Corporate report

Minutes of the fourteenth meeting of the Libraries Taskforce

Published 12 June 2017

Meeting date: Thursday 25 May 2017: 13.00 to 16.00

Location: The Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3GA

 Attendees

• Dr Paul Blantern (Chair) - Chief Executive, Northamptonshire County Council
• Kathy Settle - Chief Executive, Libraries Taskforce
• Brian Ashley - Director, Libraries, Arts Council England
• Kim Bromley-Derry - Chief Executive, London Borough of Newham
• Rebecca Cox - Principal Policy Adviser, LGA
• Jane Ellison - Head of Creative Partnerships, BBC
• Colin Gibson - Senior Policy Adviser, Libraries Team, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)
• Felix Greaves - Deputy Director of Science, Public Health England (PHE)
• Roly Keating - Chief Executive, British Library
• Neil MacInnes - President, Society of Chief Librarians (SCL); Strategic Lead – Libraries, Galleries and Culture, Manchester
• Mark Taylor - Director of External Relations, The Library and Information Association (CILIP)
• Iain Varah - Chief Executive, Vision Redbridge Culture and Leisure; Immediate Past Chair, Chief Cultural & Leisure Officers Association
• Liz White - Head of Strategy Development, British Library
• Sue Wilkinson - Chief Executive, The Reading Agency
• Julia Chandler - Communications Lead, Libraries Taskforce
• Charlotte Lane - Programme and Project Manager, Libraries Taskforce
• Foluke Oshin - Business Support, Libraries Taskforce
• Sheila Bennett - Policy and Secretariat Manager, Libraries Taskforce

Observers/presenters

• Diana Gerald - Chief Executive, Book Trust
• Sarah Mears - Head of Libraries, Essex County Council
• Emma House - Director of Publisher Relations, The Publishers Association

Apologies

• Ian Leete - Senior Policy Adviser, Local Government Association (LGA)
• Simon Richardson - Head of Libraries, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)
• Nick Poole - Chief Executive, The Library and Information Association (CILIP)

1. Introduction

Prior to its meeting, the Taskforce received a presentation by Roma Backhouse, Director and CEO of Free Word since September 2016. She described the work of the Centre, which is an arts venue dedicated to the power and politics of language and the ways in which words can change lives. The Reading Agency is one of 6 resident organisations (which cover different aspects of the mission, from creative, writing, performance poetry, reading and writers’ freedom of expression), in addition to over 40 associate organisations, who use the Free Word Centre. Free Word aims not only to provide these organisations with work and event space, but also to foster collaboration across literature, literacy and free expression sectors.

There was a wide-ranging discussion covering a number of issues which Free Word were working on, which in many cases overlapped with those facing libraries:

• the increasing importance of words in the modern world, as a stimulus, inspiration, challenge and also as a comfort (for example, Free Word runs silent reading groups)
• Free Word Centre’s plans to expand its influence and remit; it was:
  • for example, looking to develop further as a public venue, looking to embody some of the principles stated by Maya Angelou about libraries - creating a space for people to explore
  • planning 2 seasons of events, linking with some high-profile artists to curate work on a range of themes, and aiming to also seek out new voices to set alongside these more established figures
• the way in which the environment, by pulling organisations together, helped to stimulate collaboration at informal as well as formal levels; and how acting as a hub had served to amplify impact, and helped to increase the diversity of voices and opinions contributing to debates
• the challenge of maintaining neutrality and trust when promoting diversity, stimulating discussion and presenting on often contentious and difficult matters
• the importance of partnership working to the organisation; Roma described, for example, work they were undertaking with Islington libraries as part of the Word Festival, Free Word regarded this as a valuable outreach route for what they were trying to achieve, rather than relying solely on further development of digital channels to extend reach
• Free Word felt their UK work was still very London-centric, and although they had some links outside to the regions, they were keen to consider how these could be further developed

The Taskforce (particularly Arts Council England) would think about ways in which the libraries network might be able to assist in extending the spread of Free Word Centre’s work

The chair thanked The Free Word Centre on behalf of the Taskforce for hosting the meeting and for the very stimulating discussion over lunch.

