British Librarianship and Information Work 2001-2005

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BRITISH LIBRARIANSHIP AND INFORMATION WORK 2001–2005

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BRITISH LIBRARIANSHIP AND INFORMATION WORK 2001–2005

Edited by J. H. BOWMAN University College London, UK

© J. H. Bowman 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. J. H. Bowman has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editor of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Gower House Croft Road Aldershot Hampshire GU11 3HR England

Ashgate Publishing Company Suite 420 101 Cherry Street Burlington, VT 05401-4405 USA

Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data British librarianship and information work 2001-2005 1. Libraries - Great Britain 2. Library science - Great Britain I. Bowman, J. H. 027'.041'09049 ISSN 1752-556X ISBN: 978-0-7546-4778-2

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire.

Contents Contributors Preface 1 National libraries Stephen Bury

vii xi 1

2 Public libraries Richard Ward

12

3 From social inclusion to community cohesion John Pateman and John Vincent

29

4 Community information Helen Leech

50

5 University libraries Jeremy Atkinson and Steve Morgan

57

6 Colleges of further education Andrew Eynon

82

7 Services to children, young people and schools Lucy Gildersleeves

90

8 Government libraries Peter Griffiths

109

9 Learned, professional and independent libraries Mary Nixon with Carol Allison

121

10 Library and information history Peter Hoare

138

11 Rare book librarianship and historical bibliography K. E. Attar

149

12 Art libraries Erica Foden-Lenahan

173

13 Music libraries Pamela Thompson

188

14 Media libraries Katharine Schöpflin and Richard Nelsson

198

British librarianship and information work 2001–2005

vi

15 Map libraries Robert Parry

214

16 Local studies Ian Jamieson

231

17 Archives Elizabeth Shepherd

248

18 British and European Union official publications Howard Picton and others

266

19 Patents Stephen Adams

299

20 The book trade Iain Stevenson

312

21 The internet and libraries Phil Bradley

328

22 Education and training Marion Huckle and Margaret Watson

340

23 Research David Nicholas

360

24 Library buildings Michael Dewe and Alan J. Clark

372

25 Cooperation Linda Berube

390

26 Marketing Linda M. Smith

400

27 Information literacy David Streatfield and Sharon Markless

413

28 Library management systems Lucy A. Tedd

431

29 Cataloguing J. H. Bowman

454

30 Classification and subject organization and retrieval Vanda Broughton

467

31 Indexing and abstracting J. H. Bowman

489

32 Preservation Alison Walker

501

Index

519

Contributors Stephen Adams, MRSC, CChem, MCLIP Director, Magister Ltd, Reading Carol Allison, BSc, DipLib, MA, MCLIP Librarian, Nottingham Subscription Library Jeremy Atkinson, BSc, MPhil, DipLib, MCLIP Director of Learning and Corporate Support Services, University of Glamorgan K. E. Attar, BA, PhD, MA Rare Books Librarian, Senate House Library, University of London Linda Berube, BA, MA, MS, MCLIP Co-East Regional Manager J. H. Bowman, MA, MA, PhD, MCLIP, FRSA Lecturer in Library and Information Studies, School of Library, Archive & Information Studies, University College London Phil Bradley Internet Consultant Vanda Broughton, MA Lecturer in Library and Information Studies, School of Library, Archive & Information Studies, University College London Stephen Bury, MA, MA, PhD, DipLib, FCLIP Head of European and American Collections, British Library David Butcher, BA, MCLIP Editor, Refer Alan J. Clark Co-ordinator, Designing Libraries Project, University of Wales Aberystwyth Michael Dewe Library Buildings Consultant Andrew Eynon, BA, Dip LIS, MCLIP, PhD Library Resource Manager, Coleg Llandrillo Cymru; Chair of CoFHE

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Erica Foden-Lenahan, MA, MCLIP Acquisitions Librarian, Tate Library & Archive Lucy Gildersleeves, MA, MCLIP Lecturer in Library and Information Studies, School of Library, Archive & Information Studies, University College London Peter Griffiths, BA, FCLIP Head, Information Services Unit, Home Office Peter Hoare, MA, FSA, HonFCLIP formerly Librarian, University of Nottingham Marion Huckle, BSc, MCLIP Head of Qualifications and Professional Development, CILIP Grace L. Hudson, MA, MPhil, MIL, MCLIP Deputy University Librarian (Academic Services), University of Bradford Jane Inman, BA, DipLib, MCLIP Technical Librarian, Warwickshire County Council Ian Jamieson, FCLIP Editor, The local studies librarian; formerly lecturer at University of Northumbria Helen Leech, BA, MA, DipLIS, MCLIP Area Librarian, Gillingham, Kent Sharon Markless Lecturer in Higher Education, King’s College London; Senior Associate, Information Management Associates Steve Morgan, BA, MBA, MEd, FCLIP Head of Learning Resources, University of Glamorgan Richard Nelsson Information Manager, Guardian Newspapers Ltd; Chair-elect, Association of UK Media Librarians David Nicholas, MPhil, PhD, MCLIP Director, School of Library, Archive & Information Studies, University College London Mary Nixon, BA, MA, DipLib, MCLIP

Librarian, Goldsmiths, University of London Valerie Nurcombe, BA, MCLIP Publications Secretary, SCOOP

Contributors

ix

Robert Parry, BA Senior Research Fellow, Department of Geography, University of Reading, and Curator of the University’s Map Collection, until 2004 John Pateman, MBA, DipLib, FCLIP Head of Libraries, Lincolnshire County Council, 2003– ; Head of Libraries, Hackney 1995–1998; Head of Libraries, Merton 1998–2003 Howard Picton, BA, MCLIP Parliamentary Affairs Manager, Bank of England; Secretary, Standing Committee on Official Publications (SCOOP) Chris Pond, OBE, MA, PhD, HonFCLIP, ACIPR Head of Reference Services, Department of the Library, House of Commons Katharine Schöpflin, MA, MA, MCLIP BBC Information & Archives 1996–2005; Chair, Association of UK Media Librarians Elizabeth Shepherd, BA, MA, PhD, DMS, DAS, RMSA Senior Lecturer in Archives and Records Management, School of Library, Archive and Information Studies, University College London Linda M. Smith, MCLIP Publications Manager, Libraries and Learning Resources, Nottingham Trent University; Chair, Publicity and Public Relations Group, CILIP Iain Stevenson Professor of Publishing, Centre for Publishing, University College London David Streatfield Principal, Information Management Associates Lucy A. Tedd, BSc, MCLIP Lecturer, Department of Information Studies, University of Wales Aberystwyth; editor of Program: electronic library and information systems Pamela Thompson, BA, HonRCM Chief Librarian, Royal College of Music, London John Vincent Networker, The Network tackling social exclusion in libraries, museums, archives and galleries; until 1996 a senior manager in the London Borough of Lambeth Library Service Alison Walker, MA, BLitt, DipLib Head, National Preservation Office Richard Ward, MLib Head of Library and Information Services, Hampshire County Council

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Margaret Watson, BA, MA, MCLIP formerly Acting Head of Department, University of Northumbria; President, CILIP 2003–2004; Chair, CILIP’s Qualifications Framework Steering Group

Preface This volume now supplants its predecessor as the latest in a long line. The first volume of The year’s work in librarianship covered 1928 and was published in 1929. Coverage was international, and the intention was chiefly to provide a review of the literature rather than an account of events. With some disruption to the sequence during the Second World War, the annual volumes continued until v. 17, which covered 1950. From 1951 the plan changed, largely because of the inception of Library science abstracts: the intention became the recording of major trends and developments, though still with a focus on publications, and the volumes covered five years at a time, under the title Five years’ work in librarianship. The first of these, for 1951–1955, was published in 1958. After three such compilations the focus changed again and the field was narrowed to Britain, the title becoming British librarianship and information science. From 1976–1980 onwards the book was divided into two volumes and was called British librarianship and information work. The five-yearly publication schedule continued and the last pair of volumes, covering 1986–1990, was published in 1993. All those volumes were published by the Library Association. Its successor CILIP, however, did not wish to continue them, and it was therefore a great delight to find that Ashgate were willing to take them up. It was an added delight that they wished not only to catch up with a 1991–2000 volume but to continue the series with the present one. As in the last volume, it is necessary to point out that inclusions of subjects have always varied from volume to volume and that this one is no exception. Regrettably, a few authors found that when the time came they were unable to furnish their contributions. There are therefore no chapters on industrial and commercial libraries, management, medical and health libraries, or multimedia, all of which had been originally agreed. On the other hand, some subjects, such as community information, colleges of further education, children’s services, and library buildings, make a welcome return this time; information literacy replaces user education and user studies. Contributors were given the same word limit as in the previous volumes, namely 7,500 words, but were encouraged to include as many bibliographic references as possible, so that readers may follow up topics that interest them. I have made no attempt to impose a uniform style on their writing, but I have tried to standardize spelling and have done my best to impose a uniform system of citation, though I have not tried to standardize every entry across all the chapters. This

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period particularly saw a very large number of government initiatives, projects and frameworks, many of which originated as reports, and I have again agonized repeatedly over capital letters and italics. I know that I have not achieved total consistency. Contributors were asked to provide any post-nominal letters that they wanted included. Some specifically asked for such letters to be omitted, but I can assure readers that they nevertheless possess appropriate qualifications. It is perhaps worth referring again to a body which appears many times in these pages. In April 2000 an organization was formed which was fleetingly called the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLAC). Within less than a month it had changed its name to Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, and remained so until February 2004 when it took again the name Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (now abbreviated as MLA). I have usually retained the form used by the author wherever it occurs. Re:source often appeared thus, with a colon, but I have taken the liberty of removing it. In conclusion I should like to thank my head of department, Professor David Nicholas, for his continued encouragement in this project, and to reiterate my thanks to all the contributors for providing material of such quality and for making it all such fun, and such an education. J.H.B.

1

National libraries Stephen Bury

Between 2001 and 2005 the world of information changed at an unprecedented rate: for example, in 2001 it would have been hard to predict the panoply of Google services from Google Scholar to Google Earth, or that Amazon would be selling the chapters of individual books over the web. This would pose great problems for any library but national libraries, relatively large, laborious in their governance structures, and with very large legacy systems, faced particular difficulties. This chapter will outline how the three national libraries of Britain responded to these challenges. It is written by a member of British Library staff, and it reflects his personal view. It is emphatically not the viewpoint of the British Library. Strategy All three national libraries undertook strategic reviews during this period, not only to meet the changes in scholarly communications but also to adjust to the revival of the Scottish Parliament and the creation of the Welsh Assembly, and to cope with a raft of governmental legislation: the Freedom of Information Act (in force from January 2005), the Disability Discrimination Act and the implementation of the European Copyright Directive. In 2001 the British Library launched a major consultation with its users with its New strategic directions for the British Library.1 There were over 5,000 responses, which largely endorsed the themes of working in collaboration and partnership, increasing the understanding of user needs, widening access to collections and services and accelerating the Library’s e-strategy. The leitmotif of the hybrid library was also present in the National Library of Scotland’s public consultation ‘A National Library for the 21st Century’ (2000/01), leading up to the ‘Breaking through the walls’ strategy, launched in March 2004,2 and in the National Library of Wales earlier consultation ‘Choosing the future’ (1999), with its emphasis on both physical and virtual access (the Visitor Centre and the Digital Library), resulting in its corporate plan 2000/01 ‘Digital Library, Open Library’. The Welsh Assembly’s strategic documents, Wales: a better country, Creative future and Making the connections also modulated the strategy of the National Library of Wales in 2004/05.3

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If a strategy was needed for national libraries to meet the demands the 21st century, it was felt at the British Library that a capacity to develop strategy as and when required was also needed. In May 2003 the Library appointed its first Head of Strategy and Planning, Caroline Pung. Early fruits of this development were the formulation of Redefining the library and Measuring our value.4 The former redefined the British Library’s role in the research information cycle and outlined the its strategies for research in science, technology and medicine in higher education and industry; the social sciences in higher education and the practitioner communities; and research in the arts and humanities in higher education and the creative industries. It also defined the strategic priorities of enriching the user’s experience, building the digital research library, transforming search and navigation, growing and managing the national collection, developing its people and guaranteeing financial sustainability. Economic impact assessment Measuring our value deployed the contingent valuation method (CVM) championed by the Nobel Prize-winning economists, Kenneth Arrow and Robert Solow, to determine the direct and indirect value – economic, cultural, social and intellectual – added by the British Library to the nation.5 Traditionally, this had used the qualitative method of case studies. A carefully designed questionnaire measured the consumer surplus value of the British Library’s reading rooms, the document supply service and the very existence of the British Library: over 2,000 people were asked: x how much they would be willing to pay for the Library’s continued existence x what was the minimum payment they would be willing to accept to forgo the Library’s existence x how much they invested in terms of time and money to make use of the Library x how much they would have to pay to use alternatives to the Library, if such alternatives could be found. The conclusions were that the total value each year of the British Library was £363 million (of which £304 million was indirect value and £59 million direct value); for every £1 of public funding the British Library received annually, £4.40 was generated for the UK economy; and if the British Library did not exist, the UK would lose £280 million of economic value per annum.6 Management 2001–2005 saw further changes in the management structures of all three libraries. In 2001 Lynne Brindley, appointed in July 2000, completed a top-tier restructuring, abolishing the posts of director-general and introducing an executive team consisting of directors of Operations and Services, Scholarship and Collections,

National libraries

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Strategic Marketing and Communications, e-Strategy, Finance and Corporate Resources. Within Scholarship and Collections the distinct focus on special collections was replaced by a structure based on three areas: British, European & American, and Asia, Pacific and Africa. In February 2004 the new post of Head of Higher Education was created. The National Library of Wales completed its restructuring in January 2002 with the creation of three departments: Collection Services, Corporate Services and Public Services. It also abolished so-called ‘curatorial’ departments based on differentiation by medium of material. At the National Library of Scotland, Ian McGowan was replaced as Director by Martyn Wade in September 2002. In 2003 a new departmental structure was implemented with four directorates: Collection Development, Corporate Services, Customer Services (including cataloguing, education, reference services and interlibrary loans) and Development and Marketing. Staff development The strategies of all three national libraries prioritized their staff and their development as keys to delivering strategy. Each library had a different approach: the National Library of Wales gained Investors in People accreditation in November 2003, whilst in 2004 the British Library introduced a radical competency-based performance system which was intended to be eventually linked to performance pay: objectives were to be modulated by the way they had been achieved. The 21st Century Curator Project 2002 saw the launch of the British Library’s 21st Century Curator Project in order to explore how content experts could straddle traditional expertise in palaeography, historical bibliography etc., with skills in digitization, writing for the web, project management and the emerging new forms of scholarly communication – institutional repositories for pre- and post-print research papers, blogs, wikis, mash-ups, folksonomies, etc. Between 2003 and 2004 there was an Andrew W. Mellonfunded project with the New York Public Library to use curatorial exchanges, benchmarking and a conference, including an international panel of curators, librarians, and archivists, to see if there were common solutions to common problems.7 Research breaks, a research register, an externally validated research assessment exercise, an institutional repository, and professional competencies for the new performance management system were just some of the results of this initiative. On-site services All three libraries saw efforts to improve the reader and visitor experience. June 2004 saw the opening at the National Library of Wales of the Drwm, the second phase of a £5 million visitor experience project, funded by the National Lottery Fund. Phase 1 had been improved accommodation for the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales. Phase 2 created an air-conditioned 100 person space for

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British librarianship and information work 2001–2005

films, live performances and lectures. Above the Drwm, the Hengwrt gallery was opened to allow such treasures as the Black book of Carmarthen, The book of Llandaf, Turner’s painting of Dolbadarn Castle or George Owen’s map of Pembrokeshire to be displayed to the highest possible conservation standard. Meanwhile, the Peniarth Room was refurbished for temporary exhibitions.8 In October 2004 the South Reading Room was re-opened with refurbished accommodation for manuscripts, maps and microforms. At the National Library of Scotland planning took place in 2004 to open up the front hall of the George IV Bridge building, long perceived as a barrier to access. Completion was planned for mid-2006 with further enhancements such as a selfregistration scheme for readers, smartcard technology and wireless broadband internet. The changes in the information patterns for science, patents and business led to different approaches by national libraries to reading room provision in these areas. The National Library of Scotland closed its separate science and business reading rooms in December 2001: physical materials would now be consulted in the general reading rooms, whilst SCOTBIS provided a virtual business information service.9 Meanwhile the British Library repurposed one of its Patents reading rooms into an enlarged Social Sciences Reading Room, and planned a Business and Intellectual Property Centre in the remaining Patents Reading Room. A pilot for this latter began in May 2004 with a planned building of training rooms and a networking area, funded by the London Development Agency, for an April 2006 opening. In the interests of social inclusion, the British Library simplified its admissions rules: what was required was a need to use the Library, proof of address and signature. A store directory and new signage were introduced. A series of events, performances and concerts were arranged to enlarge the size and composition of the traditional British Library audience. Again, all three libraries tried to address the social inclusion agenda of the Labour government, by attracting new audiences and developing new services, such as roadshows and touring exhibitions. The British Library attempted to join up its services for remote and onsite readers, as the electronic blurred this dichotomy.10 The front hall become one of the largest wi-fi (wireless fidelity, a term for a wireless local area network) spaces in the UK; readers were enabled (as at the National Library of Scotland from September 2004) to order reading room items in advance from the web. And indeed exhibitions at all three libraries had virtual galleries on their respective websites. Remote services Websites The period saw the emergence of different approaches (often within the same institution) to the national library website: was it an intermediary or guide to the services of that library? Was it the virtual equivalent, down to departmental structures, of the libraries? Was it another library, offering content to many who

National libraries

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would be unable to use the physical or inter-library loan facilities of that library? The 2001/02 annual report of the British Library described the website as ‘a comprehensive guide to the Library’s collections and services’: it had over 15 million ‘views of individual pages’. At the end of 2005 page hits stood at just under 41 million. The equivalent figure for the National Library of Scotland was just over 15 million. Digital content was one of the main drivers of this new traffic. For example, the addition of the original manuscript of Lewis Carroll’s Alice to the British Library’s Turning the Pages on 21 September 2005 resulted in over 1 million requests for images in both October and November. The three libraries became much more conscious of the centrality of their websites and made important developments in their appearance and functionality. In the British Library’s case British Library Direct, the application of Google’s search engine appliance to the site in 2004, the restructuring of the home page by target audience and the adaptation of the award-winning Turning the Pages format to the web were just some of the developments that moved and kept the Google ranking of the homepage at eighth. Document supply For the British Library the web offered both positives and negatives for document supply. It became possible to develop such services as ArtWeb, Articles Direct, Lexicon and British Library Direct for web ordering and electronic delivery, but at the same time it helped competitors to erode the high value segment of the document supply market that had helped cross-subsidize the broader British Library offer. A dual strategy of increasing prices (from 2001) and the radical cutting of costs (from 2003) ensured that Document Supply still made a positive contribution to British Library income in this period. It was difficult to break out of a cycle of increasing charges which might lead to a reduction in demand: for example, the British Library review of charges in 2000–01 was instrumental in the National Library of Scotland establishing SILLR – a new Scottish inter-lending rate. Digitization Each of the three national libraries was involved in preparing and then delivering digitization projects funded by the New Opportunities Fund.11 The British Library’s Collect Britain received £3,285,000 to make freely available around 100,000 maps, prints, drawings, sheet music, text and sound recordings. It was launched in October 2003 but was not fully completed until 2005. It was also a partner of the NOF-digitise project ‘Coming Here’, led by the Public Record Office (later the National Archives). The National Library of Scotland led a £4 million NOF-funded consortium to digitize Resources for Learning in Scotland (RLS), whist the National Library of Wales led a £1 million project, ‘Gathering the Jewels’, 2001 to 2003. The British Library continued to use a mixture of public and private funding of digitization, rather than grant in aid, the money provided by the Department for

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Culture, Media and Sport. The Canterbury tales and the Gutenberg Bible were digitized in collaboration with the Japanese University of Keio, whilst the Shakespeare Quartos (and the 31 quartos in the Bute Collection of the National Library of Scotland) were digitized working with the commercial publisher, Octavo, in 2004–05. Private funders enabled more treasures to be converted to Turning the Pages. The British Library’s desire to create critical masses of digitized materials was furthered when it secured £3 million from the Joint Information Systems Committee to digitize 3,900 hours of sound content, from Beethoven’s string quartets to interviews with artists, and 2 million pages of 19th-century newspapers.12 The National Library of Scotland worked closely with SCRAN (the Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network) as well as with private sponsors. Collection development e-legal deposit Perhaps the most notable achievement of this period was the entry of the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 on the statute book.13 It came into force on 1 February 2004. It built on the voluntary deposit scheme which had been in operation since 2000, whereby publishers were encouraged to deposit hand-held electronic publications and microforms. This was governed by the Joint Committee on Voluntary Deposit (JCVD). Meanwhile, discussions took place with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the introduction of legislation: it was decided that the most appropriate route was a so-called ‘hand-out’ bill. It was introduced as a Private Member’s Bill by Chris Mole, MP for Ipswich, in December 2002. The British Library with the other legal deposit libraries, led by Dr Clive Field, Director of Scholarship and Collections at the British Library, and John Byford, mounted a campaign to support the Bill: the British Library’s Press and Public Relations Department implemented its stakeholder strategy first developed during lobbying for the Comprehensive Spending Review and helped to clear the legislative hurdles. The Act extended the previous legal deposit legislation passed in 1911 and enshrined the principle that electronic or epublications and other non-print materials would be deposited in future under secondary legislation. It ensured that these publications could be saved as part of the published archive – and become an important resource for future researchers and scholars. For Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive of the British Library, this was ‘an historic piece of legislation and puts the UK among the first countries which will be collecting, by law, their electronic output’.14 Web archiving It had always been imagined that the secondary legislation for archiving websites, permitting domain harvesting, would be one of the latter ones to be introduced. But following the British Library’s pilot, Domain UK in 2001 and, for that matter, the Wales on the Web project (renamed in May 2004 as Wales on the Web – the all Wales portal), all three national libraries realized that there was a risk that much

National libraries

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essential material for the documentation of culture might be lost, and teamed up with the Wellcome Institute and JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) in UKWAC, the UK Web Archiving Consortium. This operated on a selective permissions basis.15 The British Library was also a partner of an international web archiving consortium with the Library of Congress, Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Internet Archive to develop web archiving tools. Major acquisitions This period saw major public fundraising appeals for the Royal Philharmonic Society Archive for the British Library (completed 2003) and, in April 2004, the launch of an appeal by the National Library of Scotland for £31.2 million to purchase the John Murray Publishing Archive 1768–1920, one of the world’s most important publishers’ archives with material by Byron, Scott, Carlyle, Darwin and Livingstone. Other major acquisitions for the British Library were the papers of Lord Olivier, Sir Ralph Richardson and Sir John Gielgud; correspondence between Ted Hughes and Keith Sagar, Ted Hughes and Leonard Baskin, George Eliot and Jane Senior, and the Oscar Wilde Collection belonging to Lady Eccles. Resource discovery In June 2004 the British Library launched its Aleph-based integrated library system, bringing together 30 million bibliographic records and replacing 16 legacy systems: there were in excess of 1.6 million searches on it per month. This provided the opportunity to restructure cataloguing workflows, and to conform to MARC 21. Cataloguing and retroconversion backlogs were identified and prioritized for the first time in 2002, and an action plan developed to tackle them. A wider definition of resource discovery – of items not in a library’s collection – led to the National Library of Wales developing a portal, Wales on the Web, supported by the British Library’s Co-operation and Partnership Programme, from May 2001. Collection management The British Library continued to apply its life-cycle costing approach to its collections and to consider its extension to electronic materials. It completed its preservation assessment, based on the National Preservation Office (NPO) schema, and automated its preservation bidding system. A conservation research strategy was formulated. With the Library of Congress and other libraries, the British Library instigated the Cellulose Acetate Microfiche Forum in 2002 and produced guidelines.16 Plans for a Centre for Conservation at the St Pancras site of the British Library were agreed. Planning permission was received in 2004 and the £12.5 million raised to fund it. The building was expected to be complete in early 2007, and would provide state-of-the-art technical facilities for the Sound Archive as well as a world-class facility for all aspects of book conservation, including education and training, addressing a shortage of book conservation skills nationally.

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Library security As members of LIBER (Ligue des bibliothèques européennes de recherches), the three libraries signed up with the ‘Copenhagen Principles’ of 2002 to promote international cooperation in the face of thefts of library materials on an international scale.17 Storage The lack of storage space and the increase in the number of hardcopy publications coming through legal deposit, despite expanding electronic publication, confronted all three libraries. The National Library of Scotland worked with other libraries in Scotland to frame a Collaborative Academic Store for Scotland (CASS). In 2005 the British Library piloted a study with the White Rose partnership (the universities of Sheffield, Leeds and York) which led to a joint study with the Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL), published in September 2005, and which called for a national research reserve.18 In 2004 the British Library decided to construct a high-density, fully automated low-oxygen storage solution for its freehold property at Boston Spa in Yorkshire. At the end of 2005 funding and permissions were in place to begin building what would be the largest of its type for library and archive use in the world. It was scheduled for completion in 2008. National cooperation The National Lottery provided £7.8 million to fund a national programme to microfilm local newspapers. NEWSPLAN was completed in 2004. 1,500 UK newspaper titles and a total of 20 million pages were filmed, including over 200 Welsh newspaper titles. Research Libraries Network All three national libraries were partners, along with the three higher education funding bodies and the research councils, in the Research Libraries Network (RLN), launched in July 2004 but based on the report of the Research Support Libraries Group (RSLG) of 2003. The purpose of the RLN was ‘to lead and coordinate new developments in the collaborative provision of research information for the benefit of researchers in the UK’.19 It was renamed the Research Information Network (RIN) in 2005. SUNCAT Part of the RSLG report identified research library infrastructure as a precondition for deep sharing of resources. RSLG and JISC began a Serials Union CATalogue (SUNCAT) pilot, launched in January 2005. Other library holdings were added in 2005.20 International cooperation Library staff from all three institutions took part in international conferences of the

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Conference of European National Librarians (CENL), the Conference of Directors of National Libraries (CDNL), the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL), the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and LIBER. The Director of the National Library of Scotland chaired the planning group for the 68th IFLA conference, held in Glasgow in 2002, and the National Library of Scotland and the British Library were joint hosts of the 2002 CDNL. The British Library hosted the 2001 LIBER conference, whilst the National Library of Scotland hosted the CERL conference in 2004. There were many bilateral contacts. For example, the British Library took part in a workshop with the National Library of Russia in 2003, whilst the National Library of Scotland had close relations with the Russian State Library. The European Library (TEL) The TEL project, funded by the European Commission, began in February 2001. Its partners were the national libraries of the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Italy, Portugal and Slovenia and it was led by the UK. TEL had the aim to create an operational virtual European catalogue of the national libraries of Europe by using a TEL library application profile and standard metadata submission. Following the development of a prototype, in June 2004 the Office of the European Library was established at the Hague and the European Library itself was softlaunched in 2005.21 Endangered Archives Programme In partnership with the Lisbet Rausing Charitable Fund, the British Library launched a £10 million joint initiative to help save the world’s endangered archives. The programme, administered by the British Library, advised by an international panel of experts allocated a first round of grants to institutions and academic researchers in 2005. Copies would be held in a master archive at the British Library.22

Notes 1 2 3

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New strategic directions for the British Library. London: British Library, 2001. Breaking through the walls: a draft strategy for the National Library of Scotland. Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland, 2003. Creative future : a culture strategy for Wales. Cardiff: Welsh Assembly, 2002; Wales: a better country: the strategic agenda of the Welsh Assembly Government. Cardiff: Welsh Assembly, 2003; Welsh Assembly, Making the connections: delivering better services for Wales. Cardiff: Welsh Assembly, 2005. Redefining the library: the British Library’s strategy 2005–2008. London: British Library, 2005; Measuring our value: results of an independent economic impact study commissioned by the British Library to measure the Library’s direct and indirect value to the UK economy. London: British Library, 2004; Lynne Brindley and Elspeth Hyams, ‘A beacon for British knowledge and research’, Library + information update 5 (1/2), 2006, 24–6.

10 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13

14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21

22

British librarianship and information work 2001–2005 Keith Arrow et al., Report of the NOAA Panel on Contingent Valuation. Washington, DC: US Government, 1993 (Federal register; 58). Available at: (accessed 31/5/06). This excludes the considerable value generated for non-UK British Library users, and the benefit to the UK economy of non-UK-domiciled users of the Reading Rooms. Twenty-first Century Curatorship: (accessed 31/5/06). Many of these temporary exhibitions also exist as a digital gallery: (accessed 31/5/06). SCOTBIS: (accessed 31/5/06). Providing services beyond the reading room. London: National Audit Office, 2004. Also available at: (accessed 31/5/06). Julie Carpenter, ‘What has NOF-digitise taught us?’, Library + information update 5 (6), 2006, 40–1. Archival Sound Recordings Project: ; British Newspapers: (accessed 31/5/06). Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003: 2003 chapter 28. London: HMSO, 2003. Also available at:

(accessed 31/5/06). (accessed 31/5/06). UK Web Archiving Consortium: (accessed 31/5/06). Cellulose Acetate Microfilm Forum: (accessed 31/5/06). Copenhagen Principles: (accessed 31/5/06). Optimising storage and access in UK research libraries: (accessed 31/5/06). Research Information Network: (accessed 31/5/06). See also Stephen Bury, ‘Joining up: national collection development in the UK’ in National policy of the library collection development to promote education and culture in society. Riga: Association of Latvian Academic Libraries, 2003, pp. 27–33. SUNCAT: (accessed 31/5/06). The European Library: (accessed 31/5/06); Stephen Bury, ‘The pre-history of the European Library: the British Library and TEL’, Alexandria 17 (3), 2005, 143–7; Jill Cousins, ‘The European Library: from project to service’, Alexandria 17 (1), 2005, 35–48. Endangered Archives: (accessed 31/5/06).

Further reading The national library websites contain much useful material, e.g. press releases for the period 2001–5: British Library: National Library of Scotland: National Library of Wales:

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The British Library twenty-eighth annual report and accounts 2000–01. London: British Library, 2001. Delivering excellence: National Library of Scotland annual review, 2004–2005. Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland, 2005. From knowledge to innovation: the British Library twenty-ninth annual report and accounts 2001–2002.London: British Library, 2002. Making a measurable difference: British Library annual report and accounts 2003–2004. London: British Library, 2004. National Library of Scotland: annual review 2003–2004, Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland, 2004. National Library of Scotland annual report. Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland, 2002– The National Library of Wales annual report. Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales, 2001–2004. Powering the world’s knowledge: the facts, achievements, images and figures: British Library annual report and accounts 2002–2003. London: British Library, 2003. Reaching Wales and the world: the National Library of Wales annual report 2004–5. Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales, 2005. Redefining the library: the British Library annual report and accounts 2004–5. London: British Library, 2005. ROUTES (Reaching out, extending skills): (accessed 31/5/06).

2

Public libraries Richard Ward

Introduction After several decades of gentle public disinterest and a less gentle decline in use and seeming relevance the first few years of the twenty-first century saw a massive resurgence in the attention paid to libraries. For example, in 2001 the government published the Public Library Standards giving, for the first time, real meaning to the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act’s requirement that library authorities should provide a ‘comprehensive and efficient service’.1 The library standards, and their role within the CPA (Comprehensive Performance Assessment) process,2 obliged library authorities to look more closely at their library services. The People’s Network, a scheme funded initially by the National Lottery, brought high-speed internet connections to every public library in the country and was one of the main reasons for the increases in library visitors at a time when most other indicators were showing significant declines in use.3 The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published Framework for the future: libraries, learning and information for the next decade,4 and handed over responsibility for its delivery to Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries (MLA).5 The House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee inquired into the state of public libraries and produced a major report, concluding that libraries had lost their way and should return to concentrating upon books and reading.6 During the years under review there were several other reports – of varying influence. In 2002 the Audit Commission produced Building better library services, which argued for a customer-focused approach: providing more books, improving opening hours, refurbishing buildings and increasing awareness amongst non-users.7 The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) published a slim pamphlet Better public libraries, which drew attention to some of the principles which should lie behind good library design. 8 In 2004 the National Foundation for Educational Research published Extending the role of libraries, which recognized that the traditional role of libraries (the mass lending of books) was in decline, and pointed to actions which could be taken.9 Amongst the actions were niche marketing, co-locations with other services and changing the ways in which staff were deployed.

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10

The Laser Foundation sponsored PricewaterhouseCoopers to research into the impact made by public libraries and the report was published in 2005.11 It showed that libraries made a significant impact on people’s lives and contributed to wider policy priorities at both local and national level. In 2004 Douglas Grindlay and Anne Morris published their findings on the decline in adult book lending.12 They found that the loss was mainly of adult fiction, and that the underlying causes were probably increasing affluence making book purchases more affordable, and widespread use of the internet and home PCs. Other causes could be book fund cuts and reductions in opening hours. OCLC published a major survey into people’s perceptions of libraries and information services.13 This report covered users in North America, the UK, Australia, Singapore and India. Although its methodology was self-limiting (the research was carried out via the internet, and in English) there were several key messages: the library brand is the book; there is a strong attachment to libraries but that attachment is based upon nostalgia; and Respondents do indeed have strong attachments to the idea of the ‘Library’ but clearly expressed dissatisfaction with the service experience of the libraries they use. Poor signage, inhospitable surroundings, unfriendly staff, lack of parking, dirt, cold, hard-touse systems and inconvenient hours were mentioned many many times by respondents. The overall message is clear: improve the physical experience of using libraries.

Consultants PKF were asked by DCMS and MLA to look into the efficiency of English public libraries and they paid particular attention to the stock supply chain.14 The report however raised fundamental questions which the public library movement as a whole was still grappling with at the time of writing. This work was being carried forward by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The period under review was notable for the number of polemic publications and articles. The quality newspapers regularly carried think pieces bemoaning the loss of the library as the author remembered them in his or her youth. But of more significance was the publication of Charles Leadbeater’s Overdue,15 calling, amongst other things, for a national libraries agency; John Holden’s extended essay Creative reading,16 and the report which caused the greatest splash – Tim Coates’s Who’s in charge?17 So these were five years in which an unprecedented amount of scrutiny was given to public libraries with commentators agreeing that ‘something must be done’, but no clear consensus emerged. There were practitioners who believed that the era of mass loans of mainly light, undemanding literature had gone forever and that libraries – if they were to survive – needed to transform themselves in the way that Tower Hamlets, Kent and Hampshire created Idea Stores and Discovery Centres, and those who believed that all the problems could be solved if libraries got back to basics, crammed their buildings full of books, gave them a lick of paint and opened them long hours.

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Comprehensive, efficient and modern public libraries: standards and assessment Chris Smith, the then Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, recognized that his duty to superintend the provision of a comprehensive and efficient public library service was hampered by a lack of any clear definition of what comprehensive and efficient actually meant.18 To help him in his task he oversaw the introduction of 19 standards. These were designed as an aid to library managers in their planning; to library authorities in reviewing their services internally; to the Audit Commission in its Best Value inspections; and to users and government so they could make more informed judgements about the quality of services provided. For the first time government specified what standard of service it expected library authorities to provide for their users: x Public Library Standard (PLS) 1 laid down what proportion of the population had to live within a certain distance of a library. These proportions varied depending upon the nature of the authority: a rural county was not expected to achieve the same standard as an inner London borough. Mention was made of ‘convenient’ opening hours: at least 5 hours per week outside 9am–5pm on weekdays. x PLS2 was concerned with unscheduled library closures and the number of mobile library stops missed. x PLS3 was to ensure libraries were open adequate hours and was measured by a formula which produced aggregate hours per thousand population. As with many standards the measure was the top quartile for all authorities. x PLS4 raised the issue of how long individual libraries were open each week. Authorities had to report on the percentage of large libraries open for more than 45 hours and to consider extended opening hours, i.e. over 60 per week for those which were the ‘service point of first choice’ for populations over 150,000. x PLS5 expected all service points open for more than 10 hours per week to provide access to online catalogues. x PLS6 laid down that there should be at least 6 public access computers per 10,000 population. x PLS7 established that a normal book issue period must be at least three weeks. x PLS8 said borrowers must be allowed at least 8 books at one time. x PLS9 set down time bands within which readers’ book requests should be met. x PLS10 measured virtual library visits. x PLS11 looked at actual visits. x PLS12 – PLS15. These standards were to be based on the Public Library User Surveys (PLUS) and covered success in finding a specific book, in gaining a specific piece of information, views on the staff’s level of knowledge, and the rating of the staff’s helpfulness.

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x PLS16 was a quality index of book stock to be worked out in detail later. x PLS17 measured the number of items added to stock per thousand population. x PLS18 looked at the number of years it would take to replenish the whole lending stock. x PLS19 was concerned with the quality of the staff employed – those with information management qualifications and those with ICT qualifications. The Standards were introduced softly: authorities were given three years to achieve them, and any sanctions for non-achievement were played down. Performance against the standards was reported through the Annual Library Plan process: but that process itself, having been introduced in 1998, was being phased out. By 2004/05 the standards had been refined to ten, covering the distance people lived from a static service point, aggregate opening hours, number of libraries with internet access, number of electronic workstations, request supply time, numbers of visits, user satisfaction, numbers of books purchased and length of time it would take to replenish the lending stock. According to the Public Library Statistics 2004–05 no English authority met all ten standards.19 A handful achieved 9, and 19 achieved 8. The majority of authorities were clustered around 3 to 7 with 5 achieving 2, and only 1 authority only achieving 1. Some standards were far easier to meet than others: for example, almost every authority was able to report 100% of libraries providing access to the internet. Opening hours gave more problems – and the gearing effect of the way this standard was measured made it very expensive to achieve if an authority’s starting position was well below the requirement. There was also the temptation to achieve this target by increasing opening hours at libraries where the cost was lowest. An hour at a branch was as valuable for the standards as an hour at a central library, but the costs, and the benefits to the community, were far different. The number of electronic workstations available to users per 10,000 population was another flawed standard. Across England the average number achieved was 6, which met the standard. Most authorities achieved the standard, with a few exceeding it by a wide margin and hardly any failing dismally. This was not surprising when it was remembered that the initial funding came from the National Lottery but it was essentially arbitrary and meaningless. A more valuable standard could have been derived from an examination of utilization rates with a standard being set at a level which would allow judgements to be made on whether the right number were available. If utilization was at 100% there would probably be unfulfilled demand with some potential users being turned away. On the other hand if utilization was at 20% then arguably too many had been provided and the resources should have been diverted elsewhere. But this is to argue over detail. The important point was that the standards existed, and flawed though they may have been they were at least an attempt to define the ‘comprehensive and efficient’ phrase from the 1964 Act. Without the standards it is less likely that cultural services overall, and library services in

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particular, would have been taken so seriously in the Comprehensive Performance Assessment. Comprehensive Performance Assessment In our over-centralized democracy, government feels it has the right to superintend the actions and performance of local government to a degree far greater than anywhere else in the western world. Despite claims that there will be greater local freedoms the centrally applied straitjacket gets tighter. During the first years of the twenty-first century central government used the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) to raise service standards across local government. CPA was administered by the Audit Commission, whose website provides links to a vast amount of detail including inspection reports of individual library authorities.20 The CPA regime enabled local people to see how their council compared to others. It created the league table for authorities similar to those used to rank schools. The tables were derived from inspection reports, and by looking at other measures, such as performance against standards. An authority’s score was judged predominately by how well its education and social services performed, and on its use of resources. However, there was a culture block, and in that culture block the performance of libraries was of key importance. If an authority was on the borderline between two categories then a good (or poor) rating for libraries, and thus culture overall, might be sufficient to tip the measure one way or another. Authorities were classified into one of five categories: poor, weak, fair, good and excellent, and a judgement was introduced as to the ‘direction of travel’ an authority was taking. The idea was to stimulate continuous improvement – not just from the authorities judged to be poor, weak or fair but also amongst those deemed to be good or excellent. To maintain a good or excellent rating an authority had to improve its performance over the previous period. In at least some authorities this was sufficient to get the library service taken seriously when bids for resources, or more cynically, places where cuts could be made, were being examined. It was at times such as this that the position in the authority’s hierarchy of the chief librarian assumed an importance beyond the mere vanity of the officer concerned. With the tendency for authorities to have a few, large, service directorates it was almost unknown for the chief librarian to be a chief officer. That in itself did not matter particularly provided that the head of the department was aware of the importance of libraries and was prepared to make the arguments in the forums to which he or she had regular access and the librarian did not. Although I do not have the evidence to prove this claim – and perhaps a longer perspective is required – it seems plausible that library services did better when they were the largest component of a cultural directorate rather than being a relatively insignificant part of an education or adult services set up. Framework for the future Tessa Blackstone, then Minister of State for the Arts, said in her introduction:

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Framework for the future is a long term strategic vision for the public library service. … The proposals are presented as a framework to encourage imaginative innovation and greater operational effectiveness and efficiency…’21

Framework for the future described the strengths of libraries: providing neutral and welcoming community spaces; the stock holdings ranging beyond books to DVDs, videos, CDs and the internet; the range of services on offer – lending books, formal and informal learning, promoting reading ‘across the age range’; and access to information and advice. It went on to say that libraries had the potential to do more in ensuring that all sectors of society have access to the full range of knowledge and information which they need. The report highlighted the needs of the disadvantaged – the less affluent and those with literacy problems. Framework considered that libraries needed a modern mission based upon four principles: evolution, public value, distinctiveness, and local interpretation of national programmes. Interestingly, the principle of local interpretation of national programmes highlighted one of the factors of the public library service which was at the same time a strength and a weakness. Public libraries in England were provided by 149 separate library authorities. This gave the local councils and the local community pride and ownership in what they were doing but it meant that it was very difficult to get national programmes going and, although in aggregate, public libraries could be very influential in practice they were fragmented and their potential influence dissipated. The report itself was interesting and well illustrated and contained many examples of good practice. Whilst it lacked a ‘killer’ application which would become the saviour of the public library movement it did nevertheless provide a vision of a library service in the opening decades of the twenty-first century. Delivery of the vision was to be handled by MLA. The Action Plan divided the tasks into work packages with nine strategic objectives. Each objective was to be achieved by actions with timescales, modest budgetary support from the DCMS, and perhaps most important, regular reporting of progress against clear targets. The four work packages were: building capacity to deliver transformation; books, reading and learning; digital citizenship; and community and civic values. Quite clearly more time would be needed to judge the success of Framework for the future. Indeed, as this chapter was being written the Tavistock Institute was undertaking a detailed review of the achievements to date. Delivering Framework for the future was an immense task. There was no single unified library service; libraries were part of local democracy. There was no strong inspection regime, and no rigorously enforced set of meaningful standards. The Framework action plan tried to overcome those difficulties with work to achieve national marketing strategies whereby a clear vision could be transmitted – but there were still citizens for whom the library service was an irrelevance, who did not know what it could do for them, and that most of it was free at the point of use. A few examples give a flavour of the action plan. Working with IdeA,22 peer reviews were introduced and seem to have been effective in the relatively small

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number of authorities fortunate enough to have been chosen. I can confirm from personal experience that the process was also of great benefit to the people carrying out the peer review. The promotion of reading and the various associated initiatives were widely welcomed. Examples included links with the Reading Agency, work with the BBC, and with publishers. The People’s Network continued to be developed – although it must not be forgotten that many library authorities felt badly let down in that there was no further National Lottery money forthcoming to enable aging equipment to be refreshed and the network expanded. Good work was done with a group set up to negotiate joint procurement deals with suppliers for electronic resources. These deals allowed the smallest branch to have access to reference works such as the Oxford dictionary of national biography which would once have been the preserve of a central reference library. Many services indeed made these resources available remotely to any patron with a library card, allowing them access at home or work, or in an internet café anywhere in the world. Under the banner of Framework for the future work began on increasing the number of books libraries could buy with their book funds. This work included an examination of the ‘impact of different models of acquisition, including benefits and barriers and potential costs’. Consultants PKF were contracted to produce a report, Public libraries: efficiency and stock supply chain review, which came out in 2005.23 Within the profession the report was broadly welcomed. Many of the issues flagged up were non-controversial – all authorities should adopt National Acquisitions Group (NAG) standard minimum servicing, for example; all authorities should review their stock procurement processes to ensure that where possible staff were re-deployed to customer facing roles; all libraries should review their support functions and understand to what extent these could be shared across local boundaries.24 The theory was impeccable but some of the other sections – on efficiency savings for example – were less impressive. This section comprises seven slight paragraphs containing assertions and hope. For example, a national agency for cataloguing and tendering was supposed to save 2% of employee costs or £8.5 million. It was blithely stated that ‘The costs of the national organisation would need to be met from re-allocating existing funding from the library authorities’ budgets’. The supplier selection part of the report was weak. Any suggestion that 100% of newly published book purchases could be placed through supplier selection was based on the flimsiest of evidence. The report ignores the fact that supplier selection had only been deemed successful in some small unitary authorities and that counties which experimented with supplier selection had since rejected it. Moreover the costs associated with supplier selection had been ignored. One of the submissions quoted in the report sums up the position admirably:

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Rationalisation of the number of consortia is needed in order for more business to be contracted by fewer consortia with fewer suppliers. Sub regional cooperation by library authorities will also help to share acquisitions costs. It will be important for any efficiency savings authorities need to make to be based on careful cost/benefit analysis. Seemingly simple solutions based round supplier selection and contracting out of essential support services may not be the best options. Growing emphasis on qualitative performance indicators eg Opening the Book stock quality health check mean that in house control of inputs and outputs will be crucial.25

Work on the stock supply chain continued into 2006 with the involvement of PricewaterhouseCoopers. It was expected that various improvement models would be considered, the one chosen being implemented from 2008. Other areas of Framework meriting mention include the work on e-government, once a priority for national government; the role of libraries as community spaces and supporting community cohesion and diversity; and the need to improve the quality of library buildings. Perhaps from a longer perspective Framework’s importance will be seen mainly as that it existed at all. It was a valiant attempt to bring coherence, consistency and a sense of future development to a fragmented sector. But, had there been a national library system would the People’s Network computerization scheme have been brought in on time and on budget? This country’s record on major national projects such as this was not good – but each separate library authority achieved its aims for its customers locally. The decline in adult book lending One of the most interesting pieces of research to be published during this period was ‘The decline in adult book lending in UK public libraries and its possible causes’ by Douglas Grindlay and Anne Morris.26 This was a key document and should be read by anyone interested in trends in public library usage over the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The authors examined the possible causes of the decline in adult book loans which, although concern was expressed as early as 1973, became noticeable in the 1980s. They noted that at a national level book issues peaked around 1980 and then began a steady decline. This decline coincided with central government pressure on local authorities’ spending and with consequent pressures on library services’ budgets. In many minds this represented a simple cause and effect – library budgets are reduced (in real terms at least), so fewer books are bought, opening hours reduced and possibly libraries are closed so it is no surprise that use, as measured by book issues, falls. If this proposition is true then reversing the fall would be a simple matter of increasing the amount of money spent on books, and increasing the opening hours of libraries. However, Grindlay and Morris examined all the factors which might be involved in a decline before reaching some tentative conclusions. While more, rather than less, people have been reading since the decline in adult book

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Decreased funding The authors noted that in the period preceding the five years under review real terms expenditure on libraries fell by 1% but there was ‘a large increase in the unit cost of employees’. Capital expenditure fell dramatically: in real terms it almost halved. There was a reasonable assumption that reduced capital expenditure meant libraries received less maintenance, fewer old buildings were replaced and fewer new libraries were built leading to shabby and unattractive surroundings not conducive to visits. When hard decisions about reducing budgets had to be made it was difficult to protect the spending power of the book fund. The ending of the Net Book Agreement enabled authorities to bargain for the best deals but Grindlay and Morris quote evidence that ‘rather than buying more books, library authorities used this as an opportunity to cut spending’.28 There is an important ‘chicken and egg’ question where book funds are concerned …; ‘Is the decrease in adult book loans caused by poorer choice and ageing stock resulting from reduced expenditure, or have library authorities reduced expenditure because people are borrowing less?’ According to Bohme and Spillar (1999) the answer is not yet clear, but the press certainly seem to believe that reduced book budgets are the cause … . While the Audit Commission (2002) believes reduced book funds have caused the decline in loans, it has acknowledged recently that book funds and opening hours may also have been cut as a response to reduced demand. Perhaps there is a vicious spiral in which one factor feeds into the other.29

Reductions in opening hours and library closures It is plausible that reductions in opening hours and the closure of libraries should lead to a fall in book issues. However, according to Grindlay and Morris, the actual impact was not clear. They report on research carried out by others30 that showed: ‘Even using time series analysis to allow for seasonal variations, there was no clear evidence that loans decreased after opening hours were cut, and in some libraries loans even increased over the period studied.’31 But there is evidence from elsewhere (e.g. Sheffield) that the effect may be noticeable over many years. As with reduced opening hours the effect of library closures was not as straightforward as might be assumed. There were library closures, and although in some cases these closures may have been mitigated by the introduction of mobile libraries, there was a clear loss of convenience of use. It was this lack of convenience – also part of the effects of the cuts in opening hours – that led people to lose what had been perhaps a fragile library-using habit. As Grindlay and Morris say: ‘Convenient location is a major factor that determines library use, particularly

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use on impulse; most users are unwilling to go out of their way and will often combine a visit to a library with other activities such as shopping.’32 Library regulations Grindlay and Morris wondered whether restricted loan times and fines for late return had played a part in deterring use. There was little research on the subject but it is clearly possible, as they said, that as standards of living rose people were less willing to borrow books (with all the drawbacks associated with having to remember to return them) when they could afford to purchase. Decreased reading of books It was an accepted fact that there was a significant number of people for whom reading had no interest and played no part in their lives beyond that needed for day-to-day living. It seems, however, that the number of people who cannot read at all was fairly small – and Grindlay and Morris, who found that the evidence for people’s reading habits was incomplete and difficult to analyse, did not feel that reduction in reading was in itself a cause of the decline in library issues. Reading of magazines increased, and there was, of course, the increase in other leisure time activities competing with reading. Television Grindlay and Morris did not find much evidence that increased watching of television contributed significantly to the decline in library book issues in the period before the five years under review. There seemed to be a natural limit on the number of hours of television watching that any one individual could cope with each week but there must be concerns – allied to increased affluence, discussed next – that the growth of satellite and digital television and the spread of intelligent video recorders allowing easy time shifting and in effect personalized television channels would lead to fewer people choosing reading as a leisure pursuit. Increased affluence and leisure opportunities This section of the report is of fundamental importance and it contains a quotation from the 1970s: I believe it is a fact that a substantial number of people, particularly fiction readers, use the public library as a last resort. This is a hard thing for a librarian to admit, but I believe it to be true. These people, if they have at their disposal the means to buy a colour television set, eat in a restaurant, drink in a pub, drive to the coast, or fly to the Bahamas, will not read books. And as affluence increases, they will use their libraries less and less; the fact will be reflected in issue statistics.33

Grindlay and Morris quoted the ‘librarian’s axiom’ from the United States which said that lending libraries prosper in times of economic downturn and do badly in

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the good times. If you have more exciting things to do with your time you are not going to read so many books – and thus it is likely that library issues will fall. Increased book purchases by readers The ending of the Net Book Agreement, leading to the wide availability of books at discounted prices; the aggressive growth of chain bookstores with attractive layouts including seating and coffee shops; the pleasure in being the first person to read a book; the ability to keep the book for re-reading or simply to cherish; and the greater disposable income available to most inevitably led to a growth in book buying and, as a natural consequence, fewer books being borrowed. This was reinforced by libraries which are perceived as shabby, ill-stocked, in the wrong place, and often closed. Computing and the internet It is commonplace to say that the internet will be viewed from a historical standpoint to have been as significant a development as the introduction of printing. Clearly, in terms of access to up-to-date information, in the ability to spread that information widely and simultaneously, traditional libraries were going to struggle in comparison. Many library authorities could now, for example, make available in all their service points expensive and sought-after reference works which would once have been limited to central reference libraries. In many cases these works could be accessed from home using a borrower number, removing even the need to make a physical visit to a library building. Librarians of thirty and more years previously would have been mystified at the need to speak of physical visits to a library and would have wondered what on earth was a virtual visit. Grindlay and Morris pointed to evidence about reading on the internet – the amount of time it takes, when it is carried out – and wondered if it had had an effect upon people’s book reading habits. The traditionalists and the modernizers Who’s in charge? Tim Coates was well known to a generation of booksellers, and lately to librarians. His passion for the public library service could not be doubted. He had shown concern over years for what he perceived to be a service which had lost its way and had neglected its core purpose. Moreover he felt that people did not want a modernized library service, merely one that was much as it always had been, only better in its essentials. He was also concerned that despite most library managers’ experience there was enough money in the system if only it were spent differently. Passionate in his beliefs though he was, the public platform on which he could air his views was limited, and he sought funding to produce a report with the aim of raising the debate. He approached Libri – a library charity – and Libri persuaded the Laser Foundation to fund the exercise. To give weight to his work he wished to

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base his report on an actual library authority and I agreed that he could use Hampshire.34 The report certainly succeeded in raising public libraries as an issue to be taken seriously and it was hard to disagree with many of the suggestions: libraries should spend more of their budgets on buying books; they should be open longer hours; they should be redecorated; there should be more market research; and there should be better governance. The report felt that there should be no distinction between professionally qualified staff and operational staff. In Coates’s view, this historic division of responsibilities meant that qualified librarians were not on the ‘opening rota’ for libraries and therefore did not add value equal to their cost. If all the staff were on this rota then library hours could be extended substantially. Similarly there were massive savings to be made in the way public libraries purchased their books – although no one in Hampshire (including our independent accountants) could agree with the ludicrous cost of purchase information given in the report. Who’s in charge? made an interesting suggestion about the management of individual libraries, recommending a very high degree of devolution with the person in charge being given total control of the budget available and within broad (but carefully monitored) performance management targets being left to get on with it. Select Committee In 2004 the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee scrutinized the public library system. Evidence was taken from Tim Coates, Miranda McKearney of the Reading Agency, John Holden of Demos, Heather Wills of the Idea Stores, Bob McKee of CILIP, Catherine Blanshard of the Society of Chief Librarians and Bill Macnaught of the Advisory Council on Libraries. Mark Wood and Chris Batt of MLA and Lyn Brown and Tony Durcan were also interviewed, as was the children’s author Jacqueline Wilson, and three ministers including Lord McIntosh of Haringey. Having questioned the witnesses and examined written submissions a report was issued in 2005.35 This report contained over thirty recommendations but the final paragraph of its summary makes it clear that the committee came down firmly on the traditional side of the debate. Our key recommendations are designed to focus attention on libraries’ fundamental role in promoting reading and we seek to distinguish clearly between core functions and desirable add-ons (prioritising resources in favour of the former). There need to be far stronger links between national library standards (which themselves need improving) and effective mechanisms to encourage and enable library services to meet, if not surpass, them. We also wish to see an action plan for the refurbishment of the nation’s library buildings: one that includes clear indications of where the necessary resources estimated at somewhere between £240 million and £650 million, will come from.

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The Committee wished to see library standards extended to include book loans, free access to the internet, the ratio of frontline to backroom staff, extended opening hours and the provision of material for people with disabilities. There would also have to be robust mechanisms for reporting on performance and a way by which remedial action could be triggered if necessary. Although the Committee was impressed by Idea Stores, it deprecated the loss of the word library, and wished to see that word maintained, but with a changed public perception of what it stood for. The Committee stressed that in its view libraries must be first about books and their conclusion and recommendation 6 states: ‘We recognise that libraries are viewed as safe public environments and as such have the potential to act as a suitable home for a service, meeting a wide range of community needs and wishes. However, it is equally clear to us that libraries must not be overloaded with objectives or expectations that strain their resources or inhibit the fulfilment of their core functions.’ The report should be read by anyone with an interest in the public library developments during this period. The response by the DCMS – by the time this was issued there had been a general election and David Lammy was the relevant minister having replaced Lord McIntosh – also repays reading.36 So there were two powerful strands to the argument about the future of public libraries: the arch-traditionalists and the modernizers. The modernizers were exemplified by Idea Stores and Discovery Centres. Idea Stores and Discovery Centres Idea Stores in Tower Hamlets, and Discovery Centres in Kent and Hampshire, share similar aims. ‘The plan is to create a series of bright, new buildings in local shopping areas, combining lifelong learning and cultural attractions with all the services normally associated with libraries from classic books to DVDs and CDs.’37 Tower Hamlets’ website continues: ‘The idea was born when residents told Tower Hamlets Council in their thousands that they would like to see their libraries located where they can get to them more easily and do more than borrow items while they’re there’: Imagine a place where you can get into a good book. Listen to a CD in comfortable, friendly surroundings or study quietly knowing that the knowledge you need is just a fingertip away. Imagine a place where skills and training advice is freely available and courses are offered in the same building. A place where you can learn informally at your own pace, mixing with other people learning all sorts of new skills. A place that will allow you to move on, in the same friendly and familiar surroundings, to more formal forms of learning if you choose. A place geared to help you get the most out of life. Imagine a place where you can take your whole family to use a wide range of services and enjoy a safe environment. A place where parents and children can learn together with other families in fun and stimulating surroundings. Imagine a place where you can relax in a quality café, take in an art exhibition or music performance. Imagine a quiet place where you can do your school homework, a place that is fun

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and exciting, a place where you can meet your friends, have lots of fun.

As their website said, and thousands of users attested, these ideas became reality in their Bow Street, Chrisp Street and Whitechapel locations. Discovery Centres were similar in concept to Idea Stores. The first modernized library to be re-badged as a Discovery Centre was that in Dover: a joint venture between Kent County Council and Dover District Council bringing together a modernized library service, adult education, and the District Council-run museum. Within the building were to be found a nursery, a café, a theatre, adult education, and arts and crafts activities. As the website said: ‘The Discovery centre is an exciting and fun place to visit – a smart modern building bursting with brand new technology that welcomes library users, adult education students, museum visitors and new users…Users of the Dover Discovery Centre will be inspired to explore, discover and learn.’38 The Dover Discovery Centre was a fine example of many bodies working together to provide services. The County Council ran the libraries but had to work with the District Councils which shared service provision within their areas. This made joined-up provision more difficult in two-tier areas of the country. Hampshire’s Discovery Centres learned from the Dover experience and explored the concept of re-vitalizing the library brand by a re-affirmation of its core values, and by seeking to enhance its value in the eyes of non-traditional users.39 The website makes clear why there was the need for Discovery centres and what they were meant to achieve, as these extracts show: For a number of years library use has been declining. Now there is a need to re-launch libraries with a broader range of services to ensure they serve the needs of the whole community. They offer an exciting way to enable more people to use the wide range of recreation and heritage services that Hampshire County Council and its partners provide via a single location, as well as bringing heritage and museum services to a wider audience. Existing library services are at the core of Discovery Centres. Book lending and reference books are the primary focus, together with CD, DVD and video loans, PlayStation games and Talking Books. Other services will depend on local requirements but may include museum exhibitions, local history resources, a café to encourage longer visits, areas to relax and read, art exhibition space, meeting rooms, IT facilities and events space. Discovery Centres will also offer longer opening hours so more people can access the services at times that suit them. Discovery Centres will result in more people using Hampshire County Council’s library, information and leisure services for longer periods of time, delivering greater learning and leisure opportunities and improving quality of life for Hampshire residents. A Discovery Centre begins with traditional library services, including lending and reference books – and then goes further. The concept is all about delivering more services within a modern, attractive environment, and making them available for longer and to many more people!40

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The Gosport Discovery Centre opened in 2005 and was not without controversy. A purpose-built 1970s town centre library was gutted and remodelled using bright and vibrant colours, new and funky furniture and welcoming layouts. It was not intended to look like a traditional library and it was meant to attract people who felt that libraries were ‘not for them’. In that aim it succeeded spectacularly with visitor numbers showing massive increases and significantly more people borrowing books. Unpublished market research carried out for the County Council showed that 66% of people thought the Discovery Centre was an improvement on what there was before, 16% thought it was worse, 14% thought it about the same and 4% were unsure. Those in a favour of the changes cited reasons such as improvements in the books, computers, a bright and welcoming modern feel to the building and the coffee shop. However, those against said the books were not as good as before and it was noisy. The number of activities carried out by users had increased: they might have said they were coming for books, or for the internet, but once in the building they typically made use of a range of other activities. And the younger they were the more activities they enjoyed. The key success of the Discovery Centre was that it shifted the age range of the users and made itself attractive to a user group more nearly representative of the population than had been the case for traditional libraries. This did have implications, of course, for not alienating the core users – who tended to be older, and less interested in change and new activities. The challenge the library service would face over the next few years was how to continue to widen the appeal of the service to younger people whilst still meeting the needs of the older users. Overdue: how to create a modern public library service Published in 2003, Overdue was Charles Leadbeater’s take on how libraries needed to change if they were to survive.41 Leadbeater felt that libraries should be ‘curiosity satisfaction centres’: Curiosity propels people into libraries to research their family history, find out about a business regulation, explore a novel, listen to some music, surf the internet or watch a video. The common thread is the excitement and satisfaction of curiosity.42

Leadbeater saw the problems of libraries as stemming at least in part from their being run by many local authorities with weak overall direction and control from central government. To solve this problem he recommended the establishment of a National Library Development Agency (NLDA) bringing together the library responsibilities of MLA and DCMS and the funding from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The role would be political, policy-making and funding, standard setting, improving performance, workforce development, innovation and advocacy.

