Corporate report

Six month progress report: October 2016 - March 2017

Published 28 June 2017

1. Introduction

Public libraries are a unique and valued statutory public service. They reach and support the whole community regardless of age, gender, socioeconomic status or educational attainment. In 2015/16, the 3,000 or so libraries in England received 210.8 million physical visits: that’s more in total than visits to Premier League football games, the cinema, and A&E departments in England (all types - including minor injuries and walk in clinics).

Libraries and their staff don’t provide a service that sits in isolation; they support other public services that are vital for local and national prosperity and wellbeing. They not only encourage a love of reading, but also provide business support, build digital skills, organise cultural activities, host community events, offer a quiet space to study, and support people to live happier and healthier lives. All this builds on one of the most important strengths of libraries; the trust people have in them to provide objective and accurate information and guidance in a confidential and even-handed way.

But almost every aspect of modern life is changing rapidly. Shopping, learning, leisure and entertainment have evolved considerably from a decade ago, and all expect to change radically over the next few years. Libraries aren’t immune from these challenges.

2. Who we are and what we’ve done between October 2016 and March 2017

Following a recommendation in the Independent Library Report for England (published December 2014), the Leadership for Libraries Taskforce was established in March 2015 by the Chair of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) Culture, Tourism and Sport Board and the (then) Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy. Annex A sets out background information on the Taskforce.

The Taskforce undertakes a wide variety of activities through collective and individual member actions. This unified approach has helped build stronger links in the library sector, as well as making better use of resources to promote the continuing value of libraries. The Taskforce publishes progress reports every 6 months. This fourth progress report covers October 2016 to March 2017. It includes:

• information on the publication of Libraries Deliver: Ambition for Public Libraries in England 2016 to 2021
• what we’ve done to start taking forward the commitments in the Libraries Deliver: Ambition Action Plan
• our proposed areas of focus over the next 6 months

This progress report should also be read alongside the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) Annual Report to Parliament on Public Libraries in England during 2016 which was published on 23 February 2017. This describes, amongst other things, how DCMS carries out its superintendence role of library services as set out in the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964.

Annex B lists meetings with government departments and partners, and library visits.

3. ‘Libraries Deliver: Ambition for public libraries in England 2016 to 2021’

3.1 Developing a vision for public libraries in England

In November 2015, DCMS asked the Libraries Taskforce to develop a vision for the next 5 years, providing a framework to stimulate and inform discussion about library services at local and national levels. To develop the document, we drew on the knowledge of Taskforce members, information gained from visits to libraries, meetings with library staff and stakeholders, and previous reports such as the Independent Library Report for England and Envisioning the library of the future, as well as consulting widely through an online questionnaire and wide range of events run throughout England.

3.2 What the document covers

The document we published on 1 December 2016, which is endorsed and supported by central government and the LGA (on behalf of local government), sets out the context that libraries operate within. It looks at how they are adapting and developing their offer in response to these changing needs and circumstances, and will need to do so in future. It describes the Taskforce’s vision for public library services in England and details the 7 Outcomes that the public library network supports:

• cultural and creative enrichment
• enhanced reading and literacy
• increased digital literacy and access
• helping everyone achieve their full potential
• healthier and happier lives
• increased prosperity
• stronger, more resilient communities

It also explores:

• how leaders of councils and other public services can invest in libraries to achieve their strategic objectives around the future health, well-being, strength, happiness and prosperity of local people and communities
• how libraries can innovate and adapt to meet users’ and communities’ changing needs
• how strong local leadership of libraries can be complemented and supported by nationally co-ordinated initiatives
• ways to support libraries’ longer-term financial resilience and sustainability by looking at new delivery models and financing approaches

4. How we’re communicating the vision

The document was published on GOV.UK, both as an html version and a PDF. It was also printed and circulated in hard copy - if anyone wants copies they can email us on librariestaskforce@culture.gov.uk . We also produced a 4 page brochure to introduce the document and highlight priority actions for use in advocacy work, to start conversations and provide context. We’ve promoted the document via our social media channels and through events, and encouraged each Taskforce partner to do the same. Between publication on 1 December 2016 and 31 March 2017 it was viewed online over 37,100 times.

We followed up its publication by running 4 sector forums in January 2017, held in Newcastle, London, Bristol and Birmingham. These were attended by around 350 people. We talked people through the main themes of the Ambition document; attendees had the opportunity to quiz Taskforce members in a panel session at each location, and also to hear directly from the minister about how he would be supporting the sector in the future.