The Taskforce also welcomed Kim Bromley-Derry to his first meeting as a member, and looked forward to benefitting from his thoughts and insights.

2. Libraries Deliver: Ambition - overview of the action plan

The Taskforce noted the action plan, roadmap and risk assessment documents which had been circulated, and also the summary which had been prepared showing issues of potential interest to the Taskforce from the main party General Election manifestos.

The timing of a number of items within the action plan had been affected by the restrictions imposed during the pre-election periods for the local and general elections. The Taskforce Team would be looking to published delayed items as soon as possible once the election period was over, although these may need to be phased in over a number of weeks. Meanwhile, work was underway to prepare for induction of any potential new ministers. Taskforce members and their organisations might be called upon to meet with new ministers; it was agreed that their Taskforce role should be highlighted in any such discussions. It was recognised that it was possible that any new government might wish to undertake a spending review (or similar), so the Taskforce would need to marshal evidence to use if and when required for this.

Brian Ashley informed the Taskforce that ACE’s public announcements about National Portfolio Organisations would be made on 27 June. All organisations that applied would be informed of the process for announcing the outcomes. He also informed the Taskforce that recruitment to the role of Director, Libraries would start in September, alongside recruitment to other ACE Director roles. Interim arrangements would be put in place to cover the gap between his retirement and the appointment of a successor.

It was noted that the Taskforce team was running a Makerspace workshop to share learning on 31 May. This would bring together successful Libraries: Opportunities for Everyone (LOFE) projects featuring these, together with people running them in other library services and sectors. The Taskforce also noted that the successful LOFE projects spanned all the Ambition Outcomes. It discussed the possibility of those leading on strategic consideration of an Outcome taking a specific interest on projects that fell within their purview.

The Taskforce also noted that a number of the Outcomes leads had not yet replied to Nick Partridge with suggestions about which organisations might be approached to seek validation of the proposed Outcomes Progress Indicators that the Taskforce had endorsed at their previous meeting. Those yet to reply were asked to do so by 9 June.

The Taskforce agreed:

• to feed in any further comments on the next steps for the actions direct to the Taskforce team Project Manager
• that Outcomes leads interested in following up with the successful Libraries: Opportunities for Everyone funded projects that fell within their purview should contact the Taskforce Team for details
• to provide Nick Partridge with any outstanding contacts for organisations who could usefully be involved in validating Outcomes Progress Indicators by 9 June

3. Libraries Deliver: Ambition - discussion on Outcome 2: Increased reading and literacy

The Taskforce has decided to focus each meeting on one or more of the 7 Outcomes. The fifth of these sessions, led by Sue Wilkinson, focussed on Outcome 2: Increased reading and literacy.

The aim of these session is for the Taskforce to:

• gain a shared understanding of what each Outcome covers, and the opportunities and challenges involved in meeting the ambitions set out for 2021
• learn about some of the different facets of work involved in taking the Outcome forward
• consider how members could contribute to and support this work over the coming year

To help provide the Taskforce with insights on the different perspectives on working with or through libraries on this issue, presentations were made by:

• Diana Gerald: CEO of Book Trust
• Sarah Mears: Library Services Manager, Essex County Council. Sarah also sits on SCL and ASCEL execs
• Emma House: Director of Publisher Relations, The Publishers Association

The presentations and subsequent smaller group discussions covered a range of issues including:

Having the right stock to meet increasingly diverse user needs - this involved considering staff skills in stock curation and acquisition, based on a deep understanding of community needs and interests, and also skills in marketing that stock to potential users in compelling ways. These issues were flagged up within the draft Public Libraries Skills Strategy being developed by CILIP and SCL.

Encouraging publishers to continue to work with libraries - particularly in helping flag new titles, preparing and sharing marketing assets with libraries, and embedding libraries in their PR plans (especially opportunities for engagement like author events, or encouraging readers to use libraries to follow up on books they had bought and enjoyed).

Developing early years engagement with books and library events to aid language development, which linked to supporting families and carers to gain confidence in reading and discovering the right material for their children. The importance of engaging existing users to act as ambassadors to draw new ones in was flagged.