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Complacency would be challenged, national marketing and advertising campaigns would be run and a coherence brought the sector. Unfortunately, interesting and valuable though this idea was, it did not catch the imagination of those likely to be able to make it happen. Conclusion It has proved remarkably difficult to follow the editor’s instructions and write this chapter as if one were looking back at the years 2001–2005 from the future. Bringing a dispassionate eye to events that one was bound up in has been a struggle. The five years would have been remarkable if all that happened had been the introduction of library standards and Framework for the Future. But we also had the start of the debate about the whole future of the service, summed up as: take the traditional route, doing what libraries have always done but do it better – essentially the Select Committee route – or accept that society has fundamentally changed and libraries need to change with it – the Idea Stores and Discovery Centre route.

Notes 1

Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Libraries, Information and Archives Division, Comprehensive, efficient and modern public libraries: standards and assessment. London: DCMS, 2001. 2 CPA – Comprehensive Performance Assessment – the mechanism by which central government monitors and grades local authorities, with published league tables so that local people can judge how effective their councils are and providing freedoms and flexibilities for the highest performing authorities. 3 The People’s Network evaluation summary. London: Big Lottery Fund, 2004. 4 Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Framework for the future: libraries, learning and information in the next decade. London: DCMS, 2003. 5 Resource became the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) in February 2004 and is referred to as MLA throughout to avoid confusion. 6 House of Commons, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Public libraries: third report of Session 2004–05. London: TSO, 2005. 2 vols. 7 Building better library services. London: Audit Commission, 2002. 8 Better public libraries. London: Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and Resource, 2003. 9 Anne Lines, Christopher Savory and Angharad Reakes, Extending the role of libraries. London: National Foundation for Educational Research, 2004. 10 Laser Foundation – a charitable foundation established after the close of LASER as an inter-library loan operation. Its dominant voice was that of the indefatigable Frances Hendrix. The author of this chapter is a trustee of the Foundation. 11 Libraries impact project. London: PricewaterhouseCoopers and Laser Foundation, 2005. 12 Douglas J. C. Grindlay and Anne Morris, ‘The decline in adult book lending in UK public libraries and its possible causes’, Journal of documentation 60 (6), 2004, 609–31.

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13 Perceptions of libraries and information resources: a report to the OCLC membership. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC, 2005. 14 Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Public libraries: efficiency and stock supply chain review. London: PKF, 2005. 15 Charles Leadbeater, Overdue: how to create a modern public library service. A Laser Foundation report. London: Demos, 2003. 16 John Holden, Creative reading: young people, reading and public libraries. London: Demos, 2004. 17 Tim Coates, Who’s in charge? Responsibility for the public library service. London: Laser Foundation and Libri, 2004. 18 Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Comprehensive, efficient and modern public libraries, 3. 19 Public library statistics: 2005–06 estimates and 2004–05 actuals. London: CIPFA, 2005 20 Audit Commission: . 21 Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Framework for the future, 2003, 5. 22 IdeA, the Improvement and Development Agency for Local Government, which accredits the peer review process and trains the reviewers. 23 Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Public libraries: efficiency and stock supply chain review. London: PKF, 2005. 24 Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Public libraries, 5. 25 Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Public libraries, appendix IIIb para 2.22. 26 Grindlay and Morris, ‘Decline in adult book lending’. 27 Grindlay and Morris, ‘Decline in adult book lending’, 627. 28 Grindlay and Morris, ‘Decline in adult book lending’, 613 quoting L. Muir and A. Douglas, ‘Where now for the UK public library service’, Library management 22 (6/7), 2001, 266–71. 29 Grindlay and Morris, ‘Decline in adult book lending’, 613–14. 30 R. Loynes and R. Proctor, ‘The effect of reductions in public library opening hours on book issues: a statistical analysis’, Journal of documentation 56 (6), 2000, 605–23. 31 Grindlay and Morris, ‘Decline in adult book lending’, 615. 32 Grindlay and Morris, ‘Decline in adult book lending’, 616. 33 R. D. Codlin, ‘Downward trend’, New library world 74 (879), 1973, 195. 34 Coates, Whose in charge? 35 House of Commons, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Public Libraries. 36 Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Government response to the third report of the Culture, Media and SportSelect Committee, session 2004–2005: public libraries. London: TSO, 2005. 37 ‘What’s the great idea?’, Idea Store website: (accessed 31/5/06). 38 Dover Discovery Centre: (accessed 25/5/06). 39 Kent’s Discovery centre programme had begun when Yinnon Ezra and I worked there together. Its success however came after we had both left for Hampshire where Ezra was instrumental in persuading the authority that the Discovery centre approach was the right way for libraries to go. 40 Discovery Centres: (accessed 31/5/06). 41 Leadbeater, Overdue. 42 Leadbeater, Overdue, 15.

3

From social inclusion to community cohesion John Pateman and John Vincent

Introduction There was more activity with regard to public libraries and social exclusion between 2001–2005 than there had been over the preceding ten-year period.1 There were three main developments during 2001–2005: there were more efforts to locate public libraries within the national policy context of social inclusion and community cohesion; there was a vast amount of commentary on and scrutiny of libraries, from both within and outside the sector; and the previous emphasis on inputs and outputs was replaced by a greater focus on impacts and outcomes. In terms of the strategic context, there was a shift in language from social exclusion to social inclusion and then to social cohesion or community cohesion. This shift in language also represented a shift in focus, away from the needs of socially excluded people, and towards the need to develop a more inclusive and cohesive society. This development was triggered partly by the disturbances in Bradford, Burnley, Oldham and elsewhere in 2001. There was also a repositioning of social exclusion work within the overall strategic context and direction of public libraries. The main catalysts for this were Libraries, museums, galleries and archives for all2 and Framework for the future,3 the government’s ten-year strategy for public libraries. This was the first time in nearly forty years that the government had tried to define what ‘comprehensive and efficient’ meant in terms of the statutory responsibilities of public libraries as laid down by the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act. With regard to greater commentary and scrutiny, there was a plethora of research, reports and activity around the themes of exclusion, inclusion and cohesion. The spur for this was the re-election of the New Labour government and the continued work of the Social Exclusion Unit which did not change its name despite the shift in direction and policy. Among the major reports published during this period were: Building better library services; Developing a needs-based library service; and Who’s in charge?4 Inputs and outputs were replaced by impacts and outcomes. This started off with an attempt to quantify impact via Public Library Standards (2001)5 which

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were rationalized into Public Library Service Standards (2004).6 They formed part of the government’s Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) scheme for local government.7 Further attempts were made to qualify the impact of public libraries on local communities, via Public Library Impact Measures (2005)8 and Generic Social Outcomes (2005).9 A number of toolkits were produced to help libraries understand and measure their efforts at tackling social exclusion. The period 2001–2005 can therefore be seen as both a progression and an acceleration of developments with regard to public libraries and social exclusion which started in the previous decade. There were also other echoes from the past, some of which reflected the obsession of previous Conservative governments with the ‘three Es’ of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. These issues resurfaced in 2005 via reports such as Public libraries: efficiency and stock supply chain review10 and the exploration of ways of developing the local government services market.11 Our review of the period ends on a positive note with a government announcement that ‘There are 1.1 million fewer socially excluded adults’.12 Strategic context The paper Libraries and community cohesion examined the social and national context, raised challenges and offered ways for the library sector to move forward.13 There was a shift from an emphasis on social inclusion to a focus on community cohesion which was defined as ‘A shared sense of belonging based on common goals and core social values, respect for difference (ethnic, cultural and religious), and acceptance of the reciprocal rights and obligations of community members working together for the common good’.14 The strategic context for libraries was established by a number of organizations including: Resource (the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries – renamed in 2004 the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, or MLA); the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS); the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP); and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). The Public Libraries and Museums Act was passed in 1964. It stated that every local authority had a statutory duty to provide a ‘comprehensive and efficient’ public library service for all who lived, worked or studied in the authority. But it did not define what ‘comprehensive and efficient’ meant. This challenge was not taken up by successive governments as it was felt that these decisions should be made by local politicians. As a result public libraries had no overall strategic direction, priorities or objectives. This started to change after Resource was established in April 2000 as the successor to the Library and Information Commission and the Museums and Galleries Commission. Resource was ‘a strategic body empowered to advise government and the sector on the long term development of museums, archives and libraries for the well being and improvement of individuals and communities. Its vision is to ensure that museums, archives and libraries belong at the very heart of people’s lives; contributing to their enjoyment and inspiration, cultural values, learning potential, economic prosperity and social equity’.15

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In July 2000, Resource published a Manifesto that defined a number of core values for its work, including: ‘The services provided by museums, archives and libraries should be focused on the needs of actual or potential users’; and ‘These services should recognize and promote physical and social inclusion and cultural diversity’.16 Building on success: an action plan for libraries included a commentary on access to services: Social inclusion is a cornerstone of Government policy and its recognition and promotion is one of Resource’s core values. Public libraries are especially powerful agents for inclusiveness. They are open to all, non threatening and non judgemental. They are frequently the only point of access to information and learning that is available to the deprived, the excluded or the disaffected. Their special qualities in opening out to people excluded from other aspects of society are precious and must be nurtured and encouraged. Promoting greater equality of access to services forms a core element of Resource’s mandate. At the heart of equality of access is an understanding by service managers of the particular needs of individuals and groups within the community served.17

Building on success was one of a series of consultation documents which began to position public libraries within a strategic context. Others included Using museums, archives and libraries to develop a learning community: a strategic plan for action and Information and communications technology and the development of museums, archives and libraries: a strategic plan for action.18 The Resource Annual review 2002/03 summarized all the activity which they had been involved in concerning social exclusion.19 This included: the development of several toolkits and training materials; the creation of a Cultural Diversity Officer post and regional Cultural Diversity Networks; and support for the Quality Leaders Project20 (alongside support for Positive Action Traineeships in the museums domain). The key government document with regard to public libraries and social exclusion was Libraries, museum, galleries and archives for all: co-operating across the sectors to tackle social exclusion.21 This was a combination of two previous reports: Libraries for all, a draft social inclusion policy for public libraries in England; and Centres for social change, a draft social inclusion policy for public museums, galleries and archives.22 Libraries, museums, galleries and archives for all set out a number of policy objectives around access and audience development. These objectives, and the methodology for developing a strategic approach (the six-point plan), were taken from Libraries for all. There were also two new objectives for the library sector: ‘Outreach activities should be an integral part of the role of libraries, museums, galleries and archives’; and ‘libraries, museums, galleries and archives should consider how they can further develop their role and act as agents of social change’. CILIP established a Social Inclusion Executive Advisory Group which produced the report, Making a difference – innovation and diversity.23 This

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recommended that ‘CILIP should encourage LIS organisations to mainstream services to socially excluded people and promote diversity, recognising that for most this will mean organisation transformation’. Transforming libraries to meet community needs was also a key theme of Framework for the future: libraries, learning and information in the next decade which defined the public libraries’ modern mission as: the promotion of reading and informal learning; access to digital skills and services including e-government; and measures to tackle social exclusion, build community identity and develop citizenship.24 It was recognized that ‘people who find reading difficult and groups in the community most at risk of social exclusion may find libraries distant or even intimidating places rather than seeing them as symbols of community’. All libraries were encouraged to ‘engage groups and individuals that are hard to reach by identifying them and establishing what are their particular needs and then by redesigning services when necessary so that there are no barriers to inclusion’. Some libraries were already involving the communities themselves in the design and implementation of services. ‘Libraries must be adept at seeking, understanding and serving the needs of non-users, some of whom may be ill at ease in a library setting.’ The Report to Parliament on public library matters gave some examples of ‘social policy work with libraries’, such as the use of volunteers to increase community engagement, and improved access for disabled people, particularly those who were visually impaired.25 The House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s Report on public libraries emphasized the importance of books and reading, but also recognized that libraries could offer more to the communities which they served: ‘Public libraries have always been part of tackling social exclusion (whatever this objective has been called over time) and we would encourage a continuing focus on those areas where libraries have a unique contribution to make to this end’.26 The Government response to this report agreed that a balance needed to be struck between books as ‘the core of libraries’ work’ and the need for libraries to ‘reach out to communities in many ways … in particular for those who are most vulnerable in deprived areas and elsewhere’.27 This could be achieved through greater community engagement and libraries that were ‘open at times that match local demand, for example in the evenings or on Sunday’. When Resource became MLA it continued to develop the strategic context for public libraries. A quiet revolution outlined the contribution which libraries could make to ‘the Shared Priorities that have been agreed between local and central government’, for example by ‘tackling unemployment, combating social exclusion, engaging disaffected teenagers who hang around street corners’.28 Investing in knowledge was ‘a five year vision for England’s museums, libraries and archives’.29 The priorities regarding community and civic values were: ‘delivering an inclusive service that reflects and helps build cohesive communities’, providing information and services for disabled people, and ‘providing library premises that meet the needs of 21st century communities’.

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On 21 June 2004 MLA ‘welcomed the government’s announcement of new funding of £2 million for public libraries. Public libraries provide safe, neutral, shared environments for people from all walks of life. They support formal education and learning, are centres of creativity, and serve as focal points for local communities. They are the unsung heroes of the public sector’.30 In 2004, MLA launched a new programme, ‘New Directions in Social Policy’, to prove the impact of museums, libraries and archives on key social outcomes and the Shared Priorities of local and national government. The first stage of ‘New Directions’ – Understanding the Policy Context – included the publication of three policy guides. Cultural diversity for museums, libraries and archives provided an overview of policies surrounding the term ‘cultural diversity’ both within and outside the museums, libraries and archives sector.31 Communities and inclusion policy for museums, libraries and archives explored the contribution museums, libraries and archives can make to neighbourhood renewal, community agendas and social inclusion.32 Health policy for museums, libraries and archives outlined how museums, libraries and archives can contribute to individual and community health through the new preventative health agenda of the NHS.33 These documents formed the core of an ongoing series of social policy briefing documents which MLA was committed to creating as part of ‘New Directions’. In 2005 two reports were produced, which contained echoes of previous attempts (in the 1980s and 1990s) to make public libraries more economic, effective and efficient. At an Intellect/SOCITM Supplier Forum in September 2005, Mark Upton from the ODPM gave a paper, ‘Developing the local government services market’, which considered ‘the development of a diverse market and new ways of working to support improvement and innovation …’.34 This formed part of a wider study of key local government supply markets and it contained some key messages for the sector. The proposed new models of library service provision were: collaborative working and trading models within local government; shared service arrangements across council boundaries; increasing the involvement of the private sector; increasing the role of the voluntary and social enterprise sector; increasing community ownership and management; and stock procurement and supply chain management. Stock management was considered in detail in the report, Public libraries: efficiency and stock supply chain review, which was commissioned by DCMS and MLA.35 The key finding of the report was that ‘efficiency gains and better value for money could be found, largely by library services throughout the country adopting the same processes and by purchasing books together. The greatest efficiency gains could be made if all library services placed the same requirements on suppliers and negotiated through one mechanism with the suppliers of books’. MLA rejected the case for a National Library Service, but agreed that further work was needed to persuade the sector of the benefits of collective purchasing and standardized processing requirements. 2005 ended on a positive note with the publication of The little book of public libraries which was ‘for people who love libraries and want to share their passion

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with others’.36 This advocacy tool was intended to ‘open your eyes to the valuable contribution libraries make to families, communities and society as a whole’. Public libraries were as much hubs of the community as churches, pubs and post offices, but with several big advantages: ‘they are public spaces where everyone is welcome; you can use them in different ways – to borrow books, music and films, search the internet, find out information, participate in events; there is expert help on hand if you need it; almost all services are free.’ Libraries had a role in ‘improving people’s quality of life; safer, stronger sustainable communities; healthier citizens’. This located libraries firmly within the national strategic context of the shared objectives between central and local government. Commentary and scrutiny A good summary of social exclusion policy and activity towards the beginning of this period appeared in the Social and racial exclusion handbook for libraries, archives, museums and galleries.37 Another good source of information was The Network newsletter: tackling social exclusion in libraries, museums, archives and galleries;38 this was the most comprehensive record of issues regarding social exclusion and libraries, museums, archives and galleries during this period. It contained a summary of projects and initiatives by service-providers, plus commentary and scrutiny of the service by library professionals, and also information about research and reports on public libraries produced by agencies and organizations outside of the sector, including the Audit Commission, universities, the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE), the Local Government Association, CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment), the Laser Foundation39 and the Network itself. Building better library services noted the significant decrease in library issues and visits and concluded that libraries need to rethink services from the user’s point of view by: providing more of the books and information services that people want; improving accessibility by opening at times that suit people, sharing facilities with other services, and using the internet; ensuring that services are easy and pleasant to use – learning, in particular, from bookshops; building awareness among non-users of the services that libraries offer.40

An important piece of cross-domain research was carried out by the University of Northumbria: Neighbourhood renewal and social inclusion: the role of museums, archives and libraries compared the sector’s view of its contribution to social inclusion and neighbourhood renewal with that of other agencies and organizations involved in neighbourhood renewal and social inclusion activity.41 Developments in adult education were similar to those in public libraries. NIACE launched the ‘NIACE lifelines in adult learning series’ which provided ‘straightforward background information, accessible know how and useful examples of good practice for all practitioners involved in adult and community learning’. One of the titles in this series was Developing a needs-based library

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service which suggested that modernizing public libraries was not enough. They needed to be transformed via new strategies, structures, systems and culture. A needs-based library service would be able to identify, prioritize and meet community needs, and actively engage local people in the planning, design, delivery and evaluation of library services. The Local Government Association also took an interest in public libraries and funded research by the National Foundation for Educational Research, which was published as Extending the role of libraries as part of its educational research programme.43 The key findings concerned partnership working, funding, the role of library staff, national and local support and targeting user groups: ‘Libraries need to identify clearly their main target audiences and promote their services appropriately to these groups.’ The need for more targeted services was also explored in Welcome to your library.44 This was an evaluation report of a library project for asylum-seekers and refugees, which had been piloted by five London Boroughs. In her foreword, Lyn Brown (Chair of the London Libraries Development Agency) noted that: ‘Reaching the most excluded, vulnerable and disadvantaged people in our communities is, by definition, a very challenging task for any service, anywhere. Few services try, and even fewer succeed, so I am particularly delighted to be able to report a real success story that has had a marked and, in my view, very moving impact on people’s lives across our Capital City.’ A number of new library buildings were opened during this period, which caught the public imagination: Idea Stores in Bow and Whitechapel, Peckham Library, Bournemouth Library and the Norwich Millennium Library. The connections between design and exclusion were examined in two reports by CABE. Better public libraries suggested that ‘Quality design will have a major role in delivering a 21st century library service; drawing in the diverse communities they serve’.45 21st century libraries: changing forms, changing futures concluded that ‘imaginatively designed and responsive public library services can play a pivotal role in promoting greater social cohesion and a stronger sense of civic pride and local identity’.46 Buildings and books were the core back-to-basics message of Who’s in charge? which asked ‘who is responsible for the public library service?’ and recommended: treble the expenditure on books and reading material; increase opening hours by 50%; institute a programme of library redecoration and redesign.47 This could be achieved via a reallocation of resources, improved productivity and the introduction of new systems and methods of working. This report was widely reported in the national press and created headlines such as ‘Why libraries spend £24 for book that costs £10 in shops’ and ‘A minute’s silence, please, for the late public library’.48 A ‘crisis summit’ was called by the DCMS at which it was predicted that the library service ‘could be extinct in 20 years if the trend goes on’.49 The Laser Foundation commissioned a number of reports which challenged public library orthodoxy and prompted new ways of thinking. Overdue: how to create a modern public library service recommended a radical rethink, including

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putting social exclusion and the promotion of equality of opportunity at the core of a new ‘guerrilla’ service.50 Libraries: a vision – the public library service in 2015 (which was the outcome of a seminar organized for the Futures Group,51 a group of middle managers in public libraries who came together under the auspices of the Laser Foundation to discuss issues relating to the future of the public library sector) distinguished between core services ‘free at the point of delivery’ and premium services which could be charged for on ‘a full cost recovery basis’.52 The report suggested that ‘library services must follow retailing in being “customerled” … In the future there will be no “one size fits all” library. Each will reflect local needs’. The Laser Foundation also funded a number of innovative projects to test and experiment with new ways of delivering services.53 The Paul Hamlyn Foundation also funded a number of highly significant developments in public libraries during this period via its themes ‘Right to Read’ (for work with looked-after children and young people); and the ‘Reading & Libraries Challenge Fund’ which consisted of ‘Free with Words’ (for work with prisoners and young offenders) and ‘Libraries Connect’ (for work with groups that are frequently excluded from library services).54 The Network also contributed to the debate via a regular column on social exclusion and community cohesion in the Public library journal. For example, ‘Tackling the problem’ drew together information about some of the ‘tools’ that existed to help libraries tackle social exclusion, and ‘A question of cohesion’ looked at the role of libraries in developing cohesive communities.55 Contributions were also made by individual commentators. ‘Open to all? The public library and social exclusion’ was an executive summary of ground-breaking research which influenced policy and practice across the sector.56 Social class was identified as a major determinant of library use and non-use. ‘Why class matters’ examined the ‘class ridden attitudes’ which ‘are prevalent in all professions, including the library and information profession’.57 ‘Moving target’ argued that ‘class is still preventing many people from taking up the services that libraries offer for learning and skills development’.58 Another major theme which re-emerged during this period was the notion of designing library services which could meet community needs. Pateman suggested that ‘by focusing on community needs, public libraries can become a dynamic force for social change’.59 This was explored further in ‘Developing a needs-based library service’; ‘Structures to tackle social exclusion’; and ‘The essence of inclusion: Cuba and the Nordic states’.60 At the same time, there was also an emphasis on libraries’ needing to reach out to and engage with the most marginalized communities if they were to become inclusive services. Nicola Baker looked at Essex Libraries’ service to traveller sites, which won the 2004 Libraries Change Lives Award.61 ‘Tackling exclusion: gypsies and travellers’ also looked at services to this highly excluded group.62 Vincent highlighted some good practice for working with looked-after children,63 including the need to work out in the community (and this good practice, as well as

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experience drawn from a range of projects, was pulled together in The librarians’ training kit).64 Social inclusion was a theme at many professional events and conferences. ‘Reasons to be wrathful’ was a paper given at the Public Library Group conference, which urged practitioners to harness their emotions in the fight against exclusion.65 ‘Count in everybody’ was a challenge at the launch of the Diversity Council ‘to win the hearts and minds of library policy makers and senior practitioners, to change the culture of our profession and to create library services which are truly open to all’.66 ‘So, who are “proper” library users then?’ was a question raised at the 2005 CILIP Umbrella Conference, and the article continued: ‘Let’s not talk about “proper” and “improper” users, but see what we can do to make our libraries more welcoming and attractive to a wider range of people’.67 Papers on libraries and social exclusion were also given at conferences organized by NIACE,68 the Diversity Group,69 the Local Government Association,70 East Midlands Museums Libraries and Archives Council,71 CILIP,72 and the CILIP Career Development Group.73 Impact and outcomes While book issues were in decline during this period, library visits increased after the implementation of the People’s Network. A study carried out into Arts in England: attendance, participation and attitudes in 2001 found that 45% of those interviewed had attended a library in the last year.74 There were clear social class differences in library use: ‘Respondents from managerial, professional and intermediate occupations were more likely to have visited a library than respondents from other occupational groups.’ These findings were very similar to the Report on the 2000 UK time use survey: examining public use of museums, galleries, archives and libraries which found that library users were most likely to possess educational qualifications and be in a managerial or professional occupation: men with no formal qualifications were the least likely (9%) to visit a library; and anyone who had ‘A’ levels or above was most likely (51%) to have visited a library.75 Many Best Value reviews showed that 60% of the population were library members, but only 20–30% of people were regular library users. In order to drive up these figures, a range of performance indicators were introduced to measure existing levels of use and set targets for increasing these in the future. The government launched Public Library Standards in April 2001 with a three-year phase-in period.76 The aim of the Standards was to ‘set for the first time a performance monitoring framework for public libraries. Since then there has been a significant increase in library opening hours, improvements to stock and ICT provision, an increase in user satisfaction and visits’.77 Performance against the Standards was originally reported to DCMS via Annual Library Plans.78 These were later replaced by Library Position Statements,79 although this too came under review.80

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The 26 Public Library Standards were replaced by a streamlined set of ten Public Library Service Standards in April 2005.81 These Service Standards were designed to measure accessibility, ICT, performance/usage/satisfaction and stock. They went on to form part of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment framework for local government.82 In Wales, a set of Standards was also adopted,83 and in 2005 an overall analysis of the Standards was published by CyMAL (Museums, Archives and Libraries Wales), as a result of which the Standards were extended for a further three years to 2008.84 Following some funding issues in the public library service, Northern Ireland’s Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure issued a consultation document in 2005 – the Ministerial foreword set the scene: But like everything else of course the library changes to meet new needs and to adapt to a new environment. It is funded from the public purse and as such needs to make the best use of the money it has. That is not just about saving money – it is also about providing value, and in library terms that means a good quality service, meeting the needs of the people who use it and enabling it to encourage new users. This is what this report is about, achieving a better quality library service, libraries which meet peoples’ needs, libraries which make the most of their power to change lives. Because they do change lives.85

Scottish public libraries were under an ongoing review too: The role of libraries in the 21st century is also under consideration as part of the current cultural policy review instigated by the Scottish Executive. The definition of ‘cultural rights’ and ‘cultural entitlement’ from a user’s perspective form a central plank of the Cultural Commission’s remit, and the public library service has a significant contribution to make in this context, through supporting reading and literacy, facilitating access to lifelong learning and information skills development, and working with partners to close the so-called ‘digital divide’. A further key element in the review will be the development of national strategies to protect and support Scottish cultural heritage, and to deliver quality information services for all.86

Work to develop impact indicators began in August 2002 when a Social impact audit was carried out for the South West Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.87 Several broad themes emerged from this audit (learning, community identity, social cohesion, economic value, equity and access), but no suggestions were made about how these could be measured. Another study, this time on Public libraries and community cohesion: developing indicators did set out to recommend some impact measures.88 But this report only managed to propose a framework for indicators, which consisted of a matrix matching library strategy, delivery and local engagement, with four key aspects of a library service: resources, expertise, place and symbol.

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The nettle was finally grasped by the DCMS, which launched the Public Library Impact Measures in March 2005: The Measures are intended to provide DCMS, MLA, and indeed services themselves, with a tangible means of demonstrating the impact that public library services make to wider community issues, around the themes of the central/local government shared objectives. Alongside the public library service standards, they will also help to demonstrate the quality of library provision to local people. It is envisaged that the impact measures will form part of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment Culture Block next year.89

The ability of these measures to accurately measure community impact was questioned by some commentators. For example, does the amount of non-fiction stock on health issues on the shelves of a public library really measure the impact of that library on the health of the local community? An attempt to develop, improve and complement these impact measures was made by the Libraries impact project, which also focused on the shared priorities between central and local government: children, education, health and older people.90 MLA also contributed to the development of impact measures via Generic Social Outcomes, which were modelled on the Generic Learning Outcomes that formed part of the ‘Inspiring Learning for All’ framework.91 MLA has contracted consultants Burns Owens Partnership (BOP) to develop and pilot outcome measures to document the impact of the sector in three main areas related to communities: healthy communities, social capital and community identity and cohesion. The development of these measures (known as Generic Social Outcomes or GSOs), forms the second stage of the New Directions in Social Policy programme initiated by MLA in 2004.92

A number of toolkits were also produced to help library managers understand and measure their contribution to tackling social exclusion. In 2002 Suffolk County Council (with support from the Department for Education and Skills) produced a handbook to assist councils and other organizations assess their level of inclusion.93 Then, in October 2002, the Resource disability action plan and the self-assessment toolkit Access to museums, archives and libraries for disabled users were published.94 MLA then published the ‘Access for All’ toolkit: enabling inclusion for museums, libraries and archives,95 and checklists for Disability Access96 and Cultural Diversity.97 MLA also produced an ‘Inspiring Learning for All’ toolkit.98 EMMLAC (the East Midlands Museums, Libraries and Archives Council) published guides on How to develop a community profile and How to write an audience development plan.99 The Basic Skills Agency funded a major project that was delivered by the National Literacy Trust, looking at literacy and social inclusion, which, whilst much wider than just libraries, nevertheless saw the potential role for libraries in

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tackling basic skills needs. The final report was produced as a handbook, with valuable links across to government and other policies.100 Several attempts were also made to measure the impact of technology on tackling social exclusion. Inclusion through innovation: tackling social exclusion through new technologies explored the potential that ICT had to promote equality and improve life chances for disadvantaged people, and to transform the delivery of services to them.101 Challenging the digital divide? reported that: … the use of public access and support sites (such as UK Online centres) by those currently perceived as excluded from the benefits of ICT is generally low. The location of many public access sites in libraries, schools, further education colleges and other public sector venues may be a significant barrier for those who do not associate such institutions as being part of their lives.102

However, after the People’s Network (which gave free public access to the internet) was introduced into public libraries, visitor figures went up dramatically. A series of reports was produced, trying to assess the impact of the People’s Network. The interim evaluation of the People’s Network and ICT Training for public library staff by the New Opportunities Fund warned that there was an ‘ad hoc, responsive flavour to much of the work around social inclusion, with relatively few library services taking a targeted approach informed by community profiling and needs identification’.103 The Big Lottery Fund’s Evaluation summary found that ‘the People’s Network has been markedly successful in broadening the library’s user base and the credibility of the library service has been enhanced, helping librarians to reposition themselves at the heart of the local community’.104 The People’s Network: moving forward claimed that the People’s Network was ‘reaching a significant proportion of its target population among the more disadvantaged sectors of society’.105 However, the ability of the People’s Network to narrow the digital divide was impeded by the decision of a growing number of local authorities to charge for access.106 Books and bytes recommended that the People’s Network should ‘remain a free service that people can turn up and use’.107 But new technology alone was not enough – the whole service needed to change. Connecting the UK: the digital strategy, the government’s ambitious strategy for closing the digital divide, did not mention the People’s Network or the role of public libraries.108 In response, the MLA launched Longitude: ‘a toolkit of resources for public library staff to evaluate the long term impact of IT based services on users’.109 This was followed by Longitude II: ‘a Library Networking Impact Toolkit for a user driven environment. This Toolkit is for public library managers seeking to gather reliable information on the overall impact of their services, within local, regional and national contexts, and to demonstrate and exemplify significant impacts on individuals’.110

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Conclusion The period 2001–2005 can therefore be seen as both a progression and an acceleration of developments with regard to public libraries and social exclusion, which started in 1991–2000. The main change was that there were more efforts to locate public libraries within the national policy context of social inclusion and community cohesion. Libraries became now firmly embedded as contributors to the shared objectives of central and local government. Another feature of this period was the vast amount of commentary on and scrutiny of libraries, from both within and outside the sector. This level of attention contrasted sharply with the preceding period, particular the Thatcher and Major years, when public libraries were ignored, apart from a few attempts to make them more efficient. Issues of efficiency, economy and effectiveness did not go away, but there was more focus on trying to measure the quality, rather than just the quantity, of public library services. The emphasis on inputs and outputs was replaced by a greater concern regarding impacts and outcomes. One outcome, which was announced by the government on 29 November 2005, was that ‘there are 1.1m fewer socially excluded adults – those suffering multiple disadvantages – in Britain, according to new figures being released by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister today’.111 In 1997 there were 4.8 million adults (both of working age and pensioners) who experienced five or more disadvantages. In 2003, this number had fallen by 1.1 million to 3.66 million. The number of adults suffering from three or more disadvantages fell by 2.2 million people over the same period. In his first speech on social exclusion, Communities Minister David Miliband said that it was time to move social exclusion back into the spotlight: We should be proud of our progress. We’ve really turned the corner in the fight against exclusion. It’s time to shake off the lazy fatalism that the poor will always be with us. But we need to redouble our efforts. Social exclusion is not just about basic conditions. It is about not having access to the things most people take for granted – basic skills, a job, a decent home, a sufficient income and contact wit friends and family. It is about not having power over your life and your future. There are new challenges ahead. Society is changing – for example, the number of people living alone has jumped from 3.4m in 1971 to an estimated 8.5m in 2021. Living alone doesn’t in itself mean social exclusion, of course, but it can increase the risks. Older people are particularly vulnerable. We have a duty to ensure the ageing generation doesn’t become a lonely generation. We want to make sure that every public service in this country is held accountable for their performance in the poorest areas and for the most disadvantaged people, not just for the average. This means looking at how we can distribute funds more progressively, according to deprivation and need.112

The Minister pledged to take ‘five key challenges’ to each Whitehall Department to keep the fight against social exclusion at the heart of government policy: ‘establishing “floor targets” so Departments raise minimum outcomes; progressive funding which starts with those most in need; joined up and personalized services

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which put people first; rights being conditional on responsibilities; shared institutions and activities which bring people together.’ This speech was interesting for two reasons. First, it indicated that social exclusion was once again the government’s focus. The Social Exclusion Unit was established in 1997 by Tony Blair, but the language later shifted to social inclusion and then community cohesion. The policy wheel appeared to have turned full circle with the emphasis put back on the socially excluded and their needs. Second, the public library service was asked to meet the five key challenges of tackling social exclusion and will be held accountable for its performance in supporting those with the greatest needs. The ability to meet these challenges could determine the survival and development of public libraries over the next ten years.

Notes 1

2 3 4

5 6

7

8

9

John Vincent and John Pateman, ‘From equal opportunities to social exclusion’ in British librarianship and information work 1991–2000, ed. J. H. Bowman. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006, pp. 37–61. Libraries, museums, galleries and archives for all: co-operating across the sectors to tackle social exclusion. London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2001. Framework for the future: libraries, learning and information in the next decade. London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2003. Building better library services. Wetherby: Audit Commission, 2002; John Pateman, Developing a needs-based library service. Leicester: NIACE, 2003 (NIACE lifelines in adult learning; 13); Tim Coates, Who’s in charge? Responsibility for the public library service – a report by Tim Coates. London: Libri Trust, 2004. Comprehensive, efficient and modern public libraries: standards and assessment. London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2001. Public library service standards. London: Department of Culture, Media and Sport, [2004]. Available at: (accessed 3/4/06). The Comprehensive Performance Assessments are carried out by the Audit Commission who bring together a range of factors to assess a Council’s overall performance; for further information, see: (accessed 3/4/06). Public library service impact measures – proposals for 2005/2006. London: Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. Available at: (accessed 3/4/06). The background to this development was laid out in a series of reports published in 2005: Burns Owens Partnership, New directions in social policy: developing the evidence base for museums, libraries and archives in England. London: Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, 2005. Available at: ; Tracey Hylton, New directions in social policy: cultural diversity for museums, libraries and archives. London: Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, 2005. Available at: ; Rebecca Linley,

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10 11

12

13

14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28

43

New directions in social policy: communities and inclusion policy for museums, libraries and archives. London: Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, 2005. Available at: ; and Marcus Weisen, New directions in social policy: health policy for museums, libraries and archives. London: Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, 2005. Available at: (all accessed 3/4/06). PKF, Public libraries: efficiency and stock supply chain review. London: Department of Culture, Media and Sport, 2005. Presentation by Mark Upton from the ODPM: ‘Developing the local government services market: presentation to the Intellect/SOCITM Supplier Forum’, 27 Sept. 2005. Available at: (accessed 4/4/06). ‘1.1m fewer people socially excluded’, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister News Release 2005/0253, 29 Nov. 2005. Available at: (accessed 3/4/06). John Vincent, Libraries and community cohesion: a paper for the South East Museum, Library and Archive Council. Winchester: SEMLAC, 2005. Available at:

(accessed 3/4/06). Building cohesive communities: a report of the Ministerial Group on Public Order and Community Cohesion. London: Home Office, 2001. Building on success: an action plan for libraries. London: Resource, 2001. Resource manifesto. London: Resource, 2000. Building on success: an action plan for libraries. London: Resource, 2001. Using museums, archives and libraries to develop a learning community: a strategic plan for action. London: Resource, 2001; Information and communications technology and the development of museums, archives and libraries: a strategic plan for action. London: Resource, 2001. Annual review 2002/03. London: Resource, 2004. See, for example: (accessed 4/4/06). Libraries, museum, galleries and archives for all: co-operating across the sectors to tackle social exclusion. London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2001. Libraries for all. London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 1999; Centres for social change: museums, galleries and archives for all. London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2000. Making a difference – innovation and diversity: the report of the Social Inclusion Executive Advisory Group to CILIP. London: CILIP, 2002. Framework for the future: libraries, learning and information in the next decade. London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2003. Report to Parliament on public library matters. London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2004. House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Public Libraries: third report of Session 2004–05. Vol. 1. London: Stationery Office, 2005. Government response to the third report of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, Session 2004–05: public libraries. London: Stationery Office, 2005. A quiet revolution. London: MLA, 2004. Available at:

(accessed 3/4/06). The Shared Priorities were agreed between central and local government in 2002. They include: raising standards across schools; improving the

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quality of life of children, young people and families at risk, and of older people; promoting healthier communities and narrowing health inequalities; creating safer and stronger communities; transforming the local environment by improving the quality, cleanliness and safety of public space; meeting local transport needs more effectively; and promoting the economic vitality of localities. Further information is available at:

(accessed 3/4/06). 29 Investing in knowledge. London: Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, 2004. 30 ‘New funding to develop public libraries’, Museums, Libraries and Archives Council news release, 21 June 2004. Available at: (accessed 3/4/06). 31 Tracey Hylton, New directions in social policy: cultural diversity for museums, libraries and archives. London: Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, 2005. Available at:

(accessed 3/4/06). 32 Rebecca Linley, New directions in social policy: communities and inclusion policy for museums, libraries and archives. London: Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, 2005. Available at: (accessed 3/4/06). 33 Marcus Weisen, New directions in social policy: health policy for museums, libraries and archives. London: Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, 2005. Available at: http://www.mla.gov.uk/documents/ndsp_health.doc, (accessed 3/4/06) 34 Presentation by Mark Upton from the ODPM, ‘Developing the local government services market: presentation to the Intellect/SOCITM Supplier Forum’, 27 Sept. 2005. Available at: (accessed 4/4/06). 35 PKF, Public libraries: efficiency and stock supply chain review. London: Department of Culture, Media and Sport, 2005. 36 The little book of public libraries. London: Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, 2005. 37 Shiraz Durrani, Social and racial exclusion handbook for libraries, archives, museums and galleries. Nadderwater: Social Exclusion Action Planning Network, 2001. 38 The Network newsletter: tackling social exclusion in libraries, museums, archives and galleries. Nadderwater: The Network, 2001– (formerly Public Libraries & Social Exclusion Action Planning Network newsletter 1999–2001). Available at: (accessed 3/4/06). 39 LASER (the London and South Eastern Library Region) was an operational company which served for more than 70 years the cooperative interests of public libraries predominantly in London and the South East. The Laser Foundation was created from the transfer of the LASER company into a grant-making trust. Further information is available from: (accessed 3/4/06). 40 Building better library services. Wetherby: Audit Commission, 2002. 41 Sandra Parker et al., Neighbourhood renewal and social inclusion: the role of museums, archives and libraries. London: Resource, 2002. 42 John Pateman, Developing a needs-based library service. Leicester: NIACE, 2003 (NIACE lifelines in adult learning; 13).

From social inclusion to community cohesion 43

44

45

46 47 48

49

50 51 52

53 54 55

56

57 58 59 60

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Ann Lines, Christopher Savory, Angharad Reakes, Extending the role of libraries: final report. Slough: National Foundation for Educational Research, 2004 (LGA research report; 23/04). Welcome to your library: an evaluation report by the Advice Development Project. London: Advice Development Project, 2004. Available at:

(accessed 3/4/06). See also: Helen Carpenter, Welcome To Your Library Project: developing public library services for asylum seekers and refugees in the London Boroughs of Brent, Camden, Enfield, Merton, Newham – final report. London: London Libraries Development Agency, 2004. Available at: (accessed 3/4/06). Better public libraries. London: Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, 2003. Available at: (accessed 3/4/06). 21st century libraries: changing forms, changing futures. London: Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, 2004 (‘Building futures’ series). Tim Coates, Who’s in charge? Responsibility for the public library service: a report. London: Libri Trust, 2004. Catriona Davies, ‘Why libraries spend £24 for book that costs £10 in shops’, Daily telegraph 28 April 2004. Available at: (accessed 3/4/06); Ian Herbert, ‘A minute’s silence, please, for the late public library’, The independent 28 April 2004. John Ezard, ‘Library experts “sidelined in crisis summit”’, Guardian 19 June 2004. Available at:

(accessed 3/4/06). Charles Leadbeater, Overdue: how to create a modern public library service. London: Demos, 2003. For further information see: (accessed 3/4/06). Libraries: a vision – the public library service in 2015. London: Laser Foundation, 2005. Available at: (accessed 3/4/06). See: (accessed 4/4/06). Information about these funding streams and the projects they supported can be found at: (accessed 4/4/06). John Vincent, ‘Tackling the problem: some help’, Public library journal 19 (2), summer 2004, 18–19; John Vincent, ‘A question of cohesion’, Public library journal 20 (2), summer 2005, 26–8. Dave Muddiman et al., ‘Open to all? The public library and social exclusion: executive summary’, New library world 102 (1163/1164), 2001, 154–7; Dave Muddiman et al., Open to all? The public library and social exclusion. London: Resource, 2000. Vol. 1: Overview and conclusions; Vol. 2: Survey, case studies and methods; Vol. 3: Working papers (Library and Information Commission research reports; 84–86). John Pateman, ‘Why class matters’, Diversity: newsletter of the Diversity Council 3, March 2002, 14–16. John Pateman, ‘Moving target’, Public library journal 18 (2), summer 2003, 31–2, 34. John Pateman, ‘Libraries must change to survive’, Adults learning May 2003. John Pateman, ‘Developing a needs-based service’, Library + information update 3 (5), 2004, 34–7; John Pateman, ‘Structures to tackle social exclusion’, Library + information update 3 (6), 2004, 38–40; John Pateman and Charles Newby, ‘The

46

61 62 63

64 65 66 67 68 69

70 71 72

73 74 75

76 77

78

79

British librarianship and information work 2001–2005 essence of inclusion: Cuba and the Nordic states’, Library + information update 3 (11), 2004, 30–3. Nicola Baker, ‘Breaking the cycle of poor literacy’, Library + information update 3 (10), 2004, 38–9. John Pateman, ‘Tackling exclusion: gypsies and travellers’, Library + information update 3 (3), 2004, 42–3. John Vincent, ‘Working with looked-after children’, Public library journal 20 (1), spring 2005, 15–17. Much good practice was established as a result from seedfunding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Summaries of key projects can be found at:

(accessed 4/4/06). John Vincent, Access to books and reading projects for young people in public care: the librarians’ training kit. Nadderwater: The Network, 2004. John Pateman, ‘Reasons to be wrathful’, Library management 23 (1/2), 2002, 17–22. John Pateman, ‘Count in everybody’, Public library journal 17 (2), summer 2002, 38–9. John Vincent, ‘“So, who are ‘proper’ library users then?”’ Public library journal 20 (3), autumn 2005, 10. ‘Moving Target’, NIACE conference, Imperial War Museum, Duxford, Feb. 2003. ‘Diversity – dare to win!’ Diversity Group Conference, University of Wolverhampton, 4 Oct. 2004. There is a brief summary of the conference in Diversity autumn 2004, 2 (available at: (accessed 4/4/06)). ‘Extending the Role of Libraries’, Local Government Association Conference, Local Government House, Smith Square, London, 22 Nov. 2004. ‘Agenda for change – how inclusive are our services?’ East Midlands Region Social Inclusion Seminar, EMMLAC, Leicester, 12 Jan. 2005. ‘Umbrella 2005’, CILIP conference, University of Manchester, 30 June–2 July 2005. See, for example, the papers presented at the Community Services Group sessions at: (accessed 4/4/06). ‘Mainstreaming Equality’, CILIP Career Development Group National Conference, University of Leicester, 14 Nov. 2005. Adrienne Skelton et al., Arts in England: attendance, participation and attitudes in 2001. London: Resource, 2002. Patrick Sturgis and Jonathan Jackson, Report on the 2000 UK Time Use Survey: examining public use of museums, galleries, archives and libraries. London: Resource, 2003. Comprehensive, efficient and modern public libraries: standards and assessment. London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2001. Public library service standards. London: Department of Culture, Media and Sport, [2004]. Available at: (accessed 3/4/06). See, for example: Annual Library Plans: guidance for the preparation of plans in 2001. London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2001. Available at: (accessed 3/4/06). See, for example: Public library position statements 2003: guidance. London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2003. Available at: (accessed 3/4/06).

From social inclusion to community cohesion 80 81 82 83

84

85

86

87

88 89

90

91 92 93

94

47

The latest thinking is that these should be subsumed as part of a local authority’s Community Strategy and Plan. Public library service standards. MLA’s response to proposals for Comprehensive Performance Assessment from 2005. London: Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, 2005. Comprehensive, efficient and modern public libraries for Wales: standards and monitoring. Cardiff: National Assembly for Wales, 2001. Available at: (accessed 4/4/06). The Welsh public library standards 2002/05: an overall analysis. Aberystwyth: CyMAL, 2005. Available at: (accessed 4/4/06). Northern Ireland’s libraries: a framework for change. Belfast: Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, 2005. Available at: (accessed 5/4/06). Information from the ‘Scotland: Cultural Profile’ website at: (accessed 5/4/06). Jared Bryson, Bob Usherwood and David Streatfield, Social impact audit. Taunton: South West Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, 2002. Available at: (accessed 3/4/06). Kevin Harris and Martin Dudley, Public libraries and community cohesion: developing indicators. London: Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, 2005. Public library service impact measures: proposals for 2005/2006. London: Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, 2005. Available at: (accessed 3/4/06). PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Libraries impact project. London: Laser Foundation, 2005. Available at: (accessed 4/4/06). See: (accessed 4/4/06). ‘“New Directions in Social Policy” – researching the impact’, MLA news eBulletin 138, 20 May 2004. Vincent McDonald and Debbie Olley, Aspiring to inclusion: a handbook for councils and other organisations. Ipswich: Suffolk County Council, 2002. Available at: (accessed 4/4/06). Resource disability action plan. London: Resource, 2002; Access to museums, archives and libraries for disabled users. London: Resource, 2002 – neither of these publications was accessible on the MLA website on 4 April 2006. To some extent they have been superseded by the ‘Disability portfolio’, a set of 12 practical guides, all published: London: Resource: Annie Delin, Disability in context, 2003 (‘Resource disability portfolio’ guide 1); Sarah Playforth, Meeting disabled people, 2003 (Guide 2); Sarah Playforth, Training for equality, 2003 (Guide 3); Annie Delin, Audits, 2003 (Guide 4); Marcus Weisen, The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), 2003 (Guide 5); Sarah Playforth, Inclusive information, 2003 (Guide 6); Nick Poole, Using technology, 2003 (Guide 7); Annie Delin, Access on a shoestring, 2003 (Guide 8); Janet Bell, Accessible environments, 2004 (Guide 9); Linda Sargent, Outreach and partnerships, 2004 (Guide 10); Sarah Playforth, Consulting disabled people, 2004 (Guide 11); Annie Delin, Employment at every level, 2004 (Guide 12). All available

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at: (accessed 4/4/06). 95 ‘Access for All’ toolkit: enabling inclusion for museums, libraries and archives. London: Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, 2004. Available at:

(accessed 4/4/06). 96 ‘Access for All’ self-assessment toolkit. Checklist 1: Disability access for museums, libraries and archives. London: Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, [ca. 2004]. Available at: (accessed 4/4/06). 97 ‘Access for All’ self-assessment toolkit. Checklist 2: Cultural diversity for museums, libraries and archives. London: Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, [ca. 2004]. Available at: (accessed 4/4/06). 98 See: (accessed 4/4/06). 99 How to … develop a community profile: a guide for museums, libraries and archives. Leicester: EMMLAC, 2005. Available at: (accessed 4/4/06); How to … write an audience development plan: a guide for museums, libraries and archives. Leicester: EMMLAC, 2005. Available at: (accessed 4/4/06). 100 Viv Bird and Rodie Akerman, Literacy and social inclusion: the handbook. London: Basic Skills Agency, 2005. Prior to this, the project had produced a position statement which laid the foundations for the final report: Viv Bird and Rodie Akerman, Every which way we can: a Literacy and Social Inclusion position paper. London: National Literacy Trust, 2005. 101 Inclusion through innovation: tackling social exclusion through new technologies: a Social Exclusion Unit final report. London: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2005. 102 Brian Loader and Leigh Keeble (eds.), Challenging the digital divide? A literature review of community informatics initiatives. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2004. 103 Evaluation of the People’s Network and ICT training for public library staff programme: interim report for the New Opportunities Fund. London: New Opportunities Fund, 2003. Available at: (accessed 4/4/06). 104 The People’s Network: evaluation summary. London: Big Lottery Fund, 2004 (Big Lottery Fund research issue; 7). Available at: (accessed 4/4/06). 105 Peter Brophy, The People’s Network: moving forward. London: Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, 2004. Available at: (accessed 4/4/06). 106 Survey of charges for People’s Network. [UK]: Society of Chief Librarians, 2004. 107 Books and bytes: new service paradigms for the 21st century library: an evaluation of the People’s Network and ICT training for public library staff programme. London: Big Lottery Fund, 2004. Available at:

(accessed 4/4/06).

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109 110

111

112

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Connecting the UK: the digital strategy. London: Cabinet Office, Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit/Department of Trade and Industry, 2005. Available at: http://www.dti.gov.uk/industries/telecoms/pdf/digital_strategy.pdf>(accessed 4/4/06). ‘Measuring the impact of the People’s Network over time: MLA launches LONGITUDE toolkit’, MLA news 26 May 2005. Peter Brophy and Jenny Craven, Longitude II: a library networking impact toolkit for a user-driven environment. London: Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, 2004. Available at: (accessed 4/4/06). “1.1m fewer people socially excluded”, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister news release 2005/0253, 29 Nov. 2005. Available at: (accessed 3/4/06). Ibid.

4

Community information Helen Leech

Community information in public libraries generally consists of a central signposting database of clubs and societies. In the past this was available only to library users, but during these five years the rise of the internet convinced most library authorities to make their databases available on the web. This made the information easier to access – but also eroded the role of the library and the role of the librarian, as other services started to develop community information databases, as people changed the way they search for information, and as clubs and societies started publishing their own websites. The rise of community information websites During these five years public libraries increasingly took the opportunity to make information available over the internet. By the end of 2005 around six out of every ten library authorities were offering community information databases over the internet.1 More continued to be added all the time: in November 2005 East Lothian made its database, Inquire, available.2 The nature of these databases changed very little from the time that they were kept in card files. They listed local clubs and societies, were organized by subject and place, and gave contact details and meeting times. Two new fields tended to be added in these years: email address for the contact person, and URL for the organization website. Occasionally the remit of the service was widened to included halls for hire, places of worship, and other signposting information, and these are discussed towards the end of this chapter. Databases can be made accessible in a number of ways: examples can be seen at Lancashire, Sandwell, where the community information database could be found via the library web pages, and Westminster, where the database could be found via the community and living pages.3 The first used a database, the second provided information in a printed directory and made the directory available using an Adobe PDF file, and the third used a module within its library management system (GEAC). The norm for public library authorities was to follow the first example, and use database software hosted on a Council server. The move to put these databases online coincided with the move, by the clubs and societies themselves, to start publishing their own information in the form of

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web pages. By the end of 2005 around four out of every ten clubs had their own websites. (It is interesting to note that this ratio did not differ significantly between urban and rural areas.) Generally speaking, public library services did not engage with local clubs to help them create their own websites. Exceptions can be seen in a small number of authorities, examples being Medway and Kent. In Medway library services used free software to help local clubs to build their own websites, and in Kent they gathered together resources to assist clubs. The role of the local authority in supporting local groups online Public libraries continued to be undisputed centres for depositing and accessing information, a place where people could drop in posters or look for leaflets. It was a key role for librarians to collate this information to make it more easily accessible. However, libraries were no longer necessarily the first port of call for members of the public looking for local organizations. It became increasingly common for other services within local authorities to assist clubs to get online. There was a growing recognition of the role of local authorities in supporting local groups, neighbourhoods and charities. This role had long consisted of financial support for local organizations through local Compacts. More recently there was a growing awareness of the potential use of local organizations for supporting and delivering community services, which was recorded in the document Citizen engagement and public services: why neighbourhoods matter, published in 2005.4 This document argued for ‘double devolution’, the devolution of responsibilities and budgets to local groups keen to work for community improvement. Double devolution called for excellent communication with community groups. This meant, firstly, that the groups had to be identified, and secondly, that the infrastructure needed to be in place to talk to them. This led, in 2003, to community information being identified as one of the key e-government outcomes in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s strategy for supporting local government service delivery.5 As a result, a handful of local authorities developed units which, firstly, compiled local and community information online, and secondly encouraged local groups to publish contact and other details on the internet. The demarcation line between these units and library services was often blurred; the clubs and societies database sometimes underpinned the Council A–Z of services, and ex-librarians often staffed the units. Examples existed in Essex, Brent and Bromley. Examples where local authorities supported clubs to get online can be seen in Essex, which offered free websites to local groups.6 Another example can be found in Kingston.7 Records for websites created in this way fed into Council directories of local organizations, and these could be regarded as competition for those traditionally compiled by library authorities. A small number of library services reported that they were attempting to develop their community information databases to act as a central core for a wider

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Council database of organizations. One authority reported that ‘our practice in terms of updating is very good but not all departments are able to maintain the database as we have learnt to’.8 This seems to have been a common experience: librarians as a profession became more acutely aware of data protection requirements and information management than most other officers in local authorities. Competition from commercial information providers Local authorities were not the only bodies collating central registers of signposting information. Competition can be seen in the rise of websites provided by public service bodies or professional organizations. It became possible to search for doctors, plumbers or vets using a postcode to bring up results within one’s own area, information which previously would only have been found in printed directories in public libraries or by telephoning the professional organization involved. Commercial bodies such as UpMyStreet and KnowUK also provided creditable directories of local and community information.9 However, these websites tended to focus on specific types of information and none of these was able to challenge the public library’s role as collator of a wide range of non-profit-making information. Small clubs and societies are hard to trace, and are not of interest to the large commercial websites as the information about them is comparatively expensive to compile and of interest only to a small local population. Online search engines, too, did not yet have the ability to challenge public libraries as central places to find clubs and societies. Because small clubs have small websites, accessed by small numbers of people, they do not rank highly in returns delivered by the major search engines such as Google and tend to be difficult to find. New initiatives and partnerships There was increasing recognition of the power of new technologies to draw information together from disparate sources. This manifested itself in partnerships between library services, other services within their parent authorities, and other external organizations such as local health providers and the police. A small number of library authorities reported that they were using existing community information resources to put together subsets to support their authority’s various objectives, such as promoting healthy living. One example was the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which created a database to support local children’s services and related professionals.10 There were a number of projects across the country where library services drew together community information resources. The biggest example of this was WILL, What’s In London Libraries.11 WILL aimed to bring together the catalogues and community information databases of London’s public libraries, and at the time of writing included the community information files of eleven London authorities, which could all theoretically be searched at once.

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Another example of a partnership was the consortium known as SeamlessUK, which was led by Essex County Council and joined by Medway Council. The New Opportunities Fund provided funding for the project, which in November 2003 allowed Medway to launch its About Medway website, bringing together in a single place information about local resources, a community information partnership, and a way of delivering national information resources to local people.12 It included information from over 600 organizations, services and groups, and allowed users to find in one place information which previously had been scattered over several. A local information audit was carried out in order to discover what barriers existed to finding information. Working with SeamlessUK facilitated the understanding of the relevant standards. Largely speaking, however, partnership working for community information generally revolved around one local authority, and could include health providers, voluntary bodies, and learning providers. Examples were Brent, East Sussex, Wakefield, Devon, Islington, and Northumberland. Standards There were no widely-used standards for the provision of community information. The US MARC Community Information Format was the only standard dedicated to community information, and the author is not aware of its being used in the UK. At one point metadata showed promise as a means of structuring community information data, specifically Dublin Core, which was adopted and specified by central government in 2001.13 (Metadata is the background code that identifies particular parts of a web page, such as the title and creator.) However, it is clear that where Dublin Core was being used it was to structure the background pages rather than the database records. One example could be seen at Essex.14 Because people tend to ask for community information by subject, this requires structured indexes. Most authorities used lists that were developed in-house, but April 2005 saw the publication of IPSV, the Integrated Public Service Vocabulary. The IPSV was the result of the merger of the Government Category List, the Local Government Category List, and a taxonomy provided by SeamlessUK, which had originated in a community information team in Essex public library service. At the time of writing, the Vocabulary was used by over a hundred local authorities for metadata within their websites, and was starting to be considered for use with community information data. One example where this was happening was the community information database of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. Other kinds of community information This chapter has concentrated on databases of clubs and societies. Every library service maintained these lists, although not necessarily on the internet. However, the definition of ‘community information’ differed from authority to authority and each authority tended to gather different bodies of information.15

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One body of information that tends to be universally offered by public library authorities is collections of leaflets. There was little change in the way library services collated and offered leaflets, despite the fact that increasingly this kind of information was being made available over the internet. Many library authorities still subscribed to Camden Council’s leaflets service, which provided them with a list of what public information leaflets were available. Two other types of information that libraries tend to collate are halls available for hire, and places of worship. Increasingly, these lists were made available over the internet, either embedded in the organization’s community information database, as can be seen in Islington, or as a separate database, as at Reading.16 Increasingly, however, these lists were maintained by other sections within local authorities. Finally, the rise of the internet eliminated the need for library services to collate certain kinds of information, specifically bus and train timetables, childcare information, and health providers. This information was now collated nationally.17 While it cannot be denied that it is enormously helpful to have this information available, it represents further erosion of the library service’s role in collating information and making it accessible. Conclusions, and the future Public libraries continued to be the undisputed centres for community information collation and provision, but it was not clear whether this role would develop – or whether it might fall away entirely. The continuing development of the internet was changing the way that people expected to find information. At the time of writing libraries were still the only bodies willing to spend the resources to draw together a wide range of information, but commercial organizations like Google, KnowUK and UpMyStreet, and local media organizations, were increasingly providing competition. In addition to this, the role of the librarian in this regard was being challenged by other bodies, often within the librarian’s own authority, which were taking on the roles of managing information and collating community information. The author’s opinion is that future success for public libraries would lie in adopting the new technologies which currently represented competition. Libraries should be using search engine technology to harvest from and signpost distributed data sources. With the rise of new technologies and the online club website, it was becoming increasingly difficult to justify manually and laboriously collating central databases of contact information, when this information was freely available from distributed websites. This leads to a logical interim step: libraries should be encouraging and supporting local organizations to get online, and encouraging best practice in the use of information management standards. Framework for the future, published in 2003, identified community and civic values as one of the key functions of the modern library service, and community engagement was increasingly seen as crucial both for local and library authorities.18 Public libraries needed to address

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their own and local authority agendas by supporting local organizations to get online.

Notes 1

2 3

4 5

6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13

14 15

16

There is no central list of library services’ community information databases, but all can be access through the library websites, and a full list of these can be found at the UK Public Libraries website: (accessed 6/06). East Lothian Council, Online databases of community organisations: . Lancashire lantern: the Lancashire life and times e-resource network: ; Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council: ; City of Westminster, Community and living: . Citizen engagement and public services: why neighbourhoods matter. 2005. Available at: < http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1163148> (accessed 17/7/06). Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Defining e-government outcomes for 2005 to support the delivery of priority services & national strategy transformation agenda for local authorities in England. Version 1.0. Available at:

(accessed 17.7.06). Essex Online: your gateway to services and information across Essex: (accessed 17/7/06). Kingston ePublish: (accessed 17/7/06). The data protection laws were revised in 1998 to require holders of databases to update ‘personal information’ regularly. Many community information records for clubs include secretaries’ home addresses. UpMyStreet: for where you live : ; KnowUK: (accessed 17/7/06). Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Children’s service directory: (accessed 17/7/06). What’s in London’s libraries: (accessed 17/7/06). Helen Leech, ‘All about Medway’, Libray + information update 2 (12), 2003, 52–3. Office of the e-Envoy, E-Government Metadata Framework. London: Office of the eEnvoy, 2001. Available at: (accessed 17/7/06). Essex Online. A list of the kinds of information that may fall into the category of community information can be found in: CIRCE: better communities through better information. London: Library and Information Commission, 1999 (Library and Information Commission research report; 1). Islington Library & Cultural Services, Directory of local services: ; Reading Borough Libraries, Community

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information database: (accessed 17/7/06). 17 Traveline: ; ChildcareLink: (accessed 17/7/06). 18 Framework for the future: libraries, learning and information in the next decade. London: DCMS, 2003. Available at: .