Rob Wilson Libraries Deliver 2016

We offered a range of workshops during each sector forum covering: data, designing libraries, alternative delivery models, communications and advocacy, workforce development, long-term evidence-based planning and commissioning. We used a series of blog posts after the events to give people who couldn’t attend an opportunity to see the presentations and get a flavour of the discussions that took place.

We’ve also followed up by getting articles into various publications read by decision-makers (such as the LGA bulletin for councillors) and been speaking about Ambition and its action plan at events run by other organisations within the sector. Annex B sets out a list of these.

5. Our action plan

Libraries Deliver: Ambition is accompanied by an action plan, saying what the Taskforce will contribute to make our vision a reality. However, recognising we can’t achieve all this on our own, the action plan also includes challenges to both central and local government.

The action plan has 6 main headings. They are:

• making the case for libraries
• raising public awareness of what libraries have to offer
• identifying and showcasing good practice and supporting innovation
• supporting workforce development
• supporting the development of the digital offer of libraries
• monitoring and reporting on progress

We highlight 9 priority actions for the Libraries Taskforce, as well as providing details of the full list of 25 actions that the Taskforce have collectively signed up to delivering (these are also embedded in boxes throughout relevant sections of the document).

We’re also challenging central and local government to deliver a range of actions. Clearly these can only be challenges as we can’t mandate them; however we’ll look for opportunities to incentivise delivery and also continue to showcase good practice.

We’ve structured our progress reports to track progress against these action areas. And we’ll review and refresh Libraries Deliver: Ambition and its accompanying action plan annually.

6. What we’ve been doing in our main action areas

6.1 Making the case for libraries

The communications sub-group was set up in March 2016. It worked on approaches to promoting the Ambition document at the time of launch. It is now developing programmes of communications activity, materials and protocols to help promote the main themes within it, and to support more collaborative approaches between Taskforce partners to reinforce core messages.

A major piece of evidence gathering was a workshop held in December 2016, which looked at advocacy materials currently available and what people would find helpful. This research was continued during the sector forums, during which proposals were validated and details added. Work is now underway with the Society of Chief Librarians (SCL) around more structured planning and preparation for the development of the 2018 events calendar. During 2017, we will work with partners to support a number of important initiatives, including National Libraries Week.

Making a compelling case for investing in libraries, and thinking ‘libraries first’ when delivering services to communities, needs a strong evidence base, both qualitative and quantitative. One of the priority actions in our document was to develop a core set of data that can be consistently and regularly collected (preferably via automated mechanisms), and openly published. Libraries could then use this data to promote the value of library services to secure future investment and encourage increased usage. They can also use it to understand user needs and behaviour better, support longer-term planning, manage day to day operations more effectively, and identify areas for improvement.

We took our first steps by collecting basic data on libraries across England as at July 2016. All library authorities validated this information. The first tranche of data was published on 30 March, and we’ll be developing and extending our data work further in the future. We used sessions at our 4 sector forums to get views on which data sets are most important to gather and to understand the issues in doing this, and we’ve now issued a survey via our blog to validate these findings with a wider group of interested parties. We’ll also be talking to CIPFA, who produce benchmarking data for library services, to try and align our data definitions and future plans with them.

We’ve also started considering how we can strengthen the evidence base we have about the impact library services have on the lives of individuals and communities based on research findings. This becomes increasingly important where local authorities and other partners commission libraries and pay them based on achievement of outcomes. Robust survey-based research can be resource intensive and time consuming to collect at a local level, so the Taskforce team and Arts Council England has undertaken work to marshall what already exists or is underway (including research commissioned by other administrations, such as Scotland) together with thoughts about what it might be useful to gather in the future. The Taskforce will then go on to identify where we need to commission any further research on an England-wide basis that can be used by all library services.