Libraries needed to develop their programming to increase accessibility (both physically, and also by exploring timings of offerings), and also learning from places like retail outlets to increase their attractiveness as a family destination (involving aspects such as ambience, stock, location and customer service). The importance of increasing outreach activities was also highlighted, to bring reading and library services to places where non-users in particular already were, rather than necessarily relying on them having to take the first step in coming to a library building.

How libraries can better complement schools’ efforts to promote reading for pleasure (which is included within the National Curriculum) - for example, by making further efforts to link at a local level with schools’ projects and activities, devising fun activities to raise the profile of books through the library, etc.

The impact of not reading well on both individuals and the economy - the Taskforce was informed that literacy levels amongst young people was now falling below that of pensioner groups, and the adverse impact of not addressing this on the wider economy and national competitiveness had been estimated at around £32 billion by 2025.

What the right balance of emphasis was for the Taskforce on this Outcome, between focussing on encouraging people who said they ‘rarely or never’ read to develop their literacy and inclination to read for pleasure, and developing services for those who were already prolific readers.

Marshalling evidence to help make the case for investment. A raft of research had been circulated with the papers of the meeting, but this needed to move increasingly from measuring need and activity across to measuring impact. In particular, there was a discussion about how regression analyses or controlled trials might be undertaken to help distinguish the positive role of reading over and above increased family contact time resulting from various literacy activities. The Taskforce was urged to trial the developing Reading Outcomes Framework with programmes they were running or supporting to help draw out evidence around engagement, access, confidence and then outcomes (such as advances in intellectual, social and personal development).

Sue and the facilitators undertook to use the feedback and ideas gathered during these sessions to frame proposals for further action which would be considered by the Taskforce at their July meeting.

The Taskforce thanked Emma, Sarah and Diana for their contribution to a stimulating and valuable session, and Sue for stepping forward to lead the Taskforce’s debate on this Outcome.

The Taskforce agreed that Sue should draw together the ideas that emerged during the discussion and propose the top 3-4 priority actions for agreement, (together with thoughts on how actions and consequent impacts can be tracked), to be put to the Taskforce for sign-off at its next meeting.

4. Libraries Deliver: Ambition - follow up discussion on Outcome 3: Improved digital access and literacy

At its previous meeting, the Taskforce discussed Outcome 3 (Improved digital access and literacy). Based on that discussion, Neil MacInnes had drawn together proposals for further action over the next 12 months or so, under 4 topic main headings.

The Taskforce also noted that CarnegieUK Trust had recently led a study tour to New York, which focussed on data privacy and the role of public libraries, covering a range of topics such as fake news, surveillance and data sharing. All those who attended would be blogging on the Carnegie website to share learning.

The Taskforce agreed that the following actions should be pursued over the coming 12-18 months:

a) information literacy, data privacy and online security awareness

• articulate the library sector role in tackling these challenges and develop a plan to establish this with key stakeholders, such as Government (including updating the Librarianship Ethical Principles to reflect new and emerging issues for a digital world)
• work with partners - such as Information Commissioners Office, and the BBC on their project examining public trust in information
• share learning and follow up on matters arising out of the Data Privacy New York study tour organised by the CarnegieUK Trust

b) using digital tools to gain deeper user insights to improve service and develop products

• seek to work with Alan Turing Institute on data research tools, techniques and projects
• undertake data work to gain deeper insights into what service commissioners might value

c) routes to make library usage and holdings more accessible

• pursue and support work on a Single Library Digital Presence, in partnership with the Carnegie Trust and Arts Council England
• promote single sign on approaches (if the pilot being led by SCL proves successful)
• hold discussions with SOCITM (an organisation supporting IT practitioners in the public sector) on perceived barriers created through council IT protocols, and identify ways to remove them
• discuss systems interoperability issues with suppliers

d) enhanced digital skills training

• seek involvement in Digital Skills Partnership work (arising from the UK Digital Strategy), to better develop a future role for libraries in basic skills training provision
• build on the Libraries Opportunities for Everyone successful bidders’ makerspaces group, to share learning and encourage wider expansion and adoption across more library services
• pursue partnerships with technology organisations to help build digital skills academies for library staff to develop a digital leader role within their communities
• identify and explore new ways to expose library users to the potential of digital