5

University libraries Jeremy Atkinson and Steve Morgan

Introduction The start of the twenty-first century saw some major developments in British university libraries. The content of this chapter does not pretend to be comprehensive. Although some developments were not always adequately covered in the literature, they were often discussed widely in professional networking circles. The structure of the chapter aims to reflect these developments by adopting a division into three sections. The first three topics focus on the library user (Users and Services; Information literacy; Cooperation and collaboration). This is followed by consideration of the hybrid library environment in which the user operates (E-developments; Library as place). The third grouping represents aspects of management which ensure that the user and the hybrid library are brought together in the most effective way (Staffing and staff Development; Managing change; Finance; Compliance; Quality). Before embarking on the main content, we would like to highlight two developments that were significant at a national level. During the period 2004–2005 SCONUL (the Society of College, National and University Libraries)1 developed a vision statement to identify the key issues facing university libraries up to the year 2010.2 It also undertook a major strategic review with the aims of: x x

becoming a more strategic organization in terms of influence and leadership enabling a step change in its activity levels to take place in order to support delivery of its enhanced strategic agenda x responding to concerns about the visibility, impact and value for money of the organization. Despite being a large organization in terms of membership (all universities in the UK and Ireland are members as are many of the UK’s colleges of higher education), SCONUL continued to have a very small secretariat and was heavily dependent on senior library staff in member libraries giving freely of their time. A major refocusing of effort was thought to be necessary to ensure that SCONUL used this scarce resource wisely and appropriately.

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Changes agreed by the membership included a new financial strategy leading to increased income levels and a major revision of SCONUL’s committees and groups to form a new portfolio of fixed Working Groups and shorter life Task and Finish Groups, which were set up to lead on a range of high visibility areas of work. Some key priorities for expenditure were also agreed, focused on the issues of visibility, impact and value for money, not just for SCONUL itself but also for its member libraries. These included beginning to develop a toolkit to enable members to be able to demonstrate to their institutions the value for money and impact provided by library services, and the development of a new marketing and communication strategy for SCONUL. An important strategic development for university libraries was the formation of the RIN (Research Information Network),3 set up in 2004 for an initial threeyear period, supported by funding from the four higher education funding bodies, the three national libraries and the eight research councils. The mission of the RIN was to ‘lead and coordinate new developments in the collaborative provision of research information for the benefit of researchers in the UK’. The formation of RIN stemmed from the Final report of the RSLG (Research Support Libraries Group), which identified that existing providers of research information often worked in loose collaboration with the lack of a unified approach to produce a national framework to meet researchers’ needs.4 Representatives from university libraries played an important part in the early work of RIN, particularly in the membership of consultative groups, which were set up to form a bridge between the research and the library and information communities. Users and services The place of users near the beginning of this chapter is no coincidence, given their centrality to the university library service.5 This immediately raised a question: what we continued to call the individuals who engaged with these services – patrons, clients, customers, students and staff, users, readers, visitors, stakeholders, etc. Brophy provided a detailed summary of the increasingly heterogeneous nature of the service receivers.6 Offering services that could satisfy a plethora of groups with differing needs became problematic. Therefore a more focused approach to differentiation and segmentation was taken, requiring a more serious marketing approach.7 Marketing library services, although higher profile, continued to be perceived as a luxury or afterthought rather than a strategic imperative. Competition for the attention of students was fierce. The impact of the Google factor, mobile phone technology, cheap web-based book suppliers, increasing access to PCs and laptops, new handheld devices, all required high quality promotional alternatives to turn students’ heads in the library direction. Greater emphasis was placed on satisfying the needs of groups such as those with disabilities e.g. visual impairment, hearing difficulties, mobility problems, dyslexia, those from backgrounds where higher education was a new departure – and the concomitant problems of student retention, overseas students, higher education students based at further education colleges, and researchers.8 Finance loomed large in the lives of

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an increasingly vocal number of students: either the need to earn whilst studying (and its implications for access to services) or the recognition (manifested through greater student assertiveness and litigiousness) that payment of tuition fees entitled them to high standards of resource provision and course support. For those studying remotely – such as e-learners,9 distance learners,10 traditional under/ postgraduates accessing services from home and companies – service provision improved substantially. One of the dilemmas associated with service provision was the balance between providing generic services required by potentially all users and the niche services identified by particular groups. If services were to be truly customer-orientated, then the needs of both groups had to be met – a tall order. Considerable progress was made to strengthen service provision – both physically and virtually – for generic and specific groups. The opening hours of university libraries continued to increase, with more and more offering services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.11 During the extended hours services were selectively provided, e.g. selfservice or reference only options being offered.12 In general, students required access to printed material and a place to study, together with computer facilities. For some university libraries the five years saw a quantum leap in the provision of self-service facilities, e.g. self-service issue and return, renewals, reservations, inter-library loan systems, accessing individual borrower accounts, online student payment services, self-service photocopying, scanning, etc.13 Basically, this was catch-up time to bring provision in line with services offered by retail outlets including banks, building societies and supermarkets. How best to give support to the users who visited the library continued to exercise service managers and planners: the levels of staff required, their knowledge and expertise, and striking a balance between providing quality services whilst (in some cases through ‘paymaster persuasion’) pursuing efficiency gains. Providing reference and enquiry services – physically and virtually – became a more complex set of challenges. To the traditional face-to-face approach were added the synchronous (or real time) and asynchronous interactions.14 An example of the former would be the provision of chat software (putting a human face on the virtual library); the latter involved the delayed interaction of email and web-based communication media. Portals which promoted the library services to particular segmented groups became embedded in the library web page one-stop shop approach. Particular groups were supported by a range of human as well as electronic resources. As well as traditional support provided by subject librarians, a more integrated approach took root in many institutions, with the blending and overlapping of staff expertise. Study skills, disability technology facilities, pastoral or counselling support, software support were just a few of these developments. Students were less interested in the source of the support than in its effective operation.

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Information literacy Although neither a new phenomenon nor one limited to the university sector, information literacy certainly became high profile. Developed in the United States in the late 1980s, it was defined as: the adoption of appropriate information behaviour to obtain, through whatever channel or medium, information well fitted to information needs, together with critical awareness of the importance of wise and ethical use of information in society.15

Andretta provided an excellent practitioner’s view of the topic, as did the contributors to the special issue of Library review.16 The first LILAC (Librarians’ Information Literacy Annual Conference)17 in 2005 included some excellent papers and was the catalyst for a new website18 and journal (Journal of information literacy), the first issue published in 2006. Over the years the role of the academic librarian adapted to the changes in government policies, information technology and the needs of the student population. How this affected academic librarians in their day-to-day work was well documented by Langley et al.19 One of the key aspects of the role was information literacy. During the period in question continued attempts were made to ensure that students acquired the necessary transferable skills to become information-literate. A number of university libraries developed information literacy strategies or policies.20 Some produced toolkits to encourage best practice, for example at Newcastle University.21 Historically, the narrowly-based library and bibliographic instruction (concentrating on the book and its location) gave way to the more widely conceived user education (concentrating on the student him/ herself). This in turn evolved into the even wider information or informationhandling skills, a sibling of information literacy.22 Each of these steps required the student to possess, as a basic foundation, an increasingly sophisticated level of IT skills. The hybrid library, the all-pervasive nature of the internet, the variety of formats in which information was delivered necessitated serious reconsideration of what it meant to be information literate in the early twenty-first century. Indeed, some suggested that ‘information literacy programmes are about changing people’,23 and not just a new set of skills to be acquired. Poyner provided a comprehensive guide to information skills training, highlighting the identification of student information needs and devising programmes to meet them.24 In a significant development SCONUL developed the ‘seven pillars’ model of information literacy in which seven information skills lead to the achievement of information literacy. The skills are: x x x x x

recognizing information need distinguishing ways of addressing gap constructing strategies for locating locating and accessing comparing and evaluating

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x organizing, applying and communicating x synthesizing and creating.25 This model was taken up by many others for their own curriculum development purposes.26 It was generally agreed that any information literacy programme worked best when integrated into the curriculum and facilitated by a combination of academic and library/learning resources staff. The aim was to make use of a generic model that could be adapted for a range of different disciplines. Whether library staff were the right people to deliver information literacy programmes continued to be debated.27 The question was raised as to whether it might be more appropriate for librarians to train and/or involve academic staff as a way of persuading students of the benefits. It was recognized that librarians needed to understand more fully the different attitudes and motivations of academic staff in different contexts. Although there were always small pockets of success, there was much ground to be made up before academic and library staff were seen as a genuine partnership in steering students towards becoming information-literate. The Big Blue Project and the subsequent Information Skills Toolkit was another important development during this period.28 Given the developments in the USA and Australia, it was no surprise that the Project called heavily upon experiences in those countries to inform this model. Students value tasks that have some bearing on their assessment. The challenges relating to the assessment of information literacy programmes, like their previous incarnations, were discussed in Webber and Johnston.29 Cooperation and collaboration Collaboration continued to figure prominently on the agenda of university libraries in order to achieve improved services for users, a more cost-effective sharing of resources or joint project working in response to calls from JISC and other funding bodies.30 Collaboration at a national level was progressed by organizations such as SCONUL and CURL (Consortium of University Research Libraries) and by a wide range of formal and semi-formal groups, particularly in the areas of staff development and training such as BIALL (British and Irish Association of Law Librarians), the University, College and Research Group of CILIP (the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals)31 and the University Science and Technology Librarians Group. Significant development work was carried out by a number of regional collaborative groups. WHELF (Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum) carried out a major review of collaboration in its HELP (Higher Education Libraries in Partnership) project, including case studies on e-learning and journals, leading to an action plan for further development.32 WHELF also continued to be active in the areas of staff development and training. SCURL (the Scottish Confederation of University and Research Libraries) carried out innovative work in developing CASS (Collaborative Academic Store for Scotland), began work on a Scottishwide institutional repository and was particularly active in special needs work.33

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The M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries in the east and south-east of England was particularly active in staff development and training through its CPD25 activities, and in access schemes and online resource discovery through its InforM25 service. InforM25 was developed to consist of four integrated schemes designed to provide users with simultaneous searching across the library catalogues of the large number of member institutions using standardized protocols, and with information about libraries and collections by geographical location, by subject discipline and by opening hours and access arrangements.34 NOWAL (North West Academic Libraries) further developed its well-regarded staff development activities and also arranged an innovative collaborative procurement exercise for netLibrary e-books with OCLC involving the acquisition of 12,000 priced titles within a 30-month contract.35 Other key collaborative developments at a national level during the period were the development of a UK-wide access and borrowing scheme for university researchers, SCONUL Research Extra,36 and further activity in the development of regional cross-sectoral access schemes, including LIN y Gogledd, which claimed to be the UK’s first free reciprocal borrowing scheme between public libraries and a university library.37 In addition a pilot scheme, UK Computing Plus was developed, which sought to allow reciprocal access to computers in host libraries, to complement the work of the UK Libraries Plus scheme.38 The delivery of university academic programmes in further education colleges continued to develop and a number of university libraries sought to define partnership agreements with their FE counterparts.39 E-developments At the beginning of the period Rusbridge wrote about the eLib (UK Electronic Libraries) programme as it was coming to a close.40 The eLib programme had been a major outcome of the Follett report41 in the mid-1990s and Rusbridge saw the programme as having successfully achieved its objective of a major cultural shift, with university libraries taking up new technologies almost as a matter of course. JISC had been the driver of the eLib programme and many of the e-developments in university libraries during 2001–2005 continued to be strongly influenced by JISC activities. In 2001 the main focus of thinking was around concepts such as networked learning, hybrid libraries and the DNER (Distributed National Electronic Resource),42 although authors such as Pinfield had identified a series of further challenges for institutions.43 By 2005 the use of new technologies in British university libraries had both widened and deepened: there was a wider range of high quality electronic resources available in all forms (e-books, e-journals, images, moving images, etc.), e-learning was more prevalent in universities with libraries taking a key role, digitization activities were more widespread, and libraries were involved in fundamental infrastructure changes in their institutions as e-approaches became more embedded, notably in the development of electronic theses, institutional repositories and records management.

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Conyers provided a useful overview of the extent of the availability of eresources in university libraries by the end of the period, with a significant move from print to electronic resources and a decline in the use of inter-library loans.44 Given the wide range of e-developments taking place in university libraries during the five-year period, it will only be possible to identify and summarize the key developments, with the references providing access to more in-depth information. One of the key issues for university libraries was the emphasis given to digitization of collections. At the beginning of the period the emphasis was on relatively small-scale digitization as part of projects45 or within individual library services.46 By 2005 the developments had become larger-scale, with HEFCE’s £10 million investment in a JISC Digitisation Programme involving digitization of large text, moving image and sound collections, and with a further tranche of funding promised for 2006.47 JISC was also involved in developing cross-sectoral strategic approaches.48 Commercial providers also became involved, for example in the University of Oxford’s mass digitization agreement with Google, involving the digitization of more than one million of the Bodleian Library’s books. During the period there was a distinct move from the internet being used in an ad hoc way by enthusiasts in higher education to e-learning having become an integral part of academic delivery, supported in a more routine way.49 Melling61 and Allan62 provided useful detail on the way in which librarians became directly involved in e-learning activities such as in the design and development of materials, delivery of e-content and the support of individual and group learning.50 There were a number of key projects related to delivery in particular subject areas51 or the development of specific tools and approaches, particularly around embedding information resources in learning environments.52 These developments began to impact on librarians’ roles and on services provided, with the need for more extensive cooperation between departments in the university.53 Librarians needed to obtain a more detailed knowledge of VLEs (virtual learning environments), and to a lesser extent virtual research environments, and be involved in a detailed way in their use and development.54 A key issue was the relationship between e-learning and digital libraries,55 with the INSPIRAL project analysing issues surrounding the linking of VLEs and digital libraries, focusing on institutional and end-user perspectives.56 For e-books a key strategic role was carried out by JISC’s E-Books Working Group.57 Progress by academic libraries in making e-books available in university libraries was much slower than with e-journals, although netLibrary supplied significant numbers of e-books to UK academic libraries during the period. A number of authors usefully explored the advantages and disadvantages of the medium.58 Important work was carried out by the EBONI (Electronic Books ON-screen Interface) project, funded under the DNER Learning and Teaching programme, which developed a set of guidelines for designing electronic textbooks, through evaluations with lecturers and students from a range of different disciplines.59 In 2001 Halliday and Oppenheim noted that the move to digital publishing by

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commercial publishers had done nothing to relieve the very high inflation rate on journal prices and highlighted the move to alternative models of journal production.60 Open access publishing gained momentum and was the focus of a report by the House of Commons Select Committee for Science and Technology.61 Following the previous Pilot Site Licence initiative (1995–1997) and NESLI (1998–2001), NESLi2 was implemented as the national initiative for the licensing of electronic journals on behalf of higher and further education from 2003 and piloted the use of a model licence for use in negotiating agreements with publishers.62 There were common problems for university libraries in dealing with large, bundled deals and in attempting to move from print to electronic collections.63 University libraries had for many years incorporated slide and video resources into their physical collections. Major progress was made during the period, particularly by JISC, in making networked image, moving image and sound resources available to university users, leading to the need for university libraries to incorporate these resources within their virtual collections and information gateways.64 A key development was the setting up of EMOL (Education Media OnLine), subsequently relaunched as Film and Sound Online, which was a JISCfunded set of online collections of film and video freely available to use either in full or as segments.65 2001–2005 was a period in which there was major investment in electronic resources by university libraries and JISC. Although there was a strong commitment and take-up by university librarians, there was an underlying concern about use and take-up of these resources by academic staff and students, who often showed a preference for using search engines such as Google.66 A number of important studies at individual institutions and by JISC-evaluated aspects of use of electronic resources and information-seeking behaviour. These included studies at Leeds Metropolitan University and Glasgow Caledonian University, the JUBILEE project, the JUSTEIS project, the EDNER project and the JISC User Behaviour Monitoring and Evaluation Framework.67 The outcomes of these studies pointed to a need for university librarians and JISC to be proactive in promoting the value of quality electronic resources and the importance of information skills training for students and academic staff. The development of electronic resources provision by university libraries was particularly important as universities sought to expand their distance and e-learning provision and provide an equivalent learning experience for students based off campus.68 Although access to electronic bibliographic databases in universities was well developed by 2001 and access to full text e-journals was relatively common, the provision of access to online theses was relatively underdeveloped and no UK national guidelines existed for the production and management of electronic theses and dissertations. During 2001–2005 there was significant progress, both in individual institutions and nationally.69 The JISC FAIR (Focus on Access to Institutional Resources) provided a focus for activity and the JISC-funded EThOS

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project started work to develop ‘a fully operational, easily scaleable and financially viable prototype UK online electronic theses service’.70 A key development for scholarly communication was the increasing emphasis on institutional repositories for the archiving of e-prints and e-theses. An important factor was the use of the (OAI) Open Archives Initiative, which created the conditions for making distributed archives interoperable.71 Leading UK institutions in these developments were Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Nottingham.72 The SHERPA project developed open access institutional repositories in a number of these research institutions.73 Other technology-based developments worthy of note included the use of RFID technology and blogs,74 progress in digital preservation,75 the move from ATHENS to Shibboleth authentication76 and libraries’ involvement in the development of records management policies and systems in universities.77 There were also significant developments in library management systems for universities with an emphasis on products facilitating access to e-content in an integrated way with books, journals and other library stock, including portal solutions, article-linking software and federated searching.78 Library as place As a result of the influential Follett report over 100 new academic library building projects were undertaken in the UK between the mid-1990s and the early years of the new century.79 Details of new academic library buildings in the UK can be accessed via SCONUL’s website.80 During 2001–2005, although clearly the process slowed down, significant development of the physical infrastructure of many library buildings took place.81 As well as some new buildings started from scratch, most university libraries participated in one or more of the following: x x x x x x x x

constructing extensions to existing buildings consolidating services on to fewer sites/into fewer buildings rationalizing the numbers of service points relocating services between buildings relocating services into different buildings on the same campus re-using existing space for a different purpose refurbishing existing buildings (interior and exterior) making existing accommodation work harder through the integration of services x making alterations to buildings to comply with legislation eg institutions are now obliged to ensure accessibility to all. The reasons for these developments were many and varied. They included the need to respond to financial constraints in higher education, to support changes to academic programmes (often related to student recruitment), to provide a range of teaching and learning spaces as a result of student demands and the advances in technology, and to incorporate the benefits of the virtual library into the changing

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physical environment. Many discussions debated the hybrid library (which during this five-year period continued to develop inexorably along the continuum between paper-based and electronic) and the balance of resources required by the academic communities. Did we need large book collections? Did we need buildings to house less-used physical resources? What about special collections, departmental collections or collections for particular groups like researchers? What about ebooks? How long before we moved to electronic-only journals collections? What about the archiving of print-only journals and digitization issues? All these considerations had implications for the physical space within universities and were discussed by Brophy.82 Emphasis was placed on the importance of flexibility and future-proofing of space. Both recognized that the existing usage of space would need to change over time and therefore required the potential to be reconfigured.83 The pedagogical and technological requirements of future students would clearly evolve. Learning spaces developed a blended approach that accommodated the physical and the virtual, each complementing the other. The physical began to take on a different persona. The types of services provided broadened into other support areas including study skills, counselling and financial support, services for disabled or dyslexic students, specialist media and IT services. The increasingly ubiquitous laptop appeared in the university library landscape – leasing, lending, owning – with appropriate accompanying work stations. Many buildings became wirelessenabled. Although not new, the zoning of library buildings became an accepted mechanism for trying to provide students with a choice of study environments. So group study areas or rooms (increasingly to enable students to prepare presentations), individual study carrels, workstations (for use of fixed or portable equipment), quiet areas, silent areas (and the challenges of differentiating between them!) and training suites were offered to users. One development that made a quantum leap during this period was that of social and learning space. Learning has always been a social activity but the rise of e-learning and the increased access to e-resources encouraged many universities to recognize student demand and provide social and learning space. The nomenclature varied – cybercafés, learning zones, learning centres, etc.84 In 2002 Glasgow Caledonian University opened its Learning Zone – just one example of a university reaching out to the student population. The multifunctional library buildings could thus provide a range of environments – for those requiring background noise, social interaction, relaxation (chill-out zones?), refreshments on tap,85 internet access, as well as the more traditional environment of silence. The different zones for different purposes, of course, threw up some management issues – not just of library staff and resources but also of noise, human traffic and behaviour.86 A greater emphasis was placed on security in the library buildings, given their vulnerability to theft of expensive equipment. This was particularly important for those sited in inner city locations. The use of closed circuit TV and swipe cards for staff and students became the norm.

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Staffing and staff development The importance of managing and developing staff showed no let-up. The management aspect was covered comprehensively by Jordan and Lloyd,87 whilst Brine, Oldroyd and Yeoh highlighted attempts to keep staff development high on the agenda.88 Although not extensively covered in the literature, one of the major discussion points in this period was job evaluation. As part of the National Framework Agreement the staff of each university including those providing library and information services were expected to participate in the exercise – most used either the HERA (Higher Education Role Analysis)89 or Hay models – in a drive to ensure amongst other things that individuals received equal pay for work of equal value. Whilst not yet completed for all universities, this protracted role analysis put library and information posts under intense scrutiny, with many winners, inevitably some losers and others still uncertain. The exercise succeeded in highlighting the changing roles in the library and information environment – new skills for new times. The role changes took place at different levels. As outlined elsewhere in this chapter, the leaders of services were bequeathed or acquired ever-expanding empires, taking on previously separate areas of responsibility. The skills and abilities required therefore could change quite dramatically.90 This was borne out in the extensive HIMSS Project, which explored the skills required of senior library and information staff.91 Not surprisingly, human resource, strategic, financial and change management skills, together with leadership and communication/interpersonal skills were seen as core requirements. The role of subject/information librarians also came under the spotlight.92 This culminated in a rare collective show of defiance as a result of the cutting of eight librarian posts at the University of Bangor.93 This acted as a wake-up call and prompted librarians across the sector to consider their own (in)dispensability. The change of roles was also demonstrated by the virtual demise of posts such as Chief Cataloguer or Systems Librarian and the rise of a range of exotically termed posts such as Knowledge Manager,94 Digital Resources Librarian, Metadata Manager, E-resources Coordinator and other learner support posts.95 Overall, there was a recognition that library staff required a wider skills base, regardless of their role,96 and that many staff benefited from acquiring project management skills.97 With the exception of Bangor, there was also a gradual reinforcement of the notion that, as well as library users having the facility to manage their library activities themselves and indeed study from a distance, being served, helped, advised and supported through human interaction was for many still an identified requirement.98 This period saw the launch of the CILIP Framework of qualifications, partly in an attempt to attract more high quality applicants into the profession and the university sector.99 However, the jury was still out. The difficulties faced by fixed term and project staff became evident following an extensive study.100 Another possible attraction to academic library work was the working pattern. This period demonstrated that flexibility was high on the list of many employees (and indeed of many employers), particularly those returning after undertaking family

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commitments. The European Working Time Directive, giving employees with young or disabled children the right to request to work flexibly, proved to be a breakthrough.102 Temporary or fixed term arrangements, home working, part-time working (various models) became increasingly acceptable options. Issues relating to performance management, although not covered widely in the literature, began to be discussed through informal networks including staff appraisal processes, reward systems, stress increasingly experienced by staff and absence management. The lack of succession planning for senior library staff, hitherto a topic mainly for the commercial sector, was increasingly a concern.103 Managing change The industry surrounding library management104 and management of change in particular continued apace.105 Although the university sector had become used to dealing with strategic change during the 1990s, in recent years the sheer complexity of the higher education landscape threw up huge challenges for staff – at micro and macro levels. Universities continued to be involved in a range of change events over the period, all requiring planning, preparation and a range of other skills. The University of Luton provided a comprehensive toolkit, developed out of a HEFCE Good Management Practice Project.106 Change management scenarios included: x mergers, partnerships and other collaborative ventures with other higher education institutions x realignment of library services in supporting institutional or academic review x convergence, deconvergence or establishment of changed relationships involving a range of support departments x restructuring of staffing in response to a range of external or internal factors x planning and implementing new building programmes, relocating to different premises or rationalizing premises (see elsewhere in chapter) x staffing changes brought about by the National Framework Agreement (ongoing) x new staff appointments – at institutional or departmental level – influencing strategic direction. In respect of the last point newly appointed service leaders drove some of the types of change outlined above (often factors outside their direct control) or brought in fresh ideas to make their mark on the new organization. Such ideas, quite naturally, included different ways of operating, e.g. leadership style, which affected in some way most of the staff in the service. The trickle-down effect of these changes clearly impacted in varying degrees throughout the institutions and their respective support services. It should be remembered that in many cases changes had to be given time to embed in the existing systems and structures. Given the amount and complexity of change, coupled with insufficient time for changes to coalesce, it

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was hardly surprising when issues around resistance and staff morale became prevalent. And all this before consideration was given to technological developments107 and dealing with external agencies,108 changes to teaching, learning and research methods, the fluidity of academic portfolios, the heterogeneous nature of the student body and the financial constraints within which higher education has to operate in the 21st century. The list is endless, as any good STEP/PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, Techological) or indeed the elongated PESTEL (add Environmental and Legal) analysis will testify. It was important that bodies such as SCONUL provided some vision for the academic library during this period.109 Universities needed a similar vision so that there was a unified focus for individual and collective energies. All these factors affected the way many people went about their work and how and with whom they interacted. It was these aspects of change which tended to get forgotten in a list of more concrete developments or moves. Ultimately, it was the people who made these activities succeed or fail and the cultural dimension to change is the least understood and the least amenable to practical solutions.110 Multiple change highlighted the importance of adopting proactive approaches to change, rather than letting change just happen.111 Strategic planning was deemed to be a powerful management tool in tackling change head-on so that a degree of control could be exerted.112 Atkinson provided some measures to enable change management to be carried out (relatively) painlessly, with particular emphasis placed on strategic planning.113 This process provided the opportunity to involve all the staff and gain ownership at an early stage. Although there would always be resistance in some quarters, there were mechanisms available to minimize it, if not avoid it altogether. The range of challenges thrown up by change management was well illustrated in Hanson.114 He provided a number of case studies of convergence and deconvergence (and also some institutions which decided against convergence) in universities. These detailed potted histories showed the different models that were followed. Most were carried out as a result of heads of service departing, i.e. opportunities were grasped. Many of the successes and failures of (de)convergence were dependent upon the ability to integrate staff coming from sometimes diverse cultures. Finance In general, financial issues did not loom large during the period, with most university libraries experiencing incremental growth in their budgets, but with pressures relating to above average inflation on subscription-based information products. In-depth financial benchmarking continued to be available to institutions through the annual SCONUL and UK higher education management statistics.115 There were pressures put on university library budgets and budget structures not only by above-average inflation on journals and subscription-based electronic resources,116 but also by consortial licence agreements and by complex ‘big deal’ arrangements for electronic resources, which often required an unprecedented flexibility in budget arrangements.117

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There were also continuing pressures on university libraries to raise income to supplement central university funding, with a few research-based libraries, such as the University of Oxford, mounting large-scale funding campaigns.118 Although there were a number of initiatives enabling libraries to make real progress in terms of e-delivery in support of their institution’s teaching, learning and research, specific developments in e-content provision produced a number of significant financial implications. There were often a number of major additional costs for those libraries wanting to make progress in this area. For example, the HERON service developed a well used charged-for service providing copyright clearance, digitization and delivery of book extracts and journal articles to UK higher education institutions, as well as a resource bank of digitized materials for rapid use, subject to copyright descriptions.119 Services such as HERON were guided in their approaches by the JISC-funded PELICAN project, which sought to develop an understanding of charging mechanisms for distributing commercially produced electronic material.120 In addition, following successful negotiations with Universities UK and SCOP (Standing Conference of Principals), the CLA (Copyright Licensing Agency) introduced a new trial licence, at additional cost to institutions, permitting the photocopying and scanning of copyright protected titles with effect from 1 August 2005.121 Compliance During the period there was a significant amount of legislation which impacted on universities and their library and information services and which presented a range of compliance challenges for service provision. The most significant were those relating to disability, copyright and intellectual property rights, and freedom of information. The SENDA (Special Educational Needs and Disability Act) legislation placed new requirements on those institutions providing post-16 education, including universities. In the university library sector there was a very positive response to this legislation by individual institutions, including physical changes to library buildings, study furniture and service points, provision of specialist equipment, and development of special services and support material, all of which were very well received by user.122 There was a particular emphasis on the provision of electronic information services for the visually impaired.123 There were also useful collaborative approaches in terms of sharing ideas and identifying best practice, notably by CLAUD in the south and south west of England124 and in Scotland.125 The increasing complexity of copyright compliance and the development of elearning and blended learning approaches in particular, resulted in a much greater workload in copyright clearance for universities, often centred on the library service.126 Those university libraries with a responsibility for copyright in the widest sense were also involved in ownership issues concerning intellectual property rights in relation to university lecturers and commercial exploitation.127 The introduction of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the consequent

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need for records management expertise also had a significant impact on university libraries and quite often resulted in a bringing together of responsibilities for copyright, data protection, freedom of information and records management under central information services management in those institutions where there had been an organizational convergence of library and IT services.128 Quality During the period there was a continuing emphasis on the performance measurement and evaluation of university provision and services and this was reflected in approaches taken in the university library and information services sector, both nationally and at the institutional level. The impact of the quality assurance processes of the QAA (Quality Assurance Agency) on institutions continued to be significant, both in terms of workload and in ensuring that there was a ‘joining up’ of quality procedures across all parts of the institution. The SCONUL Working Group on Quality Assurance produced an aide-memoire, endorsed by QAA, to assist reviewers when they were evaluating library and learning resources under the Academic Review procedures.129 Academic Review was subsequently replaced by Institutional Audit in England and Northern Ireland and by related methods in Wales and Scotland, and the Group produced further guidelines to assist library and academic staff to prepare for Audit in terms of learning resources provision.130 The National Student Satisfaction Survey was introduced, although coverage of library provision and services was very limited. Outcomes from the Survey were recorded on the Teaching Quality Information website, enabling students and other stakeholders to make comparisons between institutions.131 A range of survey methods was used by university libraries during the period, usefully investigated by West, Secretary of SCONUL’s Working Group on Performance Improvement.132 Of 65 respondents, 62 were carrying out user surveys, with significant use of the standard SCONUL satisfaction survey and the ARL (Association of Research Libraries) LibQUAL+ instrument.133 University libraries viewed the ability to benchmark data as being a major advantage of LibQUAL+ and the Working Group on Performance Improvement carried out work to develop a mechanism for libraries using the SCONUL satisfaction survey to be also able to benchmark data.134 In universities, attention also turned to developing ways to measure the outcomes of learning, teaching and research and in library and information services specific work took place on measuring the impact of services provided for users.135 SCONUL worked with LIRG (the Library and Information Research Group) on a joint initiative looking at the impact of higher education libraries on learning teaching and research.136 Twenty-two libraries were involved in assessing the impact of particular services on new innovations in their institutions. Consideration was also given to the relationship between the funding levels provided for a university library and institutional outcomes in terms of quality assessment.137 Progress was also made in trying to develop standard approaches for

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performance measurement for electronic services and resources.138 The HEFCEfunded eVALUEd project was concerned with developing an online toolkit to help library managers evaluate their services, particularly the use of their electronic services.139 A related e-measures project, also funded by HEFCE, tested out a range of measures relating to a range of electronic services and resources and their use within a pilot group of 25 higher education libraries.140 The rapid development of online resources during the period provided librarians, in theory, with a range of statistics to enable them to assess the use and value of these resources. In practice, the lack of consistency and standardization in these statistics and the lack of a formal international structure for providing these statistics caused problems for British university libraries. Project COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of NeTworked Electronic Resources) sought to address these problems by beginning to develop an international Code of Practice governing the recording and exchange of online usage data, beginning with journals and databases.141

Notes 1

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8

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SCONUL was founded in 1950 as the Standing Conference of National and University Libraries. It changed its name in 2001 after admitting colleges of higher education. Website: (accessed 7/7/06). SCONUL Vision: (accessed 7/7/06). Research Information Network: (accessed 7/7/06). Research Support Libraries Group, Final report: (accessed 7/7/06). Maxine Melling and Joyce Little (eds.), Building a successful customer service culture: a guide for library and information managers. London: Facet, 2002. Peter Brophy, The academic library. 2nd ed. London: Facet, 2005. Eileen Elliott de Saez, Marketing concepts for library and information services. 2nd ed. London: Facet, 2002; Jennifer Rowley, Information marketing. Aldershot: Gower, 2002. SCONUL, Access for users with disabilities. London: SCONUL, 2003 (SCONUL briefing paper); Library review 54 (8), 2005: Disability issues; Kay Foster, ‘Libraries and student retention: some thoughts about the issues and an approach to evaluation’, SCONUL newsletter 28, 2003, 12–16; Helen Singer, ‘Learning and information services support for international students at the University of Hertfordshire’, SCONUL focus 35, 2005, 63–7; Suzanne Livesey and Peter Wynne, ‘Extending the hybrid library to students on franchise courses’, Library management 22 (1/2), 2001, 21–5; Emma Robinson, ‘Academic liaison and research support – agendas for change – reflections drawn from implementation of a new model in a research environment’, SCONUL newsletter 27, 2002, 44–50; Diana Garfield, ‘Support for research: support for learning’, SCONUL focus 33, 2004, 25–8. Ruth Jenkins, ‘Supporting e-learning at University of Birmingham’, SCONUL newsletter 25, 2002, 53–6; Maxine Melling (ed.), Supporting e-learning: a guide for library and information managers. London: Facet, 2005; Carol Black and Lindsey Martin, ‘Supporting staff in a virtual learning environment’, SCONUL newsletter 30,

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11

12 13 14 15

16 17

18 19 20

21 22 23 24

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2003, 19–22; Steve Lee, Laurence Patterson, Dave Monk, ‘Supporting e-learners 24 u 7 throughout Wales and beyond’, SCONUL newsletter 29, 2003, 48–53. Peter Brophy, Shelagh Fisher and Jenny Craven (eds.), Libraries without walls 5: the distributed delivery of library and information services. London: Facet, 2004; Julie Hitchin, ‘Supporting distance learners at the University of Central Lancashire’, SCONUL focus 34, 2005, 31–6; Christine Stevenson, ‘Distance no object: bridging the library and information gap for distance learners’, SCONUL newsletter 28, 2003, 8–11. Maureen Wade, ‘24 hour library opening at LSE’, SCONUL focus 33, 2004, 31–3; Laura Oldham, ‘Life in the last lane – well nearly: 24 hour opening pilot at University of Liverpool, Harold Cohen Library’, SCONUL focus 35, 2005, 55–8. Leigh Richardson, ‘Self services: the present state of play’, SCONUL newsletter 28, 2003, 18–21. Judith Reed, ‘Self service machine at the University of Worcester’, SCONUL focus 36, 2005, 53–65. R. D. Lankes, ‘The necessity of real-time: fact and fiction in digital reference systems’, Reference and user services quarterly 41 (4), 2002, 350–5. Sheila Webber and Bill Johnston, ‘Assessment for information literacy: vision and reality’ in Information and IT literacy, ed. Allan Martin and Hannelore Rader. London: Facet, 2003, pp. 101–11. Susie Andretta, Information literacy: a practitioner’s guide. Oxford: Chandos, 2005; Library review 54 (4), 2005: Information Literacy issues. LILAC Conference 2005: papers: (accessed 7/7/06). New Information Literacy website: (accessed 7/7/06). Anne Langley, Edward Gray and K. T. L, Vaughan, The role of the academic librarian. Oxford: Chandos, 2003. Jacquie Weetman, ‘“Seven pillars of wisdom” model: a case study to test academic staff perceptions’, SCONUL focus 34, 2005, 31–6; Sheila Webber, ‘Information literacy in higher education: a review and case study’, Studies in higher education 28 (3), 2003, 335–52; SCONUL Advisory Committee on Learning Outcomes and Information Literacy, Learning outcomes and information literacy. London: SCONUL, 2004; Jo Parker, ‘Putting the pieces together: information literacy at the Open University’, Library management 24 (4/5), 2003, 223–8. Newcastle University: (accessed 7/7/06). Jo Webb and Chris Powis, Teaching information skills. London: Facet, 2004. J. Stephen Town, ‘Information literacy: definition, measurement, impact’ in Information and IT literacy, ed. Martin and Rader, pp. 53–65. Ann Poyner, Enabling end-users: information skills training. Oxford: Chandos, 2005; Susie Andretta, ‘Legal information literacy: a pilot study’, New library world 102 (7/8), 2001, 255–64. Hilary Johnson, ‘The SCONUL Task Force on information skills’ in Information and IT literacy, ed. Martin and Rader, pp. 45–52. Allan Martin and Hannelore Rader (eds.), Information and IT literacy: enabling learning in the 21st century. London: Facet, 2003.

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31 32

33 34

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British librarianship and information work 2001–2005 Sheila Webber and Bill Johnston, ‘UK academics’ conceptions of, and pedagogy for, Information Literacy: project webpage, University of Sheffield and University of Strathclyde: (accessed 7/7/06); Claire McGuiness, ‘Attitudes of academics to the library’s role in Information Literacy education’ in Information and IT Literacy, ed. Martin and Rader, pp. 244–54. JISC’s Big Blue toolkit and Final report, 2002: (accessed 7/7/06); Louise Makin, ‘“Out of the Blue” – achievement of the Big Blue Project’, SCONUL newsletter 26, 2002, 33–6. Webber and Johnston, ‘Assessment for information literacy’. Stella Pilling and Stephanie Kenna (eds.), Cooperation in action: collaborative initiatives in the world of information. London: Facet, 2002; David Ball, Managing suppliers and partners for the academic library. London: Facet, 2005. CILIP University, College & Research Group: (accessed 7/7/06). WHELF: (accessed 7/7/06); Elizabeth Kensler and Andrew Green, ‘WHELF: wherefore, whereto?’ SCONUL focus 34, 2005, 72–4; Jeremy Atkinson and Elizabeth Kensler, ‘HELP is at hand: reviewing and developing Welsh academic library collaboration’, New review of academic librarianship 10 (2), 2004, 105–17; Jeremy Atkinson and Elizabeth Kensler, ‘With a little HELP from my friends: developments in Welsh academic library collaboration’, SCONUL focus 33, 2004, 51–4. SCURL: (accessed 7/7/06); Jill Evans. ‘An overview of SCURL’s current activities and projects’, SCONUL focus 35, 2005, 74–6. M25 Consortium: (accessed 7/7/06); Di Martin, ‘INFORM25: the M25 consortium initiatives on resource discovery’, New review of academic librarianship 10 (2), 2004, 139–53. NOWAL: (accessed 7/7/06); Colin Harris. ‘NoWAL: developments in staff development and training and procurement of e-books’, New review of academic librarianship 10 (2), 2004, 119–27; Peter Wynne, ‘The NoWAL netLibrary e-book collection: a case study of a consortial agreement’, New review of academic librarianship 11 (1), 2005, 81–94. Maria Hiscoe and Susan Baker, ‘SCONUL Research Extra: conception, birth and early life’, SCONUL newsletter 29, 2003, 42–4. Gillian Anderson, ‘Free access – not ivory towers – in north-west Wales’, SCONUL newsletter 27, 2002, 56–8. Sara Marsh, ‘UK Computing Plus pilot project final report’, SCONUL newsletter, 29, 2003, 44–57. Kathryn Arnold, ‘The partnership experience: De Montfort and its Associate Libraries Network’, SCONUL newsletter 27, 2002, 49–54. Chris Rusbridge, ‘After eLib’, Ariadne 26, Jan. 2001: (accessed 7/7/06). Joint Funding Councils’ Libraries Review Group, Report. Bristol: HEFCE, 1993. Chairman Sir Brian Follett. (The ‘Follett report’.) Stephen Pinfield and Lorcan Dempsey, ‘The Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER) and the hybrid library’, Ariadne 26, 2001: (accessed 7/7/06); Peter Brophy, ‘Networked learning’, Journal of documentation 57 (1), 2001, 130–56.

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47 48 49 50

51 52 53 54

55 56 57 58

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Stephen Pinfield, ‘Managing electronic library services: current issues in UK higher education institutions’. Ariadne 29, 2001: (accessed 7/7/06). Angela Conyers, ‘E-resources in SCONUL member libraries: what the statistics tell us’, SCONUL focus 36, 2005, 65–7. Andrew Hampson, ‘Practical experience of digitisation in the BUILDER hybrid library project’, Program 35 (3), 2001, 263–75. Rosalind Pan and Richard Higgins, ‘Digitisation projects at Durham University Library: an overview’, Program 35 (4), 2001, 355–68; Gordon Brewer, ‘The University of Derby Electronic Library: a case study of some economic and academic aspects of a local digitised collection’, Program 36 (1), 2002, 30–7. JISC Digitisation Programme: (accessed 7/7/06). JISC, Digitisation in the UK: the case for a UK framework. 2005: (accessed 7/7/06). Rachel Forsyth, ‘Supporting e-learning: an overview of the needs of users’, New review of academic librarianship 9 (1), 2003, 131–40. Maxine Melling (ed.), Supporting e-learning: a guide for library and information managers. London: Facet, 2005; Barbara Allan, E-learning and teaching in library and information services. London: Facet, 2002. Matthew Sparks and Ann Cross, ‘Enterprise College Wales: libraries and e-learning in practice’, SCONUL newsletter 24, 2001, 48–52. Tracey Stanley and Asimina Sotiriou, ‘The Portole project: supporting e-learning’, New review of academic librarianship 9 (1), 2003, 141–7. Pete Johnston, ‘After the big bang: forces of change and e-learning’, Ariadne 27, Mar. 2001: (accessed 7/7/06). John MacColl, ‘Virtual library environments: the library and the VLE’, Program 35 (3), 2001, 227–39; John MacColl, ‘VLEs in the learning landscape’, Relay: the journal of the University College and Research Group 53, 2002, 7–9; John Paschoud, ‘Why librarians should care about VLEs’, Relay 53, 2002, 10–13; Ian Winship, ‘VLEs and information delivery’, Library + information update 2 (1), 2003, 40–1; Jacqueline Chelin, ‘Virtual learning environments: overview and issues for institutional managers’, SCONUL newsletter 28, 2003, 43–7; Michael Fraser, ‘Virtual research environments: overview and activity’, Ariadne 44, July 2005: (accessed 7/7/06). John Akeroyd, ‘Information management and e-learning’, Aslib proceedings 57 (2), 2005, 157–67. INSPIRAL project: (accessed 7/7/06). Louise Edwards and Hazel Woodward, ‘Shaping a strategy for e-books: the role of the DNER’, Vine 31 (4), 2001, 5–11. Chris Armstrong, Louise Edwards and Ray Lonsdale, ‘Virtually there? E-books in UK academic libraries’, Program 36 (4), 2002, 216–27; Penny Garrod, ‘Ebooks in UK libraries: where are we now?’, Ariadne 37, Oct. 2003: (accessed 7/7/06); Lucy Tedd, ‘E-books in academic libraries: an international overview’, New review of academic librarianship 11 (1), 2005, 57– 79.

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British librarianship and information work 2001–2005 EBONI: (accessed 7/7/06); Ruth Wilson, ‘E-books for students: EBONI’, Ariadne 27, Mar. 2001: (accessed 7/7/06). Leah Halliday and Charles Oppenheim, ‘Developments in digital journals’, Journal of documentation 57 (2), 2001, 260–83. Paul Ayris, ‘Open archives: institutional issues’, Vine 31 (4), 2001, 34–7; David C. Prosser, ‘From recommendations to practice: the next steps towards open access’, SCONUL focus 32, 2004, 24–7; Charles Oppenheim, ‘Open access and the UK Science and Technology Select Committee Report Free for All?’, Journal of librarianship and information science 37 (1), 2005, 3–6. NESLI2: (accessed 7/7/06). Paul Evans et al., ‘Big deal usage: a case study with Emerald Fulltext’, Library + information update 4 (11), 2005, 30–3; Nicholas Lewis, ‘Are we burning our boats?: survey on moving to electronic-only’, SCONUL focus 31, 2004, 57–61. Jeremy Atkinson, ‘Developments in networked moving images for UK higher education’, Program 35 (2), 2001, 109–18; Balviar Notay and Catherine Grout, ‘Looking for more than text’, Ariadne 45, Oct. 2005: (accessed 7/7/06). EMOL: (accessed 7/7/06). Jan Brophy and David Bawden, ‘Is Google enough? Comparison of an internet search engine with academic library resources’, Aslib proceedings 57 (6), 2005, 498–512; John MacColl, ‘Google challenges for academic libraries’, Ariadne 46, Feb. 2006: (accessed 7/7/06). Andrew Hewitson, ‘Use and awareness of electronic information services by academic staff at Leeds Metropolitan University: a qualitative study’, Journal of librarianship and information science 34 (1), 2002, 43–52; Angel de Vicente, John Crawford and Stuart Clink, ‘Use and awareness of electronic information services by academic staff at Glasgow Caledonian University’, Library review 53 (8), 2004, 401– 7; John Crawford, Angel de Vicente and Stuart Clink, ‘Use and awareness of electronic information services by students at Glasgow Caledonian University: a longitudinal study’, Journal of librarianship and information science 36 (3), 2004, 101–17; Graham Coulson, Kathryn Ray and Linda Banwell, ‘The need for a converged approach to EIS provision? Evidence from the JUBILEE project’, Library review 52 (9), 2003, 438–43; Christine Urquhart et al., ‘Uptake and use of electronic information services: trends in UK higher education from the JUSTEIS project’, Program 37 (3), 2003, 168–80; Chris Armstrong et al., ‘A study of the use of electronic information systems by higher education students in the UK’, Program 35 (3), 2001, 241–62; EDNER: (accessed 7/7/06); Jill R. Griffiths and Peter Brophy, ‘Student searching behaviour in the JISC Information Environment’, Ariadne 33, Oct. 2002: (accessed 7/7/06); Peter Brophy, ‘Evaluating the Joint Information Systems Committee’s Information Environment: the EDNER and EDNER+ projects’, Vine 34 (4), 2004, 143–7; Linda Banwell et al., ‘The JISC User Behaviour Monitoring and Evaluation Framework’, Journal of documentation 60 (3), 2004, 302–20. Peter Brophy, Shelagh Fisher and Zoe Clarke (eds.), Libraries without walls 4: the delivery of library services to distant users. London: Facet, 2002; Peter Brophy, Shelagh Fisher and Jenny Craven (eds.), Libraries without walls 5: the distributed

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delivery of library and information services. London: Facet, 2004; Anne Ramsden, ‘The OU goes digital’, Library + information update 2 (2), 2003, 34–5. Simon J. Bevan, ‘Electronic thesis development at Cranfield University’, Program 39 (2), 2005, 100–11; Richard Jones and Theo Andrew, ‘Open access, open source and etheses: the development of the Edinburgh Research Archive’, Program 39 (3), 2005, 198–212; John MacColl, ‘Electronic theses and dissertations: a strategy for the UK’, Ariadne 32, July 2002: (accessed 7/7/06); Susan Copeland and Andrew Penman, ‘E-theses: recent developments and the JISC “FAIR” programme’, SCONUL newsletter 28, 2003, 39– 42; Susan Copeland, Andrew Penman and Richard Milne, ‘Electronic theses: the turning point’, Program 39 (3), 2005, 185–97. EThOS: (accessed 7/7/06). Richard Jones, Theo Andrew and John MacColl, The institutional repository. Oxford: Chandos, 2006; Robin Yeates, ‘Institutional repositories’, Vine 33 (2), 2003, 96–101; Ruth Martin, ‘ePrints UK: developing a national e-prints archive’, Ariadne 35, Apr. 2003: (accessed 7/7/06). Jessie Hay, ‘Targeting academic research with Southampton’s institutional repository’, Ariadne 40, July 2004: (accessed 7/7/06); Susan Ashworth, Morag Mackie and William J. Nixon, ‘The DAEDALUS project, developing institutional repositories at Glasgow University: the story so far’, Library review 53 (5), 2004, 239–64; Stephen Pinfield, Mike Gardner and John MacColl, ‘Setting up an institutional e-print archive’, Ariadne 31, Apr. 2002: (accessed 7/7/06). SHERPA: (accessed 7/7/06); John MacColl and Stephen Pinfield, ‘Climbing the scholarly publishing mountain with SHERPA’, Ariadne 33, Oct. 2002: (accessed 7/7/06). Pippa Jones, Wendy Calvert and Alison Depledge, ‘RFID technology: the way forward at Leeds University Library’, SCONUL focus 33, 2004, 41–5; Alan Hopkinson and Rajesh Chandrakar, ‘Introducing RFID at Middlesex University Learning Resources’, Program 40 (1), 2006, 89–97; Ian Winship, ‘Weblogs and RSS in information work’, Library + information update 3 (5), 2004, 30–1. Neil Beagrie, ‘Preserving UK digital library collections’, Program 35 (3), 2001, 215– 26; Leona Carpenter, ‘Supporting digital preservation and asset management in institutions’, Ariadne 43, Apr. 2005: (accessed 7/7/06). Simon McLeish, ‘Installing Shibboleth’, Ariadne 43, Apr. 2005: (accessed 7/7/06). Steve Bailey, ‘Records management and the challenge to HEIs’, Library + information update 2 (8), 2003, 34–5; Margaret Procter, ‘One size does not fit all: developing records management in higher education’, Records management journal 12 (2), 2002, 48–54. Catherine Ebenezer, ‘Trends in integrated library systems’, Vine 32 (4), 2002, 19–45; Andrew Cox and Robin Yeates, ‘Library portal solutions’, Aslib proceedings 55 (3), 2003, 155–65; Chris Awre, ‘Portals: enabling discovery for all in higher and further education’, Vine 33 (1), 2003, 5–10; Anne Ramsden, ‘The library portal marketplace’, Vine 33 (1), 2003, 17–24; Ruth Stubbings, ‘MetaLib and SFX at Loughborough University Library’, Vine 33 (1), 2003, 25–32; Andrew Brown and Neil Smyth,

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British librarianship and information work 2001–2005 ‘Serial Solutions and LinkFinderPlus at the University of Wales Swansea’, Program 39 (2), 2005, 147–59. SCONUL, Library building projects database. London: SCONUL, 2002– . Available at: (accessed 7/7/06). SCONUL, Library buildings database: (accessed 7/7/06). Clive Evans, ‘Library buildings visit: LSE Lionel Robbins Library and King’s College London Maughan Library, November 2003’, SCONUL newsletter 30, 2003, 6–8; Seamus McMahon, ‘Design issues: new library development at University College Cork’, SCONUL newsletter 30, 2003, 11–13; J. Adam Edwards, ‘SCONUL buildings visit 2005’, SCONUL focus 36, 2005, 75–7. Peter Brophy, The academic library. 2nd ed. London: Facet, 2005. B. Clark (ed.), Future places: reinventing libraries in the digital age: proceedings of the 12th international seminar of the IFLA Section on Library Buildings and Equipment, 2002. Frankfurt: Saur, 2003; JISC InfoNet, Good practice and innovation: (accessed 7/7/06). Edward Oyston, Centred on learning: academic case studies on learning centre development. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003. Christopher West, ‘Cafes in UK Higher Education libraries’, SCONUL focus 35, 2005, 53–5. Matthew Lawson, ‘Implementing good conduct guidelines: changing user behaviour in an academic library’, SCONUL newsletter 31, 2004, 65–7. Peter Jordan and Caroline Lloyd, Staff management in library and information work. 4th ed. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002. Alan Brine, Continuing professional development: a guide for information professionals. Oxford: Chandos, 2004; Margaret Oldroyd (ed.), Developing academic library staff for future success. London: Facet, 2004; Jean Yeoh, Val Straw and Caroline Holebrook, ‘Staff development and continuing professional education: policy and practice in academic libraries’, SCONUL focus 33, 2004, 16–20. HERA (Higher Education Role Analysis): (accessed 10/7/06). Pat Noon, ‘Developing the academic library managers of the future’ in Developing academic library staff for future success, ed. Margaret Oldroyd. London: Facet, 2004, pp 41–66; Jon Purcell and K. Moore, ‘A change for the better: making organisational change work for your library’, Relay 55, July 2003, 13–16. Pete Dalton and Clare Nankivell, Hybrid information management: skills for senior staff: final research report and recommendations. Birmingham: University of Central England, 2002: (accessed 7/7/06). Stephen Pinfield, ‘Changing role of subject librarians in academic libraries’, Journal of librarianship and information science 33 (1), 2001, 32–8; Richard Biddiscombe, ‘Learning Support Professionals: the changing role of subject specialists in UK academic libraries’, Program 36 (4), 2002, 228–35; Anne Langley, Edward Gray and K. T. L. Vaughan, The role of the academic librarian. Oxford: Chandos, 2003; Philippa Levy and Sue Roberts (eds.), Developing the new learning environment: the changing role of the academic librarian. London: Facet, 2005.

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Tony Tysome, ‘Librarians under threat’, Times higher education supplement 11 Feb. 2005, 8; Angela Jones-Evans, ‘Bangor University Library Service: an update’ (Editorial), Journal of librarianship and information science 37 (3), 2005, 115–17. Helen Hayes, ‘Knowledge management: knowing what we know’, Relay: the journal of the University, College and Research Group 56, 2004, 1–5. Ruth Wilson, ‘Learner support staff in Higher Education: victims of change?’, Journal of librarianship and information science 35 (2), 2003, 79–86. Information Services National Training Organisation, Skills foresight in the Information Services sector 2000–2007. Bradford: ISNTO, 2001; Information Services National Training Organisation, Skills foresight in the Information Services sector 2003–2009. Bradford: ISNTO, 2003. Barbara Allan, Project management: tools and techniques for today’s information professional. London: Facet, 2004. Phil Sykes, ‘Putting library staff back into libraries’, SCONUL focus 34, 2005, 4–9. Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, Framework of qualifications. London: CILIP, 2005. John Fielden, ‘Resolving the human issues in LIS projects’, SCONUL newsletter 26, 2002, 5–10. Sue White and Margaret Weaver, ‘Lifelong learning at work: staff development for the flexible workforce’ in Developing academic library staff for future success, ed. Oldroyd, pp. 113–28; CILIP, Flexible working: the work-life balance. 2002–03: (accessed 7/7/06); Jackie Brocklebank and Heather Whitehouse, ‘Job sharing in academic libraries at the senior management level’, Library management 24 (4/5), 2003, 243–51; Judith Cattermole and Julie Howell, ‘Job sharing at a senior level: a personal perspective’, SCONUL newsletter 30, 2003 37–40; Graham Walton and Catherine Edwards, ‘Flexibility in HE hybrid libraries: exploring the implications and producing a model of practice’, Journal of librariansip and information science 33 (4), 2001, 199–208. European Union, The European Working Time Directive. 2003. Pat Noon, ‘Receiving the secret: do we care about succession planning in higher education libraries?’, SCONUL focus 33, 2004, 4–10; Fiona Parsons (ed.), Recruitment, training and succession planning in the HE sector: findings from the HIMSS project. Birmingham: University of Birmingham, 2005. Patricia Layzell Ward, ‘The management of library and information services: a review’, Library management 22 (3), 2001, 131–55; Patricia Layzell Ward, ‘The management of library and information services: review of the literature’, Library management 23 (3), 2002, 135–65; Patricia Layzell Ward, ‘Management and the management of information, knowledge-based and library services 2002’, Library management 24 (3), 2003, 126–59; Sue Roberts and Jennifer Rowley, Managing information services. London: Facet, 2005. Terry Hanson (ed.), Managing academic support services in universities. London: Facet, 2005. HEFCE, Good Management Practice Project (Luton reference): (accessed 7/7/06). David Baker, Strategic management of technology: a guide for library and information services. Oxford: Chandos, 2004. David Ball, Managing suppliers and partners for the academic library. London: Facet, 2005.

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British librarianship and information work 2001–2005 SCONUL vision: (accessed 7/7/06). Ian Smith, ‘Achieving readiness for organizational change’, Library management 26 (6/7), 2005, 408–12. Judith Stewart, ‘Basically, you do miss your mates: managing the people side of moving a library’, SCONUL newsletter 29, 2003 65–9. Sarah McNicol, ‘Challenges of strategic planning in academic libraries’, New library world 106 (11/12), 2005 496–509. Jeremy Atkinson, ‘Managing change and embedding innovation in academic libraries and information services’, New review of academic libraries 9, 2003, 25–41. Hanson (ed.), Managing academic support services. SCONUL, Annual library statistics. London: SCONUL. Annual; Claire Creaser, UK higher education library management statistics. London: SCONUL. Annual. Sonya White and Claire Creaser, Scholarly journal prices: selected trends and comparisons. Loughborough: LISU, 2004. Michael Roberts, Tony Kidd and Lynn Irvine, ‘The impact of the current e-journal marketplace on university library budget structures’, Library review 53 (9), 2004, 429–34. Reg Carr, ‘Stirring up other men’s benevolence: library fundraising in Oxford’, SCONUL focus 34, 2005, 10–15. HERON: (accessed 7/7/06). Rachel Hardy, Charles Oppenheim and Iris Rubbert, ‘Pricing strategies and models for the provision of digitized texts in higher education’, Journal of information science 28 (2), 2002, 97–110. Copyright Licensing Agency: (accessed 7/7/06). Jenny Langford and Jill Lambert, ‘Implementing the requirements of SENDA in Aston University Library and Information Services’, SCONUL focus 33, 2004, 21–5; Karen McAulay, ‘Studying with special needs: some personal narratives’. Library review 54 (8), 2005, 486–91. Allison Jones and Lucy A. Tedd, ‘Provision of electronic information services for the visually impaired’, Journal of librarianship and information science 35 (2), 2003, 105–13. Claud: (accessed 7/7/06); Sandra Jones, Recommendations to improve accessibility for disabled users in academic libraries. Bristol: CLAUD, 2002. Sheila Whyte, ‘Auditing SCURL Special Needs Group members’, Library review 54 (8), 2005, 459–63; Chris Pinder, ‘Customers with disabilities: the academic library response’, Library review 54 (8), 2005, 464–71. Elizabeth Gadd, ‘An examination of the copyright clearance activities in UK higher education’, Journal of librarianship and information science 33 (3), 2001, 112–25. Stuart Hannabuss, ‘Intellectual property rights and university employees’, Library review 50 (3), 2001, 117–22. Steve Bailey, ‘Assessing the impact of the Freedom of Information Act on the FE and HE sectors’, Ariadne 42, Jan. 2005: (accessed 7/7/06); Mike Heaney, ‘Freedom of Information at Oxford University Library Services’, SCONUL focus 35, 2005, 32–5. SCONUL, Aide-memoire for reviewers evaluating learning resources: (accessed 7/7/06).

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SCONUL, SCONUL guidelines for QAA institutional audit in England: (accessed 7/7/06). Teaching Quality Information: (accessed 7/7/06). Christopher West, ‘A survey of surveys’, SCONUL focus 31, 2004, 18–22. Selena Lock and J. Stephen Town, ‘LibQUAL+ in the UK and Ireland: three years’ findings and experience’, SCONUL focus 35, 2005, 41–5. Claire Creaser, ‘Benchmarking the standard SCONUL User Survey: report of a pilot study’, SCONUL focus 34, 2005, 61–5. Sharon Markless and David Streatfield, Evaluating the impact of your library. London: Facet, 2006; Stella Thebridge and Pete Dalton, ‘Working towards outcome assessment in UK academic libraries’, Journal of librarianship and information science 35 (2), 2003, 93–104. Special issue on the LIRG/SCONUL impact initiative. Library and information research 29 (91), 2005: (accessed 7/7/06); Philip Payne, John Crawford and Wendy Fiander, ‘Counting on making a difference: assessing our impact’, Vine 34 (4), 2004, 176–83. Charles Oppenheim and David Stuart, ‘Is there a correlation between investment in an academic library and a higher education institution’s rating in the Research Assessment Exercise?’, Aslib proceedings 56 (3), 2004, 156–65. Jane Barton, ‘Measurement, management and the digital library’, Library review 53 (3), 2004, 138–41. Stella Thebridge and Rebecca Hartland-Fox, ‘Towards a toolkit for evaluating electronic information services’, SCONUL newsletter 27, 2002, 37–43; Sarah McNicol, ‘The eVALUEd toolkit: a framework for the qualitative evaluation of electronic information services’, Vine 34 (4), 2004, 172–5. Angela Conyers, ‘E-measures: developing statistical measures for electronic information services’, Vine 34 (4), 2004, 148–53; Angela Conyers, ‘E-measures: ready for the count? Measuring use of electronic information services’, SCONUL focus 31, 2004, 53–6. Peter T. Shepherd, ‘The COUNTER Code of Practice: implementation and adoption’, SCONUL newsletter 29, 2003, 22–6; Peter T. Shepherd, ‘COUNTER: towards reliable vendor usage statistics’, Vine 34 (4), 2004, 184–9.