Our Ambition document sets out 7 Outcomes, along with statements about where we want to be against each in 2021. We’ve identified a set of progress indicators that we can use to track how we’re doing that we will publish shortly. And the Taskforce is discussing an Outcome in depth at each of its meetings to identify what actions the Taskforce can take to help achieve the goals we’ve set for 2021. So far, we have debated:

• Outcome 5: Healthier, happier lives in our September 2016 meeting
• Outcome 4: Helping everyone achieve their full potential in December 2016
• Outcome 6: Greater prosperity in February 2017
• Outcome 3: Improved digital access and literacy in March 2017

The Library and Information Association (CILIP) worked with SCL and the Taskforce to co-ordinate a Libraries All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG Libraries) event at the House of Lords. There was an excellent turnout at the first meeting of the reconstituted group on 31 January; speakers included:

• Lord Tope
• new Chair of the APPG Gill Furniss MP
• Minister for Civil Society Rob Wilson MP
• Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell

The Group will probably hold events 4 times a year; it will shortly determine its future programme and CILIP will seek to align this with Taskforce work where relevant (the APPG looks at all libraries, not just public libraries). Initial indications are that the Group’s focus is likely to be on the Outcomes focussing on health, learning, business support and community.

The Greater London Authority (GLA) has started work on developing a Cultural Infrastructure Plan for the city, which it is planning to publish in 2018. We’ve started talking to GLA to ensure that libraries’ important role in providing local access to cultural opportunities is recognised, and discussing how libraries’ contribution can be covered as work on this strategy progresses.

We attended a meeting of the Westminster City Council’s Children, Sport & Leisure Policy and Scrutiny Committee on 28 November. They were interested to hear about the Taskforce’s work and have asked us to contribute thoughts to some further work they are planning to undertake to review library provision in the Borough via a local Libraries Commission they are proposing to set up.

The Taskforce ran a stand at the LGA’s Culture Tourism and Sport Conference in Bristol on 23 February. This gave us a valuable opportunity to promote the Taskforce’s work to senior decision-makers across local government.

7. Raise public awareness of what libraries have to offer

We’ve been using our Taskforce owned channels - primarily the website, Twitter, the Taskforce blog, and flickr - throughout the period, and we’ve seen increased traffic and engagement on all of them. We publish all official information on our GOV.UK web pages: things like minutes of meetings, published reports and information on Taskforce members. We use our blog more flexibly; we update people on what we are doing and publish ‘guest blogs’ where others share best practice so we can raise awareness of what different parts of the sector are achieving. We use Twitter to publicise Taskforce activities, point people towards our blog and website, amplify what other people are doing or saying, and engage with people who have an interest in libraries. We also use it to pass on information in ‘real time’; for example, we regularly tweet about our events as they are underway, recently using the hashtag #LibraryAmbition during the sector forums which saw it trending on twitter while the events took place.

Over this period, we have run a number of themed blog series: for example posts illustrating the 7 Outcomes identified in Libraries Deliver: Ambition, highlighting examples of a wide range of activities from Taskforce partners and individual library services. We’ve also been featuring articles on ways in which libraries are working in different ways. Over the 6 months covered in this report, the blogs have received over 33,200 page views; the most popular posts have been about Libraries Deliver and the sector forums, and the learning outcome.

The Taskforce supported BBC’s #Lovetoread programme which aimed to promote reading for pleasure, particularly in public library settings. It involved partners such as The Reading Agency, BookTrust, the National Literacy Trust, SCL and the Scottish Library and Information Council. The #Lovetoread weekend in early November aimed to inspire everyone everywhere to read something new; books and reading were featured on almost every single BBC channel. Lots of new relationships were formed, in particular between libraries and their local radio stations. This campaign demonstrated the benefits of having heavy-hitting partners like the BBC included on the Taskforce.

Planning was undertaken for the BBC’s next major initiative, a Get Creative Weekend on 7- 9 April 2017. Libraries will be participating to encourage people across England to take part in 3 days of ‘have a go’ creativity.

7.1 Identifying and showcasing good practice and supporting innovation

When we consulted on the Ambition document, people were supportive of our proposal to develop a toolkit to help councils carry out longer-term planning for library services that involves their communities. The aim is to help councils make important decisions about ways to provide an effective library service that’s sustainable in the long-term within a context of resourcing pressures. We believed it was important for this to be sector-led, so the LGA has taken the lead for the Taskforce on developing this toolkit. It’s based on established sector good practice, case studies and research, and the 7 design principles we published in our document. It’s important that this fully meets user needs, so we’ll be planning to test a prototype in private beta in April (that means it isn’t open to everyone yet, only to certain users). We’re doing this so we can get quick user feedback before we roll the toolkit out as a public beta for use by anyone.