5. Long-term, evidence based sustainable planning toolkit (Ambition Action 10)

Rebecca Cox gave a short introduction to the work which LGA had been undertaking in drawing together the draft toolkit. The focus had been on data sourcing following feedback received at the January sector forums, and had also included material on communicating evidence and actions arising from it based on the ‘New Conversations’ document recently published by LGA. The Taskforce noted that the version of the toolkit circulated for the meeting had not yet fully incorporated comments from the Taskforce Team or the DCMS Libraries Team, but that that this was planned once Ian Leete had returned to the office.

The Taskforce expressed appreciation for the considerable work that had gone into pulling together the draft to date. It asked for further work to be undertaken to restructure the material to make it better targeted to the 2 main audiences. The Taskforce saw these as: the strategy/policy staff in local authorities who would usually be leading on writing library strategies, so those officers were fully aware of the work across multiple outcomes that libraries currently undertook and their potential to develop and contribute further; and library services staff who needed to be aware of what evidence they might usefully marshal to feed into and influence the process.

The Taskforce asked for the introductory section to be strengthened, to ensure that decision makers were clear on what libraries could offer to councils in supporting their overall corporate objectives through the 7 Outcomes set out in Ambition and, therefore, why a strategic approach to developing and sustaining this support was required. It was also keen that this introduction supported transformational proposals to improve and adapt library services if based on strong evidence and strategic planning, rather than suggesting that a shift from the status quo was necessarily problematic - it did not want to see services ‘preserved in aspic’. The Taskforce also suggested that the communications section should be made more succinct, relying on clear links across to the LGA New Conversations guide to engagement for anyone seeking more detailed guidance.

The Taskforce Team offered to provide continued support to LGA colleagues in further development of the draft.

The Taskforce agreed that:

• Taskforce members should provide detailed comments on the draft to Ian and Rebecca as soon as possible
• further work should be undertaken on the draft, along the lines discussed at the meeting, with revised versions being tested with representatives of the 2 target audiences identified
• a revised version would be circulated to the Taskforce once this process was completed, with a view to achieving formal sign off so the toolkit could be published by the end of July

6. Public Libraries Skills Strategy - update and next steps (Ambition Action 19)

Ambition Action 19 said that the Taskforce would work through CILIP and SCL to produce a Public Library Skills Strategy.

Mark Taylor introduced the briefing paper, explaining that delays in formal publication from the original deadline of March 2017 had been due to intense discussions between CILIP and SCL to come up with a clear consensus on important issues such as volunteer development and leadership approaches. In response to a query, Mark confirmed that apprenticeships were covered in the strategy, and this would be brought out in the accompanying communications. He requested communications support from other Taskforce members to ensure that awareness of the strategy was fully established across a range of audiences once published.

The Taskforce noted that the intention was to start unveiling the proposals at the SCL conference in June, with formal launch at the CILIP conference in early July. It also noted that a draft of the strategy would be shared with the Taskforce imminently; and that SCL and CILIP were planning to establish a long-term Working Group to oversee the implementation of the PLSS and review its impact.

7. Libraries research - existing resources and priorities for further research (Ambition Actions 2 and 4)

The paper brought together the results of 2 workshops held in March (which involved a range of organisations from the sector or interested in it) and an online survey undertaken to seek views and validation of proposals for a future research programme.

Once agreed, the priorities for future research would be published on the Taskforce’s GOV.UK pages, both to provide a reference point for existing research and as a way to publicise areas of work that might be usefully promoted to organisations such as academia or think tanks to undertake further work. It was anticipated that this, and the information on existing research, would be living documents, adapting to incorporate new projects as they were planned or undertaken.