6

Colleges of further education Andrew Eynon

Introduction In previous editions of this series colleges of further and higher education were considered collectively in relation to library provision. However, from the 1990s many of the old colleges of higher education moved into the university sector or sought university status. The significant difference in funding and inspection regimes between further and higher education institutions has meant that I have concentrated solely on issues affecting further education (FE) colleges. I have, however, included a section on the delivery of higher education provision through FE colleges. Changes in the further education sector The period 2001–2005 saw major changes in the further education sector across the whole of the UK. During this period new funding bodies for further education were created in England and Wales, and two major revisions to the inspection processes took place for English and Welsh colleges. In addition, in England two new inspectorates for the sector came into being, and there were major changes to funding and educational priorities. All of these policy and funding changes had an impact on the delivery of library and learning resource services (LRSs). In England the most significant change in the sector was as a result of the Learning and Skills Act 2000, which created the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). The LSC became operational in April 2001 as the new funding body for FE, replacing the old Further Education Funding Council (FEFC). Most significantly, the inspection functions of the FEFC were now divided between the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), the schools inspectorate, which was given the remit for inspecting provision for 16–19-year-olds, and the new Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI). Similarly in Wales, the old Further Education Funding Council for Wales (FEFCW) was replaced by Education and Learning Wales (ELWa). In Wales, unlike in England, the inspection process remained, as previously, with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate (Estyn). Significantly, in both England and Wales the new funding bodies also during this period assumed funding for school sixth forms. In Scotland and Northern Ireland there were fewer such changes. In Scotland the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC) remained, whilst in

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Northern Ireland change was hampered by the failure to establish a devolved government in the province. One of the main outcomes of the new funding regimes was the pressure for smaller further education institutions to merge in order to rationalize staffing and accommodation costs and this of course had an impact on learning resource provision and staffing. In Northern Ireland, the most extreme example of this trend, it was proposed that the number of FE institutions in the province should be roughly halved. Inspection It was in the area of college inspections that the major impact on learning resource services was felt. In England, learning resource services were initially assessed under key question 3: how do resources affect achievement and learning?1 In effect this marked little change from the previous inspection regime although the new inspectorate gave clearer guidance on its expectations of learning resource services. The inspection handbook included recommendations that: x services include sufficient electronic resources (in addition to traditional print-based resources) x learners receive an induction into the service x learning resource centres (LRCs) include quiet study areas x resources be centralized (i.e. not held in departments) so as to maximize their accessibility and to ensure resources are closely managed x users be consulted about services x provision be made for distance and work-based learners.2 In Wales learning resource services were initially inspected under key question 4, which covered support for learning. This meant that there was a greater emphasis on the role of learning resource service staff in supporting students, rather than concentrating on the physical aspects of learning resource service provision, such as the number of study spaces and the size of the library collection. To help nonspecialist library inspectors Estyn produced the Aide memoire – learning resources, which provided quantitative performance indicators (mainly based on the 1996/97 CILIP FE survey results) and qualitative indicators such as whether the learning resource service had a mission statement, whether there were service level agreements with staff and learners, etc.3 These guidelines were reissued, unaltered, when the inspection regime was revised in 2004 although learning resource services were now inspected as part of key question 7: the management of resources. In 2005 Ofsted reduced the number of key questions in its inspection scheme and consequently learning resources came under key question 5: how effective is the leadership and management in raising achievement and supporting all learners? It was hoped that this move would raise the profile of learning resource services as they were now being inspected under the more important auspices of college

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leadership and management. There were subtle changes to the guidance notes for colleges, with greater emphasis put on the need for equality of provision within LRCs (taking into account issues such as ethnicity and disability). The guidance notes also emphasized the importance of the links between curriculum and learning resource service staff and the provision of resources to those studying in the community (in addition to work-based learners). However, the reality for many further education learning resource services was the continuation of the old inspection regimes’ tendencies to give learning resources only a cursory mention in inspection reports. Consequently there was much interest in the development of self-assessment or peer accreditation systems to more fully evaluate the effectiveness of learning resource services. Quality toolkits Scotland led the way in pioneering the development of quality toolkits for the selfassessment of learning resource services. In 2002 the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC) funded a project to draft such a toolkit. The Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) undertook the project, in cooperation with staff from the Scottish HMI, the Scottish Further Education Unit and SFEFC. The toolkit was published in 2003 and contained a framework for self-assessing learning resource services against seven elements:4 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Learning resource organization – examining interoperability and the effective use of a library management system. Staffing – covering the qualifications, skills and review of LRS staff. Integration of ICT – looking at the use of VLEs and electronic resources. User support – assessing LRS support for programme delivery and off campus support/delivery of learning resources. Accessibility – the advice and support available for using learning resources and online access to library resources. Inclusiveness – LRS compliance with accessibility and diversity issues. Quality assurance and improvement – the production of quality standards and effective promotion of services.5

Each element contained a summary of ‘quality indicators’, ‘key characteristics’ and sources of evidence that could be used to evaluate one’s service. Furthermore, the toolkit also included an innovative system of grade illustrations, based on real world examples, of how a particular learning resource service would ‘look’ for each of four grades. These were mapped to the Scottish inspection grading system and grade illustrations were included for each element. The toolkit was designed for use in conjunction with the performance indicators published in SLIC’s college guidelines.6 The success of this toolkit prompted a similar project in Wales, which resulted in the publication in 2005 of a toolkit for Welsh FE college learning resource

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services produced by fforwm (the Welsh association of colleges) and funded by CyMAL (Museums, Archives and Libraries, Wales).7 The Welsh quality toolkit used seven key questions, which were mapped to the Estyn Common Inspection Framework (these equated to the elements used in the Scottish toolkit). The Welsh toolkit also used quantitative and qualitative performance indicators which were drawn from a variety of sources including Estyn, CoFHE and CoLRiC. In addition, certain performance indicators were developed by the project team for inclusion in the toolkit. The key questions used in the Welsh toolkit covered the following areas of learning resource provision: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Provision of effective learning environments – are learning resource centre study and ICT facilities adequate? Qualifications and experience of LRS staff – are there sufficient staff and are they appropriately qualified and experienced? Resourcing – does the service meet the needs of its users in terms of the range of resources provided? Integration of ILT – is the service proactively encouraging the use of ILT, including VLEs? User support – does the support provided by LRS staff enhance the quality of the learner experience? Accessibility – is the service inclusive and accessible to all learners? Quality systems – does the service have a robust quality assurance process?

In order to build upon the self-evaluation aspects of these toolkits there was a renewed interest in peer assessment as a means of providing an independent review of learning resource provision. Peer evaluation Peer assessment was far from new in further education: the Council for Learning Resources in Colleges (CoLRiC)8 had a long-standing peer accreditation scheme which had been running for over ten years and was used by further education colleges across the UK. Local peer accreditation schemes, most notably the one established by the Merseyside Circle of College Librarians, had been running a similar length of time. More recently the Yorkshire Museums, Archives and Libraries Council funded the creation of a peer evaluation scheme amongst FE colleges in Yorkshire and Humberside. The CoLRiC peer accreditation scheme offered a graded quality mark for the learning resource service based on an assessment by two trained CoLRiC assessors. Colleges paid a fee for this scheme based on whether or not the institution was a CoLRiC member and on the size of the institution. Colleges were assessed against a clearly defined set of qualitative criteria, under three headings: mandatory criteria, core criteria and supportive criteria. Within these three sets of criteria there were requirements to be met by both learning resource managers and senior college

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managers. A summary report was presented to the college, highlighting good practice and identifying areas for improvement. The Merseyside and Yorkshire schemes were more informal and did not make a charge for carrying out assessment. Instead they relied on a reciprocal arrangement between institutions, which created a pool of assessors to draw upon. In common with CoLRiC, the Yorkshire scheme made provision to train its peer assessors. Both the Merseyside and Yorkshire schemes used a team of two assessors to carry out the peer evaluation, and as with CoLRiC these assessors are experienced learning resource managers. Instead of a graded outcome and the awarding of a quality mark these regional schemes concentrated on the production of a detailed report highlighting service strengths and weaknesses. In creating these peer evaluation schemes FE librarians also looked to good practice in other sectors, in particular to the very detailed scheme for Health Service librarians – Helicon – which included detailed checklists for the actual peer assessment visits.9 Benchmarking and performance indicators One of the main problems facing operational managers in FE learning resource services during this period was the lack of benchmark data to set quantitative standards for learning resource performance. The 6th edition of the CoFHE guidelines, published in 2000,10 had not contained any quantitative recommendations owing to the poor response rate to the CILIP FE survey of 1996/97 (the findings of which were not published until 1999). In 2003 CILIP carried out a new survey of FE learning resource provision to rectify this deficiency. This survey generated a much higher response rate than the previous one. The response rate as a whole was 59% of colleges in the UK, with many regions achieving much higher figures.11 The survey gives a detailed picture of learning resource services in the UK, and the results were published in separate regional tables to enable regional benchmarking to take place. The presentation of the results, however, makes it difficult to spot trends in provision because the 2003 survey results were not compared with the earlier CILIP surveys (the findings of which were of course very dated and where in many cases the questions were not comparable). The Colleges of Further and Higher Education group (CoFHE) of CILIP used the findings of this survey for the quantitative recommendations in the 7th edition of the CoFHE guidelines published in 2005.12 The 7th edition of the CoFHE guidelines, following the example set in the 5th edition, outlined ten qualitative recommendations for learning resource provision. In addition, the guidelines set ten quantitative performance indicators covering areas such as number of study spaces, library spend per student, library staffing ratios, provision of stock and ICT equipment. Following on from the precedent set in the survey, ratios were measured against actual student numbers rather than fulltime equivalents (FTEs). This was because it was felt that services should relate to actual learners rather than composite ones. However, this rationale disadvantaged smaller (usually sixth form) colleges which had a relatively small student popula-

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tion but where the students were predominately full-time (and hence would have had a relatively high FTE count). HE in FE In many further education institutions higher education continued to expand during this period, although by 2005 the impact of tuition fees and the slowdown of expansion in the HE sector meant that HE in FE was probably about to enter a period of contraction. There were, however, many positive developments in this provision, including a relaxation in the attitude of HE institutions in making available their electronic resources to franchise students. Relations between FE and HE partners, in terms of resourcing, became more formalized with many institutions having service level agreements or partnership documents. Although the CoFHE guidelines no longer covered HE provision there were many other sources of benchmarking data for HE in FE provision, most notably the SCONUL benchmarks. Furthermore, in December 2004, CILIP updated its guidelines for the provision of learning resources for HE students based in FE institutions. These guidelines were made available solely in electronic format.13 In addition to general guidance, CILIP produced a checklist of performance indicators for HE provision. These indicators covered a variety of areas of provision, including: funding, partnership agreements, course review, user support, communication, quality assurance, accessibility and staffing. Sixth form colleges The 2003 CILIP survey had of course covered provision in sixth from colleges, but it had long been recognized that tertiary colleges were a very distinct part of the FE sector and it has already been mentioned that the CoFHE guidelines’ use of total student numbers to set performance indicators did not adequately reflect sixth form college norms of provision. In 2005 CoLRiC carried a survey of sixth form colleges, the first since 1993.14 Unlike the picture in FE in general, the sixth form sector appeared to have benefited from increased resourcing, with library expenditure increasing by 60%. The survey also found significant increases in library collections, issue figures and visitor numbers. The survey also indicated that salaries in the sector had increased and that 93% of libraries had been reported as one of the college’s strengths in inspection. E-resources The JISC Regional Support Centres (RSCs) continued to play a significant role in raising standards in FE library provision. The RSCs provided staff development to FE library staff in a wide range of ICT/ILT skills. Furthermore, the RSCs continued to play a major role in embedding e-learning and e-resources into libraries and the curriculum in the FE sector. This was most notable in the creation of subject guides, specific to FE, for online resources.15

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There was a major expansion in use of Virtual Learning Environments in the sector, often supported by the RSCs. These were used by college library services for the delivery of inductions, providing resources for distance learners and for developing and delivering information skills to learners. Professional activity FE librarians continued to be represented across the UK by two main bodies: CoFHE and CoLRiC. Both bodies held annual national conferences – from 2002 CoFHE ran its conference in conjunction with the University, College and Research Group on a biennial basis – and both produced newsletters or bulletins on a regular basis and had JISC-mail lists for members to keep up to date with issues of professional interest. In addition, in Scotland FE LRS staff were supported by Scottish Further Education Unit’s librarians group, whilst similarly in Wales fforwm had a Learning Resource Managers’ network. CoLRiC, founded in 1993, is an independent voluntary organization dedicated to enhancing and maintaining excellence in learning resource services in further education. In addition to the peer accreditation scheme already mentioned, CoLRiC sponsored a Beacon Award for excellence in the delivery of learning resource services and a professional development award for individuals who demonstrated excellence and innovation in professional practice. At the time of writing this continues. CoLRiC produced a second edition of its ‘working papers’ which helped library managers in a variety of professional duties, covering areas such as job descriptions, quality systems and policy documents.16 Furthermore, CoLRiC collected annual benchmarking data as part of its ‘snapshot’ survey of learning resource usage and recommended questions for learning resource surveys. In addition to its survey of sixth form colleges, CoLRiC also carried out research about the perception of learning resource services among college principals. The results of this survey, published in 2005, showed a much more favourable view than the negative perceptions usually attributed to senior managers.17 CoFHE began to build up a bank of case studies of best practice on its website, starting with information relating to new FE library builds. The website has also been used to maintain electronic copies of articles from the CoFHE bulletin and conference papers. The Bulletin became a Newsletter in October 2003, but reverted to a Bulletin with articles of professional interest in 2005. Many areas of professional interest were covered in the Bulletin, such as the Disability Discrimination Act, innovative induction practice, the impact of devolution on FE in Scotland and Wales, intranets, VLEs, dealing with challenging behaviour and metadata. Conclusion Although the FE sector receives little mention in the academic library press, I hope that I have demonstrated that there was much innovative practice in librarianship going on in the sector, most notably in the fields of quality toolkits and peer

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evaluation. Many other areas of significant FE library activity lack in-depth research, such as the delivery of information skills and reader development activities.

Notes 1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9

10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17

Office for Standards in Education, Handbook for inspecting colleges. London: Ofsted, 2002. Ofsted, Handbook, 38–9. Estyn, Aide memoire – learning resources. Cardiff: Estyn, 2002. Guidance notes given to college inspectors. Scottish Library and Information Council/Scottish Further Education Funding Council, Resources & services supporting learning: a service development quality toolkit. Glasgow: SLIC/SFEFC, 2003. Catherine Kearney, ‘Library service development toolkit makes self-evaluation easy’, Broadcast 63, 2004, 46–8. Scottish Library and Information Council, Libraries in Scottish further education colleges: standards for performance and resourcing. 2nd ed. Glasgow: SLIC, 1997. fforwm, Services supporting learning in Wales: a quality toolkit for evaluating learning resource services in further education colleges. Cardiff: fforwm, 2005. See for more details. Chris Fowler and Val Trinder, Developing excellence in library and knowledge services: accreditation of library and information services in the health sector. [UK]: Health Libraries & Information Confederation (HeLicon), 2002. Kathy Ennis (ed.), Guidelines for learning resource services in further and higher education: performance and resourcing. 6th ed. London: Library Association, 2000. UK survey of library and learning resource provision in further education colleges. London: CILIP, 2003. Available from: (accessed 31/5/06). Andrew Eynon (ed.), Guidelines for colleges: recommendations for learning resources. London: Facet, 2005. (accessed 31/5/06). Gill Pacey, ‘CoLRiC VI form colleges library survey’, CoLRIC newsletter 37, 2006, 1– 4. Lis Parcell, ‘New resource guides’, CoFHE bulletin, 97, 2002, 11. The CoLRiC Working Papers are now available from the CoFHE website: (accessed 31/5/06). Council for Learning Resources in Colleges: .

7

Services to children, young people and schools Lucy Gildersleeves

Following the service cutbacks and restructurings of the 1980s and 1990s, library services for children and youth arguably experienced a new lease of life in the first years of the 21st century. National agendas for addressing education, welfare, crime and social inclusion were radically reshaping policy across government departments. Children, young people and families were priority groups, with literacy and community engagement being key drivers. Out of this the government defined a new proactive role for public libraries in delivering on learning, health, social inclusion and citizenship goals, set out in Framework for the future.1 Children’s and youth services became important and media-visible players in libraries delivering on this. School libraries and school library support services (SLS) were working with a rapidly changing educational context of curriculum developments, extended schools and partnerships. Traditionally public library children’s services had been committed to reaching out to those caring for and working with children, and to the children and young people themselves, using a variety of activities both within and outside the library venue – arguably more so than adult services. From 2000 there was a substantial shift in the perception of the public library role away from resource provider and encourager of readers towards active partner in outreach and community participation. The balance of professional staffing and activity tipped away from stock functions and supporting visitors to the library towards seeking out children and families, particularly from groups not traditionally using libraries, and drawing them into reading and learning. There was extensive development of familyfocused early years programmes. More recently children’s and youth library services were challenged to find new ways of using creative and participative ways of enabling and engaging young people, as demonstrated by Fulfilling their potential.2 The Children Act 2004 required English local authorities to establish Children’s Trusts by 2008, bringing together health, social and education services for children and families and paying particular attention to children at risk.3 They were also required to appoint a Children’s Director responsible for these services

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and to produce a single annual Children and Young People’s Plan encompassing them. The Act also laid a duty on each local authority to make arrangements to promote cooperation between departments and other appropriate bodies to improve children’s well-being, and a duty on these partners to take part in this cooperation. Library services for children and youth were therefore connected into this partnership. The four focal areas of child protection identified were early intervention, improving coordination of children’s services, improving support for parents and carers, and development of a childcare workforce strategy. This legislation in turn underpinned the suite of major government strategy documents defining a framework of services for children and young people situated within the remit of the Department for Education and Skills, including Every child matters: change for children, Every child matters: change for children in schools, Youth matters and the Department’s Five year strategy for children and learners.4 Children’s and youth library services in the early 21st century were also set against a background of intense political concern over national literacy levels and education problems impeding young people from becoming active citizens able to find and use information to tackle life questions, achieve economic well-being and participate in political decision-making. The opportunities for children’s and youth libraries, school libraries and schools library support services (SLS) to contribute to achieving national policy and to be seen as key players delivering into local government targets were therefore probably greater in 2005 than at any previous point. At the same time a survey of members of the Association of Senior Children’s and Education Librarians (ASCEL) in November 2005 found that both public children’s library services and SLS were facing significant challenges in handling the new structures, priorities and funding contexts created by the national reshaping of local government children’s services, and in sustaining the new roles and initiatives expected.5 Principal drivers for children’s and youth services From 2000 there were a number of significant policy drivers shaping children’s and youth library services and school libraries. Start with the child, a major review of library services for children and youth, based on research commissioned by Resource (from 2004 the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council – MLA), identified a number of essential factors in effective library provision, including: x x x x

appropriate environments and services services that are relevant and responsive appropriate help for children and young people and those who support them support from the wider community to use and benefit from the services.6

The review highlighted various key roles, in particular early years work, reader development initiatives, study support and support of 14–16-year-olds. It noted several areas for improvement, including staff development, better communication

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and involvement of parents and carers, and more coherent approaches to dealing with information literacy and study support across the public library and schools. It also identified some problematic issues, notably the financial impact on SLS of Fair Funding, more joined-up cooperation with schools, the need for more relevant impact assessment of services, and the frequent omission of libraries from key government learning strategies. Start with the child articulated the place of library services in the subsequent government shaping of strategy for children’s and youth services and focused planning on the greater use of evidence-based research. Framework for the future, the national government strategy for public libraries until 2013, revised definitions of library purpose, focusing on the concept of national offers and consumer entitlement. It identified various problems, particularly in the disparate nature of services available across Britain, the need to rejuvenate stock and premises, the relevance of location and opening hours, and the need to reach non-users. Accordingly the Framework recommended building on the distinctiveness of library services and targeting areas which maximize benefit to society. It defined three focal activities at the heart of the modern library service: x promotion of books, learning and reading x access to digital skills and services, including e-government x measures to tackle social exclusion, build community identity and develop citizenship. In terms of public library ability to deliver on these, services to children and young people featured strongly within each of the focal areas, provided two of the ‘national offers’ which could be expected from any public library (Bookstart and the Summer Reading Challenge), and were recognized as fruitful players in developing partnerships with education, welfare and community – and therefore in helping to create the political visibility of libraries. Inspiring learning for all provided a framework for focusing on library delivery of informal and collaborative learning opportunities for personal and social growth in terms of generic learning outcomes.7 It offered a practical toolkit for mapping, planning and evaluating services in four categories: people, places, partnerships, and planning and performance. This represented a significant shift away from judging libraries as providers of activities tailored for audience towards defining purpose in terms of the benefits gained by these audiences from the service. Dominant themes affecting public children’s and youth services which emerged were the need to train staff to work with young people; to design activities to enhance curriculum-based learning and to take account of individual learning styles; to involve children and young people in service development; and to keep up to date with initiatives influencing learning. By 2005 the framework was being used by the majority of children’s and youth librarians to demonstrate to policy makers and service planners the value of both national offers such as Summer Reading Challenge and local projects.8 Every child matters: change for children framed a completely new integrated

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approach to delivering local authority services for children, based on the goals of the Children Act 2004 and the consultation vision statement Every child matters published by the government in 2003. It set out five key outcomes for every child: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

be safe be healthy enjoy and achieve through learning contribute to the community achieve economic well being

against which public libraries and SLS were to map their services. The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) updated its child safety guidelines in line with outcome 1.9 Libraries were involved in promotions with youth workers on drug abuse, with schools on healthy living, and worked with Children’s Centres and Sure Start to support literacy and family welfare. Homework clubs, Reading Champions and Summer Reading Challenge all contributed to the ‘enjoying and achieving through learning’ outcome. The outcomes on community involvement and economic well-being were supported by engagement of young people in library design, partnerships with Connexions and library-based opportunities for volunteering. Every child matters offered public libraries and SLS the chance to be formally included in partnership with other services for children. In principle this crosssector working was broadly what was being advocated as a ‘multi-service Charter for the Child’ by LISC(E) in 1995 in Recommendation 6 of Investing in children.10 Despite this, by 2005 heads of both SLS and children’s libraries were reporting that it was often difficult to get their voice heard by other partners and that the ‘big players’ (education, social services and health) did not always understand what benefit libraries could bring to achieving the five outcomes. The heads also noted that librarians needed to be comfortable with the language and issues of the partner sectors to be able to engage in shared planning. The National Foundation for Educational Research broadened its focus to cover children’s services and set up a discussion list, [email protected], for information professionals working in the areas covered by the Children Act 2004 and Every child matters to help address this. Every child matters also provided for shared planning and commissioning across the different partner services. This created funding implications for both public libraries and SLS as the framework implied sharing of resources across the Children’s Trust, whilst children’s and youth library services, as part of the public library service, were often embedded within a Culture or Heritage directorate. Public library services experienced the channelling away of funds to underpin SLS and vice versa, as part of local authority movement of resources to support prioritized activities. In 2002 the government piloted the concept of Extended Schools which was then confirmed in the Department for Education and Skills Five year strategy for

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children and learners and in the Extended Schools prospectus. The Strategy pulled together the strands of education and childcare encompassing early years provision and Children’s Centres, curriculum development from nursery to 14–19 and reform of school structures, including development of specialist and extended schools, up to October 2004. Extended Schools were defined as providing ‘a range of services and activities, often beyond the school day, to help meet the needs of children, their families and the wider community’.11 It was expected that by 2010 all schools would be open from 8.00 am to 6.00 pm including some out-of-term weeks, offering childcare and a variety of activities out of curriculum hours, such as homework clubs, parenting support including information sessions and family sessions for children and parents learning together, and providing wider community access to facilities such as ICT and the library. ASCEL members identified the Extended School agenda as a critical issue for both public children’s and youth libraries and SLS:12 schools did not have sufficient staffing to deliver the full cover and accordingly there were opportunities for libraries to provide services in the range offered and to build on reader development programmes such as the Reading Agency’s Enjoying reading connecting public libraries with schools.13 They also had concerns about sustainable funding to deliver the Extended School model, the possibility that 8.00 am–6.00 pm wrap-around provision in school might discourage use of the public children’s and youth library and the problems of achieving mutually beneficial partnerships where the school was the dominant player. The Reading Agency produced Fulfilling their potential in 2004 to examine how libraries could deliver the Every child matters outcomes for young people aged 11–19.14 Fulfilling their potential found that provision was inconsistent and that services needed to combine the facilities and skills of libraries with youth clubs, education and training and leisure. It built on the findings of the Learning to listen action plan15 and subsequent work by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister which identified that young people were motivated by having some control over services for them and that they needed to take a more active role in their communities. The Reading Agency found that when young people were consulted and were made partners in service development, their perception of libraries was significantly changed. The government action plan for youth services, Youth matters, started from the objective of including young people as ‘stakeholders’ in all policy developments affecting them or their communities. It set out three goals for young people: offering ‘things to do and places to go’; involving them in making a contribution to their communities through volunteering and participation; and providing information, advice and guidance. A key aspect being explored in 2005 was ‘opportunity cards’, a form of cross-service pass entitling access to local services and accumulating rewards for positive engagement. These cards could incorporate library membership with the potential for reward discounts on charged services and penalties for defaulters. Libraries were looking at working with young people to take advantage of the ‘opportunity funding’ on offer for new facilities and at employing young people as volunteers as part of the responsible citizenship goal.

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Public libraries were delivering via the People’s Network the ‘easy to access, innovative and independent ICT service through which young people can access national and local information’, while school librarians could contribute to the key introductions planned for pupils in Years 7 and 9 and to the ongoing information support. School libraries and schools library services From 2000 there was rapid developments affecting both school libraries and SLS. The government brought in several curriculum modifications, changes to the design and remit of schools and set out a five-year strategy. The number of librarians in schools increased year on year, but some SLS closed. SLS had to reinvent their services to adapt to the changing needs of schools and shifting relationship with public libraries.16 Policy developments In 2000 the Library and Information Commission produced Empowering the learning community, making recommendations for improved cooperation between public and education sector libraries towards achieving government priorities for lifelong learning and social inclusion.17 The report highlighted a need for better cooperation within geographical areas and shared ‘access maps’ to services, improved cross-sectoral funding, and training. It also recommended making school library provision statutory. The government took up the recommendations for collaborative working, but decided against guaranteeing school libraries and SLS in England and Wales by law. After Fair Funding was introduced in 2000, extending the financial autonomy of schools away from local authority influence, SLS came under pressure as their viability depended increasingly on achieving a critical mass of buy-back of their services by schools. The survey of ASCEL members flagged this as the most urgent issue in 2005 for SLS, many noting that since 2000 they had experienced a year on year decline in subscription take-up, despite substantial discounting, as schools struggled to cope with falling pupil rolls and a rise in initiatives to fund, and head teachers prioritized spending away from the school library. This is backed by evidence from LISU of an annual trickle of SLS closures from a starting-point where in the late 1990s, following local management of schools and local government reorganization, the position of SLS seemed to have stabilized.18 The Education Act 2002 allowed schools deemed to be successful to have ‘earned autonomy’ or freedom from the national curriculum.19 Importantly also schools were permitted to join into confederations or form companies in order to purchase goods or to provide services for other schools. This had particular relevance for the SLS relationship with schools individually and as consortia buyers. Whilst there was potential for SLS to establish new subscription arrangements with schools formerly unwilling to purchase services individually, equally SLS were concerned that federations would arrange service agreements directly with suppliers or publishers, bypassing SLS packages including advisory services

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and support. Joint commissioning was also a feature of the Children’s Trusts. This encouraged services to work across boundaries to develop new provider relationships supporting children and youth and led to some restructuring, by 2005, of relationships with public libraries and across traditional local authority limits. In the period 2004–05 school workforce remodelling redefined roles (and related salaries) into either direct teaching or support jobs.20 This was a significant concern for school librarians. A few successfully argued that they fulfilled a teaching role, participating in curriculum planning, delivering information literacy or coteaching on subject lessons. Many more found themselves fighting to avoid their role being sidelined into purely administration and support functions, with an assumption that such non-teaching posts would not require professionally qualified staff or, indeed, could be done by parent volunteers. The Building schools for the future strategy set out a rolling programme for school premises renewal over 10–15 years and put forward models for good design.21 The models offered challenged the concept of a library at the heart of the school providing a variety of learning environments for pupils. The potential for exciting library development, building on existing successful examples, was great, but some libraries in implemented designs were found to be inadequate or had to be relocated to be effective. By 2005 the School Library Association and CILIP School Libraries Group were working together with the backing of MLA to create a set of good practice examples and guidance for architects. Curriculum developments The Foundation Curriculum for early years, outlining the key areas to be covered by school, nursery and approved pre-school settings educating 3–5-year-olds, was introduced in 2000. It encompassed personal, social and emotional development, communication, language and literacy, knowledge and understanding of the world, maths, and physical and creative development and built on previous early years learning goals. In addition to providing a range of resources and suitable library environments for this young age group, school libraries and SLS had to develop links with their public library colleagues, with pre-school settings and with Sure Start and Children’s Centre partners. Building on the 1997 primary National Literacy Strategy, the Key Stage 3 National Strategy covering school years 7–9 (11–14-year-olds) was introduced in 2001. This set out a goal for coordinated literacy development across the whole curriculum, to make every pupil a ‘shrewd and fluent independent reader, confident writer and effective speaker and listener’.22 School librarians found it valuable to draw particularly on the ‘literacy across the curriculum’ modules 5 (Active reading strategies) and 6 (Reading for information) and on the English framework for literacy, to build the library role in supporting particularly the ‘text level’ aspects on developing creative reading, writing and discussion and information literacy. The Curriculum 2000 reforms of post-16 school-based education placed a much greater emphasis on teaching and assessment of ‘key skills’ including communi-

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cation and research skills, alongside traditional subject study. The subsequent 2003 reshaping of education for post-Key Stage 3 students in 14–19: opportunity and excellence allowed for individually tailored routes through vocational and academic education.23 Students from 14 years old could now learn in a blend of school, further education college and workplace environments. The 14–19 framework also focused on ‘common knowledge, skills and attributes’ needed to achieve reflective and effective individual learners, and social learners aware of their rights and responsibilities within the wider world. School libraries and SLS thus needed to develop links with other education partners and to work closely with individual students. The focus on key and common skills improved opportunities for librarians to build up information literacy programmes with subject teachers and across the curriculum. English 21 playback, a consultation in 2005 with educators, practitioners and parents on the future of English as a subject, identified several key points for shaping of the curriculum which were important for library input.24 Those consulted stressed the increasing need for spoken communication skills and familiarity with electronic writing skills and formats. They emphasized the importance of reading as a leisure activity, demanding a rich range and experience of texts from the earliest age, creative and imaginative writing balanced with information and book formats balanced with electronic resources supported by pupil skills to use these. There was also an increased expectation of reflection of diversity through use of literary heritage of different cultures. The consultation thus reinforced the provider and reader development roles of the school library. Key children and youth audiences Reader development and the literacy background Literacy improvement and encouragement of reading for pleasure and information were major priorities from the mid-1990s. International research into children’s reading showed that UK children and youth are readers.25 However, their comparative enthusiasm for reading for pleasure was less than expected given that UK literacy standards had improved and overall were good when ranked against the range of countries surveyed. What emerges from Reading for change is that a love of reading has a bigger positive effect than socio-economic factors on children’s educational success – children from deprived backgrounds who enjoy reading books, newspapers, comics, etc. do better than children from affluent homes lacking a book-filled environment, despite the many advantages available to the latter. Furthermore, the expansion of computer-based services, whether People’s Network access to internet and software resources, provision of laptops to children in care or loan of computer games, was particularly effective in drawing in boys identified as having lower literacy skills or reading motivation.26 The range of children attracted through technology broadened. Thus, for example, Birmingham-based Stories from the web,27 the internet-based book taster and writing site for children in public and school libraries, was now used around the world and added a new section for 0–7 years-old to complement their original 8–14s focus.

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During the period there was a move away from libraries being the sole or principal agent tacking promotion of reading and libraries (publicized in the media), to high-profile reader development partnerships with the media, such as the BBC’s Reading and Writing campaign (RaW) or the Orange-sponsored children’s reading groups Chatterbooks.28 There was also a growth in promotions tapping into cultural and creative activities, rather than specifically reading-focused events. Likewise there was a shift towards greater prioritizing of youth work and social inclusion activities in addition to the concentration on early years. Early years promotion and Bookstart – a key offer By 2000 early years involvement had become a substantial part of the modern children’s library focus, with the vast majority of public libraries providing Baby Rhyme Time sessions, under-fives story times, working with pre-school groups and health clinics, collaborating with Sure Start programmes,29 and contributing to the goals of Birth to three matters.30 In 2003 CILIP set up the Early Years Library Network (EYLN), providing practical advocacy support and a resource and ideas exchange for all library staff working with young children.31 EYLN quickly identified the need for libraries to become more family-friendly environments, a point subsequently taken on board in library design including easy toilet access, comfortable places for parents to sit with their small children, zoning of space for early years and a small but steady increase from 2000 in libraries providing toys. By 2005 about half of public libraries had special membership for under-fives, with a growing number opting to do away with fines and charges for this group. This removed a barrier for families worried about the cost of potential damage to materials by young children. Collaborative projects with non-library partners, such as the Sunshine Library Sure Start partnership in Wakefield,32 resulted in multi-function spaces designed specifically for under-fives. The government proposed at least one multi-sector Children’s Centre in each community, starting with centres to serve families and young children in the most disadvantaged areas in the first phase 2004–06.33 In 2004 the government extended the provision of free part-time nursery places for four-year olds to three-year-olds. As this take-up increased, by 2005 a number of public libraries were noting that the emphasis of their regular pre-school activities was now being geared more towards the 0–3 year age-band, with music and play sessions and parent-and-baby drop-in times. The Bookstart concept used a partnership of health visitors and libraries to give families a pack containing board books, rhyme card, information for parents about sharing books with babies and library information at their baby’s 8-month health check. By 2000 Sainsbury funding for two years was enabling a national roll-out of the scheme until early 2001. However, the subsequent years saw cuts, limitation by local authorities to children in deprived areas only and the need for substantial support from publishers and local sponsors. In 2004 the government gave funding via Sure Start for one year, towards national distribution of the first stage pack and then a further three years’ funding to expand the scheme. By 2005 the expanded

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Bookstart provided all pre-school children in England with an 8-month baby pack, a Bookstart Plus pack at 18 months and My Bookstart Treasure Box pack at 36 months. About 670,000 packs were being issued per phase per year. Similar arrangements were funded in Scotland and Wales. The Bookstart Baby Book Crawl, first run in 2003, invited children to participate in summer activities in the library, with a Book Crawl card and stickers, thus encouraging families into library membership and regular use and preparing them for later participation in the Summer Reading Challenge. Wade and Moore proved that the interactive involvement of parents and babies with books, tapes, rhymes and libraries improved young children’s skills in a number of areas including reading, numeracy, language and conversation, and that these translated through to improved attainments at age seven.34 Research at Roehampton and by the EPPE project team at the Institute of Education, London showed impact in increased use of books and in greater enjoyment of reading among participating children.35 The period 2000–05 saw Bookstart established as a core part of the library contribution to early years and family learning. It was one of the two specific activities measured for impact in children’s services in the Public Library Service Standards. Other activities and library promotions were developed successfully from the Bookstart model. For example, Croydon noted the huge success of their Bookstart Rhymetime in drawing very young children into libraries, growing from 8,132 participants in 2000 to 28,313 in 2003. They also took the opportunity created by liaison work with health visitors to set up a new ‘Books on the Move’ service for homeless families to be involved in their children’s learning.36 Essex used the Bookstart model to develop Schoolstart, collaborating with infant and primary schools to encourage library membership via packs to parents of children entering reception, with supporting promotional materials in libraries and schools.37 However, despite this success, a number of ASCEL members highlighted financial worries in delivering Bookstart. Even with Sure Start money and the sponsorship of the partner publishers and retailers, by 2005 some were finding the library element of the extended model expensive to supply, costly to store and handle the three phases of packs, and hard to fund the staffing needed to deliver it properly. Additionally, some were already becoming concerned about longer-term sustainability beyond the 2004 three-year government commitment to funding. There were also challenges in how Bookstart fitted in with the new Children’s Centres. Young people, culture and ‘audience development’ – the new reader development Libraries had been discovering a new more interactive, culture-focused, approach to tempting young people into libraries since 2000. With the focus firmly on consultation and involvement of youth in library space, stock selection and development of activities, a consistent picture emerged of the barriers perceived by teenagers. They identified public libraries as outdated, rule-driven, with

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unappealing stock and hostile staff.38 Teenagers also felt that services were targeted to young children or older adults, and were frequently not aware of what was on offer for them. More positively, however, where young people were brought into public libraries through creative activities or through participation in space and collection development, this turned around the perception. Out of the many initiatives focused on younger teens (11–14 years) and young adults (15–25 years) from 2000, successes tended to involve lively environments offering multiple leisure and learning activities or participative music and arts-based events, frequently using professional performers. New spaces developed since 2000 included multi-function centres such as Manchester’s Moss Side Powerhouse, bringing the library together with youth clubs, sport and fitness facilities, café and music studio, or Bradford’s HUB which made the youth library a central shared access point to other facilities such as a music studio and as a result turned it into a social space as much as a resource. Where the youth library sat within the public library space, informality, creation of ‘zones’ for different uses, bright and airy atmosphere, high levels of technology, listening posts and combination of learning, advice and leisure support all made a difference. New generation public libraries such as Peckham, Tower Hamlets’ Idea Stores or Hampshire’s Discovery Centres raised significantly the repeat visits of this age group. Where buildings simply did not have space for distinct areas or café and music facilities, or where there were conflicts between different user needs, libraries were exploring ‘zoning time’ – structuring opening times exclusive to specific groups, including youth. Reading groups, participation in the plethora of book awards and national reading days, and more traditional book-focused reader development activities continued to be important activities for this age group, as seen by the ongoing success of teenage reading groups, Bookheads, and Reading Champions.39 However, music and creativity were critical elements, particularly for drawing in new users, and fitted well with the emphasis from 2000 on partnership with arts and culture. Out of this came a new focus on ‘audience development’, hooking young people in through concentrating primarily on creative interests and building the reading interest from this. Examples such as Kirklees ‘Teenage Kicks’ creative reading days or the Poetry Society’s ‘Respect Slam’ project were very successful in changing attitude.40 However, these activities tended to require substantial staffing input, external funding and rely on partnerships. A common theme was the difficulty of sustaining such events both financially and in the face of resistance from library staff who did not see these activities as contributing to the core function. Support for excluded and disadvantaged children and youth The rapidly growing government focus on social inclusion around the turn of the millennium was embedded in Framework for the future and Every child matters. Asylum families, travellers, children in care or at risk and family members in custody all became expected audiences for children’s and youth outreach from 2000. Sim summarized the context and set out a variety of case examples in All our

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41

children. The case studies cover locally developed initiatives, but from 2001 a number of inclusion projects were extended. Thus, for example the Big Book Share, which enabled fathers in prison to share stories via tape with their children, with powerful reader development and family welfare results for prisoners, grew from one library in 2000 to 15 in the project’s second phase.42 The Paul Hamlyn Foundation-funded ‘Right to Read’ initiative set up to run from 2001 to 2006 supported library projects across the UK improving access to books and reading for looked-after children and youth and provided online support enabling other libraries to benefit from the project experiences.43 Libraries also worked to break down traditional barriers to service access, not only removing fines but dispensing with formal identity requirements. Interauthority cooperation grew, with shared initiatives such as the East London libraries’ no-fines bulk loans for foster carers. A breakthrough was the agreement, in 2005, between services to allow traveller children to return items without penalty to whichever library they were currently nearest, for that library to forward the items to the originating library. This is an example of the growing move towards placing the user’s needs over service parameters which might usefully be extended to other mobile groups such as asylum children or youth offenders. Relaxing of traditional requirements required careful negotiation between authorities and with staff anxious about such changes, but sent out a strong signal of trust to hard-to-reach groups. New ways were found to make libraries more representative and relevant to excluded groups, including young people. Tapping into the Youth matters outcome of community participation, libraries gave children and youth responsibility to select stock and make service decisions. Thus, for example, young people were on the management board of the Manchester Powerhouse, and Sheffield libraries handed over funds to homeless youngsters to choose books for use in hostels and in the library.44 Following Blackburn’s ‘Books on the Edge’ initiative targeting vulnerable youth, some of these ‘difficult background’ young people gained input into staff training and one worked as a volunteer in ‘The Curve’, Blackburn’s library space for youth. Young people also became volunteer study support mentors at homework club sessions, helping to dispel perceptions of these as ‘educational’ amongst those disaffected with school-based learning.45 Major issues for children’s and youth libraries by 2005 The need for marketing skills Public libraries and SLS now had to develop services in collaboration with children, young people and carers. Shared planning with partners in Children’s Trusts and Extended Schools had become essential. Staff needed to be able to communicate with all players, to understand their priorities and language and to keep the library role visible. The sheer volume of worthwhile initiatives involving the different audiences and the difficulty of sustaining effective projects was creating a sense of overload. SLS needed to develop their advisory role, identify services which they could offer where schools were stretched, and build on

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projects such as the MLA project Literature Matters which aimed to raise the profile of children’s literature and libraries in initial teacher training, in order to show teachers the value of reading for pleasure and the support services available. Within children’s and youth services there was a growing sense that public libraries would need to focus on a limited number of priorities and a more joinedup approach to these. This in turn meant recognizing that some activities would receive less attention or be discontinued to allow concentration of time and funding on the chosen priorities. As a result, ASCEL members identified marketing as a critical skill for librarians, from identifying the needs and desires of children and youth through to advocacy with policy-makers, partners and young people. Service evaluation Services needed to be evaluated in the context of the Every child matters outcomes, Framework for the future goals and Inspiring learning for all framework, in conjunction with use of the 2001 Public Library Service Standards (PLSS) and the Impact Measures developed in 2005. PLSS 8 assessed how children under 16 rated their library, while impact measure priority 3 concerned libraries improving quality of life for children, young people, families at risk and older people. Priority 4 looked at raising standards within schools, with specific inclusion of Bookstart and the Summer Reading Challenge, focusing on how these activities were felt by families, children and young people to have made a difference. By the close of 2005 work was under way to overhaul the Children’s PLUS survey instrument to make it more child-friendly and to reflect the views of children and groups such as class visits about the service as a whole. Capturing the views of non-users was recognized as essential, but remained more fragmented. There were no equivalent standards for school libraries, but in 2004 frameworks for self-evaluation of libraries in English primary and secondary schools were published to link into the whole-school self-evaluation and development planning process within Ofsted inspection.46 The frameworks supported demonstration of how the school library and librarian contributed to the school’s overall goals and had an impact on pupils’ wider learning. They built on the evidence from the body of American research and two UK surveys of impact research highlighting three key factors which underpin effective school libraries: the presence of a skilled librarian, availability of a range and breadth of resources and the collaboration between library and teaching staff.47 The Scottish evaluation experience had been in place a little longer, with the 2005 framework48 built on the earlier Taking a closer look at the school library resource centre.49 During 2004– 05 the Ofsted specific evaluation focus for the English subject team was the contribution of the school library to pupil learning. This evaluation examined a number of best-practice schools. Findings reported at the English Subject Conferences in October 2005 noted the valuable role played by school librarians and libraries, but still identified significant weaknesses in all the areas identified in the research. Thus by 2005 demonstration of the value of the school library had been

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put firmly on the agenda, but experience in implementing evaluation was still patchy. Staff recruitment and training The survey of ASCEL members in November 2005, collecting the top three issues of concern which individual heads of service identified for public and for schools library services, found that staffing was the most commonly cited. Heads of service noted both a lack of posts dedicated to children’s and youth work and significant difficulties in recruiting new staff with appropriate training and a positive attitude for working with children and young people. In 2000 twenty authorities had no specialist children’s librarians and the trend revealed over these five years in the annual statistical data analyses conducted by LISU was generally for a slight decline or static position in specialist professional posts available in public libraries, and a more steady decline within SLS. Only Scotland and some of the English unitary authorities went against this trend in 2003–05. What is evident is that in the latter years there were a number of children’s service posts, professional and nonprofessional, which were funded for a fixed period by external sources such as Sure Start to deliver specific initiatives. This increase in dedicated posts was highest within Early Years delivery. The long-term security of such posts was however dependent on continued drawing down of sponsorship or on realigning authority funding to make them part of the core service. Because of the difficulties in recruiting staff trained in children’s and youth librarianship, both public libraries and SLS were turning to other sectors with relevant experience, such as teaching, to fill vacancies. The push for collaborative development meant that services might also be delivered by youth or social workers as much as by librarians. One implication for staff training arising out of the Children’s Trust approach was the planned development of a common core of skills, knowledge and competence for all who work with children, young people and families, together with a set of related qualifications. At the time of writing it was unclear how far library staff working with these groups would need to fit in formally with this core. In public libraries in 2005 it was generally non-specialist front-line staff whom children and carers met when visiting a library. Start with the child recommended training in working with children and youth for all staff. The Reading Agency’s Their reading futures training framework50 set out the core skills and a training model for this, which was being used and supplemented by public libraries, but ASCEL members commented on the inhibition from engaging with young people felt by some library staff not specializing in this field, and that some staff were unhappy with how the recent growth in initiatives involving children and youth was impinging on their perceived sphere of work. There was a long way to go, but a positive step was an increase in formal expectation for all staff to be prepared to work with children and young people, as set out in job specifications within some library services.51

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Supporting guidance A number of support tools were published for school libraries between 2000 and 2005. CILIP produced the Primary school library guidelines in 2002 and a new edition of the Guidelines for secondary school libraries in 2004.52 In each, there was an increased emphasis over earlier editions on the library place in whole school reader development and information literacy and on the use of evaluation. In 2002 Tilke added to his handbooks Managing your school library and information service, providing practical advice and examples covering all aspects of running a school library.53 CILIP collaborated with the Department for Education and Skills, the School Library Association and ASCEL to produce School libraries making a difference, an advocacy pack to be used in conjunction with the website providing evidence, tips and case examples to argue the value of the library.54 Within this period the School Library Association updated and considerably extended its series of practical guidelines on aspects of school library activity.55 Some of these guides, such as Open all hours and Information matters, could be of benefit to public library staff also.56 By contrast, the UK guidelines for public children’s and youth libraries had not been updated since the 1990s. However, CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group published a number of themed case study compilations providing examples of good practice on topics such as services for teenagers and reader development,57 and the Literacy Trust website also provided information on reader development initiatives and specific issues such as gender, languages or needs of refugee communities.58 Conclusion Overall, 2001–2005 was a rapidly changing and highly demanding period for children’s and youth libraries, SLS and school libraries. Emphasis shifted to participation of young people and families in shaping services and judgement of these services on the basis of how they were benefiting users. Libraries were juggling multiple initiatives and had to target the needs of particular groups, while demonstrating effectiveness based on delivery of local authority priorities. The strong focus on children and young people’s learning, reading enjoyment, community engagement and welfare in national agendas gave libraries an unprecedented visibility. At the same time, there was a critical need to improve staff attitudes to young people, break down perceived barriers to library use, embed sustained funding, and recruit and train children’s specialists for public and school libraries.

Notes 1 2

Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Framework for the future: libraries, learning and information in the next decade. London: DCMS, 2003. Reading Agency, Fulfilling their potential: a national development programme for young people’s library services. London: Reading Agency, 2004. Available at:

(accessed 6/06).

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5 6

7

8 9

10

11 12 13

14 15

16

17 18

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Children Act. London: HMSO, 2004. Also available at: (accessed 6/06). Every child matters: change for children. London: DfES, 2004. Also available at: ; Department for Education and Skills, Every child matters: change for children in schools. London: DfES, 2004. Available at: ; Youth matters. London: Stationery Office, 2005; Department for Education and Skills, Five year strategy for children and learners: putting people and the heart of public services. London: DfES, 2004 (Cm 6272). Lucy Gildersleeves, Survey conducted of ASCEL members at ASCEL Conference, Bristol, 11–13 November 2005 (unpublished). Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, Start with the child: report of the CILIP Working Group on library provision for children and young people London: CILIP, 2002. Available at: (accessed 6/06). Resource, Inspiring learning for all: a framework for access and learning in museums, archives and libraries. London: Resource, 2002. Available at: . For a summary of the seven outcomes for users and four outcomes for services see p. 1. For case examples see Sarah Mears (ed.), Bright young things: libraries inspiring children’s learning. [UK]: Youth Libraries Group, 2004. Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, A safe place for children: guidelines from the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals to promote child safety in public libraries. Rev. London: CILIP, 2005. Library and Information Services Council (England) and the Working Party on Library Services for Children and Young People, Investing in children: the future of library services for children and young people. London: HMSO, 1995, vii. Department for Education and Skills, Extended schools: access to opportunities and services for all: a prospectus. London: DfES, 2005. Gildersleeves, Survey. Reading Agency, Their reading futures. The Reading Agency/ContinYou, Enjoying Reading: (accessed 6/06). Reading Agency, Fulfilling their potential. Children and Young People’s Unit, Learning to Listen action plan challenging all public services to involve young people in shaping services. London: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2001. For an overview of the issues typically facing SLS in this period see J. Saunders, School libraries and schools library services: a review: a report on school libraries and school library services in the SE region for the South East Museum, Library and Archive Council (SEMLAC). 2003. Library and Information Services Commission, Empowering the learning community London: LIC, 2000. Claire Creaser and Sally Maynard, A survey of library services to schools and children in the UK. Loughborough: LISU. Annual. Vols. 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04 and 2004–05 consulted.

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19 Education Act 2002. London: HMSO, 2002. Also available at: (accessed 6/06). 20 Training and Development Agency for Schools, Raising standards and tackling workload: (accessed 6/06). 21 Department for Education and Skills, Building schools for the future: (accessed 6/060. 22 Department for Education and Skills, Key Stage Three national strategy: English framework. London: DfES, 2001: (accessed 6/06). 23 Department for Education and Skills, 14–19: opportunity and excellence. London: DfES, 2003. 24 Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, English 21 playback: a national conversation on the future of the subject English. 2005: (accessed 6/06). 25 Irwin Kirsch et al., Reading for change: performance and engagement across countries – results from PISA 2000. Paris: OECD, 2002; Liz Twist et al., Reading all over the world: Progress in International Literacy Study (PIRLS): national report for England. Slough: NFER, 2003. 26 For case examples on exploiting technology see Sue Jones (ed.), Bridging the digital divide: ICT in library services for children. [UK]: Youth Libraries Group, 2001. 27 Stories from the web: (accessed 6/06). 28 British Broadcasting Corporation, Reading and writing (RaW): ; Reading Agency/Orange, Chatterbooks: . 29 For case studies of example activities for early years see Sarah Wilkie (ed.), Take them to the library: early years promotion in children’s libraries. [UK] :Youth Libraries Group, 2002. 30 Department for Education and Skills, Birth to three matters: a framework to support children in the earliest years. London: DfES, 2002. 31 Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, Early Years Library Network: . 32 The Sunshine Library, Wakefield: . 33 Sure Start Children’s Centre database: . 34 B. Wade and M. Moore, ‘A sure start with books’, Early years 20 (2), 2000, 39–46. 35 F. Collins, C. Svensson and P. Mahony, Bookstart: planting a seed for life. London: Roehampton University, 2005; National Centre for Research in Children’s Literature, University of Surrey Roehampton Evaluation of Bookstart. London: Book Trust, 2001; Edward Melhuish et al., The effective provision of pre-school education (EPPE) project: findings from the pre-school period 1997–2000. London: Institute of Education, 2001. Also available at: (accessed 6/06). 36 Grace McElwee, ‘It’s never too early’, Library + information update 3 (11), 2004, 23–5. 37 Bright young things, ed. Mears, pp. 28–9.

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38 John Holden, Creative reading: young people, reading and public libraries. London: Demos, 2004; John Vincent and Jerry Hurst, ‘Teenagers: where do we start?’ Library + information update 3 (5), 2004, 38–9. 39 Book Trust, Bookheads: ; Reading Champions: . 40 Catherine Morris, ‘Libraries rock!’, Public library journal 20 (1), 2005, 18–20; Poetry Society, Respect Slam!: . 41 Lesley Sim (ed.), All our children: social inclusion and children’s libraries. [UK]: Youth Libraries Group, 2001. 42 Tricia Kings, ‘Inside out: the Big Book Share’, Library + information update 3 (1), 2004, 24–6. 43 Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Reading and libraries challenge fund: (accessed 6/06). 44 Beverley Ward, ‘Making reading SEXY for Socially Excluded Youth’, Public library journal 19 (1), spring 2004, 4–6. 45 Department for Education and Skills, The impact of study support. London: DfES, 2001. 46 Department for Education and Skills/School Libraries Working Group, Improve your library: a self-evaluation process for primary schools. London: DfES, 2004. Also available at: ; Department for Education and Skills/School Libraries Working Group, Improve your library: a self-evaluation process for secondary school libraries and learning resource centres (+ support booklet). London: DfES, 2004. Also available at: . 47 Research Foundation, School libraries work! Scholastic Library Publishing, 2004; Dorothy Williams, Caroline Wavell, Louisa Coles, Impact of school library services on achievement and learning: critical literature review. Aberdeen: Robert Gordon University, 2001; Dorothy Williams, Caroline Wavell, Louisa Coles, Impact of school library services on achievement and learning in primary schools: critical literature review. Aberdeen: Robert Gordon University, 2002. 48 HM Inspectorate of Education/Scottish Library & Information Council, Libraries supporting learners. Livingston: HMIe, 2005 (How good is our school? series). 49 Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum, Taking a closer look at the school library resource centre: self-evaluation using performance indicators. Dundee, SCCC, 1999. 50 Reading Agency Their Reading Futures: . 51 For example, Isle of Wight. See Rob Jones, ‘We all work with children – ’, Library + information update 4 (5), 2005, 39. 52 Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, The primary school library guidelines. Rev. London: CILIP, 2002: ; Lynn Barrett and Jonathan Douglas (eds.), CILIP guidelines for secondary school libraries. 2nd ed. London: Facet, 2004. 53 Anthony Tilke, Managing your school library and information service. London: Facet, 2002. 54 Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals et al., School libraries making a difference. 2003; website: . 55 School Library Association: .

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56 Fiona Devoy, Open all hours: out of hours learning and the secondary school LRC Swindon: School Library Association, 2004; Geoff Dubber, Information matters: developing information literacy skills in the secondary school LRC. 2nd ed. Swindon: School Library Association, 2005. 57 Ian Dodds, (ed.), Reading remixed: new approaches to library services for teenagers. [UK]: Youth Libraries Group, 2003; Christine Hall (ed.), Read smarter not harder. [UK]: Youth Libraries Group, 2000. 58 Literacy Trust: .

8

Government libraries Peter Griffiths

Introduction The previous survey in this series described a number of themes which it said would be developed further in this narrative; and so there will be more about information support to evidence-based policy-making, the roles of government information specialists (sometimes known as librarians, but increasingly less so), and continuing change. There will also be an account of new initiatives and achievements, including the recognition of the profession at the highest levels, and the development of a virtual consortium, within the evidence-based policy-making initiative, for collaborative acquisition of information resources. In this quinquennium there was consolidation of previous achievements, together with new developments that marked a high point in government information management and librarianship by its conclusion in 2005. At the same time, issues such as the role of information professionals were brought into sharp focus by important developments in information management, notably by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). This Act’s implementation was completed in 2005 and highlighted both the parallels and distinctions between records managers and information managers. Librarians continued to be involved in technical and communications issues, with the Electronic Library for Government being a significant achievement, and a number of librarians gaining membership of the Government Information and Communication Service (GICS, later GCN) through an ecommunicators assessment centre. Departmental changes The theme of constant change was present in this survey period as in the previous one. This change manifested itself in a number of ways. At the governmental level, responsibilities continued to move between departments in what are known as ‘machinery of government’ changes. Some major changes took place following elections or cabinet reshuffles, but others were minor changes (sometimes as part of the same exercises) which for library managers nevertheless entailed the transfer of stock along with policy, and the need for the receiving departments to develop knowledge rapidly in order to support the incoming teams. Thus, for example, following the general election, the Department

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for Work and Pensions was created in June 2001 from the Department of Social Security and its agencies, together with elements of the Department for Education and Employment. At the same time the issue of work permits moved from the Department for Education and Employment to the Home Office, a small change in relative terms but giving that department a sizeable group of library users in a city 200 miles from the main library. As will be seen later in this survey, an innovative solution emerged that allowed the needs of four departments to be met. Further changes in 2002 created Defra, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, from MAFF (the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, which had existed under that name for around half a century). Some other changes were however short-lived: following the 2005 general election, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) was renamed the Department for Productivity, Energy and Industry – a change that lasted just long enough for the website to be rebranded before the department bowed to public and business opinion and changed the name back to DTI within the week.1 Two significant improvements to information services were made at departmental level with the creation of the Knowledge Services Department (KSD) at Dstl, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, in 2001 and the creation of a new information service at the Inland Revenue during 2002. Dstl’s KSD took over the management of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) collection of unpublished scientific and technical reports, which had been based in Glasgow (at the former Defence Research Information Centre, which closed on the formation of KSD), but added to this service a range of knowledge management activities giving access to a range of internal and (especially) external information services. The new service at Porton Down was notable for the introduction of a number of innovative services targeted at its sophisticated information users; in particular the role of ‘knowledge agent’ was developed to provide expert information management support to project staff within Dstl. These agents combined subject expertise (not just knowledge) with information and knowledge management skills, increasing their credibility within the organization.2 A brief overview of their activity is available on the Dstl website.3 The Inland Revenue made a major change in 2002 when it recognized its lack of an overall strategy for handling data despite its support for the principles of information management. The appointment of a director for information resources and the subsequent creation of an information resources team was an important step forward that assumed greater significance with the decision to integrate the Inland Revenue and HM Customs & Excise from 2005. Following a review of user needs, an information strategy was presented in 2003 in a report entitled ‘Information riches’. The Departmental Management Committee minutes for February 2003 (made available under the Freedom of Information Act) note the welcome for this report and strategy whilst also highlighting the budgetary and business issues with which government librarians have become familiar over time.4 The information strategy5 developed by the Revenue raised a number of similar issues to those seen at Dstl: the need to create a structure that would address the

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use of confidential as well as published information, the need to create a structure suitable for the needs of a dispersed organization as well as the needs of its headquarters location, the desirability of creating a culture of knowledge sharing (so far as this was allowed for by the protocols for handling confidential information), and the need to create a structure suitable for a business that had recognized the importance of information as the underlying element across its activities. Even here however further change was to take place, and the Inland Revenue merged with HM Customs and Excise to form HM Revenue and Customs in April 2005. The new organization included a Knowledge and Analysis and Intelligence (KAI) directorate, led at Senior Civil Service level, with four divisions: knowledge resources, analysis, information resources and a cross-cutting unit. Other change in individual departments was often driven simply by the need to save money when departmental budgets were under pressure. Thus for example Jackson states categorically in his account of the changes at Defra that the need to make savings was the reason that senior management commissioned a study of his service.6 Dudman examines the effect of these major changes on HMRC and on Defra, noting too the effect of machinery of government changes following the 2005 election.7 The Department of Trade and Industry aimed to improve efficiency by bringing together all the department’s information resources and managing them in a single structure based on a coherent information architecture.8 However, a key requirement in this strategy was seen as being the need to raise the level of information management skills in the department and to embed a different attitude in staff to the importance of those skills. The Government Actuary’s Department also underwent change as its library and information services were reviewed by a consultant charged with producing recommendations that would improve the services and their compliance with current standards,9 whilst the National Meteorological Library and Archive obtained new library management software (Unicorn) and moved to a new location in Exeter from its previous home in Bracknell.10 One major move of a departmental library to completely new central London premises took place in 2005, when the Home Office moved from the building it had occupied at 50 Queen Anne’s Gate since the late 1970s. The new library was located in offices designed by Sir Terry Farrell and located in Marsham Street, London,11 close to Parliament and, intriguingly, opposite Romney House which had been one of its homes from 1973 to 1977.12 The preparations for this move formed part of a larger change management exercise at the Home Office information services, marking a distinct stage in a longer cycle of development that had been going on since the mid-1990s.13 The Freedom of Information Act 2000 Around one half of central government department libraries were located within the same area of the organization as responsibility for records management. Thus

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the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, whose major provisions on disclosure came into force on 1 January 2005, was important to the departmental libraries with that responsibility and of considerable professional interest to librarians in the remaining departments. A number of departmental libraries were involved in the creation of publication schemes, and librarians often identified the practical issues involved in providing copies of items of departmental publishing that might be requested using FOI as justification. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the contribution of librarians became clearer after implementation as the business of locating and providing information became an operational rather than a theoretical issue. The requirement to create publication schemes highlighted the often erratic nature of departmental publishing, and the difficulty of creating a reliable bibliographic record. Government librarians contributed to the debate at the 2003 Umbrella Conference (although the papers were unfortunately not published) and at a seminar organized by SCOOP, the Standing Committee On Official Publications, in November 2003, where librarians were among the presenters and discussed the use of websites and other means of disseminating information about publications available from government departments.14 Librarians working in areas outside their departmental libraries were often leading the debate on how websites and other electronic resources could be improved to ensure currency and reliability of information there. Griffiths pointed out the issues in ensuring that information owners within departments took responsibility for the web pages and other information that they had created and reflected how these issues might work in practice when the provisions of the FOIA came into full effect.15 Change and opportunity Change remained a constant for government librarians during the survey period, bringing with it a further expansion of the opportunities to move into new areas of work. Taxonomy Activities such as thesaurus management and taxonomy tended to be regarded as somehow less exciting than website development and other ‘new librarianship’ initiatives in the late 1990s, yet within a short time they had gained both a prominence and a cachet that had eluded them for a considerable time. To a large extent it was the need to manage and in particular to retrieve information on departmental websites that brought the taxonomic approach to information architecture back into focus. The decision was eventually taken to develop a structure suitable for browsing rather than an extensive ‘pan-government thesaurus’ as earlier envisaged. The result was multiple vocabularies that required librarian skills to manage in several cases, and Dextre Clarke includes two examples from the Home Office websites and one from the Policy Hub.16 Librarians were closely involved in all of these projects. The importance of taxonomy grew during the period of this survey, although its use was not as obvious as might be thought from reading Dextre Clarke’s account.