Consultees also wanted to see development of a sector-led benchmarking framework that libraries could use for self-assessment, planning and improvement. We’ll use outcome-focused descriptions to set out what an excellent library or library service looks like. LGA will lead for the Taskforce on this, with support from both SCL and CILIP. The Taskforce has agreed that this work logically follows on from the planning toolkit mentioned above, since benchmarking would need to be undertaken in the context of local area-based aspirations and strategies. It therefore agreed that, rather than aim to publish this in March as originally planned, the Taskforce would have a prototype ready for consultation and testing in May.

Once library services have established community needs, they need to consider how best to deliver library services to meet these. There are a range of different delivery models already being used across England. Choosing the right one for a local area is a complex process - we’re working to ensure that councils have information available to help them do this.

In the Ambition document DCMS committed to provide dedicated support for library services to explore and, where it is right for them, spin out into a public service mutual model during the 2016 to 2017 financial year. There were introductory workshop sessions at all the sector forums on this topic. In addition, the 4 existing library service mutuals, plus Mutual Ventures, formed a consortium (Optimo) to bid for a DCMS contract to provide peer support for library authorities who wanted to exploring alternative delivery options. Having been successful, the consortium produced a toolkit for the Taskforce designed to help those interested in exploring this route, and they ran 2 masterclasses (24 March in London and 28 March in York) to share their real-world experiences of doing this.

DCMS also provided grant aid to support a number of authorities already exploring alternative delivery options; this was to help them buy in support from technical experts (for example, legal, finance, or HR issues) so they could accelerate work they were taking forward.

We are also looking at how we can provide more evidence and support where councils are considering community-managed libraries as a delivery option. This was difficult to do previously as community-managed libraries hadn’t been in existence long enough to meaningfully evaluate their effectiveness and longer-term sustainability; but now some have been in existence for 3-5 years. We commissioned research into the operation of community-managed libraries to help with this. The research was undertaken by SERIO, the research arm of Plymouth University. It involved an online survey sent to all community-managed libraries in England, and then in-depth case study work with 9 community libraries, spread across different regions and types of community. It provided its draft final report to the Taskforce at the end of March. Once we’ve fully considered the report and its findings, we’ll publish it and use it to complement and enhance our Community Managed Libraries: good practice toolkit and case studies.

We also (together with Locality and SCL) supported the Upper Norwood Library Trust (UNLT) to establish the Community-Managed Library Peer Network. This new initiative was announced on 1 December alongside the launch of the Ambition document. It is funded by Power to Change, and the network will be developed over the next 18 months. It aims to expand the existing Locality-run Community Knowledge Hub by growing its membership to include a further 200 community libraries with shared interests and goals; developing cutting edge content and ensuring its long-term sustainability. UNLT are surveying members about what support they’d most value, but it could offer things including (but not limited to):

• access to online tools and resources
• expert webinars
• local networking events
• advice and learning from others in the network on fundraising and business development
• platform for shared learning
• signposting to other external resources
• Q&A forum for practical advice and support

Building on the success of the £2.6 million Wifi in Libraries Programme, DCMS and the Taskforce set up a £4 million ‘Libraries: Opportunities for Everyone’ fund (managed through Arts Council England) to pilot innovative activities in public libraries in England that will support all parts of society. It was launched on 1 December, alongside the Ambition document, and was open for bids from 5 December to 6 January. Over 100 bids were received. In mid-March it was announced that 30 bids, covering 46 local authorities’ library services from across the country, will receive a total of £3.9 million from the Libraries Opportunities for Everyone Innovation fund. We will be working with the successful projects to ensure the lessons identified during their delivery are shared with other library services.

Individual Taskforce members are also undertaking work that contribute to the Ambition document’s strategic aims. For example, SCL are now working on development of a new Cultural Offer, to complement their existing 5 Universal Offers - this is scheduled to be rolled out from June 2017 and formally launched in September. It will focus on bringing the contribution that libraries make to the national cultural landscape to the fore and provide a platform for future development of the cultural offer of the public library sector. It will aim to reflect the wide range and diversity of people using public libraries, including children and young people; and provide a framework for partnership development at a national level, to deliver tangible benefits to library services within local communities.

Another Taskforce member, The Reading Agency, launched a first phase of its reading outcomes framework toolkit project in October. This aims to help define and measure outcomes of reading for pleasure and empowerment. It was designed to be used by anyone working to encourage reading for pleasure and empowerment, including libraries, schools, colleges, early years settings, etc. It aims to help users understand, demonstrate and improve the impact of the activities they run to encourage reading; and support users to make the case for investment and advocate for their work by outlining existing evidence about the outcomes of reading. The project is run by a steering group of representatives from Arts Council England, Association of Senior Children’s and Education Librarians (ASCEL), BookTrust, CILIP, National Literacy Trust, Publishers Association, Scottish Library and Information Council and SCL.