The Taskforce noted that Arts Council England would be publishing a number of research reports in the summer, including:

• an evidence review into who uses libraries, and the extent to which this reflects 21st century England
• a suite of reports (backed up by case study material) exploring libraries’ contribution towards broader outcomes, following the approach taken in the ‘Making the most of WiFi’ project (2016). These covered:
  • the impact of reading for pleasure (testing the emerging outcomes framework led by The Reading Agency)
  • diversity and equality
  • outcomes for older people
  • contribution of libraries to place-making
  • the role of libraries within communities, as local hubs

In addition, the Arts Council was undertaking a 2 year study (due to report by the end of the 2017 to 2018 financial year) on Rhyme-time and its impact on maternal mental health.

The Taskforce also recorded its thanks to the CarnegieUK Trust for its insightful research that had been published recently. It regarded the work undertaken as a rigorous and stimulating addition to the corpus of evidence about the impact of libraries, and as a valued stimulus to debate about their future.

The Taskforce emphasised that it was keen to move forward as soon as possible to undertaking further analysis of what the research already undertaken was collectively telling it, and to use it to show how libraries contribute to the success of each Outcome, to support advocacy initiatives.

The Taskforce agreed the priorities for future research set out in the paper, and their publication on GOV.UK as soon as practicable after the General Election.

8. Ongoing changes by library authorities

The Taskforce discussed the current proposals under consideration by library authorities, and noted that the Minister for Civil Society had taken an active interest in the casework being undertaken by the DCMS Libraries Policy Team.

The Taskforce noted that the Secretary of State had written to the (then) Leader of Lancashire County Council on 11 April to inform her that the Secretary of State considered that the criticisms in the complaint about changes to Lancashire’s library service raised a question as to whether LCC was failing to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service. The letter indicated that the Secretary of State was “minded to” order an inquiry, under the 1964 Act. Further information was being sought by DCMS about specific points; the deadline for Lancashire’s formal response was 9 June.

The Minister for Civil Society had also written to the Leader of Swindon Borough Council to indicate that DCMS was treating representations received about library service changes in Swindon as a formal complaint under the 1964 Act. More information was being gathered in order for Ministers to decide whether a local inquiry should be called.

DCMS was also considering formal complaints relating to library services in Lambeth and Southampton, and whether correspondence received about Barnet, Bedford and Darlington should be treated as formal complaints.

The Taskforce was also pleased to note that, increasingly councils who were considering making changes to their provision were engaging earlier with the DCMS Policy Team, on the back of the steer provided in the Ambition document. This enabled the team to encourage them to explore a wide range of options to mitigate their plans.

9. Communications update (Ambition Action 6)

The Taskforce reviewed the paper that had been circulated on communications activity. It noted the steps underway to develop communications plans for each Outcome (including the creation of Ambition summary brochures tailored to relevant target audiences).

It urged all member organisations to help develop more effective cross-sector working by sharing information in good time on communications they were planning, and by participating fully in Communications Sub-Group discussions and activities. There were some important areas where strong joint working could pay dividends - for example, by pulling together public libraries’ activities and communications around National Libraries Week in October.

The Taskforce also noted plans to ask the new Libraries Minister to send a letter to new MPs and to new regional Mayors briefing them on the role of libraries and on the contents of Libraries Deliver: Ambition; and requested that these should be circulated more widely once they were agreed and despatched.

10. Information items

The Taskforce noted progress on the following issues:

10.1 E-lending - CG3

CG 3 challenges government to: Support remote access to e-books, without charge and with appropriate compensation for authors.

The Digital Economy Bill completed its Parliamentary stages on 27 April and has now received Royal Assent to become the Digital Economy Act 2017. DCMS is considering with British Library the steps needed to implement the extension of the Public Lending Right (PLR) to include remote lending of e-books and e-audiobooks. This includes updating the secondary legislation of the PLR scheme to ensure it reflects the changes made to the primary legislation. DCMS will also work with officials in Northern Ireland to obtain legislative consent of the Northern Ireland Assembly when that is in place, so the extended provisions apply to e-lending in Northern Ireland as to Scotland, Wales and England.

