Meeting held on Monday 18th June 2018
11 people were present. Six sent their apologies.
Following an exchange of emails over the last two weeks, we discussed the situation regarding cuts to library provision in the Valley. About 6 years ago the mobile libraries were cut from 10 to 2 vans. The Council is now considering proposals for further cuts to remove the final 2 vans, with limited short term funding to support possible voluntary community library provision.
One problem is that appeals for such funding need to be supported by evidence of the demand for the services, which might appear to be low. However, experience in other situations (eg. Ireland where libraries are relatively well funded) is that demand increases when supply increases. Thus cuts, as we have already experienced, are likely to have led to a reduction in perceived demand.
These proposals for cuts will be discussed in a consultation process by the County Council. A public meeting will take place from 8-10pm on 11th July. Attendance is by free ticket obtained from the Council web site. Attempts to interest a Parish Council meeting in these proposals to cut the service received no support. The editor of the Parish Newsletter also rejected giving publicity to the matter. This confirmed our general experience that parish councils tend to be reactionary, opposed to change, and resistant to any consideration which might be viewed as ‘political’. Should we be getting more involved in councils to effect change?
Our situation reflects the wider problems of library provision. For example, two thirds of the staff of libraries in Sheffield are now volunteers. Such reduction in professional staffing leads to a loss of library skills and knowledge.
We discussed a range of different possible forms of provision: using school libraries as a basis for a community library; finding other possible village venues such as Memorial Halls; libraries open only for a short time each week. If successful, such provision in a fixed building (rather than mobile van) could provide a range of services as well as book lending. We wondered, however, whether voluntary efforts to establish such provision could have the adverse effect of encouraging Councils to make cuts in the belief that their services would be replaced by volunteers. In general, cuts to services of all sorts have often been followed by ‘outsourcing’ the service to private enterprise, non-governmental organisations, or voluntary activity, with consequently lower standards of service.
We expected that the County Council may be sympathetic to our objections to cuts, but that their hands are tied by radical reductions made to Council funding by central government. At a local level, the issue of library provision is not political. Conservative Councillors are as likely to object to library cuts in provision as Councillors from other parties. But the reduction in available funding is a direct consequence of Tory policy, and thus highly political in this wider context.
Our meeting was unusual in its consideration of one focussed topic which was local and practical. I was not easy, however, to draw out the wider political dimensions of the issue.