In November 2016, The Reading Agency published details of take-up of The Big Friendly Read, the Summer Reading Challenge 2016, which linked up with the global year-long Roald Dahl 100 celebrations. 755,208 children participated in the UK (including 643,280 children in England). It was supported by 7,761 Reading Hack volunteers aged 12 to 24 and 68,040 children joined the library as new members during the Challenge this summer. 25,415 children under 4 took part, using specially produced pre-school materials. The Reading Agency also announced the theme for next year’s Summer Reading Challenge: Animal Agents, illustrated by Tony Ross, which will feature a variety of clever creatures, specially trained to use their skills and natural instincts to unravel mysteries.

The British Library is an active Taskforce member. In September 2016 it formally launched the Living Knowledge Network. This is a nationwide partnership between the British Library and 21 major libraries in cities and towns across the UK as well as the National Library of Scotland and the National Library of Wales. The Network combines local expertise and national organising power to share knowledge, resources and activities and has embarked upon a two year pilot co-supported by Arts Council England and the British Library. The Living Knowledge Network has formed a unique and powerful cohort of partners which can act as a shared voice, a source of evidence, and also access 13 million users. It aims to provide joint offers to those audiences by breaking down institutional boundaries to share programmes, activities and content. So far, British Library has live screened high profile events featuring Michael Morpurgo, Margaret Atwood and Grayson Perry. The Network also enables support for loans, tours (events and items), joint events and developing collaborative exhibitions.

The Living Knowledge Network held its first skills sharing day in December 2016 at the Norrish library in Portsmouth. This focussed on experience and best practice around working with children under 12 and hard to reach families. The second skills sharing day, held in March 2017 in Liverpool, focussed on income generation and commercial services. In addition to these skills sharing days the Network develops knowledge exchange through networking opportunities and has recently established a mentoring scheme which sees library professionals from across the UK connecting. The Network is building a relationship with The Clore Leadership Programme to create leadership days for library professionals. Together the Network seeks to strengthen collective capacity, capability and impact to deliver world-class library services to diverse communities.

In February 2016, the Taskforce and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) started a pilot across a number of libraries in 2 London boroughs to provide dedicated work spaces - commuter hubs - for use by civil servants. Based on its success, there was a growing demand to locate other suitable sites. As a result, phase 2 was initiated in February 2017, which will extend the availability of this scheme throughout the South East (for example, through libraries in Essex, Hampshire, Wandsworth and Waltham Forest). Discussions are also in train with the National Citizen Service (NCS) programme to explore how providers can be encouraged to talk to libraries about acting as the community venues that participants meet and work within, and also how libraries might encourage and support young people to participate in NCS activities.

The Taskforce continues to promote the good practice guidance set out in its first 2 toolkits: Libraries Shaping the Future: good practice toolkit and case studies and Community Managed Libraries: good practice toolkit and case studies. We have revised them to reflect the Libraries Deliver: Ambition document, and also to align them to the new toolkit Libraries: Alternative Delivery Models. Since publication up to the end of March 2017, the toolkits have been viewed over 37,500 times (over 20,900 during the period covered by this report), and the supporting case studies over 20,800 times (over 8,000 during the period covered by this report). We also provide advice and support to individual library services when they approach us for help or guidance.

7.2 Supporting workforce development

To transform public library services across England, we need to harness the talent and creativity of the people who work in them - both library staff and volunteers. We also need to continue to identify and support the learning and development needs of councillors, commissioners, senior council officers and the board members of new library delivery bodies (such as mutuals and trusts). Equipping everyone involved in public libraries to understand the 7 Outcomes that we’ve identified in Libraries Deliver: Ambition and deliver them successfully, leading and succeeding in a changing environment, is a vital investment.

CILIP and SCL have been leading for the Taskforce on Ambition action 19, developing a Public Libraries Skills Strategy for England. They’ve been involving not only Taskforce organisations and staff representing all levels of library work, but also a wider Reference Group, who’ve been consulted virtually and through a November meeting to discuss transferable skills. They also ran workshops at the sector forum events in January. The strategy will be published shortly.

