Chark Blog - More on public libraries

Saturday, September 23, 2006

After I made a speech to the National Acquisitions Group recently which I described here, The Bookseller magazine invited me to write a piece. For those of you who cannot be bothered to access the link or want to see the unedited version here it is:

A few months ago I was asked if I would be willing to address the National Acquisitions Group (NAG) of leading librarians at their annual conference. Although I knew little about the politics and economics of the library world the partnership between librarians and publishers is important and I agreed. They didn’t (quite reasonably) tell me at the time that I was second choice to the government minister responsible for libraries, David Lammy. Coincidentally and at about the same time Ronnie Williams (Chief Executive of the PA) and I (wearing my PA President hat) had a meeting with Lammy and his civil servants. Thus began my introduction to the world of British public libraries.

Here are some of the things I learned while doing my research.

The Minister for Libraries has no power to administer libraries. This is handled entirely by local authorities.

Expenditure on books has fallen from 14.4% to 8.5% of the budget over the last decade.

The book collection has been reduced in the same time by 20m books.

100 libraries have been threatened with closure in this year alone.

1000 library buildings in England are no longer fit for use, 30% of the total.

The acronymic quango which tries to oversee library policy, MLA, has spent £4m with various consultants since they were formed. In particular these include in the past 2 years £0.5m with accountancy firms PwC and PKF who have come up with a plan which at best will produce savings of just 1% of the budget.

Libraries are chronically short of books and (surprise surprise) libraries with poor book stockholding fail to attract users.

The government and the MLA whilst mouthing support for books seem bent on turning libraries into community centres, outreach posts, and IT training camps.

The total UK public library book acquisition annual budget is £90m, the cost of ‘selectors’ is £45m, the total cost of acquisition processes is £200m, the total annual revenue and capital cost of the library service is £1.3bn. During the last decade overhead costs have risen by 5% per annum, book purchasing has fallen at the same rate.

The solution is not simple but here are a few suggestions:

Re-establish that the prime objective of libraries is to lend books and that book stocks need to be increased and improved significantly by an initial doubling of the budget.
With the support of our excellent wholesale distributors work with libraries to ensure that the money is efficiently spent thus eliminating multiple classification systems in local authorities and ensuring rapid dissemination of new books through the system.
Use the publishing industry’s media contacts and authors to generate a wave of support for libraries and front-line librarians.
Back an initiative from Tim Coates (former Managing Director of Waterstone’s and the leading nearly lone voice in the wilderness) to work with three or four local authorities to act as exemplars for the rest of the library network – with or without the support of the MLA or any other quango. He needs the help of the industry. His email address is timcoatesbooks@yahoo.com and his blog is www.goodlibraryguide.com/blog.

Of course publishers and authors arguing for higher expenditure on books will be seen as special pleaders but sometimes change benefits everyone and the changes required will benefit readers as well as authors, particularly non-blockbuster authors. I suspect that my support for books in libraries will get me into serious trouble with the Minister for Libraries because, to quote him: ‘So I get heartily sick and tired of self-appointed, unelected, unrepresentative groups who dogmatically say that libraries are for this and not for that.’

I also get heartily sick of certain things. My list includes bureaucratic waste, missed opportunities to improve education in deprived areas, vandalizing through inaction a great national treasure and civil servants and government officers whose jobs and final salary pension scheme are to be protected ahead of the needs of the public at large.

In short, public libraries are in crisis. They are there for making books available to all. The book purchase budget should be doubled and the costs of that recovered through administrative savings not by more strategy consultations. The government and all those connected with it should cease pretending things are fine and justifying past decisions and take action now.

9/23/2006 9:57:21 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Richard

This is wonderful support and much appreciated. I should say that I agree with both the sentiment and the specifics. I would be happy to work urgently with those who accept this as the agenda. It mustn't be taken in parts, but as a whole.

It is no good taking authors on tours to libraries with utterly dismal stock. Publishers wouldn't tolerate bookshops behaving like that- why should they pay library authorities and government agencies for behaving like that; that kind of support does not give any incentive to those who have to address the fundamental management issues which have caused the depletion of the book collections

Your readers might like to know that you have not come to this view overnight. 6 months ago, when I first approached you and the PA, as you have recently said, you thought "Tim Coates is overstating the case"; but it is clear from what you write that you no longer think that, I haven't persuaded you, but the evidence has, which is how it should be.

For several years I have needed the support of publishers in this cause: firstly because they are articulate citizens; secondly because they are capable of understanding the issues, which are close to home; and thirdly because they are a voice that cries for the value of books, authorship, publishing and reading within a civilised society. It is not deemed "special pleading" when Bill Gates urges libraries to install computers. Nor should it be when senior publishers call for books in libraries.

I am very grateful that you have come out the closet. Goodness, I need you.

Tim

Tim Coates

9/24/2006 9:21:05 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

The principle of libraries being solely for books and the occasional art display is typically middle class. What about the successful Idea Stores in Tower Hamlets ?