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Anderson describes the issues of taxonomy-driven search taken into consideration during the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) research into intranet search engines, concluding that not only software but librarian skills are important in meeting end users’ requirements for relevant content.17 At the same time it should not be forgotten that the need for corporate thesauri and for subject headings is not removed by the introduction of enterprise taxonomies, and for example Defriez described the development of a thesaurus at the Department of Health, whose library catalogue and indexing had been published in electronic format over many years.18 Evidence-based policy-making Reference was made in the previous survey to the development of evidence-based policy-making, following the success of evidence-based medicine and the wider interests of authors such as Booth and Brice.19 Westcott identified issues concerned with evidence-based support to policy-making that were addressed in the creation of the portal giving access to ‘knowledge pools’, The Policy Hub, which described itself initially as ‘the first port of call for improvements in policy making and delivery’ and later as ‘the first port of call for all involved in policy making’.20 The National Audit Office’s report Modern policy-making described knowledge pools as being ‘about encouraging the sharing of information, engaging stakeholders involved in policymaking and improving understanding of ‘what works’ to create better evidence bases’.21 The NAO noted that the creation of five knowledge pools was under way, which would be accessed by an integrated portal. The content of the Policy Hub consisted initially of alerts and links about good quality research of relevance to government, as well as other linked content such as a toolkit on international comparisons in policy-making.22 As the archive contained within the site grew, the list of published research reports lengthened and a range of other resources to support social researchers was developed. The Better Regulation Task Force (later, the Better Regulation Commission) issued its report Local delivery of central policy in July 2002, calling for the further development of the Policy Hub as a key resource.23 Good relations between the librarian community and the social research community were reflected in the make-up of the small team that managed the Hub, which included a library and information professional seconded from the Home Office as an essential element in its skills mix. The Hub’s work involved identifying, listing and publicizing relevant and reliable items of research that had impact and importance for the work of government, and in particular its social research community. The website was one means of doing this, and the bulletin included within it provided links to the research items that had been evaluated. The techniques applied were relevant in departmental terms as well as for the Hub itself, and a project was undertaken at the Home Office by the returned secondee to identify the needs of its social researchers.24 The results of this work eventually formed the foundation of crossdepartmental agreements with information providers for the supply of their databases, contributing to the Gershon agenda that will be examined shortly. Of

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particular interest in this context is the development of the Magenta book, containing guidelines for policy evaluation and systematic review.25 In a survey such as the current chapter there is insufficient space to examine this area in depth, but it is notable that government social researchers, supported by their library and information professional colleagues, developed an entirely new way of carrying out reviews. Recognizing that, however desirable, there was not sufficient time to conduct reviews to the more extended timetables enjoyed by colleagues in academia, they adapted review techniques to take account of the fact that policymaking requires sound evidence and completed reviews in weeks rather than months. The Evidence Based Practice and Policy track at the Umbrella 2005 conference included a presentation by Davies that explained the various forms of review, their strengths and limitations, and made generous acknowledgement of the contribution of librarians and information specialists.26 It says much about how far this work had developed in five years, and its importance to government overall, that the report to CILIP’s biennial conference should be delivered by the Deputy Director of the government’s Social Research Unit. Other reported activities A number of accounts appeared during the survey period reporting on individual government libraries and their programmes of work. Sandford described information services at the Department of Health,27 Dudman reported developments at the Home Office,28 and Halls provided a description of the work of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office legal library.29 Professional skills and professional bodies Part of the civil service delivery and reform programme called for the recognition of the need for professionalism across the service, rather than the concept hitherto represented by the existing ‘traditional’ specialist professional groups, including librarians. It would be important that in future all civil servants should consider themselves professionals, rather than generalists who happened to be in a particular post for a particular period of time. Policy would only be delivered effectively if future senior staff had experience of a range of types of work in at least two professional areas. This new approach, known as the Professional Skills for Government programme or PSG,30 was announced in October 200431 and rolled out in 2005 following further work to define the requirements. It included three new professional groupings, operational delivery, policy delivery and corporate services delivery. Because the initial frameworks were introduced from the most senior level first and there were very few librarian professional posts at this level, the question was not fully addressed during this survey period of how existing structures such as those for librarians would align with this framework. It was not, for example, a foregone conclusion that the librarian professional group would sit within the corporate services delivery strand. CDL, the Committee of Departmental Librarians, responded to the Cabinet Office’s consultation paper expressing concerns that the new groupings might be seen as replacing existing groups, and

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that information management skills might wrongly be assumed to be subsumed within existing civil service management skills, but it nonetheless welcomed the initiative and any assurances that information management skills would be recognized within the new frameworks.32 Departments were asked to introduce PSG-compliant skills frameworks for Grade 7 posts by April 2006 and it was decided that below Grade 7 there would be no single framework because of the variety of work and grading systems in individual departments. Other issues that would require eventual resolution included the linking of government librarians to an appropriate sector skills council, since with the creation of the Government Sector Skills Council in 2005 they were not only represented here as civil servants but also in the Lifelong Learning SSC which represented librarianship in the national arena. CDL, which in 2005 began to adopt a revised identity as CDL: Heads of Profession for Library and Information Managers, took the opportunity offered by the arrival of the PSG programme and the publication of CILIP’s Body of Professional Knowledge33 to revise its competency framework.34 The six competency groups in the 1998 framework35 were replaced by a new PSG-compliant three-section scheme that could be incorporated into the PSG structure.36 Apart from CDL’s adoption of a strapline to explain its mission, both the membership-led professional organizations devoted to the interests of UK government librarians underwent a change of identity during this period. In the case of the Government Libraries Group (of the Library Association and then of CILIP from its vesting day in April 2002) the change was relatively straightforward, involving the addition of the word ‘Information’ so that it became the Government Libraries and Information Group. The proposal was put to the 2004 AGM following the Group committee’s discussion about the wider role of information professionals in government departments and agencies, and the new name adopted from the beginning of 2005.37 The Circle of State Librarians, whose history goes back to the 1920s, embarked on a change of name in 2004 after long debate. Grieg outlined the history of the Circle in a survey that also provided a snapshot of the state of government libraries.38 Cumming argued in what was still then State librarian (although that name had for some time been absent from the cover and title page) that the name of the Circle implied exclusivity, oppression (as the word State had acquired unpleasant associations that were absent when it was selected some half-century earlier) and the fustiness of librarianship.39 The 2004 AGM agreed that the name of the Circle should be altered to something that its membership considered more appropriate to government libraries in a time of change at the beginning of a new century; an extraordinary general meeting in 2005 confirmed the change to the Network of Government Library and Information Specialists. A long-standing issue about government libraries and their availability was raised by the speaker at the Government Libraries Group’s annual general meeting in 2002.40 To what extent should departmental libraries be a public resource and should their collection policies be a statement of wider interests than their strict

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departmental interests? On this occasion, there was an additional point of debate, which was whether the imminent arrival of Freedom of Information would make any difference to this argument. In the event there was no new debate on this topic, the approach to FOI varied department to department, and budget continued to be an important factor in determining how generous collection polices could be. A number of government librarians achieved a kind of ‘dual nationality’ by undertaking the assessment centre run by GICS, the Government Information and Communication Service, which later became the GCN or Government Communications Network.41 Working together As has been noted in other parts of this survey, CDL was active across a wide range of policy areas during this period. It submitted evidence to the Gershon review,42 drawing attention to the joined-up approach that departmental libraries had long taken and which was already contributing to efficiency and cost-saving. The response drew attention to the importance of information professional skills and the potential for further contributions by government librarians. In an article for State librarian Griffiths described this and other CDL approaches to the reform agenda, citing also CDL’s approach to copyright licensing issues and the contribution that government librarians were making to cross-cutting initiatives such as the Government Metadata Framework (especially the Government Category List).43 A major achievement by the end of the survey period was the agreement by the Cabinet Office that government librarians should represent all information managers at the Heads of Profession meetings, meaning that in effect the long sought after role of head of profession for librarians and information managers had been achieved. CDL published a number of guidelines which were regularly published in the professional press for government librarians. Reference is made elsewhere to the competencies framework: CDL’s working group on better quality services, set up in response to the cross-departmental agenda in this field, issued its list of common standards in 2002. This had a dual purpose: it could be used to assist departments to demonstrate the quality of existing services, but it also provided a checklist for setting up new library and information services – although it was not intended to be prescriptive. One of the most notable events in this collaboration agenda was the launch of the Electronic Library for Government. Intended both as a resource for government librarians and a showcase for departments, it was developed in collaboration with and hosted by the Knowledge Network, and provided a range of information on departmental libraries’ capabilities, including subject-specific information and an area for the librarian community of interest. Based on the template used for the LION electronic legal library system used by the Government Legal Service, the ELG was launched by Sir Richard Wilson at the CDL annual conference in May 2002.44 Plans for commercial content did not go forward, although a number of consortium-style purchasing agreements were set up with the collaboration of the

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Government Chief Social Researcher’s Office as noted above in the discussion of evidence-based research. In late 2005 work began on a revised information architecture and design following a consultancy study to examine future options. At the departmental level the usual cooperation continued in such areas as inter-lending, whilst longer-term ambitions such as the desire to provide unified access to catalogues continued to be addressed by CDL’s working groups – in this case the IT group. In late 2005 came a true first for government libraries with the launch of a joint service supported by three departments, later four. The services from the library in the Moorfoot building in Sheffield were formalized into a joint service, with the DfES team offering a basic enquiry and triage service to civil servants from their own department, DWP, the Home Office and the Learning and Skills Council. The new service was launched in December 2005 at an open day where all partners were present, along with database suppliers, and many potential users visited.45 An international profession: government librarians at IFLA IFLA’s 2002 conference was successfully held in Edinburgh. A pre-conference seminar was held in London on the theme of government libraries, jointly organized by the IFLA Section of Government Libraries and the Government Libraries Group of CILIP. A number of papers were given by government librarians from a number of countries, whilst delegates were also able to visit the libraries of several government departments and take part in workshops and seminars held there.46 Delegates were enthusiastic about the seminar, and its lessons were taken back to participants’ home countries where they were shared with the local professional community, for example in Finland.47 Conclusion At the end of the period government libraries and librarians – whether or not they used the words to describe themselves and their workplaces – had become well integrated into a number of areas of government strategy and policy-making. They worked closely with other professional groups, particularly the social research community, and the applicability of this model to other professional disciplines was becoming apparent. The rigour of librarians’ professional framework of competencies had passed muster with the Professional Skills for Government programme and there was de facto a recognition of the most senior information manager as the first head of profession. Events such as the IFLA pre-conference seminar and the Umbrella conferences gave government libraries a high profile that was echoed by awards to members of the profession – not only government library-focused awards such as the GLG Award, but by a clutch of national and international awards.48 The Electronic Library for Government was a practical example of joined up working that demonstrated the verity of the evidence submitted to Gershon by CDL. These were five important years for government librarians and information specialists and may well in retrospect be viewed as a turning point in the history of the profession.

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Notes 1 2

3 4

5

6 7 8 9

10 11

12 13 14

15

16

17

18 19

BBC, Jibes prompt DTI rebrand U-turn [web page]. 13 May 2005: (accessed 24/6/06). Jane Dudman, ‘Armed with knowledge’, Information world review 200, March 2004, 12–13; Steve Thornton and Chrissie McCracken, ‘Putting the human touch into knowledge management’, Vine 35 (3), 2005, 149–55. Dstl website: (accessed 24/6/06). Inland Revenue, Departmental management committee minutes, 11th February 2003. London: Inland Revenue, 2003. Available on website of HM Revenue & Customs at:

(accessed 24/6/06). Jane Dudman, ‘Guiding the revenue in taxing times’, Information world review 205, Sept. 2004, 14–15; Gwenda Sippings, ‘Putting information on the map at the Inland Revenue’, Library + information update 3 (4), 2004, 30–3. Kevin Jackson, ‘All change at Defra’, Library + information update 4 (7/8) 2005, 44–6. Jane Dudman, ‘Putting it together’, Information world review 219, Dec. 2005, 20–2. Elpseth Hyams and Liz Maclachlan, ‘All change at the DTI’, Library + information update 1 (9), 2002, 46–7. E. Baratto, ‘The development of a coherent Information Service at the Government Actuary’s Department’, Government libraries journal 12 (3), 2002, 12–16; E. Baratto, ‘Information services at the Government Actuary’s Department’, Records management bulletin 113, Apr. 2003, 13–15. M. Kidd, ‘Interesting times at the Met Office’, Government libraries journal 12 (3), 2002, 10–11. Brian Warden, ‘Library in focus: the new Home Office library in Westminster’, Solar autumn 2005, 25. Available at: . D. B. Gibson, ‘Planning and executing a library move: the experience of the Home Office Library’, State librarian 26 (1), 1978, 9–10. Jane Dudman, ‘Driving change’, Information world review 208, Dec. 2004, 20–1. Valerie J. Nurcombe (ed.), Publication schemes: access to official information in the 21st century. Proceedings of a one day seminar 17 November 2003. Winsford: SCOOP, 2004. Peter Griffiths, ‘What’s the latest? Information ownership, archiving and the right of access’ in Online information 2002: proceedings [of the 26th Online Information Conference]. Oxford: Learned Information Europe, 2002, pp. 33–7. Stella Dextre Clarke, ‘A devolved architecture for public sector interoperability’ in Information architecture: designing information environments for purpose, ed. Alan Gilchrist and Barry Mahon. London: Facet, 2004, pp. 145–60. B. Anderson, ‘Case study of intrant search: gathering user requirements and mapping them to functionality’ in Online information 2004: proceedings, ed. Jonathan Lewis. [Oxford]: Learned Information, 2004, pp. 253–8. Phil Defriez, ‘Thesaurus development at the Department of Health’, Catalogue & index 140, summer 2001, 1–3. Andrew Booth and Anne Brice, Evidence based practice for information professionals: a handbook. London: Facet, 2004. For a current publications list including work in the

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20

21

22 23

24 25

26

27 28 29 30 31

32

33 34 35

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1990s with IFM Healthcare that involved the Department of Health Library see . S. Westcott, Linking up the knowledge: report to Centre for Management and Policy studies for the Knowledge Pools Resource Centre project. London: [Committee of Departmental Librarians?], 2000. National Audit Office, Modern policy-making: ensuring policies deliver value for money. London: TSO, 2001 (HC 2001–02; 289), 33. Also available at: (accessed 21/6/06). Cabinet Office. Policy Hub website: (accessed 21/6/06); some snapshots of the original site remain available at: . Better Regulation Task Force, Local delivery of central policy. London: Cabinet Office, 2002. Available at: (accessed 21/6/06). N. Owens, ‘Supporting the information needs of social researchers in the Home Office’, Government libraries journal 14 (1), 2004, 15–19 and 14 (2), 2004, 15–20. Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, The magenta book: guidance notes for policy evaluation and analysis. London: Cabinet Office, 2003–. Available online at (accessed 21/6/06). Chapter 2 is particularly relevant to library and information professionals, and the attached checklist includes a number of questions that can only be answered by properly conducted literature reviews. Librarians are regularly involved in providing the training courses referred to on this checklist. Philip Davies, ‘How research supports evidence-based policy’. [Presentation at Umbrella 2005, Manchester, July 2005.] Available at: (accessed 21/6/06). P. Sandford, ‘Information services in the Department of Health’, Library and information briefings 93, Mar. 2001. 1–10. Jane Dudman, ‘Driving change’, Information world review 208, Dec. 2004, 20–1. S. Halls, ‘Member profile: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office legal library’, European information 20, Oct. 2002, 12–14. For more information on the content and development of the programme see . The press release announcing the programme contains links to further explanatory material including presentations to a senior civil service conference in February 2004. CDL, ‘Committee of Departmental Librarians response to the Professionalisation in the Civil Service Consultation exercise (CDL paper 2004/61)’, Government libraries journal 15 (1), 2005, 23–6. CILIP, Body of professional knowledge. London: CILIP, 2004. Available at: (accessed 21/6/06). Alison Raisin, ‘CDL Competencies – how (and why) we got to a new, simpler, and more widely applicable framework’, Government libraries journal 15 (3), 2005, 17–20. CDL Competencies Working Group, ‘CDL Competencies Framework’, State librarian summer 1999, 55–60.

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36 CDL, CDL competency framework 2005 (CDL 2005/69). Available at: (accessed 21/6/06). 37 CILIP, Government Libraries Group, [Minutes of the 2004 annual general meeting.] Available at: (accessed 21/6/06). 38 F. Grieg, ‘The state of the Circle’, Managing information 10 (4), 2003, 36–9. Also available at: (accessed 21/6/06). 39 Maevyn Cumming, ‘A circle by any other name’, State librarian winter/spring 2004, 8– 13; K. George, ‘GLIG members honoured at awards ceremony’, GLG newsletter 15 (1), Feb. 2005, 4–5. 40 Bernard Naylor, ‘Libraries and government: some reflections. Paper presented to the AGM of the Government Libraries Group of the Library Association by Bernard Naylor on 12th March 2002’, Government libraries journal 12 (2), 2002, 12–19. 41 Peter Griffiths, ‘GICS targets e-communicators in recruitment exercise’, Government libraries journal 12 (2), 2002, 7. 42 Peter Gershon, Releasing resources for the frontline: independent review of public sector efficiency. London: [Cabinet Office], 2004. (The ‘Gershon review’.) Available online at: (accessed 21/6/06). 43 Peter Griffiths, ‘The Committee of Departmental Librarians’ response to the reform agenda’, State librarian spring 2005, 17–20. 44 The launch was reported by Kable at: . 45 H. Challinor, ‘Moorfoot: practical collaboration in action’, Network 1, spring 2006, 36– 40. 46 For example L. Cooper, Workshop on Cataloguing Government Publications, Home Office, 14 August 2002: . 47 M. Jussilainen et al., ‘e-Government muuttamassa nopeasti julkishallinnon kirjastojen roolia Englannissa’ [= e-Government is changing the role of governmental libraries fast in England], Signum 35 (7), 2002, 137–9. 48 P. Bell, ‘Awards for government librarians 2004’ in ‘Editorial’, State librarian spring 2005, 6–9; K. George, ‘GLIG members honoured at awards ceremony’, GLG newsletter 15 (1), Feb. 2005, 4–5.

9

Learned, professional and independent libraries Mary Nixon with Carol Allison

Methodology In the new millennium, as in the previous one, the hard-pressed staff of learned, professional and independent libraries seem to have had little opportunity to publish in journals. As in the previous two editions of this work, therefore, this chapter draws on responses to a questionnaire.1 In addition, a number of librarians were kind enough to supply additional information by phone or email. Where no bibliographic reference is given in the notes, information came from one of these sources. Where percentages or proportions are given, they refer to the responses to the questionnaire. Background Many learned, professional and independent libraries are among the oldest in the country. In 2001 the Cranston Library at St Mary’s Church, Reigate, celebrated its tercentenary as the oldest lending library in England.2 The Leeds Library was celebrated in a work which included essays on its purchases in 1817 and its Foreign Circulating Library in the early nineteenth century,3 and another described the collections of the Royal College of Physicians – everything from books to ear trumpets apparently.4 Still new ones are created to serve hitherto unregarded subjects and groups. In the library world at large, the themes were lifelong learning and widening access – the Heritage Lottery Fund assisted a number of projects in these areas and the New Opportunities Fund enabled the digitization of a number of important collections of images. The Research Support Libraries Programme (supported by HEFCE and the British Library) gave funding mainly to academic libraries, though a few learned society and independent libraries managed to join the RSLP’s subject-based projects.5 The issue of electronic publishing opened up a gap between the learned societies, which depend in some cases to a large extent on income from their publications and other libraries which complain bitterly of increases in subscriptions and support open access publishing.

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Alice Prochaska commented that ‘the two functions of librarian and curator have been seen traditionally within their own professions as distinct and often incompatible’.6 Resource (in 2004 renamed the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council) and its regional councils sought to bring together all three sectors, something that learned and professional libraries already had experience of (not infrequently in one person). Electronic media increased in importance. Libraries broadened their thinking from computerized catalogues to the provision of a range of resources from their collections for users from researchers to school students and/or provided electronic journals and other resources for their members on site and elsewhere. Conservation seems to have loomed less large than it did in the previous decade, but a number of libraries took advantage of the National Preservation Office’s preservation assessment visits to take stock of the state of their collections.7 Activities Nearly half the libraries surveyed had taken on extra responsibilities in the period 2001–05. Some of these were extensions of library work: the Advocates Library, for example, was employing a rare books cataloguer to catalogue the Abbotsford Library and other pre-1801 imprints. The Médiathèque of the Institut Français added story-telling and reading groups to its repertoire. At the Institution of Electrical Engineers, the Library and Archives were merged, with the loss of two posts, while at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the department grew to cover not just the library but archives, records management and web site. The British Geological Survey Library commented laconically that ‘We had an archivist for 8 months who left so Library looking after archives again’. New legislation produced yet more opportunities for diversification, with responsibility for data protection and/or freedom of information being added to the workload of some libraries. The Chartered Institute of Marketing Information and Library Service was undertaking tasks such as copyright checking, data protection, proof-reading and sitting on an editorial board. Records management fell to the Institute of Actuaries, the Zoological Society and the Royal Society libraries. The Library and Information Service of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) was responsible for the Institute’s website. At the Royal College of Nursing, the Library built on its success in developing an institutional information strategy in 1999 to take the lead in the institutional communications strategy.8 The National Library for the Blind organized more external events and found themselves training public library staff to provide better services for visually impaired people. Almost alone among respondents, the Library of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, had shed one of its responsibilities – for IT.

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Arrivals, departures, changes and moves The foundation of libraries by private benefactors has a long and honourable tradition. When Chawton House (once owned by Jane Austen’s brother Edward) came on to the market, Sandy Lerner, co-founder of Cisco Systems and a Jane Austen enthusiast, acquired the lease, restored it and made it the home of a Library and Centre for Early English Women’s Writing. Opened in 2003 the Library already contained more than 9,000 rare books and manuscripts and provides a setting for the study of some 2,000–3,000 women writers 1600–1830. Not all were writers of fiction; the collection covers the performing arts, education, cookery and advice to midwives.9 Several specialist libraries found homes in academia: the Institute of Actuaries and Faculty of Actuaries transferred part of their historical collection to Edinburgh University, the Women’s Art Library/MAKE (formerly the Women Artists’ Slide Library) moved to Goldsmiths College, after a stay at Central St Martin’s School of Art, and the Tony Arnold Library (the Library of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and the Association of Taxation Technicians) went to the Law Library of King’s College London in 2001. In 2004 management of the last named was outsourced to LexisNexis Butterworths, with an increase in staffing from eight hours a week to 37. The Library and Information Services of the Institute of Chartered Accountants had two changes of line management in the five year period. Finally, after some two decades of indecision, several reports, assorted architects’ plans and ‘many meetings, epic in length and drama’,10 a permanent home was finally found for the Royal Institute of British Architects’ magnificent Drawings Collection, which moved with its Manuscripts Collection to a new architecture gallery at the Victoria & Albert Museum. The Royal Asiatic Society vacated its premises in 2005 and relocated temporarily with the intention of moving to a new permanent home in Stephenson Way, NW1 in early 2006. The National Meteorological Library and Archive also moved, with its parent body, the Meteorological Office, from Bracknell to Exeter in 2004. At the same time, staffing was reduced from 14 to 11 (9 in the Library and 2 in the Archive) and its budget decreased. The picture was not entirely negative, however. Extra funding was made available for digitization to enable the Library to occupy smaller premises after the move and the cost of some journals was transferred to other sections. On 22 May 2003 the Dean and Chapter of York Minster announced the closure of the Minster Library ‘for financial reasons’.11 This provoked a flurry of protests and letters to the Times from, among others, the Bibliographical Society, the Association of British Theological and Philosophical Libraries, the Librarians’ Christian Fellowship, the Historic Libraries Forum, and the Library History Group, Rare Books Group and Chief Executive of CILIP. CILIP Council members expressed their concern forthrightly: ‘Our intellectual and cultural heritage is not safe in the hands of the Church’, stated Peter Harbord.12 A month later on 23 June, bowing to the inevitable, the Dean and Chapter issued another statement: ‘The

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Chapter recognizes that is has made an error of judgement. It got it wrong’.13 This unfortunate incident not only secured the future of the Minster Library but raised awareness, within CILIP and the Church of England, of the threats to other ecclesiastical libraries and led the Archbishop of Canterbury to commission a report on the central repositories of the Church of England. Another major library that came under threat in the period was the Science Museum Library, faced with a substantial rent increase from the landlords, Imperial College. Disappointingly, the Chairman of the Museum Trustees saw the library as ‘an expense too many, threatening the museum’s core work’.14 At the time of writing, funding had been given for another year, but its future was still uncertain. Collections Only a few of the libraries in the survey had made major acquisitions in the past five years. The Tony Arnold Library received material from the Inland Revenue’s International Library, closed as part of the merger between the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise. The British Geological Survey Library acquired a collection of published and unpublished material from a former Director of the Survey, Sir Kingsley Dunham, while the Royal Society acquired three new collections of papers of former Fellows, Thomas Gold, Christopher Longuet Higgins and Sir Nicholas Shackleton. Chetham’s Library used finance from the Heritage Lottery Fund to purchase the chained library founded by Humphrey Chetham for the parochial chapel of Gorton.15 An anonymous donor helped the Lord Coutanche Library of the Société Jersiaise to purchase a large part of the late Ian Monins’s vast collection of Channel Islands books and ephemera, dispersed after his death. Funding Of those libraries in the survey, half reported that their spending had remained the same over the period 2001–2005, a third that it had gone down and a sixth had had an increase in their budgets. Professional libraries appeared to be the most likely to have above-inflation increases, to take account of ever-increasing journal prices, but a number of learned and professional libraries (e.g. Inner Temple) reported having to cancel subscriptions. At ICAEW and the Inner Temple spending on electronic resources increased, by 100% in the former case, while Lincoln’s Inn Library received significant extra funding for electronic services without significant reduction in hard-copy spending. The RCOG was another body which funded increases above inflation to safeguard its information provision, and the Information Service of the Scottish Accountancy Trust for Education and Research had an increased budget in 2005. The precarious nature of funding for independent libraries was illustrated by Chetham’s Library which suffered a fall in income due to a poor return on its investments; the National Library for the Blind suffered a similar experience and had to cut budgets each year. At the same time, both libraries received project funding from external bodies, Chetham’s a grant of £81,000 from the Heritage

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Lottery Fund for cataloguing the chained library at Gorton and the NLB £16,520 from the DfEES and DCMS/Wolfson to transcribe 50 non-traditional history books.17 Another hazard was reported by the Goethe-Institut Library, where funding for books was cut in favour of events – perhaps unsurprisingly this was one of the libraries which experienced a fall in use over the period. The Royal Asiatic Society was another to suffer budget cuts and a fall in use. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) undertook a funding review exercise in 2001, as a result of which the library budget was significantly reduced. At the Royal Society, the Library’s funding was reduced during a five-year period of refurbishment, and funding for some activities such as conservation and microfilming was not restored; however it had Heritage Lottery funding for two projects, including £43,000 for its web of science project18 and a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for a third. Other beneficiaries of the Heritage Lottery Fund were the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal Geographical Society, which received over £4 million for its ‘Unlocking the Archives’ project.19 The Geological Society Library was one of a number that took part in a HLF bid for the Access to Archives (A2A) project and also benefited from the Society’s bicentenary appeal, which paid for a number of projects including retrospective cataloguing of the book collection to complete the online catalogue and for staff to work on a map catalogue project. At the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the Library received increased funding for electronic resources, which it networked to the whole organization. Grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation paid for digitization of rare books and for contributing digitized illustrations, text and other material to the African Plants Initiative and the Aluka Project, while private sponsors supported the conservation and conversion from bound volumes to fascicules of 218 volumes of 19th- and early 20th-century correspondence. The Zoological Society of London received support for art cataloguing from the Michael Marks Trust and from the Wolfson Trust for reading room refurbishment. Donations from the Friends of Lambeth Palace Library continued to provide a catalyst for other grants for purchases from bodies such as the Art Fund.20 Another library reliant to some extent on private individuals was the Lord Coutanche Library of the Société Jersiaise, whose members were generous with donations and bequests, and an anonymous donor gave £10,000 to purchase items from an important local collection. The London Library appointed a full-time Fundraiser in 2004 to oversee a development appeal and membership promotion, and used its first-ever user survey to assist in its strategic planning.21 New sources of funding appeared at the beginning of the millennium: the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) offered grants for digitization.22 Lambeth Palace Library received a grant of £75,000 for the digitization of the architectural plans in the papers of the Incorporated Church Building Society,23 while the Commonwealth Institute was awarded £250,000 for its Commonwealth Learning Gateway. The Wellcome Trust with the British Library provided funding for the cataloguing

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of Research Resources in Medical History, from which the Royal College of Surgeons,24 the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Nursing all received grants.25 The success of the scheme (which was initially only for two years) led to its being extended for another two years.26 The Wolfson Foundation supported the National Library for the Blind’s ‘A touch more’ campaign to encourage visually impaired people to use local libraries.27 Buildings In 2003 the new building for the Women’s Library – a converted washhouse in Aldgate – was commended by the judges of the annual RIBA Architecture Awards, who described it as ‘a lovingly crafted work which has been carefully constructed and which is much appreciated by its users’.28 In addition to storage and reading rooms it featured a seminar room and exhibition area, where an early exhibition was, appropriately enough, on how laundry has changed from a Victorian profession to a modern obsession’.29 The building project, which was partially funded by a £4.2 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, was a flagship project for London Guildhall University and demonstrated the benefits for the collection of its academic setting.30 Chatham House Library reported a reduction in space for the Library in 2005, with a further reduction planned for 2006. The London Library acquired another building adjacent to its St James’s Square premises with a view to further expansion. The Royal Society underwent major building works which necessitated moving some stock to a remote store. Remote storage at Wansdyke was now used for records management. The Society’s Library also benefited from climate control in its book room and a large permanent exhibition area enabling a display of its varied collections. The Royal Society of Medicine also engaged in a major refurbishment to celebrate its 200th birthday. The Library underwent a number of improvements, including, crucially, strengthening its floors to current standards, and the provision of suitable environments for both rare books and readers.31 At the British Dental Association during a major refurbishment the multimedia room was turned into a Museum. A new Museum was also created at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, with Heritage Lottery funding, where library, archive and museum material could be displayed. At the Royal Academy of Arts a new muniment room for the archives was opened in 2002.32 The Members of the Royal College of Nursing (a trade union as well as a professional body) voted for an increase of 10% in subscriptions to cover a number of extra services; second on the list were improvements to information services. The Library was extended and refurbished.33 At the British Geological Survey, stock continued to grow and mobile shelving was installed in the strong room. The Geological Society Library also installed mobile shelving in a new monograph store in 200234 and a new periodical store in 2004, when separate rooms for storing maps and modern archives were also

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35

created. As part of the major project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, three new archive strongrooms were created at the Royal Society of Arts. Lincoln’s Inn Library also gained new strongrooms for rare books, archives and manuscripts, with mobile shelving, and replacement air conditioning and fire protection systems, as part of a major refurbishment of the building. At the Inner Temple a comfort cooling system was installed. The reading room at the Institution of Electrical Engineers was refurbished in 2000, as was that of the Zoological Society of London, where works were also carried out to ensure compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act. At Lambeth Palace Library, an age-old tradition of making readers eat their lunch al fresco in the courtyard garden came to an end when a small tea room was created for them. Staff The number of staff employed in the libraries responding to the survey varied from one to 75; 14 libraries had two to five staff, and 10 had five to ten. There was no trend in staffing; equal numbers reported that staff numbers had risen, fallen, and remained the same in the period, and of those who employed volunteers, five had increased numbers, four had fewer, and three had remained at the same level. Two libraries that had not previously employed volunteers had started to do so, and another was considering it. One library mentioned a work experience trainee. At the British Geological Survey, staff became involved in the Survey’s overseas projects, and members of staff were sent to work in Afghanistan and Mozambique. Closer to home, the Librarian of the Alpine Club was one of 11 librarians to win a Churchill Fellowship in 2001 – to visit major mountaineering libraries throughout Europe.36 Access and use The majority of respondents did not change their rules for access between 2001 and 2005. Those who did made small moves in the direction of wider access. The Chartered Institute of Marketing Information and Library Service, which had formerly charged a fee to non-members, abandoned this charge in 2003, when they considered becoming a charity; from January 2006 however the charges for nonmembers were to be reinstated. The Zoological Society Library dropped its previous nominal charges for non-members in 2005. At the Tony Arnold Library nonmembers were always admitted because of the specialist focus of the collection, but after its move to King’s College, there was a greater emphasis on access for King’s staff and students. Several professional bodies, whose libraries were previously open only to their own members and students, widened access to include allied professionals and/or students; the Inner Temple started to admit student members of other Inns of Court, while the ICAEW admitted members of the Association of Corporate Treasurers by special arrangement and the Library of the RPSGB came to a formal arrangement for pharmacy technicians. The Royal Society for the Arts admitted non-Fellows only by appointment. The Médiathèque of the Institut Français widened access in a different way, by instituting a free

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mobile library (30–40 items at a time from their collections going to other libraries and institutions). Nearly half the libraries in the survey reported that use had increased over the past five years, with only a sixth saying that it had gone down. Particular patterns of use suggest that in some cases electronic access could be a substitute for personal visits and enquiries, but in other cases making some information available electronically whetted the appetite of potential visitors. The Royal Society found that registered users had nearly doubled between 2000/01 and 2004/05 from 948 to 1,635 and enquiries had increased over the same period from 3,372 to 4,538. The Library and Archives of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew had an even higher rate of increase, from approximately 1,500 in 2000/01 to 2,675 in 2004/05. The RPSGB Library on the other hand found that while more users accessed their services, enquiries were beginning to fall. The Institution of Electrical Engineers also found that the number of loans, enquiries and photocopy requests had fallen but the introduction of electronic content services had brought in new users. The Institute of Chartered Accountants reported a fall in enquiries, owing to a concerted effort to deliver information over the web, while the Chartered Institute of Marketing saw a fall in visitors, attributed to shorter opening hours. The British Geological Survey also noted that fewer visits by BGS staff were offset by increased use of electronic access, and that external use remained the same. The Geological Society Library had experienced a fall in visitors but an increase in enquiries, and those enquiries tended to be more complex and require more in depth research. It also experienced tension between the needs of individual Fellows and the large, often multinational, firms which had the status of Corporate Affiliates.37 Solving this problem was particularly important, given that Fellows saw the Library as one of the major benefits of membership. The National Library for the Blind, the Scottish Accountancy Trust for Education and Research (SATER) and the London Library all reported a fall in use, starting to rise again, in the NLB’s case because of the introduction of giant print books. Catalogues In the survey libraries were asked whether they had a computerized catalogue and if so, whether it was online. Only 3 out of 30 answered ‘no’ to the first part of the question; Westminster Abbey reported that they were hampered by systems difficulties. Many qualified their reply: ‘Still retroconversion work to do’, said the Advocates Library, a sentiment echoed by others. Some had contributed catalogue records to joint projects, notably the consortium of scientific libraries which contributed to the Access to Archives (A2A) project and comprised the libraries of the Geological Society, the Natural History Museum, the Royal Society, and the Institutions of Civil and of Mechanical Engineers. Cataloguing and classification can be a special problem for learned and professional libraries, which may require greater depth than a conventional academic or public library, or simply have material that is hard to catalogue. The Society for Co-operation in Russian and Soviet Studies admitted that not all its varied

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resources were catalogued and that, perhaps uniquely in the UK, used the classification system of the Lenin Library.38 The Northern Ireland Political Collection of Belfast’s Linen Hall Library has among its 250,000 items ‘badges, calendars, Christmas cards and defaced coins, not to mention baby’s [sic] bibs, bullets, political lollipops and jam …’. 39 Their unique collection of posters was catalogued on a CD-ROM, with a brief commentary on each, and in order to produce this staff had to track down and interview key poster designers from all sides of the political divide. Collections such as these have their own unique problems, such as thesauri (‘do you use “murders” with its judgemental and often disputed connotations, or do you use “deaths”?’ mused John Gray)40 and the possible reaction of users; much of the Wiener Library’s stock – ranging from antiSemitic children’s books to 1,200 eyewitness accounts of Holocaust survivors – is distasteful, distressing or shocking.41 2003 saw the publication of the final volume of the Royal Institute of British Architects’ catalogue of early imprints, the end result of 30 years’ work by half a dozen curators.42 Far more than a conventional library catalogue, it contains exhaustive descriptions of each graphic element in every book and a very detailed descriptive bibliography.43 The 4,205 works (described in 3250 pages) include dozens of different editions of major architectural writers such as Vitruvius and Palladio. It seems improbable that works on such a scale will be printed in the future. At Westminster Abbey Library (surely one of the oldest in the country) the Librarian compiled a bibliography of 3,394 books and articles about the Abbey published in the past 425 years.44 Services It is frequently quite difficult to distinguish between learned society and professional libraries, since many organizations combine both functions. However, in the introduction of electronic services a distinction appeared, although it was not entirely clear-cut. Most professional institutes offered their members online access to electronic journals and databases by 2005, while learned society libraries tended to concentrate on making their own resources available to a wider public. Independent libraries appeared to be little affected by the online revolution. The Advocates Library introduced online and other electronic services and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew online journals and abstracts. The latter also planned its digital strategy to make available its superb collections of botanical illustrations.45 The Tony Arnold Library installed a PC for users with online databases and CD-ROMs, and intended in the longer term to move from print to electronic resources for the benefit of their members outside London. The Geological Society Library offered access to over 100 e-journals, and also provided internet and email access for visitors from 2002, and wi-fi access in 2005. It was one of a number of libraries which also began to put additional information on its website, including lists of presidents, medallists and obituaries. The Inner Temple added word processing facilities to email and online database access for its members. The IEE

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offered access to e-books as well as e-journals. The British Geological Survey introduced online circulation and reservations, access to e-journals and abstracting services, and made their own publications available in electronic format to the Survey staff. The RPSGB Library offered online access to staff and walk-in users with a view to extending this to members off-site. It also systematically automated its procedures and started selling the Society’s publications. The Institute of Physics made all its journals available electronically.46 The National Library for the Blind piloted Daisy books, CDs containing both text and audio, which were navigable. The Goethe-Institut introduced new online services for ‘A’ level students and others, the Working Class Movement Library also produced schools packs, including a CD, The children of the Industrial Revolution, and the Royal Society Library collaborated on an AS level in the History of Science and with ALM London and others on educational resources for secondary schools. The Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine catalogued and digitized its vast collection of images covering all aspects of medical history,47 and found that its website got 2,500 hits a day.48 It also created a portal, MedHist, which formed part of the Biome hub of the Resource Discovery Network.49 Following the report on ecclesiastical repositories mentioned above, a portal was created for Lambeth Palace Library, the Church of England Record Centre and all the cathedral libraries and archives.50 The National Maritime Museum took the lead in a programme to provide resources and events on the history of slavery51 and, as the owners of ‘the world’s most comprehensive maritime collection’, created E Library @ the Caird Library.52 This venture, coupled with making the building more welcoming, was a ‘key element in [their] strategy to widen access for “lifelong learners”’, according to the Museum Director. Visitors increased from 400 in April 2002 to 2,000 in April 2003.53 Another innovative website, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh’s James Lind Library,54 was named as one of the top five sites for those seeking information on science and technology by scientificamerican.com.55 Not all services were electronic, even in the twenty-first century. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Library offered teaching workshops as well as online services. The Royal Society of Arts Library also started freepost borrowing. Lincoln’s Inn started Saturday opening in 2004, in conjunction with the other Inns of Court libraries. The NLB started a giant print service for children and established a small audio collection, as well as providing more electronic services. The Chartered Institute of Marketing found that changes to the copyright law had the effect of killing off the desk research service. At Chatham House library, with falling budgets and staff numbers, lists of new acquisitions were no longer produced. ICAEW withdrew its Historic Share Price Service in 2003, although like many other professional libraries it offered electronic access to databases and to full text journals.

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Collaboration ‘These learned and professional libraries are often not very well known and their profile is low’, wrote Nigel Lees in 2000. ‘If you laid [them] end to end what would you have? The answer, I suspect, is a resource of such richness and magnitude that it would rival the British Library’s collection’.56 He went on to urge these libraries to collaborate more among themselves to make this distributed resource better known and more easily available. Some progress was made in this direction: medical and allied libraries formed the Consortium of Health Information Libraries in London (CHILL), legal libraries formed the Bar Librarians’ Group, while a number of learned society libraries formed their own group. Others joined existing associations; by 2005, the M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries (originally a grouping of University of London libraries) had broadened its remit to include not only university libraries from as far afield as Canterbury, Brighton and Hatfield, but had also stretched out a welcoming hand to a number of learned libraries, including the Wellcome Trust Library, the Wiener Library, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the British Library for Development Studies. The Association of Independent Libraries had expanded to include 28 subscription and other libraries. Two long-standing groups were the Cathedral Libraries and Archives Association and the Association of British Theological and Philosophical Libraries. Informal networks were also set up for particular purposes; as a result of the new Copyright Act, the Geological Society Library brought together a working group of learned and professional libraries to negotiate with the Copyright Licensing Agency for a licence designed for membership organizations. The Linnean Society Library was part of the Linnaeus Link project, which was building a web-based union catalogue of all the works of Linnaeus, while the Royal Society was part of a ‘Culturegrid’ bid to the EU for a data-mining project and worked in close association with the Newton Project and Centre for Early Letters and Literature. On a practical level, the libraries of Westminster Abbey and Lambeth Palace, and the Church of England Record Centre, established a conservation consortium. In 2005 the Research Information Network was set up as successor to the Research Support Libraries Programme, with part of its remit to make contact with all libraries supporting research from whatever sector. It was to be hoped that this might start to bridge the divide between academic and learned and professional libraries. Designation Many learned and professional libraries are outstanding in their field and this fact was formally recognized at the end of 2005, when the MLA announced the first library collections Designated as being of ‘outstanding national and international importance’. Among the 38 Designated collections were those of the Britten-Pears Foundation, Lambeth Palace Library, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the geographical collections of the Royal Geographical Society and British Institute of

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Geographers, the Wellcome Trust Library, and the collections on Shakespeare’s life and times and the performance and study of his works held by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and Royal Shakespeare Company.57 Conclusion The image of the librarian (and particularly those of small, specialized libraries) tends to be one of a retiring creature, at home only with musty tomes. I hope that this brief survey shows that in fact the staff of learned and professional libraries are a lively, multi-talented and innovative group, introducing new services and responding to the needs of their members and the wider community. They are, above all, cooperative and helpful. My thanks to those who have contributed so much information (more than I could possibly use) to this chapter.

I N D E P E N D E N T L I B R AR I E S

Carol Allison Independent libraries are generally defined as institutions where the provision of a library is the main objective rather than a subsidiary one. Many of them continued to belong to the Association of Independent Libraries (AIL), founded in 1989 and with 28 institutional members by the end of 2005. The Association exists to further the conservation, restoration and public awareness of independent libraries, and to develop links between them. The two newest members of the Association were the Sybil Campbell Library in London, and St Deiniol’s Library at Hawarden, north Wales, unusual in being a residential library. Following the death in March 2003 of the president of the AIL, Barry Bloomfield, who had served from 2001, Robert Anderson took over the presidency in 2004. Dr Anderson had a museum background, including ten years as Director of the British Museum. Having an interest in the history of making collections available to the working classes, Dr Anderson was involved in the Worldwide Conference of Mechanics Institutes in Melbourne, Australia in September 2004, organized by the Mechanics Institute of Victoria, Inc., and held at the Swinburne University of Technology, Prahran, Melbourne. There were two days of papers on a variety of topics including the architecture of Mechanics Institutes, Mechanics’ libraries and one on Mechanics’ museums from Robert Anderson himself.58 The event was successful, and a decision was made to hold another international meeting. The Royal Literary & Scientific Institute of Bath offered to host this event in 2009, and plans for this were under way. Membership Independent libraries are dependent for their very existence on the members they serve, and as such have a different relationship with their members from that of other types of library. Traditionally the members of subscription libraries were the

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owners of the library, and would appoint a committee to run the affairs of that library, to which the librarian answered. Membership numbers vary greatly between the libraries; some have no official membership, but are effectively open to the public. The largest library by far continued to be the London Library with 8,500 members, followed by the Linen Hall Library in Belfast with 4,000. Ipswich had 2,600 and Highgate and Newcastle had 1,300 and 1,200 respectively. The rest had fewer than a thousand members, with the lowest, the Plymouth Athenaeum, having only 96 at the time of writing, with the majority around 300–800. Those whose members were still share-owners had restricted membership numbers, or introduced two levels of membership, an example being Leeds, which had 500 proprietors who owned a share and have voting rights, and 300 associates who did not. Membership numbers were a cause for concern for some libraries, and others saw the need to expand their membership: both the Mechanics Institute in Bradford and the Newcastle Literary and Philosophic Society had recruitment drives in 2004. For the former this was because their membership had fallen from 315 to 280 over the previous year. The latter wished to increase their membership and applied for funding for a marketing officer to be shared between themselves and the Mining Institute. Buildings Many libraries had buildings which had been outgrown by their collections. Older buildings at best provided a less than ideal environment for the storage of books and documents, and at their worst had very damp areas, particularly in basements or in attics under leaky roofs. These can be difficult problems to solve, and even where finance may be available to make improvements, there is still the problem of maintaining the integrity of the historic building itself. Accessibility was an issue for many libraries: the majority were housed in historic buildings, one of their strengths as far as ambience is concerned, but often an obstacle to disabled access. Many were listed buildings, providing protection for the historic fabric, and overriding the Disability Discrimination Act, but even where modest changes could be made to improve the situation, it could take a considerable time to obtain planning permission. Often the only way was either to extend the building or to take in a neighbouring building that could be adapted. This was the route taken by both the London Library and Ipswich. The London Library, having already extended in 1995, acquired adjacent premises so that it could extend along Mason’s Yard, with a view not only to meeting the needs of the expanding collection and current membership, but also serving the needs of the 21st century. Ipswich Institute also expanded into an adjacent building, providing an area to use as a café/restaurant and allowing the library to expand into the area previously used as a coffee area.

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Guildford Institute’s refurbishment, started in 2001, allowed an unworkable shelving arrangement to be replaced, and the provision of additional storage space in the basement. The provision of a pleasant environment in which to enjoy food is an example of the dual role that many libraries have. As well as being a centre of culture and learning with their research collections and general interest collections, many offered a programme of lectures or talks, but they also served another, usually secondary, role as a club, with some arranging visits as well, either to local places of interest, or, as in the case of Ipswich, trips abroad. Tavistock Subscription Library was under threat when its landlord, the town council, gave notice on the one room it rented. Thanks to a campaign of support, both locally and from other libraries, whose level astonished the council, and the findings of a feasibility study on the future use of the room, not only was the Library invited to retain the room, but it was also invited to take up another one that it had formerly used. Funding Most libraries were funded by members’ subscriptions, and where they owned the building, often in prime city centre sites, part of the premises might be let out, bringing in crucial rental income. Membership fees varied with the size of the library, the lowest being £5 per annum, at Saffron Walden, the highest the London Library at £170. Many had differing rates for partners or families. Grants might be available, for either the conservation of the fabric of the building, or for the books themselves. It was often a condition of grants that they were made to a charitable institution and for this end, and other financial benefits, libraries were looking at changing to charitable status. There were differing responses by the library members to this suggestion, some being resistant to the idea, whilst other libraries, such as Bromley House Library, Nottingham, made the change and benefited from it. It enabled any donations made by a taxpayer to be gift-aided. There seemed, however, to be some confusion as to whether any tax could be reclaimed on subscriptions, as these were regarded as payment for a service. Other issues Meetings held by the AIL reflected the concerns of independent libraries generally. ‘Conservation or deterioration’ in 2001 looked at preservation management in libraries and archives housed in historic buildings. Other workshops included collection development policies, and meetings on subjects such as the New Oxford dictionary of national biography, and libraries and subversion. Looking to the future, many libraries were still working on card catalogues and manual issue systems, which often had a fond place in members’ hearts. However, they did not meet the needs of current society as well as they did when they were introduced. Consequently some libraries moved over to electronic library management systems, and others were considering the change. The Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society undertook a major project to

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computerize its catalogue, which was made available over the internet. The automated issue system went live in 2003. The cataloguing work was outsourced to the United States and then edited in-house. Leeds also went online in 2001, moving away from the traditional family ticket book and barcoding the stock. Similarly Chetham’s in Manchester had been computerizing its catalogue since in 2001, concentrating on its pre-1801 material. Other libraries were investigating the possibilities of converting their catalogues, although not all might make these publicly available. The question of security was one of the issues of concern if the library’s holdings were to be made publicly accessible, and the AIL addressed this in a meeting in 2004. Whilst the world wide web might no longer seem to be new technology, only approximately half of the members of the AIL had their own websites. It was one of the advantages of the Association that it was able to give those of its membership who did not have their own website a web presence.

Notes 1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14

Peter Hoey, ‘Learned, professional and other independent libraries’ in British librarianship and information work 1985–1990, ed. David W. Bromley, Angela M. Allott. London: Library Association, 1993, v. 2, pp. 10–26; Mary Nixon, ‘Learned, professional and independent libraries’ in British librarianship and information work 1991–2000, ed. J. H. Bowman. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006, pp. 137–51. ‘300 years of lending’, Library Association record 103 (10), 2001, 579. Geoffrey Forster, A very good public library: early years of the Leeds Library. Wylam: Allenholme Press for the History of the Book Trade in the North, 2001. Geoffrey Davenport, Ian McDonald and Caroline Gibbons-Moss, The Royal College of Physicians and its Collections: an illustrated history. London: James & James, 2001. Ann Chapman, ‘Collection descriptions: state of play’, Library + information update 4 (4), 2005, 35–7. Alice Prochaska ‘Librarians as curators’, Library Association record 103 (9), 2001, 546–7. Alison Walker, ‘Preservation: the future of collections’, Library + information update 5 (4), 2006, 24. Jackie Lord, ‘Information to communication’, Library + information update 2 (12), 2003, 37. Helen Scott, ‘Jane Austen’s text in context’, Library + information update 3 (3), 2004, 28–31. Mark Haworth Booth and Michael Snodin, ‘Architecture for all: the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Victoria and Albert Museum’ Art libraries journal 26 (2), 2001, 5–8. ‘York Minster’, Library + information update 2 (7), 2003, 11. ‘Council’s York resolution’, Library + information update 2 (8), 2003, 25. ‘York Minster Library’, Bulletin of the Association of British Theological and Philosophical Libraries 10 (3), 2003, 25. ‘DCMS cash buys one-year respite for Science Museum’, Library + information update 4 (5), 2005, 11.

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15 Fergus Wilde, ‘Chetham’s Library Manchester’, Local historian 33 (4), 2003, 221–5. 16 Heritage Lottery Fund, Annual report and accounts. London: National Heritage Memorial Fund, 2001. 17 ‘It’s all history’, Library Association record 103 (1), 2001, 5. 18 Heritage Lottery Fund, Annual report and accounts. London: National Heritage Memorial Fund, 2002. 19 Heritage Lottery Fund, Annual report and accounts. London: National Heritage Memorial Fund, 2001. 20 Lambeth Palace Library, Annual report of the Friends of Lambeth Palace Library. London: Lambeth Palace Library, 2000–2004. 21 Alison Sproston, ‘Temple of serendipity’, Library + information update 3 (3), 2004, 40– 1. 22 ‘£50m bonanza for digital content’, Library Association record 103 (8), 2001, 451. 23 Church plans on-line: (accessed 15/6/06). 24 Library Association record 104 (3), 2002, 136. 25 ‘More medical marvels’, Library + information update 1 (4), 2002, 16. 26 ‘Medical history’, Library + information update 1 (6), 2002, 8. 27 ‘£2m boost from Wolfson’, Library Association record 103 (9), 2001, 519. 28 ‘Women’s Library wins RIBA prize’, Library + information update 2 (8), 2003, 11. 29 ‘Wash on at the Women’s Library’, Library + information update 1 (7), 2002, 3. 30 Antonia Byatt, ‘The Women’s Library’, Library + information update 1 (2), 2002, 44–5. 31 Ian Snowley ‘Building for the future’, Library + information update 4 (3), 2005, 28–31. 32 Mark Pomeroy, ‘The archives of the Royal Academy of Arts’, Art libraries journal 30 (1), 2005, 5–9. 33 Elspeth Hyams, ‘Nursing the evidence’, Library Association record 103 (12), 2001, 747–9. 34 Geological Society Library, Annual report, 2002. 35 Geological Society Library, Annual report, 2004. 36 ‘Have Churchill will travel’, Library Association record 103 (4), 2001, 198. 37 P. Sandford, ‘Serving members of the Geological Society of London’, Library and information briefings 101, 2001, 1–9. 38 Jane Rosen, ‘The SCR Library: from Bloomsbury to Brixton’, Focus on international and comparative librarianship 32 (2), 2001, 51–6. 39 John Gray, ‘The Northern Ireland Political Collection at the Linen Hall Library: a unique collection and its cataloguing and indexing needs’, Indexer 22 (4), 2001, 175–7. 40 Ibid. 41 Colin Clarke, ‘The history library with its own history’, German Studies Library Group newsletter 30, 2001, 1–8. 42 Early printed books 1478–1840: catalogue of the British Architectural Library Early Imprints Collection. Munich: Saur, 1994–2003. 43 Paul W. Nash, ‘Cataloguing rare books at the Royal Institute of British Architects’, Refer 19 (3), 2003, 7–11. 44 Tony Trowles(ed.), A Bibliography of Westminster Abbey: A Guide to the Literature of Westminster Abbey, Westminster School and St Margaret’s Church Published Between 1571 and 2000. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2005. 45 Marilyn Ward and John Flanagan, ‘Portraying plants: illustrations collections at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew’, Art libraries lournal 28 (2), 2003, 22–8. 46 ‘500 years of physics’, Library + information update 2 (5), 2003, 10.

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47 Wellcome Library, Medical photographic library: (accessed 15/6/06). 48 Wellcome Library: . 49 David Little, ‘Medical history and the politics of portals’, Library + information update 2 (3), 2003, 40. 50 Church of England, Libraries and archives: (accessed 15/6/06). 51 ‘Museum millions shared out’, Library + information update 2 (8), 2003, 15. 52 (accessed 15/6/06) 53 ‘Surf’s up’, Library + information update 2 (7), 2003, 6. 54 The James Lind Library: (accessed 15/6/06). 55 ‘Scurvy site wins award’, Library + information update 2 (8), 2003, 19. 56 Nigel Lees, ‘Learned and professional libraries: our role as “national libraries”’, Managing information 7 (10), 2000, 11–12. 57 ‘Top collections chosen’, Library + information update 4 (12), 2005, 7. 58 Buildings, books and beyond: Mechanics’ Worldwide Conference 2004: proceedings of an international conference convened by the Mechanics’ Institutes of Victoria at Swinburne University, Prahran Campus, Melbourne, Australia, 2-4 September 2004. 2nd ed. Windsor, Vic.: Praahran Mechanics Institute Press, 2004.

10

Library and information history Peter Hoare

Library history, in the period under review, continued to progress on many fronts. The two main agents of change, as noted in the volume for 1991–2000, were the development of book history as a distinct discipline, and the growth of interest in the history of information and its management; both areas figure in publications listed in this survey. The approach to publication of the three-volume Cambridge history of libraries in Britain and Ireland, due to appear in 2006 after several years’ preparation, also focused attention on the subject, with much research taking place outside professional LIS circles.1 Institutional libraries of all kinds, from across the world, are featured in Stam’s International directory of library histories, which includes many British libraries (mostly national or university libraries) with accounts usually by British writers providing a convenient source of reference on these libraries.2 The Library History Group The centre of interest within the profession remained the Library History Group of the Library Association (from 2002 of CILIP), which marked the growth of a wider interest by changing its name in 2003 to the Library and Information History Group (LIHG). Discussion of the implications of the name change among its members led to the presentation of some interesting points, not least the lack of definition of ‘information history’.3 It had by now, however, become a recognized area of research, notably in the hands of Alistair Black, already well known as a library historian.4 The topic of the ‘information society’ was becoming popular among historians, with significant contributions on half a millennium of central collection of information by Higgs, and on the social and technological developments of the 19th century by Weller and Bawden.5 It was encouraging to see a strong attendance for Dave Muddiman’s paper on ‘The early information society in Britain’ at CILIP’s 2005 Umbrella conference, one of several successful contributions from the LIHG to reach a wider audience at this and the two preceding Umbrellas in 2003 (under the title ‘From library history to library and information history’), and in 2001 (an international range of historical papers on the theme ‘Libraries and war’, from the 16th century to the Balkan wars of the later 20th century, but including also consideration of information procedures in MI5).

