Many things would have been unthinkable five, ten or twenty years ago. Outsourcing of public libraries was probably one of them. It was therefore very exciting to see an executive briefing held by CILIP on exactly this topic had sold out!
The audience was mainly made up of senior (director level) representatives from library authorities from the Scottish highlands to the Isle of Wight. They were all keen to hear what the excellent selection of speakers sourced by programme director John Hicks of Kentwood Associates had to say.
The message that came through loud and clear was the likely need to make savings of anything from 25% to 50% of current expenditure. This calls for creativity in the extreme.
Creativity and variety were certainly offered by the speakers which reflected what the opening speaker from the MLA had to say. I really enjoyed the presentation from the East of England team - they are deep into a project where a diverse group of pubic libraries with geographical proximity are working togetherto explore viable options for sharing of services. I was impressed by their lack of fear in making fast and firm decisions. So many opportunities are lost, in my view, when those in the driving seat procrastinate. Making a decision is positive, helps you move forward and the wrong one can nearly always be rectified - whereas no decision merely creates a scenario for delay and despair. I came away keen to look at the use of AGILE as the project methodology as it clearly allows for swift and decisive decision making.
Slough Borough Council is midway through a tendering process to find a strategic partner to work with the council to run their library service and it was interesting to hear just how much background work needed to be done to get the project out to tender. They were followed by Luton Cultural Services - a multi service trust that was set up in March 2008 by Luton Borough Council cleverly using funding from Luton Airport, which they conveniently happen to own, to help finance the trust.
Public leisure services have been outsourced or run by external organisations for over twenty years now and the business is a mature market with plenty of systems and models to look at. Greenwich Leisure Services outlined how they have worked with different authorities over the years. Speaker Ron Hubberly from the LSSI in the USA followed and presented some intriguing and practical case studies along with very interesting and useful statistics from some of their outsourced libraries projects in America. LSSI started way back in 1987 in California and had much to tell. Ron's invitation to come and undertake a study tour in California was very tempting.
Closer to home Claire Griffiths of JLIS along with Lisa Forsyth of Max Associates explained the background to LB Hounslow's reasons for outsourcing the management of their libraries, parks and leisure services. Some eye opening information on the number of grievance procedures inherited on day one certainly focussed the mind as it must have for Claire who oversaw the implementation and then managed and operated the services until the start of this year. The outcomes and lessons learned were of interest to all present and again provided an excellent blueprint. As always it is the ones that are smart enough to be ahead of the game who come along to listen and learn.
I see the landscape of public library services changing rapidly. It certainly appears that there are many options for progress and innovative and creative ways to enhance a service at the same time making useful economies. Of course not every local authority is fortunate enough to have its own airport to turn to for funding.
- Sue Hill
