Ends can justify means for our libraries

This comment article is written by Karen White, Vice Chair of the Bristol branch of the Institute of Directors. Follow her on @karenwhite03

Inviting some of our big brand superstores to sponsor our libraries? Quelle horreur! What’s the world coming to?  Next thing you know it will be two-for-one offers, receipts suggesting what else you might like to read based on your recent borrowing habits and loyalty points to reward you for the number of visits.

Do you know what, as a die-hard library user, all of that sounds quite attractive to me. As Bristol City Council carries out what feels like a rather half-hearted consultation on the future of the city’s libraries to work out how to save £1.1m through a ‘re-design’ of services, it’s time to get creative.

Too often we show a complete lack of imagination when it comes to looking forward. Libraries and lifelong learning are concepts that have to fight hard for attention. But it shouldn’t be a choice of ‘stay open or close’ or, to forgive a bad pun, an ‘open or shut’ book.

Where are the compromise solutions, where’s the vision?  The hard truth is that there just isn’t enough public money to keep everyone happy. We can’t mend potholes and provide mobile library services.  

Back in 1999, Tower Hamlets in London faced a similar dilemma. Consultation showed that the local community wanted more investment in libraries that would offer a wider range of services; they felt the service had become stale. But the reason for this was that the national trend was to decrease funding in learning services, so opening hours were getting shorter, and choice was becoming more restricted.  

Basically, library services weren’t moving with the times, which I think is big part of the problem we have in Bristol.

So the local authority looked closely at the cost of running a service from what were becoming ageing and poorly located buildings, fit for purpose 100 years ago but now often in conflicting catchment areas, often creating economic inefficiencies. They crunched the numbers and, granted, boosted by a brave and significant amount of funding by the then Secretary of state for Culture Media and Sport decided to get rid of the old building stock and merge libraries and adult learning centres into large, brand new ‘street corner universities’ which would encourage community cohesion and inclusion as well as learning.  

They also looked far and wide for other sources of partnership funding: Canary Wharf offered to incorporate one of the stores in phase 2 of its development and two of the big supermarket chains entered discussions about including a store next to or within their developments.

The Whitechapel branch of the ‘Idea Store’ alone now sees some 250,000 people through its doors a year and Tower Hamlets has rocketed to become one of the most library friendly areas of the capital. They are now considering library ‘Locals’, smaller offshoot branches that mirror the way supermarkets are catering for customers who are happy with smaller choice but more convenience.

I appreciate this may be is a step change too far for Bristol, but it shows that library services can be flexible and dynamic and can adapt to change. If it’s commercial partnerships we need to consider, then let’s do it.

Frankly, I don’t care if I have to do a little bit of worshipping at the alter of today’s much monstered consumerism if the trade off is retaining what to me is, and always will be, one of the best ever ideas democracy delivered: free access to information and culture. Sometimes the ends can justify the means.