7.3 Supporting the development of the digital offer of libraries

Through the collective efforts of Arts Council England (who managed the funding project announced in Budget 2015) and local councils, over 99% of public libraries in England have free and upgraded wifi access in place for users. The Taskforce has continued to work with a variety of partners to ensure this wifi access is used to provide a range of digital support to communities across England.

The role of libraries in supporting digital skills was highlighted in the new UK Digital Strategy, published on 1 March 2017. Amongst other things, it committed to develop the role of libraries in improving digital inclusion to make them the ‘go-to’ provider of digital access, training and support for local communities, working alongside national partners such as Good Things Foundation.

Library staff are continuing to develop new skills and confidence around working with technology, coding and digital making. SCL ran a second Cracking the Code event in November 2016 in Manchester, attended by representatives from 50 library authorities. By the end of 2016, there were more than 350 coding clubs running in libraries — a 330% increase since the first SCL-run Cracking the Code event in London in early March 2016.

In February 2017 Greater London Authority (GLA) announced a pilot project to test how efficient, effective and value for money lending wifi-enabled devices (tablets) through a library (or community centre), coupled with basic digital skills training, is at reducing digital exclusion in one or more London boroughs with high digital exclusion rates. It was aimed at those who currently do not have access to the internet and who have little or no basic digital skills and targeted groups across one or more London boroughs including: older Londoners (+55); Londoners from disadvantaged backgrounds (in social housing, in receipt of benefits support or entitled to FSM, JSA, etc.) and Londoners with a disability (especially those who are housebound). The Taskforce assisted the GLA i its call for submissions from all London library authorities meeting the project specification.

SCL published a report on the potential for a Single Library Digital Presence (SLDP) in January 2016. This examined the potential for public libraries across the country to develop a single digital presence offering existing and potential users of libraries a more engaging interactive digital experience which could help retain existing users, attract new ones and change the perceptions of public libraries. Action 10 of Libraries Deliver: Ambition related to exploring this further. A roundtable discussion was convened by the Arts Council and facilitated by the Carnegie UK Trust in December 2016 which involved stakeholders from the library sector across the whole of the UK. It was agreed that Carnegie and the Arts Council would develop a proposition for moving towards an ‘alpha’ style development process and they are in discussions with various organisations about potential investment contributions to enable this.

The Taskforce has been facilitating the consideration of options to ensure authors and other rights holders are appropriately remunerated for the remote lending of e-books by public library services. Following consultation with representatives of libraries, publishers, booksellers, authors, and the Public Lending Right office at the British Library, DCMS tabled an amendment during the Lords’ Report stage of the Digital Economy Bill to extend the Public Lending Right to include remote e-lending from public libraries in the UK. This was agreed during the subsequent debate on 22 February 2017. The Bill is expected to receive Royal Assent in April 2017. DCMS will work with the Public Lending Right office of the British Library and the sector on the next steps to bring the changes into force, so that authors of e-books and e-audiobooks loaned remotely by public libraries will be able to receive PLR payments.

7.4 Monitoring and reporting on progress

The Taskforce monitors progress on the action plan set out alongside Libraries Deliver: Ambition at every meeting. We’ll continue to present these narrative progress reports (including updates on the Outcome Progress Indicators) to ministers and to the LGA’s Culture, Tourism and Sport Board every 6 months and publish them on GOV.UK.

Progress was also reported to Parliament via the DCMS Annual Report to Parliament on Public Libraries which was published on 23 February 2017.

8. What we’ll achieve in the next 6 months

By the time we next report (in October 2017), we’ll aim to have:

• published our toolkit on long-term evidence-based planning in public beta
• published a sector-led benchmarking framework for library services
• published a core data set for library services which can be used for benchmarking and service improvement
• seen new projects supported by the LOFE fund beginning to be delivered
• supported publication of the Public Library Skills Strategy
• continued our programme of masterclasses covering topics that library sector colleagues have told us will be useful to them
• published a series of indicators which will help to measure the impact libraries are having on the 7 Outcomes identified in our Libraries Deliver: Ambition document
• continued to publish and share a continuing flow of blog posts and case studies which illustrate the rich diversity of activities going on in libraries across the country

9. Annex A: Information on the Taskforce

9.1 Background and structure

Information on the background and structure of the Taskforce is set out in our GOV.UK web pages. Our Terms of Reference were updated in May 2016.

