THE HOUSE OF COMMONS CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT COMMITTEE ENQUIRY INTO PUBLIC LIBRARIES

 

During February and March 2000, the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee carried out an enquiry into the state of Britain�s public library services and several of London�s library user groups provided written evidence to that enquiry. The written submission from LLL gave the Committee the views of library users throughout London and is reproduced below. Subsequently, LLL was invited to the House of Commons to provide oral evidence to the Committee.

 

Insert LLL paper

 

On 24^th May 2000, the CMS Committee published the report on its enquiry (Culture, Media and Sport Committee Sixth Report - Public Libraries, available from The Stationery Office @ �19.50). This contained, in addition to the LLL evidence, written evidence from:

 

Blackheath Village Library Users Group��������

Camden Public Libraries Users Group�

Friends of Islington Libraries����������������������������

Friends of Lambeth Libraries���������������������������

 

Included in the Committee�s Conclusions and Recommendations were:

 

• An expectation that �the new library standards on which the Government is now consulting will assist in driving up standards of public library provision�.

 

• A consideration of the competition for funding and space between books and IT equipment which stated that �We are convinced that the book will survive for the foreseeable future. It will be supplemented, not superseded. The challenge for the library sector is to ensure that the development of information technology in libraries broadens library services and does not take place at the expense of the book�. It was further stated that �the book stock is rightly seen as central to the quality of a library service�.

 

• An acknowledgement that library location issues are not as simple as many local authorities believe i.e. �We recommend that any standard for the location of libraries should be linked to modes of transport and in particular to measures of the quality of public transport provision�.

 

• A recommendation that �the [library] standards as finally issued should require authorities to assess the community value of individual libraries, a value which goes beyond internal definitions of user satisfaction, even if this community value is not readily susceptible to statistical analysis�.

 

• A statement that �it should be the responsibility of local authorities to protect funding levels for libraries and ensure that they reflect properly the wider value of library services and their role in society�.

 

• A recommendation that �the Department of Culture, Media and Sport as a matter of urgency should allocate funding of libraries to a specific National Lottery fund�.

 

The Government Response to the Committee�s report was issued on 26^th July 2000 and broadly accepted the recommendations of the Committee. It remains to be seen if the understanding and sympathetic Report and Response result in positive action.