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More traditional areas of library history were of course strongly supported by the Group, as by researchers more widely, though the presence of library history within basic professional education appeared to be less strong than in the past.6 News of the imminent appearance of the Cambridge history of libraries was welcomed by the Group, which had supported the project since its inception; several members of the Group attended the seminar in January 2001 on ‘Libraries for leisure and learning’, intended as an exchange of experience for contributors to the Cambridge history. The availability of a good supply of research-based writing and of material for review allowed the LIHG’s subscription-based journal Library history to move from two to three issues a year from 2001. In 2005 its American ‘elder sister’ Libraries & culture (originally the Journal of library history) announced that it would expand its focus and become Libraries & the cultural record, leaving the Group’s journal as the longest-established – and perhaps the only – title in the world to specialize solely in library history (it was first published in 1967, a year after JLH). No change of name was proposed at the time of writing, despite the inclusion of information history as part of its subject coverage. CILIP’s review of group structures in 2005 gave the LIHG the opportunity to stress the importance of the discipline within the profession. The question of library archives (and those of professional bodies) continued to be pressed, with an apparent resolution of the problem of CILIP’s own archives and a seminar in 2004 on the importance of archives for historical research, held at CILIP headquarters. Group representation on CILIP’s Advisory Panel on Preservation and Conservation proved a valuable additional channel for publicizing historical approaches to library activity, and good input was made to efforts to preserve threatened libraries, such as York Minster Library. In this area Group members were involved in the seminar run by the Panel and the Rare Books Group in 2004, on the topic of ‘Libraries at risk’. The Group was also involved in sponsoring a number of research projects, such as the ‘Electronic memory’ project which recorded reminiscences by 16 librarians,7 and also other efforts to record biographical information both about living librarians and those from the past. CILIP’s ‘Professional Achievements Register’, established under the leadership of Peter Chapman, was described at an LIHG Umbrella session in 2005, as was Peter Hoare’s proposal to update Who was who in British librarianship 1800–1985, by the late Dr William Munford, the Group’s principal founder in 1962 who died in 2002.8 The project was taken on by John Bowman of UCL, with the LIHG continuing to take a close interest in developments. In the field of library buildings, the LIHG sponsored a feasibility study on a directory of historic library buildings, completed in 2002.9 The Group also supported a major project at Leeds Metropolitan and Liverpool universities, approved in 2003 by the Arts and Humanities Research Board with over £130,000 of research funding, to investigate ‘Early public library buildings: their origins, condition and future use’. An important database of surviving buildings was built up and regular reports on progress were made to the Group. The LIHG also took an

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interest in the AHRB-funded projects at the University of Wales Aberystwyth to produce an index to early annual reports from public libraries10 and at Leeds Metropolitan University on the early information society in Britain. Conferences and seminars Conferences and seminars, one of the main means for library historians to exchange ideas with each other and with scholars in other disciplines, have multiplied over the years and every issue of the Library and information history newsletter included many notifications and calls for papers from organizers of conferences all over the world. Some of these, such as the SHARP (Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing) conference in London in 2002, were run by bodies outside the LIS world, but included many important contributions relevant to library historians; the same is true of the two continuing series of annual conferences offered by the Book Trade History Group and published as ‘Print networks’,11 and the ‘Publishing pathways’ series under the aegis of Birkbeck College,12 both of which published excellent volumes of proceedings, which despite their origin in the history of the book trade are indispensable for library history. The LIHG itself was instrumental in organizing a number of important meetings. Two Anglo-German conferences on library history continued the Group’s earlier collaboration with its German counterpart the Wolfenbütteler Arbeitskreis für Bibliotheksgeschichte. One was held at the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel in 2001, on the theme of ‘Philanthropy and libraries’, which allowed very interesting comparisons between practices in Germany and Britain over the centuries, as well as producing a substantial volume of proceedings.13 The second was held in 2005, at the British Library, under the title ‘Libraries and innovation’, which again produced a wide spread of papers, ranging from Ireland to Italy as well as Britain and Germany (with a diversion on the cataloguing of early Arabic manuscripts), and including the first showing of a film on the life of the German public library pioneer Walter Hofmann. IFLA met in Glasgow in 2002 and the notable history of Scottish libraries featured in the excursion programme and in discussions of the Round Table on Library History. As a pre-IFLA event the LIHG organized a well-attended international seminar at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, on the theme ‘The community library’, a topic with particular resonance in Scotland but with papers on other countries too.14 A similar theme was followed by a two-day conference at Leeds Metropolitan University in 2004, ‘Libraries and the working classes since the eighteenth century’, where the keynote paper was from Jonathan Rose, author of the recent major study of British working-class reading,15 and with a number of contributions on European and American topics. Publications Apart from conference proceedings there was no shortage of publications in the field of library history. The present survey cannot claim to be at all comprehensive,

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but some of the more substantial material should be pointed out, together with some examples of the flow of periodical articles and pamphlets on specific topics. The medieval period is well represented by the continuing series of Corpus of British medieval library catalogues published by the British Library in association with the British Academy: more recent publications in the series deal with the abbey libraries of Peterborough and Syon, with medieval libraries in Cambridge, and with the bibliography of Henry de Kirkestede.16 Carley continued his exhaustive studies of the late medieval and early modern period, notably on the dispersal of the monastic libraries17 and on the origins, in Archbishop Bancroft’s collections, of Lambeth Palace Library.18 Rawcliffe’s investigation of libraries in medieval hospitals and almshouses faced problems of lack of direct evidence but she creates a good picture of their contents and the motivation behind them.19 Private libraries have always had a place in library history, though not necessarily within a professional context. The collection of Lady Burghley (1526– 1589) is studied by Bowden, with notes on her benefactions to university and college libraries;20 West’s analysis of the physical setting for the library of the Sidney family at Penshurst is valuable in its discussion of the planning of country house libraries.21 The development of modern techniques in recording and caring for a large group of country house libraries, those in National Trust properties,22 led to a number of studies of these libraries, and a special issue of Library history was devoted to a number of them, including Montacute, Wimpole, Saltram, Kingston Lacy, Belton and Knightshayes – each article bringing out the growth of the collections still preserved at the property – with overview articles on the country house library and its architecture by Mark Purcell and Simon Jervis.23 A well-illustrated account of another library in National Trust hands, at Blickling, contributes to the history of 18th-century collecting in the person of Sir Richard Ellys.24 Other libraries of this period studied at book length have been those of Archbishop William King and of the Oxford historian Anthony Wood.25 The journal of the Bookplate Society was handsomely revived in 2003 and produced some articles of interest to library historians.26 One of the core collections of the British Museum (and therefore of the British Library) is the Cottonian Library, whose early history was studied by Tite.27 The original conception of the library collected by George III, which also later came to the British Museum, is the subject of an intriguing article from an unusual perspective.28 Another national library received monographic treatment by its former librarian, the National Library of Wales.29 Among academic libraries, the Bodleian Library notably celebrated its quatercentenary with an international conference and a major exhibition in 2002,30 while Beddard described the opening ceremonies in 1602.31 A study of a group of early Portuguese books in that library leads Purcell to explore the Earl of Essex’s military activities in 1596.32 Vaisey writes engagingly on aspects of the life of successive Bodley’s Librarians up to his own time,33 while a pleasant collection of writings on the Bodleian provides a useful historical overview, sometimes of less formal aspects of its life.34 From Cambridge come Sargent’s publication of two 16th-century book lists from the

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chained library at Queens’ College,35 and Decker’s analysis of Thomas Gray’s use of the libraries at Peterhouse and Pembroke College.36 Ecclesiastical libraries of various kinds are attractive subjects for historical study. A major contribution to their history, as well as a reference work of permanent value, is Perkin’s directory of parochial libraries, much revised and expanded from the 1959 edition by Ker and with valuable bibliographical data.37 Bookplates from such libraries can throw more light on their history, as Lee’s book shows.38 A study of books (not only parochial libraries) in London churches by Kisby looks at the pre-Stuart situation.39 The cathedrals of two English cities, Ely and London, published histories, each with a chapter by Ramsay on the library and archives.40 Archbishop Marsh’s Library in Dublin celebrated its tercentenary with a new edition of McCarthy’s standard history and a fine exhibition catalogue, and with a new collection of essays on the library’s history.41 Quite different in its purpose from all these was the Jesuit library developed for missionary purposes in England and confiscated in 1679, which has been reconstructed from the archival documents, with a long introduction by Dijkgraaf setting it in its various contexts.42 Finally Chetham’s Library in Manchester, a public rather than an ecclesiastical foundation but housed since the 17th century in a former monastic setting, is described – mainly but not solely in its architecture – in Hartwell’s well-illustrated book.43 Subscription and circulating libraries, the dominant development of the 18th and 19th centuries before public libraries, also feature in the literature, if not so strongly as in some earlier surveys. Their use in the Romantic period is one of the main elements in St Clair’s study of reading, which includes some useful analyses of such libraries.44 Allen looks at subscription libraries in Scotland and in northwestern England,45 while two essays by Hamilton and Robinson on the Leeds Library – with a foreword on subscription libraries in general by Forster – provide valuable detail about the Library’s early history.46 Scragg’s account of the early years of the Portico Library in Manchester adds to earlier histories of this notable subscription library.47 The Devon & Exeter Institution produced a new edition of its history.48 The mechanics’ institute movement, a parallel to the middle-class subscription libraries, was the subject of an international conference in Melbourne: Manley’s paper on the British scene shows how their nature changed through the 19th century.49 The commercial library scene is covered by Jacob’s paper setting circulating libraries in a cultural context, with many useful references,50 and by Grenby’s consideration of books for children in such libraries.51 Colclough’s paper on the library operated by W. H. Smith & Son looks at a rather later period, with commercial difficulties becoming apparent.52 Public libraries, in their modern form from the 1850s onward, are naturally well represented, both with studies of individual libraries and more general accounts. McKitterick considers public libraries particularly, though among other types, in relating them to a sense of public identity in the Victorian period,53 and Peatling writes about the relationship between public libraries and national identity up to the end of the Great War.54 Another paper by Peatling discusses the sub-discipline of

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public library history, while Sturges looks at the major city libraries in comparison with the different traditions of their European equivalents.56 Manley examines the political background of the original enabling legislation, less straightforward than might be expected.57 Baggs studied in particular the position in the Welsh valleys, where the relationship between miners’ institutes and public libraries was also less than straightforward.58 Pressure against the public funding of libraries was often a cause of slow development, as Webster and Armstrong show in Whitby and Burnley respectively.59 Johansen’s study of the often-neglected Charles Goss indicates the rivalries within the late-Victorian public library profession,60 and Sherriff looks at the architecture of the Edwardian public library.61 Blaikie edited a well-illustrated website on ‘Carnegie libraries in Scotland: architecture and history’.62 Another paper by Baggs considers how public librarians reacted to Britain’s first war of the 20th century.63 A history of mobile libraries by Stringer was published for the Library Association’s Branch and Mobile Group, an illustration of how other specialist groups can also be concerned with library history.64 The later history of Irish public libraries is given in Ellis-King’s contribution to a survey of the contemporary library scene.65 The crucial question of classification has occupied all librarians and the story of the public library approach is given by Bowman.66 The origin of the Classification Research Group, which influenced much work in special libraries from the mid20th century onwards, is discussed by Justice in the context of the history of science.67 Special libraries – in effect, those not discussed above – were not neglected in the literature. Meadows gives some recollections of changes in the use of journal literature in scientific libraries,68 and Brian Vickery’s autobiographical review provides a good view of his work in industrial libraries, at Boston Spa, at University College London and at Aslib.69 In contrast to these valuable collections of personal evidence, Muddiman’s account of Aslib’s development up to 1950 takes perhaps a more properly historical path.70 Pond’s booklet on the House of Commons Library uses committee reports to illustrate its early years.71 Medical librarianship has long had an interest in history, shown in the memorial issue of the Health information and libraries journal in honour of Leslie T. Morton, with articles on the growth of a profession of health librarianship through the 20th century and on the development of electronic information for medicine – a relatively recent phenomenon but old enough to be considered historically.72 The provision of library services for nurses developed more slowly than that for doctors, and the story is given by Wakeham.73 Libraries in commerce and industry are covered by two papers by Black,74 and Plant examines their pattern of employing women.75 To complete this survey in an unusual and largely unstudied area, and to cite once more a publication from outside the narrower LIS field, we should mention Homan’s study of libraries in prisoner-of-war camps in World War II.76

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Notes 1

The Cambridge history of libraries in Britain and Ireland; general editor Peter Hoare. 3 v.: To 1640, ed. Elisabeth Leedham-Green and Teresa Webber; 1640–1850, ed. Giles Mandelbrote and Keith Manley; 1850–2000, ed. Alistair Black and Peter Hoare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 2 David H. Stam (ed.), International directory of library histories. Chicago and London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001. 2 v. 3 Some of the discussion, including email responses, is reported in Library history newsletter, ser. 3, 3, 2003. Available on the LIHG website at: (accessed 6/7/06). 4 Alistair Black, ‘Information history and the information professional’, Library history 20 (2), 2004, 3–6; Alistair Black, ‘Every discipline needs a history: information management and the early information society in Britain’ in Aware and responsible: papers of the Nordic International Colloquium, ed. W. Boyd Rayward. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 2004, pp. 29–47. 5 Edward Higgs, The information state in England: the central collection of information on citizens since 1500. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003; Toni Weller and David Bawden, ‘The social and technological origins of the information society: an analysis of the crisis of control in England 1830–1900’, Journal of documentation 61 (6), 2005, 777–802. 6 Alistair Black and John Crawford, ‘The identity of library and information history: an audit of library and information history teaching in Britain and Ireland’, Library history 17 (2), 2001, 127–32. 7 Available on the LIHG website at: (accessed 6/7/06). 8 Peter Hoare, ‘A revision of Munford’s “Who Was Who”’, Library and information history newsletter ser. 4, 5, 16–20. Obituaries of W. A. Munford, stressing his importance for the development of historical studies particularly of public librarianship, appeared in the national press as well as in professional journals. 9 Elizabeth Quarmby Lawrence, ‘Researching historic library buildings in the British Isles: problems and ways forward’, Library history 19 (1), 2003, 39–54. 10 G. K. Peatling and Chris Baggs, ‘Early British public library annual reports’, Library history 20 (3), 2004, 223–38 and 21 (1), 2005, 29–45. 11 Light on the book trade: essays presented at the nineteenth seminar on the British book trade in honour of Peter Isaac, ed. Barry MacKay, John Hinks and Maureen Bell. London: British Library, 2004 commemorates one of the important figures in book history to have come from other disciplines (Isaac, who died in 2004, was originally a professor of civil engineering but became a major figure in the history of the book trade – including libraries). Isaac and MacKay edited many of the earlier volumes in the series, such as: The moving market: continuity and change in the book trade. New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll, 2001. John Hinks and Catherine Armstrong (eds.), Printing places: locations of book production and distribution since 1500. New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll, 2005, the latest volume in the series, is particularly useful to library historians, with contributions such as K. A. Manley’s ‘Lounging places and frivolous literature: subscription and circulating libraries in the West Country to 1825’ (pp. 107–20). 12 For example: Robin Myers, Michael Harris and Giles Mandelbrote (eds.), Under the hammer: book auctions since the seventeenth century. New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll,

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13

14

15

16

17

18 19 20 21

22 23

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2001, and Robin Myers, Michael Harris and Giles Mandelbrote (eds.), Owners, annotators and the signs of reading. New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll, 2005. The latter conference fitted well with the 2005 Cambridge conference of the CILIP Rare Books Group, ‘Whose book was it anyway?’ – both contributing to the study of provenance, an important element in the history of libraries. Peter Vodosek, Alistair Black and Peter Hoare (eds.), Mäzenatentum für Bibliotheken = Philanthropy for libraries. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2004. British contributors include Peter Hoare on the motivation for 17th-century library foundations (pp. 229–44), Christopher Skelton-Foord on the philanthropic ethos in community libraries, 1780– 1840 (pp. 67–88), Robert Snape on the Harris Library at Preston (pp. 111–24), Chris Baggs on stock donations in early public libraries (pp. 143–53), and Alistair Black on the ‘social libraries’ provided by large business enterprises, 1850–1950 (pp. 177–191). Several of these papers appeared in Library history 19 (3) 2003: K. A. Manley, ‘Scottish circulating and subscription libraries as community libraries’, 185–94; Ruth Clayton, ‘Masses or classes: the question of community in the foundation of Gladstone’s library [at St Deiniol’s in Hawarden]’, 163–72; Peter Hoare, ‘The operatives’ libraries of Nottingham: a radical community’s own initiative’, 173–84; and Bob Duckett, ‘From village hall to global village: community libraries in England’s largest county’ [Yorkshire], 195–209. Jonathan Rose, The intellectual life of the British working classes. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2001, a worthy sequel to Hoggart’s The uses of literacy (1957), with many reports of library use by workers in the early 20th century. Rose also edited an important study of The Holocaust and the book: destruction and preservation. Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Press, 2001. Kristian Friis-Jensen and James M. W. Willoughby (eds.), Peterborough Abbey, 2001; Vincent Gillespie (ed.), Syon Abbey, 2001; Peter D. Clarke (ed.), The university and college libraries of Cambridge, 2002; Henry de Kirkestede, Catalogus de libris autenticis et apocrifis, ed. R. H. and M. A. Rouse, 2004. James P. Carley, ‘Monastic collections and their dispersal’ in The Cambridge history of the book in Britain, v. 4, ed. John Barnard and D. F. Mackenzie. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, pp. 339–47. J. P. Carley, ‘“A great gatherer together of books”: Archbishop Bancroft’s library at Lambeth (1610) and its sources’, Lambeth Palace Library annual review 2001, 51–64. Carole Rawcliffe, ‘“Written in the book of life”: building the libraries of medieval English hospitals and almshouses’, The library ser. 7 3 (2), 2002, 127–62. Caroline Bowden, ‘The library of Mildred Cooke Cecil, Lady Burghley’, The Library ser. 7 6 (1), 2005, 3–29. Susie West, ‘Studies and status: spaces for books in seventeenth-century Penshurst Place, Kent’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society 12 (3), 2003, 266– 92. A recent account of one aspect of this is Edward Potten, ‘The National Trust cataloguing project’, Bookplate journal new ser. 4 (1), 2006, 41–7. Library history 18 (3), 2002, 153–238. Other articles on National Trust properties in the same journal include Mark Purcell, ‘Books and readers in 18th-century Westmorland: the Brownes of Townend’, Library history 17 (2), 2001, 91–106, and Felicity Stimpson, ‘Servants’ reading: an examination of the servants’ library at Cragside’, Library history 19 (1), 2003, 1–11.

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24 Giles Mandelbrote and Yvonne Lewis, Learning to collect: the library of Sir Richard Ellys (1682–1742) at Blickling Hall. London: National Trust, 2004. 25 Robert S. Matteson, A large private park: the collection of Archbishop William King 1650–1729. Cambridge: LP Publications, 2003. 2 v.; Nicolas K. Kiessling, The library of Anthony Wood. Oxford: Oxford Bibliographical Society, 2002. 26 Two dealing with National Trust properties are: Paul Latcham, ‘William Blathwayt of Dyrham and some of his descendants’, Bookplate journal new ser. 1 (2), 2003, 99–103; Edward Potten, ‘The bookplates of the Egerton and Tatton families of Tatton Park and Wythenshawe Hall’, Bookplate journal new ser. 3 (2), 2005, 75–95. 27 Colin G. C. Tite, The early records of Sir Robert Cotton's library: formation, cataloguing, use. London: British Library, 2003. 28 Robert Lacey, ‘The library of George III: collecting for crown or nation?’, The Court historian 10 (2), 2005, 137–47. 29 David Jenkins, A refuge in peace and war: the National Library of Wales to 1951. Aberystwyth: NLW, 2002. 30 The proceedings of the conference are given in the special commemorative issue of the Bodleian Library record 17 (6), 2002, including D. G. Vaisey on ‘The legacy of Sir Thomas Bodley’ (419–30); cf. the exhibition catalogue Sir Thomas Bodley and his library. Oxford: Bodleian Library, 2002. 31 R. A. Beddard, ‘The official inauguration of the Bodleian Library on 8 November 1602’, The Library ser. 7 3 (4), 2002, 255–83. 32 Mark Purcell, ‘Warfare and collecting: the Faro Raid of 1596’, Library history 18 (1), 2002, 17–24. 33 David Vaisey, ‘Overtravelled with the librarie business’, Book collector 52 (1), 2003, 46–58. 34 Ursula Aylmer (ed.), Most noble Bodley! A Bodleian Library anthology. Oxford: Bodleian Library, 2002. 35 Clare Sargent, ‘Two sixteenth-century book lists from the library of Queens’ College Cambridge’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographic Society 12 (2), 2001, 161– 78. 36 Christopher Decker, ‘The poet as reader: Thomas Gray’s borrowings from Cambridge college libraries’, The Library ser. 7 3 (2), 2002, 163–93. 37 Michael Perkin, A directory of the parochial libraries of the Church of England and the Church in Wales. London: Bibliographical Society, 2004. 38 Brian North Lee, Some Church of England parochial library and cathedral ex-libris. London: Bookplate Society, 2004. 39 F. Kisby, ‘Books in London parish churches before 1603: some preliminary observations’ in The Church and learning in late medieval society: studies in honour of Professor R. B. Dobson, ed. Caroline M. Barron and Jenny Stratford. Donington: Shaun Tyas, 2002, pp. 305–26. 40 Nigel Ramsay, ‘The library and archives 1109–1541’ in A history of Ely Cathedral, ed. Peter Meadows and Nigel Ramsay. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2003, pp. 157–68; Nigel Ramsay, ‘The library and archives to 1897’ in St Paul’s: the cathedral church of London 604–2004, ed. Derek Keene, Arthur Burns and Andrew Saint. New Haven, Conn. and London: Yale University Press, 2004, pp. 413–25 (complemented by a shorter article by J. J. Wisdom on the library 1897–2004). 41 Muriel McCarthy, Marsh’s Library, Dublin: all graduates and gentlemen. [New ed.] Dublin: Four Courts, 2003; Muriel McCarthy and Caroline Sherwood-Smith (eds.), This

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42 43 44 45

46 47 48 49

50 51 52 53

54 55 56 57 58

59

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golden fleece: Marsh’s Library 1701–2001: a tercentenary exhibition. Dublin: Marsh’s Library, 2001; Muriel McCarthy and Ann Simmons (eds.), The making of Marsh’s Library: learning, politics and religion in Ireland 1650–1750. Dublin: Four Courts, 2004. Hendrik Dijkgraaf, The library of a Jesuit community at Holbeck, Nottinghamshire. Cambridge: LP Publications, 2003. Clare Hartwell, The history and architecture of Chetham’s School and Library. New Haven, Conn. and London: Yale University Press, 2004. Wiliam St Clair, The reading nation in the Romantic period. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. David Allen, ‘Provincial readers and book culture in the Scottish Enlightenment: the Perth Library, 1784–c. 1800’, The Library ser. 7 3 (4), 2002, 367–89; ‘Eighteenthcentury private subscription libraries and provincial urban culture: the Amicable Society of Lancaster’, Library history 17 (1), 2001, 57–76. Geoffrey Forster, Alice Hamilton and Elaine Robinson, ‘A very good public library’: early years of the Leeds Library. Wylam: Allenholme Press, 2001. Brenda J. Scragg, Portico 1806: the founding fathers. Manchester: Portico, 2005. Richard J. Longridge, The Devon and Exeter Institution 1813–1988. Exeter: D&EI, 2002. K. A. Manley, ‘From workers’ libraries to public libraries’ in Buildings, books and beyond. Melbourne: Mechanics’ Institutes of Victoria, 2004, pp. 161–73. Other work by Manley, together with articles on related topics by Hoare and others, is listed in notes 11 and 14 above. Edward Jacob, ‘Eighteenth-century British circulating libraries and cultural book history’, Book history 6, 2003, 1–22. M. O. Grenby, ‘Adults only? Children and children’s books in British circulating libraries, 1747–1848’, Book history 5, 2002, 19–38. Stephen Colclough, ‘“A larger outlay than any return: the library of W. H. Smith & Son, 1860–73’, Publishing history 54, 2003, 67–93. David McKitterick, ‘Libraries, knowledge and public identity’ in The organisation of knowledge in Victorian Britain, ed. Martin Daunton. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 287–312. G. K. Peatling, ‘Public libraries and national identity in Britain, 1850–1919’, Library history 20 (1), 2004, 33–47. G. K. Peatling, ‘Discipline and the discipline: histories of the British public library’, Libraries & culture 38 (1), 2003, 50–60. Paul Sturges, ‘Great city libraries in Britain: their history from a European perspective’, Library history 19 (2), 2003, 93–111. K. A. Manley, ‘Food for the mind or for the belly? The Irish famine and the Public Libraries Act of 1850’, Library history 17 (3), 2001, 203–12. Chris Baggs, ‘“Carnegie offered money and a lot of South Wales refused to have it: it was blood money”: bringing libraries to the South Wales valleys 1870 to 1939’, Library history 17 (3), 2001, 171–80. Cf. also his ‘How well read was my valley: reading, popular fiction and the miners of South Wales, 1875–1939’, Book history 4, 2001, 277– 301, and ‘“The whole tragedy of leisure in penury”: the South Wales miners’ institute libraries during the Great Depression’, Libraries & culture 39 (2), 2004, 115–36. Jon Webster, ‘“Don’t have a library rate thrust upon you”: the libraries debate in Whitby, 1878’, Library history 20 (2), 2004, 117–35; Gordon Armstrong, ‘Libraries in

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66 67

68 69

70 71

72

73 74

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Burnley, 1900, and the absence of a public library’, Library history 19 (3), 2003, 211– 25. Michelle Johansen, ‘A fault-line in library history: Charles Goss, the Society of Public Librarians, and the “Battle of the Books” in the late 19th century’, Library history 19 (2), 2003, 75–91. Clare Sherriff, ‘“But the empire cannot live by muscle alone”: an architectural history of the Edwardian public library’, Library history 21 (3), 2005, 195–211. Carnegie libraries of Scotland: (accessed 6/7/06). Chris Baggs, ‘“Librarianship’s a fraud, that’s clear; for Africa I’ll volunteer”: public libraries and the Boer War’, Library history 18 (2), 2002, 99–115. Ian Stringer, Britain’s mobile libraries. Appleby: Trans-Pennine, 2001. Deirdre Ellis-King, ‘Decades of aspiration: public libraries 1947–87’ in The university of the people: celebrating Ireland’s public libraries. Dublin: An Chomhairle Leabharlanna, 2003, pp. 43–55. J. H. Bowman, ‘Classification in British public libraries: a historical perspective’, Library history 21 (3), 2005, 143–73. A. Justice, ‘Information science as a facet of the history of science: the origins of the Classification Research Group’ in The history and heritage of scientific and technological information systems, ed. W. Boyd Rayward and Mary Ellen Bowden. Medford, NJ: Information Today, 2004, pp. 267–80. Jack Meadows, ‘The immediacy effect: then and now’, Journal of documentation 60 (6), 2004, 601–8. Brian Vickery, A long search for information. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Graduate School of Library & Information Science, 2004 (Occasional paper; no. 213). Dave Muddiman, ‘A new history of Aslib, 1924–1950’, Journal of documentation 61 (3), 2005, 402–28. Chris Pond (ed.), The early history of the House of Commons Library: reports from Standing Committees on the Library of the House, 1840–1856. London: Stationery Office for the Commons Library, 2001. Health information and libraries journal 22 Suppl. 1, 2005: Valerie Ferguson, ‘The professionalization of health librarianship in the UK between 1909 and 1978’ (8–18); Steve Pritchard and Alison L. Weightman, ‘Medline in the UK: pioneering the past, present and future’ (38–44). Maurice Wakeham, ‘From locked cupboard to university library: libraries for nurses in the UK after 1955’, Library history 18 (1), 2002, 39–60. Alistair Black, ‘Hidden worlds of the early knowledge economy: libraries in British companies before the middle of the twentieth century’, Journal of information science 30 (5), 2004, 418–35; Alistair Black, ‘Technical libraries in British commercial and industrial enterprises before 1950’ in The history and heritage of scientific and technological information systems, ed. Rayward and Bowden, 281–90. Helen Plant, ‘Women’s employment in industrial libraries and information bureaux in Britain, 1918–1960’, Library history 20 (1), 2004, 49–63. Valerie Homan, ‘Captive readers in the Second World War’, Publishing history 52 (1), 2002, 83–94.

11

Rare book librarianship and historical bibliography K. E. Attar

Introduction Rare book librarianship deals, traditionally, with material printed in the hand-press period, from Gutenberg’s introduction of movable type in 1452 until the mechanization of book production, completed in Western Europe by 1850. It further incorporates material rendered rare by small print runs, such as private press books, or by such copy-specific features as special provenances or binding. Historical bibliography is concerned with the book as a physical object – for example, printing, paper, binding, and also ownership – similarly focusing on the hand-press period, and providing the scholarship backing rare book librarianship. An extension of both areas was evident in the first five years of the twenty-first century. In historical bibliography, interest in the history of the book, noted in the reviews of British librarianship for 1986–1990 and for 1991–2000, continued, with several studies on the interaction between book and reader; an ongoing interest in provenance is an aspect of this. The concept of rare book librarianship expanded to pay more heed to the second half of the nineteenth century and beyond. To an extent this was a practical measure to come to terms with the difficulty of replacing even some machine-press titles: for example, Cambridge University Library removed books published 1851–1900 from its open shelves for consultation in its Rare Books Reading Room.1 In other ways the shift took cognizance of modern special collections which do not necessarily house rare items but which libraries may wish to single out for particular treatment. Drafts of Descriptive cataloging of rare materials (books), DCRM(B), the revision of the 1991 publication Descriptive cataloging of rare books (DCRB), responded to a perceived desire for more detailed cataloguing of materials from the machine-press period, for example, through examples, through specific references to the nineteenth century, and through expanded discussion of the treatment of series.2 On a wider curatorial level, at its Annual General Meeting of 2005 the CILIP Rare Books Group, the major professional body representing and providing training for rare books librarians in Great Britain, voted to change its name to the Rare Books and Special

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Collections Group (RBSCG), in order more accurately to reflect the needs of its members. A hallmark of rare book librarianship 2001–05 was the provision of electronic access to books. This was a two-pronged measure, concerning retrospective cataloguing projects on the one hand (sometimes crowned by the development of websites) and the digitization of texts on the other. Cataloguing Cataloguing of early printed books took place across a wide spectrum of libraries, at various levels and under different funding schemes. In 1999 the Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP) had launched several cataloguing projects, mainly discipline-oriented, occasionally format-oriented; these extended into the twenty-first century, with time-spans depending on the quantity of material per project.3 One of the largest projects, the CURL-led 19th-Century Pamphlets Project, was completed in 2002. It involved the retrospective cataloguing, from catalogue cards, of 179,090 pamphlets published between 1801 and 1914 and a webbased guide of collection-level descriptions. The work embraced 49 pamphlet collections in 21 partner libraries, with subject coverage ranging from anthropology to education, magic, law and theology.4 The BOOKHAD project, led by the London Institute Higher Education Corporation, was responsible for the cataloguing of approximately 125,000 records from 23 collections at six partner institutions concerning book history and book design, including 50,000 records of monographs and periodicals at the St Bride Printing Library.5 King’s College, London, led HOST (2000–02), the history of science and technology 1801–1914, for which eight institutions catalogued over 38,000 printed items and over 69,000 archival items online in addition to conserving over 22,000 items and conducting a programme of promotion and dissemination.6 In another project which finished in 2002, the Universities of St Andrews, Aberdeen and Wales united to provide approximately 24,000 records for pamphlets from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries covering primarily theology, politics, economics and history.7 Collaborative retrospective conversion projects did not end with the termination of RSLP funding. CURL led a brief ‘Revelation Plus’ project with eight partner libraries from October 2003 to March 2004 to catalogue 5,000 items of nineteenthand twentieth-century church history and Christian theology and where relevant to create collection-level descriptions.8 In January 2003, ‘Britain in Print’ was launched. This project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and led by the University of Edinburgh, claimed to offer for the first time free access for all – from home, school, library or workplace – to information about the collection of early British books in 22 of the nation’s most important libraries. The first phase resulted in the production of a web tool and e-learning resource. The second phase, begun in July 2005, was a 30-month project involving ESTC and CURL to catalogue material either in English or with a British imprint up to and including 1701, with catalogue records available via COPAC and on the OPACs of the contributing libraries, and items being reported to ESTC. The 22 partner libraries – chiefly

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CURL members, but also the Mitchell Library, Glasgow and the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh – aimed to produce 41,200 records. Cataloguing, unlike that for several RSLP projects, was done from the book in hand, with attention paid to salient copy-specific features.9 The Natural History Museum in London led a two-year international collaborative project to produce an online union catalogue of material relating to Carl Linnaeus and his students. The project involved Great Britain, Europe and the United States and was funded by the Linnean Society of London from January 2004.10 In October 2005 at the instigation of the Bibliographical Society a seminar took place at the Victoria and Albert Museum to investigate a joint project to provide a comprehensive national database of British chapbooks. In addition to large collaborative projects, individual libraries, public, private and academic, small and large, obtained external funding or provided their own in order to catalogue their rare books, and occasionally publicized their work in the professional literature.11 The Oxford Early Printed Books Project to catalogue books in Oxford college libraries continued after RSLP funding ended, adding 59,569 books to the Oxford University on-line catalogue, OLIS, between 2001 and 2005.12 With the help of funding from the Andrew Mellon Foundation in 2003, in 2005 Cambridge University Library completed the retrospective conversion of its guardbook catalogue; over 1.3 million records were converted in all, 900,000 of them during 2001–05, encompassing a significant number of rare books. The Bible Society retrospective conversion project at Cambridge University Library ended in 2003; it had led to the cataloguing of about 30,000 bibles, including substantial amounts of rare material.13 Elsewhere in Cambridge, projects took place to catalogue the Old Library of St John’s College (about 30,000 items), approximately 40,000 volumes published before 1850 at Trinity College, and the famous Parker Library at Corpus Christi College (project 2003–06; ca. 5,000 items).14 Cataloguing at the National Library of Scotland included the cataloguing of 2,540 Scottish chapbooks between November 2004 and December 2005, as part of a Full Disclosure project, and 18,600 pre-1801 British items between 2001 and 2005.15 Projects elsewhere included the commencement of the cataloguing of Sir Walter Scott’s library at Abbotsford (commenced April 2003) and of the collection of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (begun 2002; an estimated 10,000 rare books), the cataloguing of about 44,200 pre-1800 items in Lambeth Palace Library; three historical medical collections at King’s College, London (about 6,200 items, with the projects ongoing, funded partly or wholly by the Wellcome Trust; King’s College was also cataloguing two general rare book collections); about 10,000 items at the Royal College of Physicians; about 3,200 rare science books at the Science Museum Library; and, on the public library front, approximately 3,600 items at Liverpool City Libraries, with further activity planned.16 In addition to cataloguing for their own purposes, British libraries contributed records to the major union catalogues. In 2005 the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL) reported the presence on its Hand Press Book (HPB)

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database of over 1.6 million records for books printed ca. 1450–1830, with the expectation of soon exceeding two million records, an increase of one million records over five years.17 Although RLG migration hindered the loading of files from March 2005, CERL continued to prepare files for loading, including updates from Oxford University libraries and the Wellcome Library.18 The third edition of the ESTC on CD-ROM was released in June 2003, with 465,000 records. The reporting of records to ESTC continued busily, in particular with the National Library of Ireland entering or verifying all its pre-1701 holdings (4,289 entries) and the Royal Society and the National Trust submitting 7,332 and 10,159 holdings respectively; on the whole, in the period 2001–05 libraries in the United Kingdom added 55,237 and libraries in Ireland added 22,819 records to the ESTC.19 The provision of access continued at collection as well as item level. In print form, 2004 saw the publication, under the auspices of the Bibliographical Society, of Michael Perkin’s Directory of the parochial libraries of the Church of England and the Church in Wales. This expanded revision of Neil Ker’s 1959 directory covered 1,021 libraries with their brief history where applicable, statements of their extent and contents, and references.20 Electronically, university libraries in the M25 Consortium launched MASC25 (Mapping Access to Special Collections in the London Region) in December 2004, a project managed by University College London. This database of special collections provided free-text collection profiles together with an indication of the extent, subject, period, significance of coverage, Library of Congress subject headings, and links to the holding libraries. It allowed cross-searching and gave participating libraries the opportunity to update their records from the second edition of Bloomfield’s Directory of rare book and special collections,21 for example drawing attention to additional finding aids or reporting newly acquired collections.22 Digitization Complementing descriptions of items or collections was full-text access to collections. As reported in British librarianship and information work 1991–2000, Early English books online (EEBO), digitizing books with seventeenth-century British imprints or published in the English language elsewhere in the world, had been launched in 1998 with the Text Creation Partnership, to enable full-text searching for selected items beginning in 1999.23 In 2003 it was joined by Thomson Gale’s Eighteenth century collections online (ECCO), aiming to supply full digitized text for every significant eighteenth-century printed item (over 135,000 printed books and editions, totalling approximately 26 million pages) with a British imprint or in the English language.24 From the outset ECCO included fulltext searching. While ECCO was originally prohibitively expensive for smaller institutions, in June 2005 JISC licensed the content and made it available to all higher and further education institutions for a modest annual hosting fee (between £2,250 and £3,500 per institution).25 Thomson Gale also made available the Times digital archive, enabling full searching of the Times from 1785 to 1985, in 2003, and The making of the modern economy (MoME) in 2004. The latter database

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digitized works published up to 1850 in the two libraries of the Cambridge economist Herbert Somerton Foxwell (1849–1936), the Goldsmiths’ Library of Economic Literature at the University of London and the Kress Collection of Business and Economics at Harvard Business School, supplemented by works from the Seligman Collection in the Butler Library at Columbia University and from libraries at Yale University; whereas the focus of EEBO and ECCO was British, the 61,000+ monographs and 466 serials (over 11 million pages) covering all aspects of economic literature digitized on MoME included foreign works.26 The University of Oxford concluded a mass-digitization agreement with Google to digitize over one million of the Bodleian Library’s pre-1920 printed books, with copies to be available via the Oxford Libraries Information Service (OLIS) and Google.27 In 2005 ProQuest Information and Learning announced its plan to digitize nearly six million pages of British periodicals from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, beginning with 160 periodicals in 2006 and expanding to almost 500 within the following two years.28 Not all digitization projects were on such a major scale. The British Library’s online gallery ‘Turning the Pages’, launched in 1999 and inviting computer users to leaf through books and magnify the details, increased to include fifteen books, chiefly manuscripts, and made the items available via the internet.29 These were joined by 71 selected pages from two manuscripts (the Wellcome Apocalypse and Nujum al-’Ulum) and Robert Willan’s On cutaneous diseases (1808) at the Wellcome Library.30 Featuring the book as artefact, the British Library’s database of bookbindings originated a stand-alone database in the Library’s Rare Books and Music Reading Room in April 2001 and was opened officially in July 2001, providing information and images from its collection of fine bindings from the fifteenth century to the present. A web version, with fewer facilities than the standalone version but with access to all the images and a wide range of information, followed. By the end of 2002 the database contained 2,280 records, searchable by such features as binder, ownership mark, country, cover material, colour, edges, decorative technique and style of binding; work on the database was ongoing.31 Databases Bibliographical databases assisted the study of rare books. In May 2001 the Koninklijke Bibliotheek launched Book history online, enhancing access to ABHB, Annual bibliography of the history of the printed book and libraries. Although a Dutch initiative, the bibliography included British contributors and was relevant for British librarians and book historians.32 The British book trade index (BBTI), providing information about individuals, companies and places involved in printing, bookselling and other book-related trades in England and Wales to 1851, moved to the English Department of the University of Birmingham in April 2002. Here three years of funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Board enabled the transfer of the existing database to the website, the provision of an enhanced search facility, the addition of thousands of new records, bringing the total to some 134,000 records, the inputting of John Feather’s checklist of secondary sources,

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and the conducting of research projects to test the database.33 The Arts and Humanities Research Board further enabled the development at Cardiff University of British fiction 1800–1829: a database of production, circulation and reception. The database, launched in summer 2004, was based on the two-volume The English novel, 1770–1828: a bibliographical survey of prose fiction published in the British Isles.34 It ‘allows users to examine bibliographical records of 2,272 works of fiction written by approximately 900 authors, along with a large number of contemporary materials (including anecdotal records, circulating-library catalogues, newspaper advertisements, reviews, and subscription lists’.35 The National Trust National Trust libraries hold between them approximately one quarter of a million books, about 70% of which pre-date 1860. These libraries gained markedly in prominence during the first five years of the twenty-first century, following the appointment in 1999 of a Libraries Curator. The reporting of books to ESTC has already been mentioned; almost all books in National Trust libraries were catalogued, detailed descriptions and analyses of collections were compiled, and libraries gained a presence on the National Trust website.36 Outreach included publications, notably the beginning of a series of articles about National Trust libraries in The book collector, and exhibitions.37 Collections Elsewhere, books changed hands and libraries were formed or threatened. The most significant single acquisition of the period was the purchase by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge of the Macclesfield Psalter, described as ‘the most important discovery of any English illuminated manuscript in living memory’;38 the purchase followed a fundraising campaign begun in autumn 2004 and just finished before its February 2005 deadline. Chawton House Library, an independent research library and study centre of over 9,000 volumes devoted chiefly to women’s writing in English from 1600 to 1830, opened in 2003.39 In November 2004, the Designation scheme which since 1997 had identified outstanding collections in non-national museums in England was extended to libraries and archives for collections considered to be of national or international importance. In October 2005 the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council named 38 collections which had been granted Designated status. These included among archives and modern special collections some rare book collections, such as the British Architectural Library at the Royal Institute of British Architects and all collections within the Wellcome Library relating to the study of the history of medicine.40 Less positively, Oriel College, Oxford, sold a First Folio and York Minster Library was threatened with closure, both in 2003; the Rare Books Group joined the successful protests against the latter measure. CERL, under the chairmanship of Ann Matheson (formerly of the National Library of Scotland), was active in rare books librarianship 2001–05, with British libraries active in the wider European context. In addition to the Hand Press Book

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database mentioned above, it collaborated with the Bibliographical Society to develop Ronald B. McKerrow’s Printers’ and publishers’ devices in England & Scotland 1485–1640 as an online resource, including the creation of links between images and text and of indexes to enable linking to the CERL thesaurus. This thesaurus contained personal, corporate and imprint names, imprint places and sources, and was commissioned in 2000, developed in Göttingen and comprising over 617,000 entries by March 2005.41 Under a working party led by Lotte Hellinga, formerly of the British Library, CERL had begun discussions in 2000 into the desirability and feasibility of an online database of manuscripts. Pilot demonstrations were developed in 2003, tested in 2004 and continued to be refined, with the aim of creating an integrated research resource for the European memory covering books and manuscripts.42 Its website was developed to contribute to the overall aim, for example with provenance information, a combination of descriptions of printed sources and access to electronic ones.43 In addition, CERL held annual conferences on collaborative European themes ranging from bibliography to digitization to provenance (the latter held at the National Library of Scotland) and published the proceedings from its London office, under the editorship firstly of Lotte Hellinga and then of her successor as Secretary, David Shaw.44 Associations and societies Within Britain, the CILIP Rare Books Group (approximately 1,200 members) guided general issues. Its annual conferences dealt with libraries and their buildings (‘Books in place’, York, 2001), preservation (Oxford, 2003), curating collections in the twenty-first century (Brighton, 2004) and two themes of increasing interest, children’s books (Edinburgh, 2002) and book ownership and provenance (Cambridge, 2005).45 Security and sales were a running concern. In April 2003 its document ‘Sale of rare books and manuscripts’, providing guidance on the sale and disposal of such items, became approved CILIP policy.46 The Group cooperated with the Council for Prevention of Art Theft to produce similar Guidelines for the Prevention of Theft for Dealers and Auctioneers.47 Some of the Rare Books Group’s energy turned towards cataloguing issues. In 2001, on the demise of the British UKMARC format, Brian Hillyard successfully urged the introduction of its 563 field into MARC 21 in order to record copyspecific binding information.48 Brian Hillyard also represented UK rare book cataloguers as an invited delegate at a DCRB revision conference held at Yale in March 2003. In November 2003 the Rare Books Group collaborated with the Children’s Book History Society to discuss the cataloguing of early children’s books.49 Most significantly, in 2005 the Group inaugurated a sub-committee, the UK Bibliographic Standards Committee (BSC) of the CILIP Rare Books Group, to address cataloguing issues. The Group agreed upon its tasks as being to act as a review panel for proposals to revise the international cataloguing codes for rare books; to provide input into matters concerning rare books for the general AngloAmerican code, Resource description and access (RDA); to revise the RBG

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Guidelines for cataloguing rare books; to provide information via the RBG website; to coordinate British submissions for new thesaurus terms; to liaise with the Book Industry Communications (BIC) Bibliographic Standards Group over desired changes relevant for rare books in MARC format; and to provide advice and training.50 Its main activity in 2005 was to coordinate and provide comments on Descriptive cataloging of rare materials (books), DCRM(B); many of its suggestions were adopted.51 The BSC was not the sole response to a perceived need for training, a need which arose at least partly from the fact that by the end of 2005 only two library schools in the United Kingdom taught historical bibliography: University College London and the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, the latter only as a longdistance module. On 14 September Rare Books in Scotland (RBiS), facilitated by the National Library of Scotland, came into being for staff in Scottish libraries and other organizations with responsibility for rare books. This group built on a small, informal group which first met on 3 September 2003. In November 2004 it became affiliated with the Scottish Confederation of University and Research Libraries (SCURL), whose aims it shared: improving services for users and maximising resources through collaborative action (e.g., sharing skills through workshops; working together in cataloguing); helping to build a cooperative library infrastructure in Scotland (e.g., by collaborative collection development); lobbying funding and planning bodies on matters of shared interest (e.g., preservation; library schools’ curricula) and providing mutual support for members, e.g., by facilitating the development of contacts on an individual and/or institutional level. The Forum held workshops on acquisitions, provenance, conservation and preservation, historical bibliography and cataloguing.52 Rare Books in Scotland was instituted to meet a practical professional need. On an academic level, 2001 saw the foundation of the Centre for Manuscript and Print Studies, hosted by the Institute of English Studies at the University of London on behalf of three libraries (the British Library, the St Bride Printing Library and the University of London Research Library Services) and the English departments of three universities (Birmingham, Reading, Open), with the Shakespeare Institute and the Centre for Textual Studies at De Montfort University subsequently joining the partnership. The Centre was formed by merging the School of Advanced Study’s Centre for Palaeography and the Research Centre in the History of the Book. Its activities were the provision of seminars, workshops, lectures and conferences and the coordination of research projects. Its areas of interest included all areas of manuscript studies; manuscript and print relations; the history of printing, publishing, the book trade, reading, libraries and collecting; bibliography; ephemera; and textual criticism.53 The Bibliographical Society and the regional bibliographical societies (e.g., Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, York) continued their usual lecture series and, in the cases of the Bibliographical Society and Oxford Bibliographical Society, published substantial works.54 In 2004 the Bibliographical Society commissioned the electronic cataloguing of its library of nearly 4,000 titles;55 the following year it

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made its quarterly journal, The library, available online. The three main annual series of bibliographical lectures – the Sandars Lectures at Cambridge, the Lyell Lectures at Oxford and the Panizzi Lectures at the British Library – covered topics extending in time from the world of books in Byzantium (Nigel Wilson’s 2002/3 Lyell Lectures) to T. S. Eliot’s revisions after publication and literary life in the Third Reich (Christopher Ricks’s 2002 Panizzi Lectures and Reinhard Wittmann’s 2004/5 Lyell Lectures respectively). Subjects were as diverse as paper in the sixteenth-century Italian paper industry (Conor Fahy) and Sir Sydney Cockerell (Christopher De Hamel; 2001/2 and 2003/4 Sandars Lectures respectively).56 Monographs based on the David McKitterick’s and Mirjam Foot’s Sandars Lectures (2000/1 and 2002/3 respectively) and on Antony Griffiths’s and Maria Luisa López-Vidriero’s Panizzi Lectures (2003 and 2004 respectively) were published and are mentioned below. Manuscripts Manuscript studies constitute a large area deserving of its own chapter. Two of the manuscript publications in Britain between 2001 and 2005 commemorate major exhibitions. An exhibition on the Lindisfarne Gospels at the British Library in 2003, masterminded by Michelle Brown, was joined by her monograph, a companion to the facsimile of the Gospels.57 From July to December 2005, Cambridge University Library and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge held a split-site exhibition, ‘Cambridge Illuminations’, featuring manuscripts from these two institutions – most spectacularly, the newly acquired Macclesfield Psalter – and from several Cambridge colleges in what was justly described in The book collector as ‘the largest exhibition of its kind to be staged since Cockerell’s Burlington Fine Arts Club exhibition in 1908’;58 Cambridge illuminations, edited by Paul Binski and Stella Panayotova, presents ten scholarly essays as well as the exhibition catalogue.59 Substantial catalogues of medieval manuscripts appeared, some under the aegis of the Corpus of British medieval library catalogues, covering manuscripts of the University and College libraries of Cambridge; Peterborough Abbey; St John’s College, Oxford; dated and datable manuscripts in London libraries, ca. 800–1600; and Worcester Cathedral Library.60 The indexes and addenda appeared to Ker’s Medieval manuscripts in British libraries.61 Catalogue and illustration combined in Kathleen L. Scott’s Dated and datable English manuscript borders, c. 1395–1499 and Fascicle II of An index of images in English manuscripts from the time of Chaucer to Henry VIII c. 1380–c. 1509,62 while catalogue or inventory formed part of a wider study in Cristina Dondi’s Liturgy of the Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and Colin Tite’s edition of lists pertaining to Sir Robert Cotton’s library.63 Volumes 10–12 of English manuscript studies, 1100–1700 were published.64 Studies of specific manuscripts covered the Trinity Apocalypse, the Bury Bible and the Hours of Louis XII;65 editions of manuscripts were of the St Alban’s Chronicle and of Henry of Kirkestede’s fifteenth-century catalogue of Latin authors and a

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CD-ROM of the Sherborne Missal.66 Toshiyuki Takamiya’s extensive festschrift contained wide-ranging essays by many leading British manuscript scholars,67 while other studies covered illustration,68 book production,69 ownership70 and palaeography.71 Notable publications A landmark in general book studies was the appearance in 2002 of Volume IV of The Cambridge history of the book in Britain, covering the period from the incorporation of the Stationers’ Company in 1557 to the lapsing of the Licensing Act in 1695, with essays by major scholars on publishing, ownership, literary canons, printing, the book trade, binding and provincial activity.72 Another general work covering a wide range of historical bibliographical topics was Nicolas Barker’s Form and meaning in the history of the book, a compilation of essays originally published in various sources between 1966 and 1998.73 John Carter’s classic ABC for book collectors reached its eighth edition.74 Several subject catalogues or bibliographies either by British authors or published in Great Britain appeared 2001–05, perhaps most notably the final two volumes of Early printed books 1478–1840: a catalogue of the British Architectural Library Early Imprints Collection, by Paul Nash and others, dealing with books on architecture, building and such related fields as ornament, interior decoration and garden design published between 1478 and 1840.75 Peter Thomas’s Medicine and science at Exeter Cathedral Library contained over 2,700 entries, featuring particularly the eighteenth century, of books published 1483–1900, with indexes of owners and subjects.76 Smaller catalogues of specific collections listed early German books in the British Museum (693 items published 1481–1900, featuring especially the sixteenth century (nos. 19–409)), and 321 books and pamphlets on slavery in Canterbury Cathedral Library, a revision and augmentation of a typescript catalogue published in 1988.77 On the union catalogue front, Ralph Cleminson and others compiled Cyrillic books printed before 1701 in British and Irish collections, covering 262 copies of 171 editions.78 An outstanding bibliography was David Griffiths’s Bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer, 1549–1999, its significance marked by the writing of review articles in addition to briefer reviews.79 Also noteworthy were the second volume (L–Z) of A bibliography of French emblem books, by Alison Adams, Stephen Rawles, and Alison Saunders, and Lawrence Darton’s The Dartons: an annotated check-list of children’s books issued by two publishing houses, 1787–1876, comprising 2,702 entries with editorial matter and several indices, representing decades of work.80 Related to catalogues and bibliographies is Anthony James West’s The Shakespeare First Folio. The first two volumes (of an expected four), dealing with sales and prices 1623–2000 and providing a census of 228 copies (90 more than Lee had found a century earlier) came out in 2001 and 2003 respectively.81 The single major catalogue to appear during the first five years of the twentyfirst century was indubitably the five-volume catalogue of incunabula at the Bodleian Library, the outcome of a project with roots going back nearly half a

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century to cards drawn up by L. A. Sheppard. This catalogue of some 5,600 editions of incunabula combined ‘information about the individual copies in the collections of the Bodleian Library (their bindings, their provenance, manuscript notes, and other signs of use) with a detailed analysis of the contents of each edition, locating all texts in each edition, identifying their authors, and giving reference to modern editions of each text where they exist’.82 Other incunabula studies to appear in Britain were Incunabula and their readers, an essay collection based on a conference held at the British Library in 2000, the English translation of Stephan Füssel’s Gutenberg and the impact of printing (originally published in German in 1999), and Takako Kato’s brief (102-page) Caxton’s Morte d’Arthur, examining Caxton’s workshop and printing techniques in order to restore what Malory intended to write.83 James Moran’s Wynkyn de Worde, father of Fleet Street entered its third edition in 2003, in which Lotte Hellinga and Mary Erler provided an introductory review of Wynkyn de Worde studies since 1976 and a 13page chronological bibliography of works on Wynkyn de Worde published from the nineteenth century to 2003.84 Provenance studies Provenance studies continued the impetus given to them in the last decade of the twentieth century. The proceedings of two conferences on the subject held within a month of each other in late 2004 were published towards the end of 2005, the CERL conference hosted by the National Library of Scotland in November on books and their owners, focusing on the recording of provenance and what is to be learned from it, and the annual book trade conference held in London in the following month entitled ‘Owners, annotators the signs of reading’.85 A provenance exhibition, ‘The private lives of books’, accompanied the CERL conference.86 Several catalogues of the libraries of individuals or institutions appeared: Hendrik Dijkgraaf’s catalogue of the 1002-item strong library of a Jesuit community at Holbeck in 1679 and Robert Matteson’s annotated catalogue of the collection of Archbishop William King (1650–1729), numbering over 7,000 volumes, in the ‘Libri pertinentes’ series, and Nicolas Kiessling’s catalogue of the library of Anthony Wood published by the Oxford Bibliographical Society.87 C. S. Knighton’s census of printed books in Samuel Pepys’s library at Magdalene College, Cambridge constituted a revision of N. A. Smith’s catalogue of Pepys’s library of 1978, listed in shelfmark order as opposed to Smith’s arrangement by author.88 Studies of collectors were represented by James P. Carley’s Books of King Henry VIII and his wives and The pleasures of bibliophily, the latter primarily a reprint of 26 essays about book collectors by well-known scholars originally published in The book collector between 1956 and 1997.89 Essays on collectors appeared not only with increasing frequency in the standard bibliographical journals but also in such unexpected sources as Medical history.90 Two reference works on bookplates further contributed to provenance studies, John Blatchly’s Some Suffolk and Norfolk ex-libris, reproducing bookplates and labels relating to East Anglian owners, artists and printers, with biographical information and – a

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book whose Britishness is confined to the publisher and the location of the bookplates – Ilse O’Dell’s Deutsche und österreichische Exlibris 1500–1599 im Department of Prints and Manuscripts im Britischen Museum, a study covering 566 items in the Franks and Rosenheim Collections.91 David Pearson mounted an update of provenance indexes available in libraries in the United Kingdom on the CERL website in September 2005.92 Bindings Mirjam Foot and David Pearson were largely responsible for work on bindings flourishing. David Pearson produced the invaluable handbook English bookbinding styles, 1450–1800, explaining how to date English bindings of the handpress era.93 Mirjam Foot edited Eloquent witnesses: bookbindings and their history, a Bibliographical Society publication comprising ten essays devoted to types of bindings, binding structures, binders and a collector of bindings.94 She also published The decorated bindings in Marsh’s library, Dublin, highlighting fine bindings from particular countries and periods in Trinity College, Dublin, and Bookbinders at work, the outcome of her Sandars Lectures for 2003, drawing heavily upon contemporary sources to describe contemporary binding practices.95 Firmly within the modern period were Edmund King’s Victorian decorated trade bindings 1830–1880: a descriptive bibliography and, of smaller scale in the catalogue line, Anthony Dowd’s The Anthony Dowd collection of modern bindings, a description of 100 bindings, all illustrated, with their provenances.96 Illustration Generally, studies of illustration focused on the Victorian period, outside the remit of this study.97 Earlier periods, however, were not neglected. Publications, all from the British Library, were varied, from Martha Driver’s The image in print: book illustration in late medieval England and its sources, examining woodcuts in incunabula and early sixteenth-century books, to the outcome of two sets of Panizzi lectures, Antony Griffiths’s Prints for books: book illustration in France, 1760–1800, discussing the market and social and economic contexts of book illustration in the period, and Michael Twyman’s Breaking the mould: the first hundred years of lithography.98 Ray Desmond’s Great natural history books and their creators looked at the printing and publishing of (chiefly botanical) natural history books, surveyed the literature and discussed specific titles; the nature of the books automatically led to a focus on illustration.99 Nigel Tattersfield contributed John Bewick: engraver on wood, 1760–1795.100 The private presses Interest in private presses burgeoned. Monographs on the Eragny, Vale, Doves and Golden Cockerel Presses each provided the history of the press in question and lists of the books published.101 Roderick Cave supplied an overview of private presses, discussing the private press movement generally and including 21 chapters on eighteen specific presses, in Fine printing and private presses, which added

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four new papers to reprints of previously published articles. Finally, the Private Libraries Association brought out five volumes covering the bibliography of modern private press books published between 1992 and 2001.103 Each volume is arranged by press and gives the address of the press and details of title, author, illustrations, dimensions, type, paper, binding and numbers of copies printed. Coverage is international, and includes small presses not necessarily associated with fine printing (e.g., the Plough Press in Nottingham). Printing Two brief essays on sextos in The library provided a significant contribution to printing studies by demonstrating that books were printed in sixes, not a format included in the standard manuals.104 British books on printing ranged from mathematical basis of the types used by Aldus Manutius105 and the punches of Philippe Grandjean106 to comments on the layout of selected pages of text published between 1470 and 1946107 and to regional printing in Warwickshire.108 The second edition of Elizabeth Eisenstein’s The printing revolution in early modern Europe, appearing 22 years after the first, added a 46-page review essay, ‘Revisiting the printing revolution’, discussing issues raised, and noting works published since The printing press as an agent of change.109 Janine Barchas and James McLaverty examined the interaction of print and meaning in the eighteenth century: McLaverty in Pope, print and meaning examined how Alexander Pope used typography, type ornaments and layout to control the reception of his work, while Barchas did much the same, including discussion of punctuation and an engraved musical score, for novels of the same period, notably Richardson’s Clarissa and Sarah Fielding’s David Simple.110 Interest in printing processes was evinced by Richard Gabriel Rummonds’s two-volume Nineteenth-century printing practices and the iron handpress, an anthology of instructions and advice in English-language nineteenth-century printers’ manuals.111 The book trade Publishing and the book trade were the subject of a large number of studies. Several of these were conference proceedings: of the annual London conferences on book trade history organized by Robin Myers, Michael Harris and Giles Mandelbrote on book auctions since the seventeenth century, biography and the book trade, the London book trade, and on crime, sharp practice and the control of print;112 of the conferences on the history of the British book trade in Birmingham on continuity and change in the book trade and the locations of book production and distribution since 1500;113 and of a British Library conference, supplemented by five additional essays, Foreign-language printing in London, 1500–1900.114 Histories of particular organizations were those of the Stationers’ Company, 1800– 2000 and the third and final volume of David McKitterick’s history of Cambridge University Press, New worlds for learning, 1873–1972 (also the subject of his Sandars Lectures at Cambridge in 2001); this covered publishing, printing, typography and trade for the set period.115 Other specific topics included English

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newspapers to 1899 and the general failure to register copies of music examined certain forms of publishing.116 A single-author study was Andrew Murphy’s Shakespeare in print, describing the history of Shakespeare publishing from the Renaissance to the present day, from the twin perspectives of editing and publishing history.117 A further area of exploration was the trade between Great Britain and other countries: the role of the low countries in the book trade (based on a seminar at the British Library; a significant number of the essays concern Britain); the export of books to Spanish America; the professional contacts between London booksellers and the United States, the Charleston Literary Society, 1748–1811, in one instance and four American presidents in another.118 More discursively, several books were published on book history and culture, including the interaction of books and readers.119 The most outstanding work concerning the book trade was D. F. McKenzie and Maureen Bell’s three-volume reference work, A chronology and calendar of documents relating to the London book trade 1641– 1700.120 This culmination of a project begun by McKenzie in 1975 comprises chronological references to the book trade, abstracts and edited abstracts occurring in the State papers (Domestic series), Journal of the House of Commons, Journals of the House of Lords, reports of the Historical Manuscripts Commission to NS 78, Stationers’ Company Court books, and McKenzie’s records of seventeenth-century pamphlet material. Records related to production, distribution, ownership and readership of printed texts throughout Britain and in relation to continental Europe. Conclusion The years 2001–05 were a vigorous time for rare book librarianship and historical bibliography, with a great deal of collaborative activity in addition to the labours of single libraries and dedicated individuals. Access to books and collections via cataloguing and digitization increased markedly; bibliographical databases were created or expanded to supplement a wide range of printed books as reference sources; teaching and training developed; a new library opened and a significant illuminated manuscript acquired. Printed catalogues, monographs and collections of essays covered all areas of historical bibliography, and included in the catalogue of Oxford incunabula and the chronology and calendar of the seventeenth-century English book trade two landmark reference works which had required years of collaborative preparation. Plans set afoot by early 2006 promised further forthcoming growth in the field: for example, a national database of chapbooks; awareness of a large number of our pre-1701 imprints through the ‘Britain in Print’ project; a new list of seventeenth-century English book owners;121 the fruits of British input into the cataloguing codes RDA and ISBD(A); and more teaching and training, including an annual Rare Books School to be administered by the Centre for Manuscript and Print Studies in London. May the flourishing book continue to flourish!

