finding ways, with the county council’s assistance, to establish sustainable financial arrangements; for example, budgets for support services, handling capital and assets transfers/leasing arrangements and pensions liabilities
• that staff reaction throughout had been very positive ,with a real culture of ownership starting to become evident due to significant staff engagement activities

The chair thanked Ciara and Anna on behalf of the Taskforce for sharing their learning through a very useful and insightful presentation.

ACTION: Libraries Unlimited to work with the communications lead to develop a blog / case study for the Libraries Taskforce site to share their learning more widely

4. Communications

The communications lead provided an update, including feedback from the first meeting of the Taskforce Communications Sub-Group. She covered their work in coordinating activity across the sector, their emerging action plan, and work on preparing for the launch of Ambition.

Discussion points included:

• the challenge of bringing together work to communicate the Ambition document (once launched) to a plethora of different audiences and networks
• this work would range from building understanding and awareness of the libraries’ offer to decision-makers, through to ensuring that those working on the frontline in libraries understood what Ambition meant for them
• the launch had yet to be planned in detail, although it was intended to demonstrate that the contribution and value of libraries was recognised and the Taskforce proposals were supported politically at both central and local government levels
• individual members of the Taskforce will be contacted separately about what they might do to support the launch

ACTIONS:

• note the Taskforce communications channel activity
• note the work undertaken by the Taskforce Communications Sub-Group
• note progress made on developing an outline Ambition communications plan
• all - to provide continuing support and input to the process of planning and undertaking Ambition launch and implementation activities
• all - to notify the Taskforce communications lead in good time about any significant communications activity being undertaken

5. Revision of Libraries Taskforce terms of reference

This paper was a ‘one year on’ review of the terms of reference and membership. It primarily proposed changes to take account of the Taskforce’s role in developing the Ambition document and its implementation. It also clarified who should be attending and the level of commitment and response expected from members.

ACTION: the Taskforce agreed the revised terms of reference and their publication on GOV.UK

6. Ambition: consultation feedback, big issues and next steps

The paper set out feedback received from the consultation to date (consultation on the Ambition document closed on 3 June) and issues that Taskforce members had identified for in-depth discussion at the meeting. It also contained an initial summary of actions identified in the Ambition paper or suggested through the consultation, which will be updated as the main document develops.

The chair thanked the Taskforce Team and DCMS Libraries Team for their hard work in running the large number of Ambition consultation workshops around the country. These had already provided valuable feedback and have been very well received by participants.

6.1 Governance and delivery

The Taskforce wanted to place more emphasis on stating the design principles that library services should follow when designing their statutory service and on sharing best practice, for example, around community consultation and engagement. They agreed information should also be provided (through Ambition / Taskforce toolkits as appropriate) on different delivery models (including case studies) without recommending any one particular model as that would need to be locally determined depending on the local context.

They discussed how Ambition must reinforce that libraries are focused on providing a quality service that makes a difference to individuals and communities. The Taskforce must be clear about the aim of providing high-quality outcomes for communities rather than being prescriptive about numbers of libraries.

The focus of the governance and delivery section of Ambition needed to be on strategic analysis and understanding of community need as a basis for service planning. This would be based on methodologies and approaches set out in the proposed guidance, as well as getting libraries based in the right places to achieve the outcomes each community needed.

The aim is to achieve local authority buy-in to strategically planned and resourced library provision, integrated with their wider local priorities and objectives. To achieve this - and make the case for national government and (national and local) partner investment - there would be a need to evidence how libraries contribute to delivering high impact across a range of agendas, thereby showing a return on investment.

There was agreement to identifying which functions or activities were needed at a national level to support libraries in the future, alongside which organisations were already developing or delivering these. The Taskforce should then focus on supporting activities that need to be done collectively, or where their input would add value over and above individual organisation / smaller group action. A particular focus on supporting the sector to share and adopt good practice was highlighted.

The Taskforce discussed their concerns about the review covering organisations currently leading or supporting library services at a national level mentioned in the Ambition draft and it was agreed to review the wording of this section. The Taskforce recognised that the decision to undertake the review and on its timing was a matter for DCMS. If this was progressed quickly (eg started not long after Ambition was published), then there were concerns about the resource implications due to other committed work (eg the Tailored Review of Arts Council England is due to be undertaken in summer / autumn 2016). Any such review might be a distraction on completing other actions. If DCMS did decide to undertake the review straight away, the Taskforce would, of course, support the process. They also acknowledged the need to consider successor arrangements in good time for when the Taskforce itself would be wound up.