It is also rather disingenuous to request that local councils spend more on books at the same time as some publishers are grossly inflating certain cover prices to balance discounting by supermarkets and or Amazon.

I might add that I'm greatly in favour of the (free) public library system ; however, it has to adapt to 21st century needs and expectations.

Clive Keeble

9/24/2006 9:56:54 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Clive

The Ideas Stores in Tower Hamlets are predominantly libraries with books in. They also incorporate much of the evening class and Higher education facility provided by Tower Hamlets, which is why they were given the name "Ideas Store"-- but Tower Hamlets, in the past several years have invested more in their book collections for these libraries than most other London Boroughs. I know them well. If ever Tower Hamlets were minded that books were not central to these operations, they very quickly learned that was not what the public wanted several years ago.

There is nothing "middle class" about any of this.

Tim

Tim Coates

9/24/2006 10:06:44 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

I should add that where the Ideas Stores have worked well, which is not everywhere, in my view the great achievement has been to allow some good managers to take the initiative. There have been a handful of extremely able and exciting managers associated with the project who have been loosed or have fought free from some of the fetters of heavy weight government management- and that is the lesson that I take from the Tower Hamlets project. Tim

Tim Coates

9/24/2006 10:16:38 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

And what is wrong with being Middle Class ?

SUSAN HILL

9/24/2006 10:40:45 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Also Clive, when you talk about discounts and the price of books, remember that even at £90m per annum the public library service is the third or fourth largest purchaser of books in the country. They are perfectly able (or should be) to negotiate fair prices from publishers, in the same way that Waterstone's, WH Smith, Amazon or supermarkets do. There is nothing to stop them. As Richard has said, they have the ability to resurrect the "mid list" in way that is unique to them-- I certainly could use that to negotiate very good prices from the publishing fraternity; it is very valuable, as is their ability to pay cheques on time. Libraries have a lot of negotiating strength.

Tim Coates

9/24/2006 11:29:34 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Tim (re the above comments)

I am sure that you read the Opinion article in this week's TheBookseller written by Terry Reilly (CEO Bertram's) in this week's TheBookseller

http://www.thebookseller.com/?pid=2&did=20795

From which I would snip one very important sentence

>>Meanwhile, several major publishers are trying to reduce wholesaler terms to bolster their own profits and fund incentives to other channels, while simultaneously being keen for wholesalers to service slower-moving backlist titles to hard-to-reach outlets.<<

Its pretty common knowledge that some mega publishers are "in dispute" with Bertram, prompted in main by their having a supply division to Libraries.

Its these publishers who are keen to ensure that Libraries receive traditionally lower discount terms than those offered to the "retail sector". It is these publishers who want a large slicer of the cherry from a library than they do from Tesco or Amazon.

These same publishers (I would stress not including MDL) are trying to squeeze Bertram - both on supply terms and delivery schedules.

Too many large publishers are first and foremost for themselves : they don't give a shite about anybody other than their own balance sheets. There is very little altruism shown by the mega-publishers.

Clive Keeble

9/24/2006 12:19:47 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Clive

I am familiar with all that- and that's why Richard Charkin's involvement, in which he has taken great pains to grasp the detail, is so important. You are right, publishers have tended to see the view from their own sales perspective, but you can see from Richard's second recommendation above that he has understood the wider issues. Hence my response that if others will accept the agenda he has laid out - in total- then we have the beginnings of a really robust initiative to sort out the library service. Tim

Tim Coates

9/24/2006 1:14:51 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Tim,

I would endorse your comments above : however, I fear that two (un-named) mega publishers would never accept Richard's recommendation 2. How I would love to be proved wrong !!

Clive Keeble

9/24/2006 1:51:08 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Clive: Good!

The other thing I don't mind saying publicly is that Terry Reilly deserves a medal for what he has done in respect of public libraries. I know he has put Bertrams in a very strong position as a result, but that's his job. However he has also deliberately provided the opportunity and one of the main ingredients for radical improvement of public libraries. He and his colleagues went out on a limb and for that they deserve great respect, I think.

The wider picture, which publishers wouldn't see unless it was explained, is what Richard is describing: the library service has £250m pa of wasted inefficient expenditure. About half that is needed for more books, the other half for building work.

In order to extract that £250m councils have to be stopped indulging in utterly wasteful and old fashioned supply and procurement methods. instead of them demanding ridiculous servicing and processing indulgences, the library suppliers had to get into a position in which they could say; "No, sorry, we won't do that; and if you can desist from asking, we'll give you extra discount instead"

That cry is both in the interests of the wholesaler- but more importantly of the public. It brings more library books.

Only when Bertrams got themselves to a point that they could say that, can a Government official stand up and tell councils that they should take up the offer of better value.

That is what has happened and is still happening, and great credit goes to Terry (and Julian Rivers, incidentally) who with their colleagues were very brave.