Following publication of the Libraries Deliver: Ambition document, our priorities are now outlined in its Action Plan:

• making the case for investment in libraries
• raising public awareness of what libraries have to offer
• identifying and showcasing good practice and supporting innovation
• supporting workforce development
• supporting development of the digital offer of libraries
• monitoring and reporting on progress

9.2  Taskforce meetings

Over the period covered by this progress report, the Taskforce has held the following meetings:

• 8 December 2016 - Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library
• 9 February 2017 - South Woodford Library & Gym
• 29 March 2017 - The Hive, Worcester

During this period, Pat Ritchie (Chief Executive of Newcastle City Council) and Mike Cooke (Chief Executive of London Borough of Camden) resigned from the Taskforce having served their terms and due to other commitments. The Taskforce would like to record its thanks to them for their valued contribution.

Kim Bromley-Derry (Chief Executive of London Borough of Newham) agreed to join the Taskforce in March 2017.

10. Funding for the Taskforce team

DCMS provided initial £250,000 funding for 2015/16 to set up and support the Taskforce. Continued funding of £500,000 per year to March 2020 was confirmed as part of the DCMS Spending Review on 25 November 2015. This covers the costs of the 5 core staff and Taskforce administrative costs (such as Taskforce publications and the workshops, sector forums and events the Taskforce runs). The Taskforce identifies other funding and resources to support delivery of its key priorities.

11. Taskforce staff

The Taskforce team comprises 5 full time staff:

• chief executive
• policy and secretariat manager
• communications lead
• programme and project manager
• PA and business support

The Taskforce team was supported during this period by some part time (unpaid) library secondees contributing to our work:

• Nick Partridge (Sheffield) working on developing Outcome Progress Indicators
• Tracey Cox (Solihull) working on the communications sub-group with our comms lead
• Stephen Howell (Durham) working on updating the good practice toolkits

The Taskforce is very grateful to them for their insights and assistance, and to their organisations for agreeing to their release.

12. Annex B: Meetings, visits, and presentations

12.1 Meetings

The chief executive and chair have met with and/or requested meetings with various government departments at official and ministerial level and with a wide range of individuals and organisations from partner organisations, the library sector and beyond. This is to highlight the value of libraries and the work that libraries are already undertaking to support various policy and outcomes work. These meetings also seek to identify future opportunities for collaboration and options for library investment. Some of the most important meetings held during the period covered by this report were with:

• All Party Parliamentary Group on Libraries
• British Film Institute
• Doteveryone
• Greater London Authority
• Halifax
• Library technology suppliers
• Locality
• Ministry of Justice
• National Enterprise Network
• Paul Hamlyn Foundation
• Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium
• The National Archives
• The Reader
• Teentech
• Tinder Foundation
• UnLtd
• Westminster City Council
• Whitehall and Industry Group

12.2 Visits

The libraries minister, chief executive and Taskforce team and members have visited a range of local authorities and libraries to get a better understanding of the different models and services they provide to their communities. These have included discussions with the library workforce and users, as well as meetings with senior councillors and local authority chief executives and directors, to:

• promote what libraries do to support delivery of their services and agendas
• highlight the range of delivery models possible for library services
• identify and share good practice
• seek views on how the Taskforce can help reinvigorate public library services

We’ve visited the following library authorities over the last 6 months:

• Birmingham (sector forum)
• Bristol (sector forum)
• Devon (ministerial visit)
• Hertfordshire (ministerial visit)
• Kent (ministerial visit)
• Lancashire (ministerial visit)
• Manchester
• Merton
• Newcastle (sector forum)
• Norfolk (Taskforce meeting)
• Redbridge (Taskforce meeting)
• Swindon (ministerial visit)
• Tower Hamlets (sector forum)
• Worcestershire (Taskforce meeting)

The chief executive and / or chair have given presentations at the following conferences / events:

• Internet Librarian International - 18-19 October
• Libraries week, Birmingham - 27 October
• Locality conference - 8-9 November
• 8th National Congress of Public Libraries in Spain - 16-17 November
• Westminster City Council’s Children, Sport & Leisure Policy and Scrutiny Committee - 28 November
• Sector forum: Newcastle Central Library - 16 January
• Business & IP Centre National Network Steering Group - 17 January
• Sector forum: Idea Store Whitechapel London - 19 January
• Sector forum: M Shed Museum Bristol - 23 January
• Sector forum: Birmingham Banqueting Suite - 24 January
• London Libraries: Building on the past and creating a brighter future - 3 February