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Notes 1 2 3

4

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6

7

8

9 10

11

12 13

Cambridge University Library, Rare Books information, at: (accessed 1/4/06). For drafts of DCRM(B) see: ‘RBMS bibliographical standards’, (accessed 1/4/06). For a general description of the RSLP projects see Ronald Milne, ‘RSLP: Research Support Libraries Programme: charting and navigating a nation’s collections’, Rare books newsletter 65, 2000–1, 37–51, and the RSLP website: ‘RSLP projects and studies’: (accessed 1/4/06). The latter includes links to project-specific websites. See Marie-Pierre Détraz, ‘RSLP-funded projects, 4: CURL-led 19th-century pamphlets project’, Rare books newsletter 66, 2001, 60–1; ‘RSLP 19th century pamphlets’: and ‘CURL Consortium of Research Libraries in the British Isles, Projects and services’: (both accessed 1/4/06). See Sarah Mahurter, ‘RSLP-funded projects, 1: BOOKHAD: support for nationwide research activities in the fields of book history & book design’, Rare books newsletter 65, 2000–1, 52–5; ‘BOOKHAD: support for nationwide research in access and book design’: (accessed 1/4/06). See Katie Sambrook, ‘RSLP-funded projects, 2: HOST: history of science & technology 1801–1914: a collaborative retrospective conversion and conservation programme’, Rare books newsletter 65, 2000–1, 55–7; ‘HOST 1801–1914’: (accessed 1/4/06). See Christine Gascoigne, ‘RSLP-funded projects, 5: pamphlet and polemic: pamphlets as a guide to the controversies of the 17th to 19th centuries’, Rare books newsletter 66, 2001, 62–3; ‘Pamphlet and polemic: pamphlets as a guide to the controversies of the 17th–19th centuries’: (accessed 1/4/06). See Marie-Pierre Détraz, ‘Revelation Plus: a CURL-led project in 19th and 20th century church history and Christian Theology, October 2003–March 2004: final report’, April 2004, available at: (accessed 1/4/06), and, for briefer information about the project, ‘CURL (Consortium of Research Libraries) in the British Isles: projects and services’: (accessed 1/4/06). See ‘Britain in Print’: (accessed 1/4/06); (accessed 24/4/06). ‘The Linnaeus Link project’, Rare books newsletter 73, 2004, 15; ‘Linnaeus Link progress’, Rare books newsletter 74, 2005, 26; ‘Linnaeus Link’: (accessed 24/4/06). K. E. Attar, ‘Durning-Lawrence online: benefits of a retrospective catalogue conversion project’, Libri 53, 2003, 142–8; Owen Massey, ‘Tracts and pamphlets in the Royal College of Surgeons of England’, Rare books newsletter 74, 2005, 32–4; Paul W. Nash, ‘Cataloguing rare books at the Royal Institute of British Architects’, Refer 19 (2), 2003, 7–11. Email from Sarah Wheale, 22 Feb. 2006. ‘Guardbook catalogue now searchable on Newton’, Cambridge University Library readers’ newsletter 31, Oct. 2005, 3. Also available electronically at: (accessed 21/3/06). The figures

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15 16

17

18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27

28 29

British librarianship and information work 2001–2005 specifically for 2001–05 and information concerning the Bible Society are from an email from Jill Whitelock, Head of Rare Books, Cambridge University Library, 20 Feb. 2006. The project at St John’s College is mentioned within Stewart Tiley, ‘Developing the special collections web-pages at St John’s College, Cambridge University’, Rare books newsletter 74, 2005, 34–8, at p. 36. For the information about Trinity and Corpus Christi Colleges, I am indebted to emails from Joanna Ball, Sub-Librarian, Trinity College Library, 22 Feb. 2006, and William Hale, Parker Taylor Bibliographer, Corpus Christi College, 20 Feb. 2006. Email from Eoin Shalloo, Curator, Rare book collections, National Library of Scotland, 21 Feb. 2006. Emails from Lindsay Levy, 13 March 2006; Julie Wands, 21 Feb. 2006; Gabriell Sewell, Lambeth Palace Library, 21 Feb. 2006; Katie Sambrook, Special Collections Librarian, King’s College London, 21 Feb. 2006; Caroline Moss-Gibbons, Head of Heritage Collections, Royal College of Physicians, 20 Feb. 2006; Nicholas J. Wyatt, Collections Services Librarian, Science Museum Library, 21 Feb. 2006; Steven Dearden, Team Leader, Stock Control, Liverpool Central Libraries, 21 Feb. 2006. Ann Matheson, ‘The Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL): the European printed archive’, Alexandria 17 (1), 2005, 1–11, at p. 3; ‘News’, Rare books newsletter 65, 2000–1, 23. Consortium of European Research Libraries newsletter 11, June 2005. Available electronically at: (accessed 17/3/06). Email from Henry Snyder, ESTC, 10 March 2006. Michael Perkin (ed.), A Directory of the parochial libraries of the Church of England and the Church in Wales. Rev. ed. London: Bibliographical Society, 2004. B. C. Bloomfield, Directory of rare book and special collections in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. London: Library Association, 1997. MASC25: mapping access to special collections in the London region: (accessed 10/4/06). David Pearson, ‘Rare book librarianship and historical bibliography’ in British librarianship and information work 1991–2000. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005, pp. 168– 82. Information available at Eighteenth Century Collections Online: (accessed 17/2/06). JISC: (accessed 17/2/06). See Making of the modern economy: (accessed 1/4/06). Reg Carr, ‘Oxford-Google digitisation agreement’, 29 Sept. 2005: (accessed 22/2/06); see also ‘Protests slow Google library’, Library + information update 4 (10), 2005, 3. Four major American research libraries were also engaged in the project. ‘In brief’, Library and information gazette, 21 Oct. 2005, 11. British Library, Online gallery, Turning the pages: (accessed 10/3/06); ‘British Library’s Turning the pages now available on the web’, Advanced technology libraries 33 (6), 2004, 6– 7.

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Wellcome Library, Turning the pages: (accessed 10/3/06). British Library, Database of bookbindings: (accessed 14/3/06). For an early description of the database, see P. J. M. Marks and David Grinyer, ‘The trials of going online: the image database of British Library bookbindings’, New library world 103, 1180, 2002, 328–35. Book history online: (accessed 10/3/06). British Book Trade Index: , last modified 24 Oct. 2005 (accessed 14/3/06). For a partial result of the research projects carried out, see John Hinks and Maureen Bell, ‘The book trade in English provincial towns, 1700–1849: an evaluation of evidence from the British Book Trade Index’, Publishing history 57, 2004, 53–111. The English novel, 1770–1828: a bibliographical survey of prose fiction published in the British Isles, ed. Peter Garside, James Raven and Rainer Schöwerling. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Peter Garside, Jacqueline Belanger and Sharon Ragaz, British fiction 1800–1829: a database of production, circulation and reception, 2004: (accessed 15/3/06). For the interest in books and readers, see also the Reading Experience Database (RED), an ongoing project discussed in: Mary Hammond, ‘The Reading Experience Database 1450–1945 (RED)’, in Owners, annotators and the signs of reading, ed. Robin Myers, Michael Harris, Giles Mandelbrote. London: British Library, 2005, pp. 175–87. ‘A new look at National Trust libraries’, 2006: (accessed 20/2/06). For an overview of work concerning the National Trust libraries, see Mark Purcell, ‘The National Trust and its libraries’, Art libraries journal 23 (2), 2003, 18–21. The first two articles about National Trust libraries in the Book collector were Mark Purcell, Caroline Shenton, ‘National Trust libraries: introduction and select bibliography’, Book collector 54, 2005, 53–9 and Mark Purcell, ‘The library at Lanhydrock’, Book collector 54, 2005, 195–230. An exhibition was commemorated in Giles Mandelbrote, Yvonne Lewis, Learning to collect: the library of Sir Richard Ellys (1682–1742) at Blickling Hall. London: National Trust, 2004. ‘News and comment’, Book collector 54, 2005, 107–23, at p. 109. Chawton House Library and Study Centre: (accessed 15/3/06); Helen Scott, ‘Jane Austen’s text in context’, Library + information update 3 (3), 2004, 28–31. ‘Outstanding library and archive collections receive national recognition’, Rare books newsletter 76, 2005, 59–63. Several designated collections contained a mixture of archival material and printed books. Ronald B. McKerrow, Printers’ and publishers’ devices in England & Scotland 1485–1640:

(accessed 19/4/06). See Matheson, ‘Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL)’; Consortium of European Research Libraries newsletter 11, June 2005. Marian Lefferts and David Shaw, Provenance information, last updated 9 March 2006: (accessed 10/3/06).

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British librarianship and information work 2001–2005 Lotte Hellinga (ed.), The scholar & the database. London: CERL, 2001 (CERL papers; 3); David J. Shaw (ed.), Books beyond frontiers: the need for international collaboration in national retrospective bibliography. London: CERL, 2003 (CERL papers; 3); David J. Shaw (ed.), European cultural heritage in the digital age: creation, access and preservation. London: CERL, 2004 (CERL papers; 4); David J. Shaw (ed.), Books and their owners: provenance information and the European cultural heritage. London: CERL, 2005 (CERL papers; 5). A full list of contents of each of these volumes is available on the CERL website at: (accessed 10/3/06). For summaries of the papers given at these conferences, see Rare books newsletter 66, 2001, 24–42 (2001 conference); 68, 2002–3, 23–38 (2002 conference); 70, 2003, 14– 48; 71, 2004, 29–61 (both 2003 conference); 73, 2004, 22–43 (2004 conference); 76, 2005, 23–45 (2005 conference) ‘Sale of rare books and manuscripts’, Rare books newsletter 69, 2003, 14–16. Annual report of the Rare Books Group for 2001, Rare books newsletter 67, 2002, 28–30, at p. 29. For discussion of this field, see Brian Hillyard, ‘MARC 21 563: binding information’, Rare books newsletter 68, 2002–3, 39–40. See K. E. Attar, ‘Cataloguing early children’s books: requirements, provision and a seminar’, Catalogue & index 151, 2004, 8–12. K. Attar, B. Hillyard, ‘UK Bibliographic Standards Committee of the CILIP Rare Books Group’, Rare books newsletter 75, 2005, 7–8. ‘DCRM(B) zeta 20060108: List of changes from epsilon draft’, available electronically at: (accessed 19/4/06). Rare Books in Scotland: (accessed 14/3/06). Centre for Manuscript and Print Studies, Institute of English Studies, University of London: (accessed 6/3/06). Perkin, Directory of parochial libraries; Kathleen L. Scott, Dated and datable English manuscript borders, c. 1395–1499. London: Bibliographical Society and British Library, 2002; Mirjam M. Foot (ed.), Eloquent witnesses: bookbindings and their history. London: Bibliographical Society and British Library, 2004; Neil R. Ker, Fragments of medieval manuscripts used as pastedowns in Oxford bindings, with a survey of Oxford binding, c. 1515–1620. Oxford: Oxford Bibliographical Society, 2004 (Oxford Bibliographical Society publications, 3rd ser.; v. 4). Reprint of 1954 ed., with corrigenda and addenda; Nicolas K. Kiessling, The library of Anthony Wood. Oxford: Oxford Bibliographical Society, 2002. For information about the Library and its OPAC, see Bibliographical Society Library: (accessed 19/4/06). The catalogue is available at: (accessed 19/4/06) For a full list of Sandars, Lyell and Panizzi Lectures, see: HoBo Sandars, Lyell, Panizzi & McKenzie: (accessed 19/4/06). Michelle P. Brown, The Lindisfarne Gospels: society, spirituality and the scribe. London: British Library, 2003.

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Book collector 54, 2005, 452. Paul Binski, Stella Panayotova (eds.), The Cambridge illuminations: ten centuries of book production in the medieval west. London: Harvey Miller, 2005. Peter D. Clarke (ed.), The university and college libraries of Cambridge. London: British Library in association with the British Academy, 2002 (Corpus of British medieval library catalogues, 10); Emilie Savage-Smith, A descriptive catalogue of oriental manuscripts at St. John’s College, Oxford. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005; Karsten Friis-Jensen and James M. W. Willoughby (eds.), Peterborough Abbey. London: British Library in association with the British Academy, 2001 (Corpus of British medieval library catalogues; 8); Ralph Hanna, Jeremy Griffiths, A descriptive catalogue of the western medieval manuscripts of St John’s College, Oxford. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002; P. R. Robinson, Catalogue of dated and datable manuscripts c. 800–1600 in London libraries. London: British Library, 2003; R. M. Thomson, Michael Gullick (eds.), A descriptive catalogue of medieval manuscripts in the Worcester Cathedral Library. Cambridge: Brewer, 2001. N. R. Ker, Medieval manuscripts in British Libraries. Vol. 5, Indexes and addenda, ed. I. C. Cunningham, A. G. Watson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Scott, Dated and datable English manuscript borders; Lynda Dennison et al., An index of images in English manuscripts from the time of Chaucer to Henry VIII c. 1380–c. 1509. Fascicle II: MSS Dodsworth-Marshall. Turnhout: Harvey Miller, 2001. On a smaller scale, Peter Kidd’s Medieval manuscripts from the collection of T. R. Buchanan in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (Oxford: Bodleian Library, 2001) describes 24 manuscripts given to the Bodleian Library in 1939 and 1941, with an introduction which traces the collection’s history and contributes to provenance studies. Cristina Dondi, The liturgy of the Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem: a study and a catalogue of the manuscript sources. Turnhout: Brepols, 2004 (Biblioteca Victorna, 16); Colin G. C. Tite, The early records of Sir Robert Cotton’s Library: formation, cataloguing, use. London: British Library, 2003. A. S. G. Edwards (ed.), Decoration and illustration in English medieval manuscripts. London: British Library, 2002 (English manuscript studies 1100–1700; 10); Peter Beal, Grace Ioppolo (eds.), Manuscripts and their makers in the English Renaissance. London: British Library, 2002 (English manuscript studies 1100–1700; 11); Peter Beal, A. S. G. Edwards (eds.), Scribes and transmission in English manuscripts 1400– 1700. London: British Library, 2005 (English manuscript studies, 1100–1700; 12). David McKitterick (ed.), The Trinity Apocalypse: (Trinity College Cambridge, MS R.16.2). London: British Library, 2005; R. M. Thomson, The Bury Bible. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2001; Thomas Kren, Mark Evans (eds.), A masterpiece reconstructed: the Hours of Louis XII. Los Angeles: Getty; London: British Library, 2005. John Taylor, Wendy R. Childs (eds.), The St Alban’s Chronicle: the Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham. 1: 1376–1394, trans. Leslie Watkiss. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2003 (Oxford medieval texts); Richard H. Rouse, Mary A. Rouse (eds.), Henry of Kirkestede, Catalogus de libris autenticis et apocrifs. London: British Library in association with the British Academy, 2004 (Corpus of British medieval library catalogues; 11); The Sherborne Missal. London: British Library, 2002.

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British librarianship and information work 2001–2005 Takami Matsuda, Richard A. Linenthal, John Scahill (eds.), The medieval book and a modern collector: essays in honour of Toshiyuki Takamiya. Woodbridge: Brewer, 2004. Another essay collection was Lynda Dennison (ed.), The legacy of M. R. James: papers from the 1995 Cambridge Symposium. Donington: Shaun Tyas, 2001. Christopher De Hamel, The British Library guide to manuscript illumination: history and techniques. London: British Library, 2001; John Williams, The illustrated Beatus: a corpus of the illustrations of the commentary on the Apocalypse. Vol. 2: The ninth and tenth centuries. London: Harvey Miller, 2003; Vol. 4: The eleventh and twelfth centuries. London: Harvey Miller, 2002; David H. Wright, The Roman Vergil and the origins of medieval book design. London: British Library, 2001. Alison I. Beach, Women as scribes: book production and monastic reform in twelfthcentury Bavaria. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Christopher De Hamel, The Rothschilds and their collections of illuminated manuscripts. London: British Library, 2005. For handbooks, see Albert Derolez, The palaeography of Gothic manuscript books from the twelfth to the early sixteenth century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003 (Cambridge studies in palaeography and codicology; 9); Jane Roberts, Guide to scripts used in English writings up to 1500. London: British Library 2005; for an essay collection, see John Haines, Randall Rosenfeld (eds.), Music and medieval manuscripts: paleography and performance: essays dedicated to Andrew Hughes. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004. The Cambridge history of the book in Britain. Vol. 4: 1557–1695, ed. John Barnard, D. F. McKenzie, with the assistance of Maureen Bell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Nicolas Barker, Form and meaning in the history of the book: selected essays. London: British Library, 2003. John Carter, Nicolas Barker, ABC for book collectors, 8th ed. London: British Library, 2004. Paul W. Nash et al., Early printed books 1478–1840: a catalogue of the British Architectural Library Early Imprints Collection. Vol. 4: S–Z. Munich: Saur, 2001; Vol. 5: Indices, supplement, appendices, addenda and corrigenda. Munich: Saur, 2003. Peter W. Thomas, Medicine and science at Exeter Cathedral Library: a short-title catalogue of printed books, 1483–1900, with a list of 10th- to 19th-century manuscripts. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2003. David Paisey, Catalogue of German printed books to 1900. London: British Museum Press, 2002; Clare Gathercole (ed.), The slave trade: books and pamphlets on slavery and its abolition printed before 1900 in Canterbury Cathedral Library, rev. David Shaw. Canterbury: Canterbury Cathedral, 2001. Ralph Cleminson et al. (eds.), Cyrillic books printed before 1701 in British and Irish collections: a union catalogue. London: British Library, 2000. David N. Griffiths, The bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer, 1549–1999. London: British Library, 2002. For review articles, see B. J. McMullin, ‘The Book of Common Prayer and the bibliographer’, The library ser. 7 6, 2005, 425–54; ‘The Book of Common Prayer’, The book collector 53, 2004, 167–80. Alison Adams, Stephen Rawles, Alison Saunders, A bibliography of French emblem books of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Vol. 2: L–Z. Geneva: Droz, 2002;

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Lawrence Darton, The Dartons: an annotated check-list of children’s books issued by two publishing houses, 1787–1876. London: British Library, 2004. Anthony James West, The Shakespeare first folio: the history of the book. Vol. 1: An account of the first folio based on its sales and prices, 1623–2000. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001; Vol. 2: A new worldwide census of first folios. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. Alan Coates et al., Catalogue of books published in the fifteenth century now in the Bodleian Library. 5 v. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, lxxix. Kristian Jensen (ed.), Incunabula and their readers: printing, selling and using books in the fifteenth century. London: British Library, 2003; Stephan Füssel, Gutenberg and the impact of printing. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005; Takako Kato, Caxton’s Morte d’Arthur: the printing process and the authenticity of the text. Oxford: Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature, 2002 (Medium aevum monographs; 22). James Moran, Wynkyn de Worde, father of Fleet Street, 3rd ed., rev. Lotte Hellinga, Mary Erler. London: British Library, 2003. David Shaw (ed.), Books and their owners: provenance information and the European cultural heritage. London: CERL, 2005 (CERL papers; 5); Robin Myers, Michael Harris, Giles Mandelbrote (eds.), Owners, annotators and the signs of reading. London: British Library, 2005. ‘The private lives of books: investigating books and their owners’: (accessed 1/4/06). Robert S. Matteson, A large private park; the collection of Archbishop William King, 1650–1729. 2 v. Cambridge: LP Publications, 2003 (Libri pertinentes; 7); Hendrik Dijkgraaf, The library of a Jesuit community at Holbeck, Nottinghamshire (1679). Cambridge: LP Publications, 2003 (Libri pertinentes; 8); Kiessling, Library of Anthony Wood. C. S. Knighton (ed.), Catalogue of the Pepys library at Magdalene College Cambridge. Supplementary series. Vol. 1: Census of printed books. Cambridge: Brewer, 2004. James P. Carley, The books of King Henry VIII and his wives. London: British Library, 2004; The pleasures of bibliophily: fifty years of the Book collector: an anthology. London: British Library, 2003. David Pearson, ‘Joseph Fenton and his books’, Medical history 47, 2003, 239–48. John Blatchly, Some Suffolk and Norfolk ex-libris: bookplates and labels relating to East Anglian owners, artists and printers. London: Bookplate Society, 2000; Ilse O’Dell, Deutsche und österreichische Exlibris 1500–1599 im Department of Prints and Manuscripts im Britischen Museum. London: British Museum Press, 2003. David Pearson, ‘Provenance indexes available in UK libraries: a selective update, September 2005’: (accessed 1/4/06); hard copy available in the Rare books newsletter 76, 2005, 45–58. David Pearson, English bookbinding styles, 1450–1800: a handbook. London: British Library, 2005. Foot (ed.), Eloquent witnesses. Mirjam M. Foot, The decorated bindings in Marsh’s library, Dublin. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004; Bookbinders at work: their roles and methods. London: British Library, 2006.

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British librarianship and information work 2001–2005 Edmund M. B. King, Victorian decorated trade bindings 1830–1880: a descriptive bibliography. London: British Library, 2003; Anthony Dowd, The Anthony Dowd collection of modern bindings. Manchester: John Rylands University Library of Manchester, 2002. John Buchanan-Brown, Early Victorian illustrated books: Britain, France and Germany 1820–1860; Paul Goldman, Beyond decoration: the illustrations of John Everett Millais; Gregory R. Suriano, The British pre-Raphaelite illustrators. Rev. ed. All published: London: British Library, 2005. Martha W. Driver, The image in print: book illustration in late medieval England and its sources. London: British Library, 2004; Antony Griffiths, Prints for books: book illustration in France, 1760–1800. London: British Library, 2004; Michael Twyman, Breaking the mould: the first hundred years of lithography. London: British Library, 2001. Ray Desmond, Great natural history books and their creators. London: British Library, 2003. Nigel Tattersfield, John Bewick: engraver on wood, 1760–1795: an appreciation of his life, together with an annotated catalogue of his illustrations and designs. London: British Library, 2001. Roderick Cave and Sarah Manson, A history of the Golden Cockerel Press, 1920– 1960. London: British Library, 2002; Marcella D. Genz, A history of the Eragny Press, 1894–1914. London, British Library, 2004; Marianne Tidcombe, The Doves Press. London: British Library, 2002; Maureen Watry, The Vale Press: Charles Ricketts, a publisher in earnest. London: British Library, 2004. Roderick Cave, Fine printing and private presses: selected papers. London: British Library, 2001. David Chambers (ed.), Private press books 1992–1993; Paul W. Nash, Margaret Lock, Arthur Goldsmith, Private press books 1994–1998. Both: Pinner: Private Libraries Association, 2002; Paul W. Nash, Margaret Lock, Asa Peavy, Private press books 1999; Private press books 2000; Private press books 2001. All: Pinner: Private Libraries Association, 2004. B. J. McMullin, ‘A Scottish sexto in fours and twos’, The library ser. 7 2, 2001, 286– 9; Stephen Rawles, ‘More sextos: two editions of Zincgref’s Emblematum ethicopoliticorum centuria, The Library ser. 7 3, 2002, 317–19. Peter Burnhill, Type spaces: in-house norms in the typography of Aldus Manutius. London: Hyphen Press, 2003. The Hyphen Press also reprinted Harry Carter, A view of early typography up to about 1600, originally published: Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969. James Mosley et al. (eds.), Le romain du roi: la typographie au service de l’État, 1702–2002. Lyon: Musée de l’imprimerie, 2002. Alan Bartram, Five hundred years of book design. London: British Library, 2001. Paul Morgan, Printing and publishing in Warwickshire: miscellaneous notes. Birmingham: British Book Trade Index, 2004. Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, The printing revolution in early modern Europe. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. James McLaverty, Pope, print and meaning. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001; Janine Barchas, Graphic design, print culture, and the eighteenth-century novel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

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Richard Gabriel Rummonds, Nineteenth-century printing practices and the iron handpress, with selected readings, 2 v. London: British Library, 2004. Robin Myers, Michael Harris, Giles Mandelbrote (eds.), Under the hammer: book auctions since the seventeenth century; Lives in print: biography and the book trade from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. Both: London: British Library, 2002; The London book trade: topographies of print in the metropolis from the sixteenth century. London: British Library, 2003; Against the law: crime, sharp practice and the control of print. London: British Library, 2004. The proceedings of the 2005 conference, on fairs, markets and the itinerant book trade, were due for publication at the end of 2006. Peter Isaac, Barry McKay (ed.), The moving market: continuity and change in the book trade. New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll, 2001; Barry McKay, John Hinds, Maureen Bell (ed.), Light on the book trade: essays in honour of Peter Isaac. London: British Library, 2004. Barry Taylor (ed.), Foreign-language printing in London, 1500–1900. Boston Spa: British Library, 2002. Robin Myers (ed.), The Stationers’ Company: a history of the later years, 1800–2000. Chichester: Phillimore, 2001; David McKitterick, A history of Cambridge University Press. Vol. 3: New worlds for learning, 1873–1972. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Bob Clarke, From Grub Street to Fleet Street: an illustrated history of English newspapers to 1899; Michael Kassler, Music entries at Stationers’ Hall, 1710–1818: from lists prepared for William Hawes, D. W. Krummel and Alan Tyson and from other sources. Both: Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004. Andrew Murphy, Shakespeare in print: a history and chronology of Shakespeare publishing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Lotte Hellinga et al. (ed.), The bookshop of the world: the role of the low countries in the book-trade, 1473–1941. ’t Goy-Houten: HES and De Graaf, 2001; Eugenia Roldán Vera, The British book trade and Spanish American independence: education and knowledge transmission in transcontinental perspective. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003; James Raven, London booksellers and American customers: transatlantic literary community and the Charleston Library Society, 1748–1811. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2002; Eric Stockdale, ’Tis treason, my good man! Four revolutionary presidents and a Piccadilly bookshop. London: British Library, 2005. On the opposite end of the scale from dissemination was Cyndia Susan Clegg, Press censorship in Jacobean England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. E.g., Douglas A. Brooks (ed.), Printing and parenting in early modern England. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005; Julia Crick, Alexandra Walsham (eds.), The uses of script and print, 1300–1700. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004; Mary C. Erler, Women, reading and piety in late medieval England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002; Heidi Brayman Hackel, Reading material in early modern England: print, gender and literacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005; Zachary Lesser, Renaissance drama and the politics of publication: readings in the English book trade. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004; Maria Luisa López-Vidriero, The polished cornerstone of the temple: queenly libraries of the Enlightenment. London: British Library, 2005; Kate Peters, Print culture and the

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British librarianship and information work 2001–2005 early Quakers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005; Isabel Rivers (ed.), Books and their readers in eighteenth-century England: new essays. London: Leicester University Press, 2001. Reprinted: London: Continuum, 2003; William St Clair, The reading nation in the Romantic period. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. D. F. McKenzie, Maureen Bell, A chronology and calendar of documents relating to the London book trade 1641–1700. 3 v. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. For an example of use to be derived from this work, see Maureen Bell, ‘Offensive behaviour in the English book trade 1641–1700’, in Myers et al. (eds.), Against the law, pp. 61–79. David Pearson, ‘English book owners in the seventeenth century: a work in progress listing’:

(accessed 14/3/06).

12

Art libraries Erica Foden-Lenahan

Introduction This chapter aims to highlight some of the concerns that affected the working life of art librarians during 2001–05 and some of the initiatives designed to aid the profession. It will touch on the progress of the Art Libraries Society, whose mission and place continued to be at the heart of art librarianship in the United Kingdom and Ireland. However, it will also look at the political and legislative developments that affected how art librarians work and to which ARLIS’s activities responded. There is considerable overlap with other sectors, both of librarianship and with museums and archives. It will come as no surprise that this chapter will include discussion of copyright and digitization, and it is hoped that it will shed some light on the effects of both on art libraries. Similarly, academic librarians will be familiar with mergers and restructuring, public librarians with closures and collection dispersal; here these issues are placed an art library context. Art Libraries Society or ARLIS/UK & Ireland (ARLIS)1 ARLIS was founded in 1969 to support the work of those involved in the documentation of all aspects of the visual arts. Its committees continued to develop training programmes and visits, advise on policy, and produce publications on topics of particular interest to anyone working in art libraries. The Art libraries journal (ALJ) continued to be one of the most important sources of information dedicated to art librarianship. Evidence of its position can be found by doing a literature search on the subject and discovering that it is one of the few publications in this area in the UK. The News-sheet, a bi-monthly publication, acted as a vehicle for current awareness for the membership. The society had an international vision, collaborating with colleagues abroad on study tours and sharing of good practice. ARLIS attempted to ‘act as a conduit, by keeping abreast of developments in the wider information world and ensuring that relevant initiatives are drawn to the attention of art librarians and that we are able to input to those initiatives when it is appropriate to do so’.2 During 2001–05 ARLIS continued to respond to the pressing issues in the profession, including the Designation Scheme for museums, libraries and archives;3 and copyright, where its position was channelled through its member-

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ship of the Library and Archives Copyright Alliance (LACA). It also hosted a number of training days about digitization, ephemera, preservation and conservation of library and archival material, and artists’ books, among others. The annual conferences featured cross-sectoral working, serving the creative industries, technological changes and new standards of description, lifelong learning, and staff development. Perhaps because ARLIS celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2004 and the latter years saw many of its founders and early members retire, succession planning dominated ARLIS governance in the 21st century. In 2000 a working group was formed to attract students and graduate trainees who might be interested in art librarianship. This went on to become a committee of the society, whose chair was a member of ARLIS Council. Its annual events continued to draw a core of delegates wanting to specialize and find art-specific advice on librarian and information training. It was a networking opportunity for those early in their careers and was also an introduction into wider involvement in professional activities, with the hope that they would stay active in ARLIS as their careers progressed. In 2003 ARLIS Council set up a working party to examine the strategic aims of the Society as the profession evolved. The recommended revisions to the aims were presented to the membership at the 2004 annual general meeting. Following a consultation period with the membership, the amended aims were published later that year. The revisions, although not drastically different, acknowledged the changes in work practices, technology, and social inclusion. The Strategic Aims Working Party and Council recognized that the Society, whose activities for so many years had relied on the enthusiasm of its members, the goodwill of members’ employers, and the often full-time contribution of the parttime administrator, could not continue to develop in that way.4 Following the retirement of Sonia French, ARLIS’s first, and long-serving, administrator, at the 2004 AGM, Anna Mellows was appointed as the Society’s first full-time administrator later that year. In December 2004 the Society’s chairperson stood down before the end of her four-year term. An interim chairperson agreed to stand in as the ARLIS chair until the election in autumn 2005. Council then began to look at how other professional organizations managed succession. It is difficult for a chair of the society to make a four-year commitment to ARLIS at a time in their careers when they are likely to have heavy employment responsibilities. At a special general meeting held at the 2005 annual conference, the membership agreed that Council could adopt a model of one year as either chair-elect or past chair, and two years as chair. Further details about the Society and its governance can be found in its annual reports and on its website.5 Other organizations Within the area of the visual arts, there were other organizations to represent sectors of the profession – Architecture Librarians (ARCLIB), the Association of

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Curators of Art and Design Images (ACADI), the Scottish Visual Arts Group (SVAG), and the Association for the Visual Arts in Ireland (AVAIL). ARCLIB provided a forum for those working in libraries in architecture schools. It provided current awareness and an annual conference, as well as lobbying for the role of libraries within the professional and commercial architecture environment. Its main means of information dissemination was through its discussion list ARCLIB-MEMBERS. ACADI was an active group that promoted ‘the status of visual resources curators and to highlight the importance of image collections within education’.6 Image curators might be located within a library structure or within a faculty, or operate independently of either. This led to a feeling of isolation among staff because there were issues peculiar to the provision of images, either slides or digital images, that were not given priority by the parent organization. ACADI provided image curators with a support network for sharing best practice and awareness of training opportunities. AVAIL went through a quiet period in the first part of the 21st century. The organization provided a network for art information in Ireland and it was involved in projects toward the end of the 1990s. Contacts remained close with ARLIS/UK & Ireland, and it was announced in the ARLIS News-sheet May/June 2005 that AVAIL had held their first meeting after a long break the previous November.7 They discussed a mailing list and possible website. At the time of writing there had been no further announcements. SVAG promoted art information and supported the profession in art libraries in Scotland. SVAG members’ holdings were available on the Union Catalogue of Art Books in Libraries in Scotland (UCABLIS), which could be searched through the Co-operative Information Retrieval Network for Scotland (CAIRNS). SVAG was also involved in the Scottish Collections Network (SCONE), which provided collection description, visitor and contact information, and links to the websites of museums and galleries in Scotland. It allowed collections to be located through a variety of search mechanisms, including by subject headings, collection strengths, region and language. Political Resource, the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, replaced the Museums & Galleries Commission and the Library & Information Commission in April 2000. It was a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, and its initial remit was to encourage cross-sectoral working. In 2004 it became the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). MLA became the strategic agency for the three sectors and worked with partners in nine regions throughout England. Through policy and planning, MLA aimed to increase participation and to place museums, libraries, and archives ‘at the heart of national, regional and local life’.8 Its five-year plan was underpinned by Renaissance for the regions (museums), Framework for the future (libraries), and the Archives Task Force. Some of the

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MLA’s programmes included the Museum Designation scheme, a standards project to identify unique collections of national and international significance; Disability Portfolio guides to good practice in meeting the needs of disabled users; and Inspiring Learning for All, enabling organizations to assess whether they were providing a learning environment for their users by describing the features of an accessible and inclusive museum, library or archive.9 MLA affected some art libraries more than others, particularly those in which there was overlap, such as a library and/or archive located within a museum or gallery. It provided the opportunity and the political impetus for cross-sectoral cooperation through limited funding and promotion of best practice. Within museums, the libraries and archives are often viewed only as service departments. With an emphasis on access, there was more pressure to open up these collections to further external use. This was likely to result in further digitization of collections, because virtual access is more convenient for the user. The impact of MLA strategy on art libraries would become more apparent in the following years. Copyright It is impossible to explain how copyright affects art libraries without mentioning some of the legislation and licences. Copyright covers a variety of reproduction means, such as photocopying, photography, scanning, and downloading, for text and images. There was more than one licensing agency, making navigation through the legislation, policy, and licences complicated. This section will discuss copyright as it relates to slides and images, as well as photocopying and scanning of images and other material in the art library. The library has a duty to assist its users to be aware of the copyright rights and restrictions. In 2000 the rights agency the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) introduced its Slide Collection Licensing. It required all subscribing institutions to nominate a staff member to ensure that terms and conditions of the licence were met throughout their institution. This placed a resource-intensive responsibility upon those institutions that did not have their slide collections on an automated system. Two years later DACS became aware that their subscribers wanted digital images. Libraries and museums could not afford to digitize their slide collections, but the demand was growing for digital images to incorporate in teaching, lectures, and, increasingly, in virtual learning environments (VLEs).10 At the end of the period DACS was still looking at the possibility of creating a licence to enable the digitization of a slide collection. In August 2005 the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) started to pilot the Higher Education Trial Licence, to permit photocopying and scanning from books for use in teaching materials. It did not cover digitization of slides, but did include the use of scanned images in course packs. There were, however, rigid restraints on this, including:

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Scanned copies cannot be placed into general stock or accessed via a library's general catalogue. Nor may scanned copies be communicated to the general public e.g. on an open website. Scanned copies may not be distributed to students registered on a course of study, unless copyright has been cleared for each image.11

CLA also piloted the Trial Further Education Licence for the period from 1 August 2005 to 31 July 2006. This too covered the use of scanned images and documents for teaching and learning purposes. The main difference between the two licences was that the former was transactional, so CLA must be contacted about each ‘proposal to digitize’ and permission obtained.12 The latter was a blanket licence where one fee was paid to cover copying and scanning for the entire year. In the case of both trial licences, the source of the material must be attributed, and neither extended to ‘born digital’ material. Material originating from electronic sources was governed by the subscriber’s licensing agreements with the provider.13 Copyright was further complicated by the European Directive (Directive 2001/29/EC), designed to harmonize copyright legislation throughout member countries. The UK government adopted the directive.14 However, owing to the volume of responses to consultation in the UK, the agency responsible for the implementation of the directive postponed the December 2002 deadline for its adoption, so that it was not finally implemented until late 2003. Among the concerns about the European Copyright Directive for research libraries and archives was that commercial research was no longer covered under the auspices of fair dealing, and moreover that there was no definition of commercial research. Did it extend to work by academics, for which they received no remuneration but which was included in a published book or journal, which was then available for purchase? Or to research conducted by curators for an exhibition catalogue or, to take it to its extreme, for interpretation guides, because there was an admission charge to the exhibition? Answers to these questions were not clearly defined and put libraries in fear of becoming a ‘test case’. Art libraries deal with the visual. They are sympathetic to the creators of images that deserve to be paid for their artistic endeavours; this is particularly significant with living artists. The directive emphasizes the protection of the rights of the creator and rights holder, ‘but it fails to recognise the importance of ensuring widespread access to the Information Society by all sectors of society through a balanced exceptions regime which causes no damage to the economic interests of creators and rights holders’.15 And, as art libraries are usually found in educational and research establishments, access to images for teaching and learning is essential. But most museums and gallery libraries remained outside the framework of trial licences and they could rarely afford subscriptions to image banks. There was an ever-widening digital divide between educational establishments and research libraries that were not aligned to one. Yet their public programmes still required the use of a vast range of visual resources to be obtained on very small budgets.

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The digital divide was something which many professionals hoped the MLA would address in the future. Image collections and retrieval Libraries and art and art history departments had long held slide collections, many of which had grown in an organic fashion, rather than under the control of a welldefined collection development plan. Access was often dependent on staff’s and users’ intimate knowledge of the collection, with few collections included on automated systems. As technology changed, so too did the mode of delivery of lectures and teaching material. Digital images became more popular for teaching and learning, but many institutions continued to operate in a hybrid way because of issues about the quality of the image resolution, digital storage, and control of use. For many organizations the use of digital images had grown up in a haphazard way. Comprehensive digitization for every institution was neither desirable nor feasible, and, as Beth Houghton pointed out, ‘in art and in other areas of the humanities, at least, economics and copyright will see to that’.16 Others, therefore, had to step in to address the need for images. Early initiatives included the Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network (SCRAN), the Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO, which was later absorbed by ARTStor), and the Visual Arts Data Service (VADS, which was re-branded the AHDS Visual Arts). The beginnings of all of these initiatives are described by Doug Dodds in the earlier survey in this series.17 The AHDS Visual Arts, hosted by the University College for the Creative Arts in Surrey, grew to 33 image collections, as well as providing advice for digitizing collections and best practice guides. The range of collections included textiles and fashion, the Design Council archive and slide collection, the African and Asian Visual Artists Archive, the Cordwainers’ Shoe Collection, the Spellman Collection of Victorian Music Covers, the Imperial War Museum’s Posters of Conflict collection, and the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association. AHDS was also committed to the on-going preservation of these digital resources. Rather than simply being a portal for image collections, the website ‘presents material through tailored interfaces for research, learning and teaching use. This eases the finding of resources for users and enables their wide and long-term dissemination for creators’.18 They were designed to encourage further collaborations and interdisciplinary uses. AHDS Visual Arts undertook the PICTIVA project to promote the use of digital images in teaching; POSSE to preserve student graduate shows; and in 2004 it initiated a project entitled the Digital Picture. It was funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), to ‘identify clear ways for the community, as a whole, to erase the problems with, and embrace the strengths of, images in the digital age’.19 There was a myriad of digital images available through the projects described above and art libraries, among others, were hard put to it to provide access and

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navigation to their communities. Some were available through subscription only, some were free, and some, like SCRAN, were based on a mixture of charging and free services. This took an increasing portion of budgets, but also required the imagination of staff to promote the collections and the use of electronic resources. The lasting value of these resources would be judged by future generations, but it was clear that an overarching infrastructure, such as provided by AHDS and, ultimately, JISC, was vital to impose an order on the projects, collections, and acronyms. If nothing else, it provided a starting-point for finding them. The problem arose when a lecturer wanted an image that was not included in these various services. Without a licence permitting reproduction from books, a library was in a difficult position. It would either breach copyright law or send the lecturer away dissatisfied, without the image they needed. It is important not to ignore some of the innovations that permitted the creation these digital resources. The technological advances are bewildering. So it is probably best to mention one to which librarians can relate – standards. In libraries cataloguing and classification of images had often been done according to AACR and MARC formats. However, specialized standards for description were also developed, such as the VRA Core (used by AHDS), Dublin Core and Resource Description Framework. These were designed to increase interoperability between various collection systems and catalogues. Digital projects made use of existing subject indexing and classification tools, such as the Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Materials, and ICONCLASS.20 All of these assisted in the description and organization of images. Innovations and collaborations Art libraries continued to cooperate successfully with other similar organizations on a range of projects. This was aided by funding bodies such as JISC and the Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP). JISC, in addition to funding digitization projects, was active in more traditional library provision through RSLP. There were also smaller-scale innovations, devised in-house or with two or three participating institutions. These were often made easier as technology has advanced. Although it may be difficult to view a retrospective conversion project as an innovation, the HOGARTH project falls into this category. HOGARTH (Helpful Online Gateway to ART History) ran from 2000 to 2002, converted the card catalogue records held in 13 partner institutions, and enabled the creation of new records where none existed to ‘make available online access to the partner libraries’ complete holdings of exhibition and sales catalogues’.21 Exhibition and sales catalogues are essential to trace an artist’s exhibition history and provenance of works, and on a wider scale, they indicate the collecting taste of an era. Making these research tools available through their institutions’ online catalogues and via COPAC (in cases where partners were also members of Consortium of University Research Libraries) meant a more complete view of exhibition catalogue holdings

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throughout the country. It also made it easier for librarians to refer students and researchers to relevant collections. The second aim of the HOGARTH project was to create an online directory of art history collections in the UK. Rather than attempt to achieve this aim independently, the project decided to make use of the work undertaken by ARLIS. The Society was in the process of updating a 1993 publication Art & design documentation in the UK and Ireland: a directory of resources compiled and edited by Gillian Varley. The result was the Directory of art, architecture and design resources, available on arlis.net and described in more detail below.22 BOOKHAD, another RSLP project, made available through a web interface collection-level description of six major collections in the UK that traced the history of the book and book design. It also provided searching capability on partner institutions’ catalogues to identify records in the subject area and more than 2,000 images from their collections.23 This helped to bring together, in one place, the main research collections in the field. Virtually all libraries had some electronic resources. There was an intermediate period in the late 1990s, where databases were available on CD-ROM. However, indexes such as Art bibliographies modern and Design and applied arts moved from hard copy and CD-ROM to availability on the world wide web via subscription. Wilson art abstracts and Wilson full text also greatly enhanced the online resources available to art students, librarians and researchers. There continued to be fewer electronic journals in the arts than in sciences and technology, largely because of copyright. The fact that copyright and reproduction rights permission would need to be obtained for each image in an article in the digitized copy was a strong deterrent for a commercial publisher to consider this undertaking. This hindered art libraries from making sources available to their users in an electronic format. The lack of convenient delivery could lead some users to develop an over-reliance on the internet (because it was at their desktop) and to overlook rich and, often, more reliable hard copy sources. Nevertheless, there were a small, but increasing, number of e-journals on the arts which were ‘born digital’. Some titles include Consciousness, literature and the arts, Muqarnas: an annual on Islamic art and architecture, Aesthetics on-line, Arts journal.com, Tout-fait: Marcel Duchamp studies online journal. It was vital for art librarians to keep their knowledge current about what was important within art communities from both print and electronic sources, especially for contemporary art, and this made the role of the subject specialist all the more important. However, the position of subject librarian was under threat in some institutions. In 2005 the library at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London attempted to make two subject specialists redundant, their head librarian claiming that ‘their role had diminished and could be done by more junior staff’.24 The librarians were later reinstated, but the situation revealed the attitude that specialism does not have value. At the University of Wales, Bangor, a consultation paper suggested that ‘the services provided by librarians have become less

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important with the development of technology that enables students and staff to conduct research with relatively little guidance’.25 The elimination or downgrading of subject librarian posts was seen as a sensible cost-cutting measure as they formed ‘a significant grouping of senior staff in most academic libraries’.26 However, as has been explained above, specialist knowledge is required, to inform current purchasing, to advise on retention of material (art materials have a longer shelf-life than books and journals in most other disciplines), and to assist faculty, students and researchers with the wealth of information contained both electronically, where the resources are under-utilized, and in hard copy in their institutions. The experience an art librarian gathers is a tremendous asset to their collection. However, this can be enhanced or diminished by bundling several subjects together and making one subject librarian responsible for them all. This works well when the subjects complement one another, such as art and art history, perhaps with film or cultural studies. Where it may be less successful is when the subjects are radically different, such as art history and medicine or engineering, because the ‘subject librarians cannot be experts in every aspect of the subject or subjects they look after’.27 Reference has already been made to the use of images in teaching and learning. This increasingly came to be delivered electronically through virtual learning environments (VLEs). However, libraries were not always included in the creation of these resources. The difficulties librarians had in collecting the content was a common experience, as Nicole Harris explains in her article on the subject: The simple process of collecting a set of reading lists, or lecture notes can cause problems due to differing attitudes towards data storage and quality assurance. The sheer effort involved in managing this content has meant that integration of the more open sources controlled by the library has been ignored or put aside.28

These difficulties were exacerbated when images were required from any of the various sources to which a library subscribed, as library staff tried to ensure copyright and licensing terms were adhered to by academic staff. The internet became an even more powerful tool, and it often required mediation to use. To aid research, the UK higher education community were involved in creating a series of hubs, providing links to websites in a variety of subject areas. In 2000 a study for the potential to create a hub for the arts was initiated by the Creative Arts and Industries Consultancy. This study resulted in Artifact, an ambitious hub project led by Manchester Metropolitan University, in partnership with the London Institute (later the University of the Arts London), South Cheshire College of Further Education and Manchester Computing. Artifact provided access to internet resources for higher and further education, selected by art information professionals. Academic quality and subject relevance were the criteria for inclusion. The records for each site also included a description of the web resource’s features. The Artifact site was catalogued using bibliographic

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standards and metadata and was compliant with the various standards for accessibility for disabled users.29 Artifact covered six main subject areas – architecture; communications, media and culture; design; fashion and beauty; music and the performing arts; and visual arts – which then encompassed an array of more specific subjects. The records of a previous web database for the arts, ADAM, were included where still available. It ensured that ADAM, which had proved a valuable resource for art librarians at the dawn of the move toward a mass digital environment, was not lost.30 In addition, there was an advice and guidance section for people involved in the arts and creative industries, including job listings, funding sources, and business advice. Other sections provide links to image banks, collections and exhibitions, and teaching, learning and research in the arts. The Resource Discovery Network (RDN) training suites and case studies were also available through the gateway. The funding, provided by JISC, was extended until 2005, after which Artifact and the other hubs constituting the RDN were evaluated. In 2006 there were plans to reorganize the eight subject gateways into larger and allied subject groups. The end result was that Artifact would be merged with Humbul (the humanities hub), and that the RDN would be renamed Intute.31 The Union list of art periodicals, latterly funded by RSLP and the British Library Co-operation and Partnership Programme and maintained by the National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum, has been described by Doug Dodds.32 However, in a collaboration with ARLIS in 2002, the union catalogue was included on arlis.net. It provided the holdings and bibliographic details for thousands of art magazines and journals held in almost a hundred UK public, academic, national and special libraries. It was a valuable resource for researchers, but also for librarians in cataloguing serials. Arlis.net also hosted the Directory of art, architecture and design resources, described above in relation to the HOGARTH project. The directory included the name, address, contact and collection scope details of organizations holding art, design and architecture research resources. It could be searched by region, by organization, and by subject area. The Artists’ Papers Register was launched online at the end of 1999. In brief, the register consisted of an online listing of collections of original documents of artists, designers, and craftspeople in the UK. The project was initiated by the Association of Art Historians, and developed throughout the last decade. The final and major Greater London area was surveyed and added between 2002 and 2004.33 It became available through the National Archives website and was maintained by the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. Not all innovations were technological. Creative Insight at Birmingham City Libraries was the intellectual property strand of the city’s public business information service. It combined a business advice service with copyright, design and patent information, most provided at no cost within the city. The Creative Pathway provided research and support tailored to artists, designers, and musicians to encourage and facilitate their business ideas. It ran free clinics with lawyers and

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other professionals, and devised templates and advice notes on a range of financial, legal, and intellectual property. This was a unique example of a public library pooling the expertise of librarians and other professionals to aid the art community. Refurbish, replace, reorganize and reduce No review of art librarianship would be complete without a section on organizational change. During 2001–05 there were several high profile library projects, addressing the long-standing space constraints and under-funding of capital projects in the sector. Some were refurbishments, while others were moves to new premises. There was also consolidation and closure. The Leeds Art Library, which lived in the City Art Gallery for 50 years, moved into space vacated by the Leeds Museum in the Central Library building, providing an improved environment and more space. The BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead opened in 2002. It had a library, as well as an archive collection of its exhibitions, available for research. The website provided information for remote access, to compensate for the limitations on space and opening hours. The Tate library and archive moved into the Hyman Kreitman Research Centre, located in Tate Britain, and opened in May 2002. The refurbishment of former picture stores provided up to twenty years of expansion space, as well as climatecontrolled environment, bringing together both collections and two reading rooms for researchers. Insight: Collection and Research Centre at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television opened in 2001. In addition to viewing rooms for film footage, print and photography archives and an equipment archive, Insight also included a printed materials archive room, with ephemera and published books. The British Architectural Library at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) collaborated with the Victoria and Albert Museum to create a permanent architecture gallery and study and teaching rooms within the Museum. The initiative combined the RIBA’s and the V&A Word and Image collections of architectural drawings and archives.34 The gallery, which opened in 2004, hosted temporary exhibitions and there was an education programme attached to the teaching rooms. In autumn 2004 Chelsea College of Art and Design, previously spread over three sites in west London, relocated to the former Royal Army Medical College (RAMC) next to Tate Britain. The library opened in a series of purpose-designed spaces (including that originally housing the RAMC library), providing facilities for quiet and group study, appropriate housing for the college’s special collections, as well as improved staff accommodation. There were some significant mergers, as well as the extension of degreegranting powers to new higher education bodies. At the Victoria and Albert Museum, in late 2001, the National Art Library merged with the Museum’s Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings, to form the Word and Image Department. The new department brought together the interpretation and scholarship expertise of librarians, archivists and curators.35

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The London Institute was granted university status in 2004 and was re-branded to become the University of the Arts London. The university, consisting of Camberwell College of Art, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London College of Communication and London College of Fashion, became the largest university of the arts and creative industries in Europe with 24,000 students.36 It was planned that in 2006 Wimbledon School of Art would become Wimbledon College of Art, and would become the sixth college of the university.37 In 2004 Wimbledon had pulled out of a planned merger with Kingston University, as it decided to ally itself more closely with the specialist college sector.38 The merger in August 2005 of the Surrey Institute of Art and Design University College and the Kent Institute of Art and Design established the University College for the Creative Arts. It had over 6,000 students, spread across five campuses in south-east England, with programmes ranging from undergraduate to doctoral level.39 Further restructuring and mergers were likely as the whole higher education sector continued to go through rationalization. This would, no doubt, have ramifications for the operations of the institutions’ libraries, with a greater dispersal of students across campuses, but there might also be moves to centralize some services, such as bibliographic sections. At the time of writing it was still too early to assess the impact of attaining university status. However, for the libraries it was likely to result in evaluation of the collections as part of the research assessment exercise (RAE). Art college libraries historically had tended not to focus on research, and the books and other resources comprised teaching collections. The status and funding of universities being dependent on good research performance in the RAE, the new universities would have to evaluate their present strengths and, perhaps, would need to invest to support a higher profile research agenda. Not all developments had such a high, or potentially positive, profile. A number of art collections in public libraries faced closure or dispersal. In October 2000 the illustrations collection at Finsbury Library, part of the Islington Council library service, closed. Owing to budget cuts, it could no longer provide the public with reference access to the image collection. The collection included more than 80,000 images, cut from withdrawn library stock, reference books, and periodicals such as National geographic and Picture post.40 It was available to the general public and was heavily used by designers and artists. Members of library staff attempted, unsuccessfully, to find alternative funding sources or an alternative host organization.41 Westminster Reference Art & Design Library in London reduced its opening hours; however, the library was awarded MLA Designation status as a collection of national and international significance to be shared with the nation, which could help to protect it against further service cuts and collection dispersal or disposal. It was reported in 2004 that Bristol Central Library had secured financing to pay consultancy costs to assess the value of the art collection within the public

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42

library context. This was in response to the public and professional outcry that resulted from an earlier announcement to disperse the collection among the local libraries in the network. ARLIS expressed concern in 2002 about this plan, suggesting it would pose a threat to ‘co-operative development of regional centres of excellence’ of art-related resources.43 The results of the consultancy could not be found during the research for this chapter. However, in February 2006, it was reported in Bristol City Council committee minutes that a 2005 plan to close the central library had been withdrawn.44 At the time of writing, the art reference collection remained in the central library. The value of art books and resources in public libraries is underestimated. Public libraries with art collections serve a broader body of users than research libraries. They help students in adult education, school students, and artists and designers, and the interested reader. This is a user group that requires more subjectspecific depth than many schools or further education college libraries can provide. But they remain outside the network of research libraries, especially those outside London. When art collections are dispersed they lose their context. Also, public libraries often have collections specific to their region, such as the St Ives artists represented in the Cornwall Public Library Service. They are able to collect locally in a way that is quite difficult for a national library and they represent the art scene in that particular area. Conclusions The 21st century began as one of evolution for art libraries and it seemed likely to continue that way. There were many initiatives that tried to give some order to the increasing volume of digital and non-digital material generated by artists, arts organizations, and academics. These initiatives would continue to change to meet the demands of a growing user base, encouraged by a strategic body that placed access at the core of all libraries’ missions. The years ahead for art libraries would be challenging, as they grappled with legislation, budgets and technology. However, there were many opportunities for art librarians to develop an array of skills to suit the digital and analogue environments, and there was a strong national and international network of support and development to assist them.

Notes 1 2 3

ARLIS/UK & Ireland: . Beth Houghton, ‘Bottom up: a UK approach to art library co-operation’, Art libraries journal 23 (4), 1998, 9–17. Margaret Young, ARLIS/UK & Ireland response to the Designation scheme for museums, archives and libraries, a draft document published by Re:source. Available at: (accessed 21/5/06).

186 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11

12 13 14

15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

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ARLIS Strategic Aims Working Party, ARLIS/UK & Ireland strategic aims. Available at: (accessed 20/5/06). Minutes of the ARLIS/UK & Ireland Special General Meeting, held 8 July 2005. Available at: (accessed 20/5/06). ACADI, What is ACADI?: (accessed 3/6/06). Olivia Fitzpatrick, ‘International news’, ARLIS news-sheet 175, May/June 2005, 8. MLA, MLA: what we do. Available at: (accessed 22/5/06). MLA, Inspiring learning for all: introduction. Available at: (accessed 22/5/06). Nikki Phillips, ‘Summary of the ARLIS/DACS meeting on 10 September 2002’, ARLIS news-sheet 160, Nov./Dec. 2002, 5–6. Goldsmiths College, A guide to digital images, copyright and college slide collections. Available at: (accessed 21/5/06). Alasdair Paterson, Copyright. Exeter University library pages. (accessed 21/5/06). CLA, Trial further education licence – FAQ. Available at: (accessed 21/5/06). Ian Brown and Nick Bohm, ‘Implementation of the directive’. Foundation for Information Policy Research website: (accessed 16/506). T. R. Padfield, Draft EU Directive on Copyright: letter from the Public Record Office’s Copyright Officer to the Patent Office. 8 July 1999. Archived at Wayback Engine: (accessed 16/5/06). Beth Houghton, ‘Viewpoint’, Art libraries journal 27 (1), 2002, 3–4. Douglas Dodds, ‘Art libraries’ in British librarianship and information work 1991– 2000, ed. J. H. Bowman. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006, pp. 183–96. AHDS Visual Arts, About us: (accessed 21/5/06). AHDS Visual Arts, The digital picture: a future for digital images in UK arts education. Available at: (accessed 21/5/06). Margaret Graham, ‘The cataloguing and indexing of images: time for a new paradigm?’, Art libraries journal 26 (1), 22–7. HOGARTH Project, HOGARTH – Helpful Online Gateway to ART History. (accessed 21/5/06). ARLIS/UK & Ireland, About the Directory of art, architecture and design resources: (accessed 23/5/06). Sarah Mahurter, BOOKHAD: support for nationwide research activities in the fields of book history and book design. Available at: (accessed 22/5/05). Donald MacLeod, ‘SOAS resumes talks over library cuts’, Guardian unlimited 6 Sept. 2005: (accessed 24/4/06).

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25 Tony Tysome, ‘Librarians under threat’, Times higher education supplement 15 Feb. 2005. Available at: (accessed 23/5/06). 26 Stephen Pinfield, ‘The changing role of subject librarians in academic libraries’, Journal of librarianship and information science 33 (1), 2001, 32–8. 27 Ibid. 28 Nicole Harris, ‘Managed learning’, Ariadne 30, Dec. 2001: (accessed 16/5/06). 29 Jane Holt, ‘Conference report on Artifact: progress and future aims’, ARLIS news-sheet 165, Sept./Oct. 2003, 13. 30 Louisa Coates, ‘Artifact: the Arts and Creative Industries hub of the RDN’, ARLIS newssheet 166, Nov./Dec. 2003, 4. 31 ARTIFACT, ‘RDN service changes during 2006’: (accessed 16/5/06). 32 Dodds, ‘Art libraries’. 33 Artists’ Papers Register, Artists’ Papers Register: background: (accessed 22/5/06). 34 Royal Institute of British Architects, ‘About the V&A + RIBA Architecture Partnership’: (accessed 22/5/06). 35 Susan Lambert, ‘The National Art Library repositioned’, Art libraries journal 27 (4), 2002, 5–11. 36 Brunswick Arts, ‘University of the Arts London to launch in May’. Press release: (accessed 22/5/06). 37 David Tilley, ‘Art school set to become a member of the creative elite’, Wimbledon guardian 6 Apr. 2006. Available at: (accessed 24/5/06). 38 Polly Curtis, ‘Wimbledon calls off arts merger’, Guardian unlimited 11 Oct. 2004: (accessed 24/5/06). 39 University College for the Creative Arts, About us: (accessed 22/5/06). 40 Liz Roberts, ‘News and announcements: public libraries’, ARLIS news-sheet 144, May/June 2000. Available at: (accessed 22/5/06). 41 Bronwen Brown, ‘Closure of Illustrations Collection at Finsbury Library, Islington Council, London’, ARLIS news-sheet 147, Nov./Dec. 2000. 42 ‘Council news’, ARLIS news-sheet 167, Jan./Feb. 2004. Available at: (accessed 22/5/06). 43 ARLIS Council meeting reports, 18 June 2002: (accessed 22/5/06). 44 ‘Councillor Salter to ask the Executive Member for health promotion and leisure’, Questions asked by Council members for written reply: (accessed 7/2/06).