DCMS and the Taskforce team met with representatives of authors, publishers, British Library, SCL and CILIP on 26 April to discuss progress and next steps. This group will meet again in June and regularly thereafter to support the implementation of the PLR changes, as well as other activity in 2017/18 to encourage joint working between libraries, authors, publishers, booksellers and others, relating to e-lending, PLR and other matters.

10.2 Tailored review of Arts Council England (Ambition Action 25)

A DCMS report setting out the findings of the tailored review of Arts Council England (ACE) was published on 24 April 2017 with an accompanying Written Ministerial Statement.

The review was announced as part of the Culture White Paper published in March 2016, and officially launched in August 2016. It concluded that ACE’s functions remain necessary and should continue to be delivered by ACE. It also found ACE to overall be efficient and well governed, and highly regarded across the arts and culture sectors.

The review made a number of recommendations for further improving ACE effectiveness. These include ACE:

• further integrating museums and libraries
• further supporting skills capability and financial resilience
• developing more local partnerships and strengthening the use of cultural investment as regeneration capital
• strengthening the assessment of the impact of its funding
• ensuring that its funding is fully accessible in order to benefit everyone

It also recommended that DCMS:

• provide stronger assurance that ACE is investing public money effectively
• review the cultural property and export license functions

ACE published comments about the review findings and was in the process of developing an implementation plan for the review’s recommendations, with the intention of ensuring that ACE’s work will align with the needs of the sector and the public. This will be published post-election. The Taskforce was programmed to be discussing any implications arising from this report, and the resulting implementation plan, at its July meeting.

10.3 Libraries All Party Parliamentary Group

All APPGs cease on the conclusion of Parliament and have to formally re-register at the start of a new one. CILIP was continuing to organise a work programme along the lines previously tabled at the last Taskforce meeting, with the intention of using the first of the proposed ‘round table’ events as an AGM to record the re-registration. It was aiming to do so by mid-September.

10.4 Core dataset (Ambition Action 2)

The survey on the contents of the core dataset ran from 30 March - 28 April 2017. The results largely endorsed the version of the core dataset circulated at the Taskforce meeting on 29 March 2017. The completed list would be sent to Taskforce members via email for final sign-off/approval.

11. Taskforce meetings and governance

11.1 Taskforce Terms of Reference

The Taskforce considered proposals for revisions to the existing Terms of Reference, which were primarily updating them following the publication of the Ambition document.

The Taskforce agreed revised Terms of Reference for the Taskforce and the Communications sub-group, noting that they would be published on GOV.UK post-election.

11.2 Taskforce minutes

The Taskforce noted that the minutes from the last Taskforce meeting (held in Worcester on 29 March) had been cleared by correspondence and published on GOV.UK.

11.3 Action log

The Taskforce noted outstanding actions and work underway to address them.

11.4 Forward programme

The forward programme lists the proposed dates and venues for future Taskforce meetings. The Taskforce noted that the next 3 meetings would be held on:

• 13 July in Cambridge Central Library
• 4 October in Canning Town Library
• 7 December in Storyhouse, Chester

The Taskforce agreed that members would send suggestions for potential venues for future meetings from December 2017 onwards, or any further items to be programmed for future meetings, to the Policy and Secretariat Manager.

11.5 Any Other Business

The Taskforce recorded its thanks to Nick Partridge of Sheffield Library Services, who had been serving as a Taskforce secondee since summer 2016. Nick had undertaken invaluable work, first in researching a range of library impact measures both nationally and internationally; and then by devising a practical range of Outcomes Progress Indicators.

The Taskforce noted new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) in force from 25 May 2018. These will have an impact on libraries, both as holders of data and possibly in receiving requests for advice on the GDPR and its implications from their users. The ICO has published guidance on it. CILIP would be developing a briefing for all its members, which could provide a useful basis for work to develop a consistent approach to apply across all libraries.

The Taskforce noted that the LGA’s Culture, Tourism and Sport Board would be re-constituted in July, with formal business starting in September.

12. Date of next meeting

The Taskforce’s next meeting would be held on 13 July 2017, between 1100 and 1600. The venue would be Cambridge Central Library, 7 Lion Yard, Cambridge CB2 3QD.