I know that has been painful for the other library suppliers- but they have great strengths too and if they look at the other ways of working, there is no reason why they should be forced out of the picture.

I hope other publishers will come round. By and large now the market will probably force them to, so I don't think it's any longer really a problem-- but it was a prblem and it had to be faced earlier this year. The people of the country should be grateful! Tim

Tim Coates

9/24/2006 4:15:31 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

I don't doubt that reviewing the supply chain is valuable but, Clive,that misses the point. The most PwC could see by way of 'improvements' was £20m (which most librarians I spoke to believed would never find its way into book stock but into local authority sinking funds). The real need is for a huge improvement in the running of the local authorities and their library organisations. The prize would be truly excellent libraries with books at their heart but the educational and social needs of the communities catered for. Whingeing about publishers' greed (average profitablity of trade publishing in the UK is less than 5%, so I'm not sure greed is the appropriate word)achieves absolutely nothing. Supporting our library system might just achieve something we can all be proud of.

richard charkin

9/24/2006 5:09:44 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Richard

If your recommendation 2 is so unlikely to offer additional purchasing power for the library service then why the heck did you include it in your list ?

Seemingly, Tim Coates and myself offended the publishers "inner-circle" by mentioning Bertram, and Terry Reilly !

I believe that when the first "free" library opened in 1852 Manchester that the government of the day chose not to make any financial contributions.

Plus ca change plus ca meme chose.

Incidentally,I have very strong views about public libraries as custodians of our national heritage and their failure to respect the importance and value of donation stock but that is, as they say, a very different matter in much the same way as is publishers profitability.

Clive Keeble

9/24/2006 5:33:24 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

No Clive!

Your irascibility always provides the opportunity to explain things.

Richard's second recommendation does most certainly lead the way to more purchasing power. This is what I foresee:

The market for library supply will further tighten to three or four suppliers who are essentially wholesalers with a sales division to deal with libraries. This contraction will come about because library contracts will more and more become determined by the discount on offer (pressure from Audit Commissioners will bring this about).

These remaining suppliers will then offer products which remove cost from the library operations in councils. I am working on one such at the moment-- with this package the council is able to stop doing all its own cataloguing, stock selection, labelling, transportation etc, which is where the wasted money lies.

This removed cost can then be used by councils to concentrate all its financial and management resource on the libraries themselves. There is the money to double (or even more) the book purchasing, to train staff, to open long hours and to have a sensible building refurbishment programme. This is the improvement in management operation which Richard seeks.

None of this is rocket science and the role the wholesalers play is key to its success.

Incidentally by Christmas 1854, in the depths of the appalling first winter of the Crimean War, when the Government and the British Army collapsed into incapability, when the emergency debates in Parliament approached Christmas Eve and Mr Disraeli begged that the house be allowed a break to try and be festive- an MP sneaked through a bill for councils to pay for public libraries- and that's why they do. Tim

Tim Coates

9/24/2006 5:59:21 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

I would add that this work is far more important than anything dreamt of in the Price Waterhouse Cooper report, which is also what Richard is saying.

We need to tackle the fundamental detail of the operation in 4 library services. This means literally working out how to get the right stock onto each shelf in the simplest possible way and every management process needs completeS6M re-examination. This piece by piece work is going on- and I need a couple more councils to join in and some resources (ie cash) if anyone can spare some. The Government should be paying, but they aren't and I'm exhausted asking them.

Tim Coates

9/24/2006 6:45:29 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Tim

Perhaps the place to be for the first part of this coming week is Manchester, home of England's first free library in 1852, and watering hole for the movers and shakers within the Labour Party for the next few days.

It was the Mechanics Institute and Manchester Free Library which housed the books which helped educate the working classes.

Look at the history of the library service in this country : it was mainly thanks to Victorian philanthropists that the less-privileged gained their wordly knowledge. Successive Victorian governments, especially the Tories hated the libraries : dangerous to educate the masses.

Now it is the so-called Labour Party which is determined to destroy the libraries : even Harold Wilson would have had most members of the 2006 Cabinet thrown out of the party as traitors.

Where would Lammy be if he had not received the benefit of free library (book) usage ?

I must now rest my eyes and shut-down for the night.

Clive Keeble

9/25/2006 11:56:42 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

This morning I received unconfirmed news from a normally reliable trade source - apparently one English public library service has chosen Amazon for future supplies.

Amazon are known to be aiming for library supply in the US, if they are also going to enter the field in the UK then this is going to be a major news topic.

Clive Keeble

9/25/2006 12:53:11 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Clive

Who is it? The residents need to know the detail of the deal. And I'm curious!

Tim Coates

9/25/2006 2:40:09 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Tim

If I had proof positive then I would gladly pass the details ; however, since this potential development is something which would have serious repercussions throughout the whole booktrade then it is best to wait for further info.

Clive Keeble

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