6.2 Marketing and communications

The Taskforce discussed nationally building the case for investment, and developing a coordinated advocacy voice for libraries based on the value they contribute, were 2 things the Taskforce was uniquely placed to undertake and should be priorities in the Ambition action plan. This had come out strongly in all workshop sessions where participants said public libraries needed clear and unambiguous messaging that challenged existing stereotypes, based on robust data, supported by practical communications assets (posters, branding, etc) that could be used at local as well as national level.

Additional discussion points included how:

• Ambition was proposing activity over and above the separate strands of work currently being undertaken by each partner
• any national campaign approach must only promise what can be delivered by all local library services in a credible way
• sequencing lobbying activities with decision-makers and broader communications with the public (users and non-users) would be very important
• it was also important that this activity is focussed on achieving a defined number of specific measures linked to desired outcomes

6.3 Action plan priorities

Discussion focused on how there should be a strategic focus on ways the Taskforce can make a difference, for example by:

• making the case for libraries (especially to national and local government and potential investment partners)
• setting a framework to help libraries plan and develop to serve their communities better
• harnessing collective capacity - eg by developing better data and evidence, creating a common digital presence, etc

It was agreed that the action plan should include a top level dashboard and timeline, but with ways to view what is happening at partner and local level as well, so Taskforce support can be provided for other activity where required.

Taskforce members had been invited to 3 workshops (June 17, 23 and 24) to share outcomes and learning from the consultation and to discuss redrafts of the Ambition document in the light of this feedback.

ACTIONS:

• all - to note consultation feedback received to date
• feedback from Taskforce discussions to be incorporated into next draft of Ambition document, alongside other consultation responses
• all - to pass on any detailed comments or ideas on Ambition action plan priorities or contents to Taskforce team as soon as possible
• all - to make every effort to attend the 3 workshops in June to discuss further drafts of the Ambition document

7. Single Library Digital Presence

The paper provided an update on the work so far. Next steps are to review a paper on the design principles for a Single Library Digital Presence and a prototype being developed by the BBC.

ACTION: all - to note the position

8. Ongoing changes by library authorities

The paper summarised current proposals under consideration by library authorities.

ACTION: all - to note the current position

9. Libraries Taskforce action log

The only outstanding actions were:

• having a presentation on libraries and health and well-being issues (this is now scheduled for the 30 September meeting hosted by PHE)
• securing funding for library secondees to the Taskforce; although it was noted that 3 unpaid secondees had volunteered to support Taskforce activity

ACTION: all - to note the outstanding actions

10. AOB

Ciara informed the Taskforce that the government had now published the list of 54 suppliers for the Digital Training and Support framework (covering assisted digital and digital inclusion work). This included SCL who would now be able to communicate this to members.

The chair thanked Ciara on behalf of the Taskforce as she stepped down from the presidency of Society of Chief Librarians in June for all the work she had undertaken on behalf of the Taskforce and the library sector as a whole. Her successor as SCL President, Neil MacInnes, would be joining the Taskforce from the July meeting onwards.

Neil would host the next Taskforce meeting in Manchester Central Library on 20th July starting at 1pm. Details of library tours or presentations taking place beforehand would be circulated to Taskforce members shortly.

Summary of key messages from 8th meeting:

The Taskforce:

• thanked Ciara Eastell and Anna Matthews for their very useful presentation on lessons learnt in setting up a Mutual, and wished Libraries Unlimited all the best for the future
• agreed revised Taskforce terms of reference, for publication on GOV.UK
• had in-depth discussions on big issues around the Ambition document and consultation feedback to date, including future national support, marketing and advocacy, and priority actions
• thanked the Taskforce Team and DCMS Libraries Team for their hard work in running the large number of Ambition consultation workshops to date, these had already provided valuable feedback and appeared to have been very well received
• considered the current draft Ambition Action Plan

The Taskforce noted:

• progress on work around establishing a Single Library Digital Presence
• ongoing changes by library authorities

The Taskforce thanked Ciara as she steps down from the presidency of Society of Chief Librarians in June for all the work she has undertaken on behalf of the Taskforce and the library sector as a whole.