13

Music libraries Pamela Thompson

Introduction At the beginning of the new century, the scale and variety of activities in the music library field in the United Kingdom were challenging but somewhat daunting. The latter part of the previous decade had offered a surprisingly satisfying number of funding opportunities for music-related projects, mostly taken forward on a voluntary basis by IAML (the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres) members, a challenge met with enthusiasm.1 However, a slight tinge of project fatigue was discernible, not alleviated by concerns that sustainability into the future for any of the projects was far from secure and funding for sustainability as precarious as ever. In the same period, the decline in music library stocks and services and in knowledgeable staff in music libraries, perceived in the previous decade, continued to concern the profession. Pressures at work, wider subject responsibilities, an increased demand for accountability, and often little regard for the value of specialist staff, or indeed for any music not on a compact disc, all frequently led to a sense of isolation, frustration and lack of appreciation,2 while preventing many from participating in professional development activities or contributing to projects which might alleviate that isolation and enhance career prospects. Almost all the projects concerned documentation of various kinds, whether for the creation of catalogue records, for union catalogues, or for gateways to documentation on music library holdings. Many brought together information on collections across a number of sectors, public, academic, national and special, with a constant aim: a long-term national union catalogue of music and the maximum possible disclosure of the holdings of music in libraries. While music librarians had long had a list of priorities, in practice it was necessary to seize funding opportunities as they arose and from whatever sector they emerged, coming to terms with an increasingly essential vocabulary of jargon3 and all the new possibilities presented by ever-developing information technology. Summary of music documentation projects in 2001–20024 Projects still at least nominally active at the beginning of 2001 included:

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5

Music Libraries Online (MLO) A consortium and a web-based virtual union catalogue of the holdings of nine conservatoire, four university and two public libraries, funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) as a demonstrator project, using the Z39.50 retrieval protocol. By 2001 the project had proved successful, but funding for continuation remained elusive, with none of the partners able to supply the necessary resources, either monetary or technological. Ensemble6 A consortium of ten university and four conservatoire libraries, funded by the Research Support Libraries Programme from 1999 to 2002 to address the need for the retrospective conversion of printed music catalogue records. The consortium aimed to produce 180,000 records, sharing records free of charge through the good offices of the Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL).7 The target was met, but given the 1,131,000 music titles with no electronic record in the participating libraries, the scale of the problem remaining was immense, and plans were in train to seek further funding for an even larger consortium, taking in some of the major public libraries whose catalogues were still far from complete. Encore! A long-needed and warmly-desired online national union catalogue of performance sets, funded by the British Library Co-operation and Partnership Programme from 2000. The catalogue, devised and edited by Malcolm Jones, was launched in October 2001 at the British Library by Baroness Tessa Blackstone, Minister for the Arts. The catalogue was widely welcomed by music libraries and their users around the UK, but, despite a clear analysis of continuing need, in particular to extend coverage, had no long-term strategy for survival.8 RISM – International inventory of musical sources9 The UK’s contribution to this long-standing international documentation project for printed music and manuscript sources had been stalled for many years until a successful bid to the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB – from April 2005 AHRC) by Royal Holloway, University of London, enabled a project to create 25,000 new records of manuscripts in the UK and Ireland. It soon became apparent that much more work, on cathedral holdings and manuscripts in private collections, would be needed. RILM – International inventory of music literature10 A similar AHRB grant began to enable UK contributions to RILM, a worldwide tool for providing bibliographical data and abstracts of musical literature, following a number of years of patchy coverage from the UK. But, again, no long-term strategy was in place for the future and indications were that a further grant might prove elusive.

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Cecilia11 An online gateway to music collections in libraries, archives and museums. Cecilia had been on IAML’s list of priorities for several years, but its gestation was slow12 until an opportunity arose for a funding application to the British Library Cooperation and Partnership Programme, backed by further funding from the Research Support Libraries Programme, Resource13 and the Music Libraries Trust.14 Cecilia is a pioneering ‘online directory of institutions holding collections of music materials, providing a web-based tool enabling users to search descriptions in collections of music using free-text and structured keywords’.15 But, once again, although a host for the data had been found on at least a temporary basis, a long-term home was needed, as was further funding for maintenance and updating. Concert programmes project The importance of concert programmes as primary source materials had been recognized by researchers for some years and had already inspired several initiatives amongst the academic community. While many were preserved in libraries, archives and museums, they had always been of low priority for cataloguing with the result that access to them was convoluted, even when their existence was suspected. A scoping study, undertaken for the Music Libraries Trust in 2002, gave a vivid account of both the range of collections and the size of the task outstanding.16 Inevitably, another bid for funding would be necessary, together with a means of coordinating concert programme data with that in Cecilia. A way forward By early in 2002, it was clear that such a plethora of projects, all in need of longterm sustainability, needed a broad review and a way forward. A conference in March 2002 at the British Library, supported by the project directors of Cecilia, Encore!, Ensemble and Music Libraries Online and chaired by Clive Field, Director of Scholarship and Collections at the British Library, explored the possibilities.17 At the end of a stimulating day, four conclusions were summarized by Clive Field: (a)

(b)

(c)

Responsibility for the next stage of planning the strategy for developing the online music resource should lie with IAML(UK), in partnership with the British Library and Resource. An advocacy strategy should be developed, communicating music’s framework of advantage to amongst others policy-makers, the music industry, and colleagues in archives and museums. The 1993 Library and Information Plan for Music18 should be updated in such a way as to enable the community to develop priorities and phasing for future action, not least in terms of resource discovery, retrospective conversion, national discography, metadata standards, system requirements, staffing, training, interlending (of performance sets and multimedia), public access, digitisation and conservation.

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The Cecilia project should be developed as a music portal, integrating where appropriate with the Resource Discovery Network.19 Cecilia II, seeking UK funding sources, could usefully link in a range of general music sources, a UK national music catalogue, further retrospective conversion, and provide access to existing digitised content (whether sound or images, free or commercial). Cecilia III could usefully extend the scope to continental Europe, with European funding.20

It seemed that music librarians’ optimism and idealism had been re-kindled by debate and a sense of purpose – although how such wide-ranging and ambitious plans might be taken forward remained mysterious in the extreme. Against all the odds, a fairy godmother appeared: the Research Support Libraries Programme agreed that money remaining from the Ensemble project could be directed to a new plan which would consider, amongst other matters, synergies between and exit strategies for current projects. An Access to Music group was formed and work began. Access to music21 Music library planning was no stranger to IAML. The 1993 Library and Information Plan for Music had set out a programme of recommendations, many of which had been achieved, but, by 2003, updating was overdue, the social and technological advances of the previous decade having rendered much out of date. It also quickly struck the authors of the report that a simple analysis of needs would not suffice in current, wider library agendas. It was also very clear that recent triumphs for music library projects concealed a hinterland of diminution in services and stock, in experienced staff, and in any notion, outside a few pockets of excellence, that there was a value in music in libraries. Morale was generally low, exacerbated by a feeling of powerlessness in the face of new agendas for libraries which failed to harness all that music had to offer them and their users. A case had first to be made for the value of music – economically, culturally, socially and educationally.22

The resulting report, researched and written quickly between January and June 2003 and published in July 2003, contained a startling 134 recommendations, covering music project development, strategic and policy issues in music library provision, music collections, services and users, e-information and resources, documentation and systems, standards and tools, staff training and professional development, the commercial sector, access and advocacy, and cooperation and partnerships. There were 11 over-arching, major recommendations, centred on the compelling evidence of music’s value in society, which should bring it into the mainstream in library services overall, with free access to music information, printed music and recordings. To achieve this, expert provision and special training would be required, alongside better promotion of music services. Fundamental in these recommendations was the development of ‘a framework

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for effective, national, regional and local interaction and strategic partnerships, so that the benefits of cooperation in what is an expensive subject area can be given a chance to flourish. A single access point must be constructed, a dedicated overarching subject portal to guide the whole music community, amateur or professional, young or old, new or established, to the resources and information they want’.23 Within this, there remained the need for individual music catalogue records in electronic form, to lead users to item descriptions rather than only collection descriptions, which the report recommended could only be addressed through cooperation, with the creation of one high-quality record for each item, available for all to share, so that users could find what they needed and cost benefits could accrue to permit further work. No real framework for the achievement of this work or for the sustainability of existing projects was discovered in the timescale of the report, so its authors could only recommend continued efforts to achieve a way forward by examining all options as they emerged or became feasible. This was certainly to happen over the next few years, but professional commitments in a climate of overall pressures on music libraries, and some level of exhaustion after years of project development and achievement, meant that little could be done to seek the funding required for progress towards the fulfilment of major recommendations, not least at a time when many of the traditional funding opportunities were waning or dormant. Nonetheless, the Arts and Humanities Research Board’s resource discovery programme did continue to assist remarkably, with exceptional results for individual music projects: RISM received a further tranche of funding to catalogue cathedral manuscript collections, RILM was funded again after a few difficult years of penury and resulting inaction, and two further major projects were assisted. The first was the Concert Programmes project, jointly taken forward by Cardiff University and the Royal College of Music, which was funded for three years from 2005 to 2008 to ‘create an online database of concert programme holdings in the UK and Ireland at collection level’.24 It was anticipated that the data would become available on the Cecilia website. The second project funded by the AHRB had been in gestation internationally since 1989: Hofmeister XIX. The Monatsberichte published by the Leipzig music publisher Friedrich Hofmeister were catalogues of printed music, issued monthly or bi-monthly from 1829. No complete collection existed anywhere in the world, yet the catalogues constitute one of the most complete records of 19th-century music publishing. The project, a joint endeavour between Royal Holloway, University of London, the International Association of Music Libraries, the Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King’s College, London, and the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, ‘will convert the Monatsberichte from their current fragmentary and user-hostile state into a searchable internet-based database on open access to scholars. … Delivery is scheduled for late 2006’.25 Some other projects also made progress or were resurrected. Cecilia found a home with the MLA’s Cornucopia website and began to develop its software to enable remote updating and additions. Music Libraries Online discovered a pocket

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of remaining funding and began reactivation in 2005, with the prospect of at least three years’ continuation. But plans to extend Ensemble foundered in the hiatus in funding possibilities and, while the need for its continuation and expansion remained, with some of the foremost music collections in the country still catalogued only on cards or, in the worst cases, in hand-written folders, the prospects for future development were, at least temporarily, bleak. Catalogues and documentation Perhaps one of the most significant features of the period 2001–2005 was the increasing availability of catalogues online. The British Library’s integrated catalogue, as well as the availability of the British Library records and those of other national libraries on COPAC,26 assisted music searching considerably. A further boost for music was brought about by the launch of the British Library Sound Archive’s CADENSA catalogue of sound recordings, which disclosed for the first time to the public at large their extraordinary range of recordings.27 But it was perhaps at local level, in public libraries and in the conservatoires, that significant improvements to access to their music collections was achieved, as more and more catalogues with a reasonable number of music records became available on the web. Backlogs, some of considerable size, were still commonplace, but progress had been made. With the advent of more and more digitization projects, notably the MLA’s CultureOnline,28 the FARNE29 folk music project in the north-east of England, and the availability, at least in the academic sector, of the JSTOR30 music collection of full-text music periodicals, to name but a handful, access to a vast range of music materials online became almost commonplace. The international RISM database of music manuscripts also became available online, albeit at a cost beyond the reach of many libraries which had contributed to it. With RILM and RIPM31 also available online at a cost (and, in the case of those two great bibliographical tools, finally cross-searchable), and online subscriptions to major, newly-revised works such as The new Grove dictionary of music and The dictionary of national biography increasingly expected by music library users, library budgets came to be stretched, with very few public libraries able to offer these invaluable resources as standard. Knowledge of the musical content of many archives was also well served by new and extended archive gateways and projects. The opening up of the National Archives online32 was significant for users far beyond the music community, but other initiatives, such as Access to Archives (A2A),33 the Archives Hub in higher education,34 and, at a more local level, the AIM25 project,35 which provided detailed descriptions of the contents of archives within the M25 area, all came to serve music researchers well, as did many online guides to local archives. Another cause for celebration was the launch in 2003 of the British Music Information Centre’s website, which documented contemporary British music, while offering scores from their digitized collections and samples of music for listening. A number of gateways to music resources were also developed and extended: Royal Holloway, University of London’s ‘Golden Pages’,36 the JISC-funded

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Artifact guide to online resources for music and the performing arts,37 and the Palatine directory of music resources,38 all eased guidance to internet music sites of value, although not always targeted to a wide variety of users with different needs. In the commercial sector, too, an online presence became commonplace, as music publishers increasingly publicized their wares online, some producing model catalogues and bringing almost a semblance of ease to music searching. Others, concentrating on their most popular lines or simply offering a range of catalogues to be sent by traditional, postal means, brought a degree of uncertainty and frustration to music searching. Overall, however, good progress in documentation ensued, ensuring a speedier and more accurate service for libraries and end-users. The year 2003 also saw the birth of a publication more traditional in style, a Festschrift to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the UK branch of IAML: Music librarianship in the United Kingdom, edited by Richard Turbet.39 This celebratory volume traced not only the history of the branch, but also the development of music provision in public libraries, training for music librarianship, information technology and music libraries, cooperation, and outreach, amongst a number of more specialized articles. Training and professional development During the first years of the 21st century, IAML continued its series of training sessions on music sets interlending, music reference skills and music for inexperienced library staff. These were happily supplemented by courses on copyright, music cataloguing, music in MARC 21 and many other topics, organized by Allegro Training and masterminded by Ian Ledsham, former music librarian, musician and music scholar, whose successful enterprise was brought to an untimely close by his death in an accident in September 2005. He was sadly missed by colleagues and all who benefited from his expertise and skill in communicating the minutiae of music information work. IAML’s Courses and Education Committee also produced in 2003 a second edition of its careers guide Working with music in libraries,40 but extended this initiative in the academic year 2001/02 by offering presentations on music librarianship to schools of library and information studies. Over the next few years their invitation was accepted by six ‘library schools’ and well received by most, with requests for repeat sessions forthcoming.41 Audiovisual advances and declines The overwhelming trend in the period was the revolutionary growth in online services. Downloading music, whether legally or illegally, from the internet became an issue of public interest and commercial concern on an unprecedented level. By 2005, the situation was easing with recording companies realizing that they had to join the trend or sink, but with losses to those companies constantly bewailed, it was not surprising that the recording industry contracted and that early deletions of recordings became more common.

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For libraries, another new development became attractive: the provision of streamed music from a number of providers, available for listening but not for downloading. Such services had their admirers and their detractors, but by 2005 such services were well established and seemed not yet to have dented libraries’ enthusiasm for their charged CD and DVD services, a practice finally condemned in Access to music as being contrary to fairness in the provision of a full library service for music lovers, students and performers, whose need for recordings in their subject area of choice is as great as their need for books, journals or printed music. IAML came to the conclusion that charges and the long-established threemonth holdback period for recordings in libraries discriminated disproportionately against those with an interest in music, and that format should not determine whether a charge was valid or not. The argument was to continue, not least because the notion of CD collections financing themselves was now so ingrained as to be near insurmountable.42 There was a further suspicion, quite without firm evidence, that the interlending of CDs and DVDs was similarly hampered by charging considerations. Music libraries and music information in 2005 There were moments of great rejoicing in the first years of the new century, not just as projects came to fruition after long years of planning, but also as some new or newly accommodated music libraries appeared. Both the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and Trinity College of Music in London43 found themselves in new, improved premises, while one completely new library emerged, that of the Jewish Music Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, inaugurated in March 2003.44 But frustration continued as music services declined in both academic and public libraries. This was given expression in two unrelated ways in 2005. In March 2005, Library + information update published an article on the perceived decline in music services and the impact on users, which the editor agreed to publish without the author’s name, simply because there were very real fears of a backlash from employers at a time of restructuring.45 (The author did subsequently lose his music job, although not his employment.) The pity was that reactions to the article related initially only to the principle of anonymity, not to the content of the article. The second event of note was the annual Royal Musical Association conference, held in Manchester in November 2005, and organized for the first time jointly with IAML. There were opportunities to present recent music documentation projects and to debate the needs of music scholars, researchers, students and librarians. The conservatoires and national libraries were fairly well represented, but the pity was that only one local public music librarian could attend and not a single representative from a university music library. There are simply too few left. To end on a happier note, it was interesting to note that even in seemingly perilous times for music libraries, an interest in music librarianship remained apparent. A significant number of students were still wanting placements in music

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libraries during their courses, and new attendees at IAML’s Annual Study Weekends reached double figures every year. Perhaps, most of all, those devoted to their work and their subject maintained their determination to advance their cause, to promote their services to users, and to sustain their energies for the idea of new projects – even if their flesh was temporarily weak. It was to be hoped that the rest of the decade would bring renewed energies and opportunities, so that some of the vision so many in music libraries had could be brought to fruition.

Notes 1

2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10

11 12 13

14 15

16 17

IAML is the professional association for music libraries: International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres, United Kingdom branch: (accessed 29/5/06) Pamela Thompson and Malcolm Lewis, Access to music: music libraries and archives in the United Kingdom and Ireland: current themes and a realistic vision for the future. London: IAML(UK & Irl), 2003, 79–82. Pamela Thompson, ‘Jargon today, jam tomorrow – or how joined-up thinking put UK music libraries on the map’, Continuo 30, 2001. A fuller description of all projects described can be found in Thompson and Lewis, Access to music, 24–8. Music Libraries Online: (accessed 29/5/06). Ensemble: (accessed 29/5/06). CURL: (accessed 29/5/06). Malcolm Jones, ‘Encore! again: the history and current state of the project’, Brio 38 (2), 2001, 15–23. Répertoire international des sources musicales: (accessed 29/5/06); RISM (UK): (accessed 29/5/06). Répertoire international de la littérature musicale: (accessed 29/5/06); RILM (UK): http://pages.britishlibrary.net/rilm-uk/index.htm (accessed 29/5/06). Cecilia: (accessed 29/5/06). Peter Linnitt and Paul Andrews, ‘The metamorphosis of Mildred, or, Hail bright Cecilia’, Brio 38 (2), 2001, 10–14. Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries became the Museum, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) in February 2004. (accessed 29/5/06). Music Libraries Trust: (accessed 29/5/06). Paul Andrews, ‘Cecilia: towards a map of the music resource in the UK and Ireland’ in Music librarianship in the United Kingdom: fifty years of the United Kingdom Branch of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres, ed. Richard Turbet. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003, pp. 200–8. Rupert Ridgewell, Concert programmes in the UK and Ireland: a preliminary report. London: IAML(UK & Irl), 2002. ‘Access to music resources in an online environment: developing the resource’. March 2002.

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18 IAML(UK), Library and information plan for music: written statement, ed. Susi Woodhouse. Hove: IAML(UK), 1993. 19 Resource Discovery Network: (accessed 29/5/06). 20 As summarized in Thompson and Lewis, Access to music, 28. 21 Thompson and Lewis, Access to music. 22 Pamela Thompson, ‘A framework and a fanfare for the future of music libraries’, Brio 40 (2), 2003, 3–7. 23 Pamela Thompson, ‘A fanfare for music’, Library + information update 2 (10), Oct. 2003, 30–1. 24 Concert Programmes project: (accessed 30/5/06). 25 Hofmeister XIX: (accessed 30/5/06). 26 COPAC: (accessed 30/5/06). 27 CADENSA: (accessed 30/5/06). See also Antony Gordon, ‘CADENSA on the web: the British Library National Sound Archive catalogue in hyperspace’, Brio 38 (2), 2001, 24–30. 28 CultureOnline: (accessed 30/6/06). 29 FARNE: www.folknortheast.com (accessed 30/6/06) 30 JSTOR: (accessed 30/6/06). 31 RIPM – Répertoire internationale de la presse musicale: (accessed 30/6/06). 32 National Archives: (accessed 30/6/06). 33 Access to Archives: (accessed 30/6/06). 34 The Archives Hub: (accessed 30/5/06). 35 AIM25: (accessed 30/5/06). 36 Golden Pages: (accessed 30/6/06). 37 Artifact: (accessed 30/6/06). 38 Palatine: (accessed 30/6/06). 39 Turbet (ed.), Music librarianship in the United Kingdom. 40 Working with music in libraries. [London]: IAML(UK), 2003. 41 Frances Metcalfe, ‘Managing a music collection in the 21st century’, Brio 40 (1), 2003, 38–41. 42 Ian Ledsham, ‘Of needles (or lasers) and haystacks’, Brio 40 (2), 2003, 48–51. 43 Rosemary Williamson, ‘The Jerwood Library of the Performing Arts at Trinity College of Music’, Brio 39 (1), 2002, 49–54. 44 Jewish Music Institute Library: (accessed 29/5/06). 45 ‘Is there a future for music services?’, Library + information update 4 (3), March 2005, 26–7.

14

Media libraries Katharine Schöpflin and Richard Nelsson

During the late 1990s, media libraries underwent change resulting from the internet and growth in online sources. This was often considered positively, as new roles were found for information staff working on intranet sites and their long-standing online searching skills were recognized. There was even a blurring between the boundaries of librarians and journalists, and some library research staff received byline or end-credit acknowledgement for their work. The positivity of these years is reflected in the number of articles media librarians contributed to information publications through these years, celebrating new roles or projects. A 2001 article ‘Our role is good news’, by Annabel Colley, former BBC Panorama internet researcher, summed up their role in the new millennium. Whether building research intranets, developing computer-assisted research (CAR) projects – the acquiring, sorting and searching of data to generate original investigations and feature ideas – or training, Colley reported that news librarians were essential for their ability to evaluate all the new information resources. The profession seemed finally to have shaken off the image of filing clerk and the former power struggle with journalists was merging into a marriage of skills. With librarians working in editorial areas there would be a diffusion of professionals from the library to new roles and the skills of the ‘invisible’ profession might at last become clear to more people.1 This was indeed good news, at least for some. But for media librarianship as a whole, the picture was less rosy. In the US, an economic downturn in the media industry caused an apparent crisis as newsrooms shed staff and budgets were cut. The watershed moment was the closing of the 30-person Time Warner Research Library. If this efficient operation could be defined as expendable in times of costcutting, what chance did smaller operations have? British media librarians watched with trepidation. In November 2001 Nora Paul and Kathleen A. Hansen from the Institute for New Media Studies at the University of Missouri convened a summit of news librarians and academics to examine the current situation and develop a vision for the future.2 Weaknesses highlighted included shrinking ranks and a perception that the profession did not offer leadership or innovation. In a survey for the summit, it was found that reporters were not using librarians as information retrieval experts.

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However, it was recognized that the crisis was a symptom of the larger one in the news industry. Also, news libraries had some clout as many of them were involved with revenue-generating activities such as royalties from commercial databases and fee-based research. To survive in the future, news librarians would have to define new roles for themselves.3 By the end of 2001 many UK media organizations also perceived themselves to be in crisis following ‘the worst advertising recession in 30 years’4 and publications feared competition from the web: ‘as the amount of information available online explodes, papers will inevitably face a losing fight to hold on to readers’.5 Media organizations felt further threatened following the ‘dot com’ crash of the late 1990s and a loss of market confidence after the World Trade Center attacks of 11 September 2001. Many saw end-user access as an opportunity to downsize or close information units. Between 2001 and 2005, units at the BBC, Express Newspapers and Mirror Group closed entirely and many other organizations experienced staff cuts. Other media companies, especially in the regions, were merged. By 2005 most UK regional titles were owned by Trinity Mirror or Newsquest. The viability of local information units was called into question and many individuals running them, mostly working alone, were moved within the organization, took early retirement or were made redundant. However, the period cannot be entirely characterized negatively. Practitioners interviewed in the course of researching this chapter were far from complacent, and many responded to challenges by increasing promotional activity, lobbying fundholders within their organization, finding additional uses for staff knowledge and skills and new markets for holdings. Moreover, end-user access to materials mostly continued to be controlled by library units, and often resulted in a rise, rather than a fall, in enquiries. In many cases, the development of customized userinterfaces for end-user databases was the first serious financial investment made in the library for many years. This perhaps illustrated a point made by Tim Buckley Owen at the Corporate Information Management 2006 conference, that the internet had, for the first time, given corporate managers some kind of idea of what an information unit could do.6 These years can, therefore, be seen as transitional, as information professionals sought to establish a role which was constantly challenged by organizational change and new technology. National newspaper libraries For British newspaper libraries, the period 2001–2005 was characterized by a decline, and in many cases, the end of paper cuttings archiving, as well a gradual reduction of staff numbers. Once most journalists had access to some sort of text archive on their desktops, the need for librarians to work at night was reduced. A sign of the times was that the large Press Association cuttings library in Fleet Street was closed and acquired by East Riding Council in August 2003, becoming a research archive for pre-database material. For many, the result of these changes was that media libraries took on more indepth research and diversified into new areas of work. The library at Guardian

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Newspapers Ltd (GNL) had been trying to do this since the 1980s. Under chief librarian Helen Martin, the library was an early adopter of online news databases, running them in parallel with hard-copy cuttings, and had recognized the potential of the internet in 1994. Since the early 1990s the department had compiled chronologies of events and fact-boxes and these formed the backbone of an intranet developed later on in the decade. A number of studies were carried out to understand users’ needs.7 By 2001 most members of the department had a professional information management qualification and regularly produced work that appeared in the paper, sometimes with a research credit. Journalists had begun to recognize the department’s expertise and research staff became involved with training and advising, for example on CAR projects. To reflect this change, the department was now known as Research and Information (R&I). Although they ceased to take cuttings, and all staff within the company acquired end-user access to various databases, the number of enquiries remained much the same as it had in the past. However, Helen Martin, echoing how many news librarians felt at the time, wrote, ‘people seem to find it hard to define our role and clearly we must share the blame for that failure … journalists work 24 hours ahead. Librarians with their long-term projects struggle to be heard in that kind of environment and are themselves bound by it’.8 In 2001, a period of economic uncertainty, every part of R&I’s work was examined as part of a company-wide process review, to see if there was crossfunctionality between departments. Inevitably, questions about the information intermediary role were raised. After some very detailed analysis, the key finding was that work carried out by the department was an ‘essential component in the creation of quality journalism’.9 Recommendations included greater visibility, so researchers began to sit at news desks, attend news conferences and receive proper credit bylines for their work. This was then endorsed by the editors of the Guardian and the Observer and in subsequent years, the department built on this foundation. Other national newspapers experienced changes during these years. When the nightshift was abolished at the Financial Times, headcount was reduced through voluntary redundancy. However, the remaining team carried on working much as they always had. Interestingly, despite offering a vast array of databases, the cuttings collections were maintained as there was a strong demand for them from users. At Associated Newspapers – publishers of the Daily mail, Mail on Sunday, Metro and Evening standard – the period between 2001 and 2005 saw the move towards a ‘second generation’ of library database development. Associated’s library continued to provide a full paper cuttings service of all national newspapers to supplement its ‘in-house’ electronic text and picture databases. The text database of 20 titles used BasisPlus software from OpenText. But the company began developing a new browser-based electronic library to give access to text, pages in PDF format and published pictures from a common

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interface. The driving force for this facility was the realization that existing services no longer met increasing demands to repackage published data in a variety of formats.10 The first half of the decade saw relative stability at the Telegraph Group’s library but in May 2005 a major reorganization was announced. The staffing level was cut from 13 to 7 and the hours of business reduced. However, the library was moved closer to the heart of the paper by being sited next to the Daily telegraph Editor’s office. At Mirror Group Newspapers, end-user searching was actively encouraged so library staff did little research and, in effect, became an archiving operation. By 2005, plans were afoot to transfer the archiving to an off-shore site, although the hard-copy collection of books and microfilms was to remain. Whether this would have any sort of curator remained to be seen. At least at Express Newspapers, journalists could still call their library. While the staff of five dealt mainly with pictures, they continued handling ‘traditional’ queries. Archiving was carried out by the content management company, Televisual. As mentioned, the period 2001–2005 was governed by a drop in advertising revenue that became noticeable in the US in the latter part of 2000 and then took a nosedive after 11 September 2001. For News International, publishers of the Times, Sunday times, Sun and News of the world, this meant a general recruitment freeze from October 2000. Following September 2001, departments across the company were asked to identify ways of cutting costs and there were redundancies among both picture and information staff. In July 2001 the headcount in Information Services (Library) was 44, while by January 2006 it was down to 27 (partially due to restructure, redundancies and ‘natural wastage’). However, the services of this library were still very much in demand. While the number of general enquiries declined over the years, the ones received were more complex and time-consuming to research and answer. Librarians also provided training to journalists in the use of in-house and external systems. And, despite having access to all manner of databases, the library maintained a sizeable book collection and still physically cut and indexed newspapers and magazines not available online. An area of growth was the role of central supply management: the department was responsible for managing subscriptions to online services across the company’s titles as well as negotiating agreements with third-party database providers such as LexisNexis and Factiva. Staff were also involved, alongside the IT department, with the development of a digital asset management (DAM) system, of which the final installation was to integrate an archive of images, text objects and page PDFs.11 Text archiving With the introduction of newspaper databases in the mid-1980s, the task of archiving or ‘cleaning-up’ the data feeds for online hosts usually fell to the newspapers’ libraries. This included ensuring that headlines, bylines, etc., were in

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the correct place and in some cases adding keyword metadata. The growth of the Fleet Street Data Exchange (a text archive created by newspaper groups for exchanging an electronic version of their full news content)12 made this an important responsibility for newspaper libraries. Following the Tasini copyright ruling, the job also involved removing data that could not be sent to online hosts for copyright reasons. The Tasini case rejected the notion that newspaper websites and public online archives were extensions of the printed newspaper. On 25 June 2001 the US Supreme Court found that the New York times had committed copyright infringement when they sold freelance newspaper articles (in this case by freelancer Jonathan Tasini) without asking permission or making additional payments to the authors.13 In the aftermath of the ruling, publishers began to withdraw material and debate raged amongst media librarians about the practicalities and ethics of purging archives. There was a fear that the removal of so many articles would render archives such as LexisNexis almost useless. Much was removed, some unnecessarily. However, most newspapers soon set up freelance agreements and fears were on the whole unfounded.14 By and large, text archiving was a manual process, occupying at least 15 hours’ work each day. A few libraries outsourced the task, but most kept it in-house, usually citing reasons that third parties were slower and less accurate. There was certainly some truth in this, but towards the middle of the decade, some began to question whether libraries should be expending time and energy on a low-skill, low-value process that would inevitably become automated eventually. Ian Watson, Head of Rights and Information at the Glasgow herald, said, ‘archiving is a millstone that will always be seen as an overhead to be cut or out-sourced’.15 However, at the end of 2005 national newspaper text archiving was still being done much as it had since 1991. A development linked to the archiving process was that some libraries, such as News International’s, worked closely with the Newspaper Licensing Agency (NLA) in the supply of PDFs for their eClips service. Launched in March 2006, this was a digital database of newspaper clippings.16 Regional newspaper libraries With some prescience, Peter Chapman, former chief librarian at the Northern echo, concluded in 2001 that ‘there is still a role for a professional information worker in an English regional newspaper, but it is as a facilitator, trainer and desk researcher rather than archive creator and maintainer’.17 Over the following years, regional newspapers, including Scottish titles, began to divest themselves of the laborious task of archiving to concentrate on more diverse types of work and so become more aligned with newspaper business processes. Whether consciously or not, this followed a model reported in Business information review proposing: It is vital that information managers are able to demonstrate the added value of information and knowledge services for their organizations. Establishing the Return on

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Investment (ROI) of these services requires a clear understanding of the basic structure of intellectual capital and, when communicated, an ROI can provide further evidence of the strategically important role played by information managers in the business models of their organizations.18

Like the late 1980s, when a number of regional news libraries introduced online information sources before national newspapers, they were venturing into pastures new. The Liverpool echo/Daily post library provided a good example. The staff of three found their knowledge of both their collections and the history of the Liverpool area became a valued commodity. The newsroom, which traditionally provided the bulk of news libraries’ work, could now answer most queries accessing end-user databases and so ceased to be their main user. Instead, the team found much of their work was to help produce special supplements, newspaper-produced guides to the area and even football fanzines. The newspaper won these contracts in part because they could offer their librarians’ special skills to exploit collections.19 Likewise, at the Leicester mercury, once the Tark archiving system (which archived data automatically) was introduced, library staff found themselves carrying out more research for supplements. Work such as providing a daily bulletin of breaking news stories and anniversaries for the paper’s intranet continued, but staff had also diversified into copy-taking and compiling entertainment listings.20 At the Glasgow herald, archiving was outsourced and a staff of 7 in 2001 was progressively reduced through two rounds of voluntary redundancy to 2.6. Staff now concentrated on research and training journalists in using desktop search tools. As with many organizations, it was found that the number of enquiries increased.21 Thus, in regional libraries, the provision of end-user access did not destroy the role of the mediated researcher, despite considerable reductions in staff, but instead provided opportunities for diversification. Magazine libraries 2001–2005 was a turbulent era for magazine publishing. At the start of the period, there were a number of takeovers and mergers, and rationalization of many titles. As with newspapers, library staff headcounts were reduced, for example at Time magazine Europe and Time out, and at IPC magazines, which experienced large losses following its takeover by AOL Time Warner.22 At IPC, eight library staff in the 1990s had been reduced to four by 2003. Staff were aware that their jobs were at risk and the Information Manager appointed in 2000 was told that, following the introduction of end-user accessible online databases, her main task was to close the library down.23 Magazine libraries were traditionally heavily reliant on hard-copy press cuttings files, partly because few consumer magazines were available online, partly because they valued the visual representation of stories and also because although all national newspapers’ content was on the main news databases by 2003, the

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kinds of stories needing research in consumer magazines – ‘soft’ lifestyle stories and those about personalities – are far more accessible from pre-assembled, manually-indexed cuttings files (which might include topics like ‘great escapes’ or ‘unusual couples’) than from searching the text of electronic archives. However, libraries struggled to justify even storing cuttings files and several units disposed of all or part of their collection during this time. Needing to answer enquiries with fewer staff, many reduced or stopped indexing, cutting or keeping newspaper articles. Like all media libraries, those in magazines wanted to avoid a loss of faith among their users once they were no longer the gatekeepers to hard-copy items. Many saw the introduction of end-user databases as an opportunity to maintain their role as information providers within the organization. At IPC Magazines, the library introduced LexisNexis to its users in 2003, controlling passwords and training from the library (the latter function was later handed on to a Lexis trainer). The library designed a customized interface, offering selected sources, pre-defined searches, searching tips and a user-guide with each new ID and password. All libraries which rolled out news databases to journalists reported problems with overuse. Younger journalists were accustomed to having direct access to news databases themselves, particularly if they had previously worked for organizations where there was no research or information centre, but few had much training.24 As database providers insisted on per-use charging, or penalties for exceeding a certain usage, libraries absorbed huge costs from end-user access. To tackle this, at IPC they monitored usage, contacting line-managers and passing on penalty charges if a journalist was overspending. In the year that the database was rolled out at IPC, enquiries rose by more than 50% and they remained well above 2002 levels in the succeeding years.25 There are several explanations for this. First, it was during this period that an internal market charge for in-depth research was abolished (quick reference enquiries had remained free of charge). Secondly, the library increased promotional activity, having already raised its profile throughout the organization when they introduced the database. Many journalists had been unaware of the library’s other holdings and services until this time. Handing out passwords kept the library in touch with journalists who, left to their own devices, often had little idea of what made a source authoritative. They could also pass on the message that if journalists were unable to find what they were looking for, they could contact the library for more in-depth research at no charge. In 2004 the library’s parent department changed from the IT department to their biggest-usage editorial group. This section published women’s magazines and, after a series of closures and new launches, was now more successful than ever before.26 This meant that the library had a closer relationship with its biggest set of users, and the rest of the organization was entitled to use them too. Recognizing that a press cuttings archive stretching back to the 1940s was a unique selling point, they also launched a commercial service to external users which raised their profile and brought in extra income.

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Other magazine libraries offered alternative services once their traditional intermediary role had been diminished. At the Economist, which was particularly successful during this period, they concentrated on high-end research, particularly in the production of statistical tables, fact-checking, analysing and offering future events information. They noted that although they had fewer enquiries once journalists had their own access to news databases, those they did receive were more challenging and took longer.27 At another organization, the library carried out media monitoring on topics of interest to any marketing or editorial section, including pre-defined requests in relation to upcoming stories, a service too customized to be outsourced to a press cuttings agency. Here the librarian struggled to maintain both research and current awareness services when his library assistant post was cut for a year. During this time, he had to extend lead times for research and felt that his users were turning to other, less reliable, sources for information.28 In smaller units, disintermediation offered opportunities for librarians to be involved in new technology projects. The librarian at a publisher of magazines and guidebooks initiated the acquisition of a digital picture system so that picturereliant departments could have copyright-controlled online access to pictures. Implemented without retroconversion, it halted the loss of agency hard-copy prints and enabled the publishers to keep control of their own copyright. Staff and agency photographers were already working digitally, and it changed the way the picture desk, in particular, worked. Despite providing end-user access, picture enquiries actually increased after the system’s introduction, because new titles requiring pictures were launched.29 During this period, few consumer magazines made their written content available to news aggregators, and of those which did, few managed the text archiving through the library. However, some managed in-house archives, as at News International and Associated Newspapers. This was an important role in magazines where integrated text and image predominated and formats archived were Quark Xpress files and PDFs. Many organizations introduced new production systems during this period, and some libraries took on the role of adding indexing to content as it was created, and making it available throughout the organization on the desktop. Although these activities further disintermediated libraries from their users, it was preferable for the library to be involved with the introduction of new technology, as it would inevitably change the way the journalists worked. In this way, the library could ensure they retained a role, a hallmark of all the surviving information units in magazine libraries. Broadcasting: the BBC30 The BBC was media librarianship’s biggest employer between 2001 and 2005, with around 600 staff employed by the main library department, Information & Archives (I&A), in London and around the country. The BBC faced many of the

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issues central to broadcast librarianship and archiving and others specific to its status as the UK’s publicly-funded national broadcaster. 2001–2005 encompassed the period when radio and television programmes began to be ‘born digital’, that is recorded on digital formats and edited online, which had implications for their long-term storage. During this time the number of UK radio and television channels increased from two television and five radio networks to eight television channels and eleven radio stations and new formats such as broadband and interactive content were introduced, meaning the archive was no longer dealing with discrete solid items. Moreover untransmitted material proliferated as storage technology became cheaper. This was also a period when the BBC, funded by a compulsory licence fee, was under pressure to prove that it used public money efficiently and directed it into programme-making rather than overheads. As I&A was a sub-department of part of the finance division, rather than attached to an editorial area, it was not a popular area for investment. Under the BBC’s internal market, where money was held by production areas who then ‘bought’ their services from inside or outside the BBC, most of I&A’s funding came from programme areas paying into a ‘directorate membership fee’ (upfront funding at the start of the year) or buying services on a ‘pay as you use’ basis. The internal market was considered an essential means of discouraging programme-makers from using I&A services and thus saving the corporation money overall. The fact that enquiry numbers fell considerably by comparison with other media organizations during these years indicates that as a disincentive to using mediated research services it was very effective. I&A had various responses to these factors. Anticipating that digital production could exclude them from the archiving process, in 2000 a team was formed to ‘work alongside content creators on very specific, short-term projects for as little as two weeks, or participate in lengthy process- and culture-change initiatives for anything up to two years’ as part of ‘a more pro-active approach to knowledge capture’.31 It was thought that these roles would be the first step towards managing archiving efficiently across all media from the point of creation, rather than when the programme was finished. Those who took on these new roles were called ‘media managers’, to avoid associations with radio, television or online specifically or with the programme ‘morgue’, embodied for many in the words ‘archive’ and ‘librarian’. However, as the media managers were only sent into departments that chose to buy their services, they could not introduce a comprehensive policy across the BBC. Moreover, although a closer relationship was built up with many content creators and some untransmitted material was captured, most programmes arrived in the archive as they always had, after transmission. By the end of 2005, the team was centrally funded, but the posts were not reorganized around a centrallydetermined policy or procedure, remaining in the departments which had previously paid for them. I&A was not permitted to hire more staff to catalogue the BBC’s increased output. As a response, they explored prototypes for media asset management systems, where broadcasting materials were stored with indexing metadata

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attached, negating the need for detailed logging. Their introduction had been discussed in I&A since the mid-1990s, but lack of investment and insufficient technological development prevented it from going further. However, production staff themselves began to work in different ways in these years. A digital transmission system was planned for radio and a digital production management system for BBC News staff was introduced in 2005. That these projects were initiated independently from each other and with I&A involvement only at later stages indicates the challenges facing the BBC in producing a coherent media asset management policy. In fact the online production system introduced in News, called Jupiter, had limited server storage space, and news material which had been created digitally had later to be downloaded on to analogue tape for longterm storage. During 2005 BBC management predicted that it would be tapeless within five years and procurement of a secure digital asset management system finally began. To enable indexing of the BBC’s increased output, computer-assisted indexing software was also purchased. Investment in these systems was contingent on staff cuts among cataloguing and research staff, so I&A did not have the luxury of trialling the technology to see how many staff would be needed to train the software, correct indexing and manage taxonomies. However, the intention was that more material overall would become accessible through indexing, including that of new channels and radio, much of which had never been comprehensively catalogued. Like many media organizations, I&A invested in research tools provided directly to BBC staff on their computer desktop. Their research intranet site relaunched in 2003 bringing together a range of in-house and external catalogues and databases.32 A specialist team offered comprehensive training throughout the BBC, although later staff cuts diminished this service. While they promoted online services, they deliberately downplayed their research services, and enquiry staff in I&A’s London departments shrank from approximately 200 to 80 over the period.33 Mediated research services were characterized as a waste of licence-payers’ money and I&A was given a clear message from BBC management ‘who held the purse strings’ that they should discourage programme-makers from using them.34 One senior BBC executive told I&A staff that ‘any programme-maker that uses an I&A researcher instead of doing their own research is just lazy’.35 It is possible that enquiries would have decreased anyway given the disincentive of the internal market and journalists’ desire to control their own research. However, it is notable that the libraries which existed outside of Information & Archives, for example the Sports Library and Monitoring Research and Information Unit, did not experience significant drops in enquiry numbers. To allow a diminishing number of enquiries to be shared among fewer staff, research teams were reorganized so that separate units specializing in finding different material (for example, information or pictures) were replaced by multiskilled teams. This meant that enquiries would not necessarily be dealt with by someone with significant experience in the area of research.36 The new teams were

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structured initially according to the buildings in which they were based, but later by their source of funding. Teams for news and music research were separated because they were funded by service level agreement, while other teams’ headcount depended on income from charges made per enquiry. Outside of London, researchers were also multi-skilled but certain posts were identified with specific expertise. In these departments, researchers were more firmly embedded in programme-making areas and regional production staff were not charged directly for using the library. During these years I&A was not run by information professionals, and made few attempts to liaise with the professional world outside the BBC. By 2005 a change in management encouraged more positive attitudes towards professional values. The BBC’s new media areas appreciated the value of the structured data and indexing that I&A had been producing for years. Indeed, BBC New Media often hired information professionals as their information architects and taxonomists during these years.37 I&A also collaborated to help produce the BBC’s Creative Archive, 100 hours of free-to-air programming made open to noncommercial users under a creative commons licence.38 All this made information professionals in the BBC more optimistic in 2005 than they had been in 2001. Broadcasting: the commercial sector Commercial VT (videotape) libraries faced similar problems of proliferating output and limits on staff numbers to the BBC. Indeed, as competition for advertising revenue and audience share intensified with the growth of satellite and digital broadcasting, most commercial television companies were under intense financial pressure during these years.39 By 2005, all the ITV franchises had consolidated into a single broadcasting and production organization. Inevitably, there were pressures to reduce staff overall and most organizations exercised caution at least in managing their libraries. For most of this period, however, a VT library was essential to any television company that wanted to find its output after broadcast. End-user access to catalogues was offered in many television libraries, but staff still had to create the catalogues in the first place and the value of professionally produced cataloguing was generally recognized. Moreover, without the pressure of an internal market or a deliberate policy of no promotion, commercial libraries restructured rather than shrank in response to end-user access. Many were able closely to align their archiving practices with the production practices of their users, attending editorial meetings, coordinating agency feeds and, in one case, scheduling VT editors’ assignments.40 In one library, production interns always spent time in the library and librarians were trained in editing software. Moreover, the newsroom was made aware that only a selection of transmitted material was kept and they were given the option of identifying items themselves for keeping. The close relationship between this library and newsroom boosted enquiries by 100% between 2001 and 2005, even though journalists had direct access to the catalogue in the newsroom.41 At ITN, the archive found a new and successful commercial role. During these

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years, it acquired archives belonging to Reuters, Fox News and British Pathe and eventually licensed its holdings to Google Video and other third parties, including mobile telephone operators. Thus, not only were librarians brought into the process of commercial exploitation, the archive itself became a profitable revenue stream for the organization, generating £12 million in 2005.42 Commercial television stations also considered the introduction of media asset management and automated cataloguing systems. Their motivation was to introduce a more efficient means of capturing material, potentially allowing more footage to be kept and indexed (and subsequently exploited), rather than reducing staff. In one area the library manager was aware that computer-assisted indexing had been introduced in their head office (which was in the USA), but that its use was limited and no staff cuts had been contingent. In this library, the manager attended senior management meetings at her own insistence and was confident that if automated indexing software were to be introduced in her organization, she would have input into its implementation.43 This indicates how the library’s strong promotional activity prevented their being sidelined as production staff themselves changed the way they worked. Online archiving44 A new role for information professionals in media organizations was the long-term management of web content. Many media organizations sidestepped the issue and, certainly, in the late 1990s web pages were considered too ephemeral and too much of a niche market to be worth considering for posterity. The BBC, having a public service remit, did some research during this time as to the legal, technological and practical implications of archiving its web content. By the late 1990s, BBC executives promoted the BBC websites as the third medium for broadcasting after radio and television, which suggested that the legal requirement to keep television and radio for 30 days in case of complaints also applied to websites. In August 2000 BBC Information & Archives appointed an Online Archivist to explore setting up and running a system which could store the BBC’s web pages. Existing software, especially electronic document management systems and image bank software, was considered but eventually an in-house option was chosen. It was necessary to keep costs down, in particular to avoid the need to tender the project across the European Union. The content-producing department, BBC New Media, refused to invest in an archiving system, and in fact had just acquired a content production system which did not have archiving facilities. Lack of money limited the scope of the project. It was decided not to archive BBC News content, as most pages remained available on the website. At this point most of the audio and video on web pages had already been broadcast, and would have used a lot of server space, so they were also excluded. Finally, databasedriven material was ignored as it was felt impossible to define what, in this case, was the archival object. Off-air recording carried out by television and radio for legal reasons took place once the item was transmitted. As web pages were often changed after they

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became available on the web, it was necessary to capture them before they were published online. The archivist identified the BBC’s ‘master content server’ (a family of servers) as the closest possible point to publication. Therefore, she arranged to simultaneously publish pages, or changes to pages, to an archive server, with an additional date and time stamp put on each page. This process began in June 2005. The gaps – older pages, news, audio-visual and dynamic material – remained, no indexing metadata was added to pages and non-textual material (for example, JPEGs, WAV files) faced the prospect of future obsolescence. However, the archivist hoped to rectify some of the issues with more funding in the future. Moreover, since 2001 a community of practice had grown up around the issue of digital archiving, for example the UK Web Archiving Consortium, which meant that her decisions were being made against a background of professional debate and research.45 Furthermore, even making the first steps towards preserving online material represented a significant contribution, particularly at a time when little other investment was made in the BBC’s libraries and archives. Within the BBC, content producers remained uninterested in the afterlife of their online materials, just as most production areas lost interest when their programme was ready for transmission. This emphasized that the role of making sure that material was available in the future remained vacant for information professionals, librarians and archivists to fill. Association of UK Media Librarians (AUKML) AUKML, the professional association representing the media library sector, remained a vibrant and independent organization between 2001 and 2005. By 2001 many of the people who had set it up in 1986 had left the industry, but a new generation continued to ensure that the association survived. Keeping members informed of new information management developments and networking were two of the key reasons for its existence and a lively programme of events continued. These included everything from newspaper digitization, copyright or the invisible web to new roles for librarians working on taxonomies and websites.46 In 2002 Justin Arundale, one of the major figures in British media librarianship, died. Amongst many things, Arundale had been a strong advocate for the professional media librarian. In his memory, the AUKML conference keynote speech was named the Justin Arundale Memorial Lecture, the first one being in 2003 at the London Conference.47 Here, Charles Oppenheim, Professor of Information Science at Loughborough University, after surveying the Association’s great successes, offered suggestions as to where it should go in the future. He noted that membership was passive, with a lot of satisfied members, something typical of a mature organization, but nevertheless there was uncertainty as to what niche AUKML filled. His most cutting observation was that the ‘sense of excitement, dynamism and change that was certainly present in the early years of AUKML has vanished’.48 This sentiment was echoed by Helen Martin on the pages of the AUKML newsletter Deadline,

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when she referred back to the early days when the group was more of a think-tank composed entirely of information and library managers who could return to their library from a committee meeting and directly implement new policy.49 However, AUKML had evolved to reflect changes in the profession. The strictures of the years 2001 to 2005 meant that library managers needed inspiration and creative ideas rather than policy direction. Moreover, AUKML in the 1990s existed with a firm idea of what a media library was. By 2005 there were a very small number of information units answering that description and AUKML instead aimed to provide a focus, training and networking opportunities for anyone who carried out information work in a media organization, regardless of whether they considered themselves to be librarians or their workplaces libraries. Certainly the sheer number of jobs lost in these years meant the maximum potential numbers of members fell considerably. Yet after an initial drop in numbers, membership levels remained constant between 2003 and 2005 and the organization retained a high profile within the profession as a whole. Conclusion In the 1980s, media librarians established themselves as professionals, rather than clerks in charge of collections of newspaper cuttings. In the 1990s they embraced the opportunities offered by online databases and the internet. In the first five years of the 21st century, many libraries battled, as their users became able to access research tools without their mediation, to establish their role as the best people in their organization to find and organize information. Those which survived recognized that their role could not depend on their intermediated access to a shrinking number of information sources. Rather, it became their role to control and organize those sources, to train end-users on them and to be and be seen to be the most expert in the organization at using them. In her keynote speech at the 2005 AUKML conference, Judith Dunn pointed out that any organization which produced content needed both sources for that content and someone to organize it after publication.50 In the most successful media libraries between 2001 and 2005 staff saw their roles ‘evolve from factcheckers to collaborators’51 and retained a ‘reputation for providing quality and timely research, providing reporters with the tools they need at their own desks and training them how to do their research to a degree’.52 As media organizations’ output continued to grow, and to appear in new and more unfathomable formats, the role of their information professionals would become more important than ever. The years 2001 to 2005 indicate that Britain’s media organizations employed dynamic and forward-looking professionals who were ready for the challenges of the next five years.

Notes 1

Annabel Colley, ‘Our role is good news’, Library Association record 103 (6), 2001, 350–1.

212 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

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University of Minnesota, ‘News Libraries in Crisis’ summit, 15–16 Nov. 2001: . Kathleen A. Hansen, Norman Oder, Nora Paul, ‘Reclaiming news libraries’, Library journal 127 (6), 1 Apr. 2002, 44–6. John Cassey , ‘Where’s the cash?’, Guardian 19 Aug. 2002. James Robinson, ‘Mind the gap: the press must follow readers online, but where’s the cash?’, Observer 28 May 2006. Tim Buckley Owen, ‘Rocket science for beginners: why end-user access to the web represents the best opportunity information professionals have ever had’, paper at Corporate Information Management 2006: a one-day conference, 7 Mar. 2006. Helen Martin, ‘The changing information environment in the media: case study The Guardian/Observer’, Aslib proceedings 51 (3), 1999, 91–6. Helen Martin, ‘The Guardian/Observer: information developments since 1998’, Aslib proceedings 53 (5), 2001, 161–6. ‘Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations of the process review’. Guardian Newspapers Ltd internal document, Dec. 2001. Personal communication with Steve Torrington, Library Editor, Associated Newspapers. Personal communication with Gertrud Erbach, Senior Editorial Services Manager, News International. Richard Nelsson, ‘News libraries’ in British librarianship and information work 1991– 2000, ed. J. H. Bowman. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006, pp. 210–26, at pp. 214–15. George Pike, ‘Understanding and surviving Tasini; Jonathan Tasini copyright case’, Information today 18 (9), 2001, 18. Ian Watson, ‘New York Times vs. Tasini’, Deadline 16 (3), Nov. 2001. Available at: . Personal communication with Ian Watson, Head of Rights and Information, Glasgow Herald/Evening Times. NLA eClips: . Peter Chapman, ‘Change and the changing face of a regional newspaper library 1990– 2000’, Aslib proceedings 53 (2), 2001, 55–7. Boyd Hendriks and Ian Wooler, ‘Establishing the return on investment for information and knowledge services’, Business information review 23 (1), 2006, 13–25. Personal communication with Colin Hunt, Liverpool Daily Post/Echo Chief Librarian. Personal communication with Steve England, Leicester Mercury Chief Librarian. Personal communication with Ian Watson, Head of Rights and Information, Glasgow Herald/Evening Times. John Cassey, ‘Crisis? What crisis?’, Guardian 17 Feb. 2003. Personal communication with Joanne Playfoot, information manager, IPC Magazines, 15 May 2006. Conversely, an unnamed US library said that journalists who ‘had never had research before’ were especially keen to ‘take advantage of the offered support and training’: see Deborah Barreau, ‘Integration of information professionals into the newsroom: two organizational models for research services’, Library and information science research 27 (3), 2005, 325–45. Joanne Playfoot, ‘Infocentre, IPC Media 2001–2005’. Internal document, 15 May 2006. Sally O’Sullivan, ‘The glossies that shone brightest in a bumper year’, Observer 19 Dec. 2004.

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27 Personal communication with Carol Howard, Library Manager, The Economist, 30 May 2006; her experience was shared by Ron Chepesiuk at USA Today, ‘On the cutting edge of news’, American libraries May 2003. 28 Personal communication with Librarian, London-based publishing group, interview, 19 May 2006. 29 Personal communication with Librarian, London-based publishing group, interview,19 May 2006. 30 This section is substantially based on an interview with a senior I&A manager, 4 May 2006. 31 Liz Lewis and Jane Plester, ‘Media management at the BBC’, Library + information update 3 (11), 2004, 36–7. 32 Linda MacDonald, ‘BBC Research Gateway AUKML/SLA meeting’, Deadline 18 (4), Dec. 2003: . 33 Email message from senior I&A manager, 18 May 2006. 34 Personal communication with senior I&A manager, 4 May 2006. 35 Senior executive address to I&A staff, March 2003. 36 Katharine Schöpflin, ‘Multi-skilling: a user-experience’, Deadline 19 (1), March 2004: . 37 Martin Belam, ‘Martin Belam presentation for the Association of UK Media Librarians’, Feb. 2004: . 38 Paul Gerhardt, ‘Creative Archive’, Ariadne 44, July 2005: . 39 Jane Martinson, ‘ITV profits rise 60% – despite fall in ads’, Guardian 8 Sept. 2005. 40 Personal communication with Library Manager, commercial news station, 2 May 2006. 41 Email message from Library Manager, commercial news station, 15 May 2006. 42 Dan Sabbagh, ‘Under Mark Wood the past may be ITN’s future’, The Times 12 May 2006. 43 Personal communication with Library Manager, commercial news station, 2 May 2006. 44 This section is substantially based on an interview with Cathy Smith, New Media Archivist, 8 May 2006. 45 UK Web Archiving Consortium: . 46 AUKML past events: . 47 Harry Woodroof, ‘Justin Arundale: apostle of information science and former librarian of the Independent’, Independent 25 Sept. 2002, 22. 48 Charles Oppenheim, ‘The news librarian: the vision, inspiration and achievements’. Paper delivered at AUKML conference, Nov. 2003. Available at: . 49 Helen Martin, ‘Letter to the Editor’, Deadline 19 (1), Mar. 2004: . 50 Judith Dunn, ‘If media libraries didn’t exist we would have to invent them’. Paper delivered at AUKML conference 2005, Essential skills for information. 51 Ron Chepesiuk, ‘On the cutting edge of news: the library behind USA today, America’s most widely read newspaper’, American libraries 34 (5), May 2003, 27–9. 52 Barreau, ‘Integration of information professionals into the newsroom’.

15

Map libraries Robert Parry

By the beginning of the new millennium, many map libraries had begun to undergo radical change in order to adapt to the changing nature of the map as an artefact, the changing demands of its users, and in response to strategic planning by library administrators. Concern about the future direction for map libraries was reflected in a number of published papers and workshops, but little progress was made nationally to establish a comprehensive model for the form and function of map collections in a digital age. Part of the problem was the diversity of existing collections in terms of their traditional content, their actual and perceived user groups, and the expectations of the latter. Consequently some collections found their survival threatened. Organizations, funding and staffing The principal comprehensive UK public access map libraries comprised the six legal deposit libraries, together with the collections of the Royal Geographical Society and the National Archives. Much smaller collections with a more restricted user community were to be found in most universities and some other higher education institutions (HEIs). Maps also formed an important part of the archives of county record offices and some of the larger public libraries, while there were a number of specialized map collections such as those of the Geological Society, the Guildhall Library, London, the Imperial War Museum and the National Maritime Museum. Significant collections, mainly for internal use, were held by some government and commercial mapmakers, and research organizations. The largest of these was the Ministry of Defence’s Geospatial Library. Also of significance were the geological map collection at the British Geological Survey and the nautical chart archive at the Hydrographic Office. A directory of map collections, which in 2000 became solely a web publication on the British Cartographic Society’s website, listed about 400 collections, comprising mainly national libraries, university map collections and local authorities with map collections. The directory was sporadically revised during this reporting period, but no overall new edition was published, so it was not possible to track precisely the vicissitudes of collections over the half-decade.1 A merger of the Public Record Office with the Historical Manuscripts

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Commission in 2003 brought a change of name to this institution with the new title of The National Archives (TNA).2 A major move of the period was that of the Ministry of Defence Geospatial Library from Tolworth to new premises at Feltham, Middlesex.3 A new archive building was also completed for the Hydrographic Office at Taunton. Also in this period, the Royal Geographical Society–Institute of British Geographers was successful in acquiring a substantial grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund which enabled it to undertake and complete an extensive overhaul of its facilities at Kensington Gore, including new climate-controlled storage rooms and a new reading room for the map and other collections. This formed part of a £7.1 million Unlocking the archives project. With the demise of Ordnance Survey International (the last remnant of the former Directorate of Overseas Surveys) the OSI map collection and archive were disassembled and distributed to a number of other collections and organizations. Although Ordnance Survey expressed confidence that in this way the collection would become more visible and therefore more used, whether the break-up and dispersion of such a significant collection would prove to be positive was questionable. However, about 30,000 of the 50,000 map sheets went to the Royal Geographical Society Collection in London.4 A seminar was held at the RGS in October 2005 to mark the transfer. A number of retirements of people with long associations with map librarianship took place.5 Most map libraries remained hard-pressed for funding, and staffing changes often put the future management of such map collections at risk. While most survived and a number of new appointments were made, several university map collections were closed, downsized or re-structured.6 Education, training and networking The British Cartographic Society’s Map Curators’ Group (MCG) continued to foster map library interests, and provided the main forum for the exchange of ideas and information through workshops, training courses and its newsletter, Cartographiti. Membership of the MCG was available to any interested member of the BCS and was not therefore confined to practising map curators. In 2002 it had a membership of 170.7 The annual Map Curators’ Workshops, normally held immediately before the BCS Annual Symposium each September, continued to be well supported with lively and well-attended programmes arranged by its convener, Ann Sutherland.8 In 2002, a working group on training was established by the MCG, and in 2004 an introductory one-day training programme for novice map curators was held at the University of Newcastle. In June 2005 a specialized two-day course convened by the MCG was held at the National Library of Scotland entitled Wired for maps: a basic course on electronic cartographic materials for map curators, librarians and archivists. This covered both the practicalities of digitizing maps for archiving or display on the web, and the handling, acquisition and cataloguing of digital data.9 The Society of Archivists also played a role in organizing training days and was responsible for a wide-

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ranging seminar, Maps in May, held at the University of Portsmouth in 2003, and covering the uses of GIS, ways of improving access to maps, and copyright and conservation issues. A map training day was also held at the National Archives in 2004. The British Records Association also featured maps in its 2003 annual conference, which was entitled On the map: maps as historical evidence, and to which map librarians contributed. 2003 witnessed one of the popular three-day events held periodically in Edinburgh for members of the BCS and the Charles Close Society for the Study of Ordnance Survey Maps, in which map library interests were a strong feature.10 Matters of concern to map libraries were also discussed at meetings of the British and Irish Committee for Map Information and Cataloguing Systems (BRICMICS). BRICMICS had been one of Ordnance Survey’s consultative committees, but following the cessation of these in 2001, the Committee decided to widen its membership and brief, and to circulate summaries of its discussions in the Library Association record and the newsletter of the Society of Archivists. Useful summaries of the Committee’s twice-yearly meetings also continued to appear in the pages of Cartographiti. Issues concerning the management of digital maps and spatial data in a library context continued to be discussed at many national and international meetings involving map curators. In May 2005 the Geography and Map Libraries Section, Special Libraries Division, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) held a workshop at the Library of Congress, Washington DC, which gave consideration to the future of paper maps. This was followed by a twoday conference at the same venue on Map and geographic information libraries in transition.11 In 2002 IFLA met in Glasgow for its 68th General Conference and Council, and its Section of Geography and Map Libraries held a panel session on Map libraries: current issues and trends, and a workshop on scanning maps directed at small libraries and local history collections. British map curators had a prominent presence at conferences of the Groupe des Cartothécaires de LIBER (Ligue des bibliothèques de recherche européennes). The group met in Helsinki in 2002 and in Cambridge in 2004, and papers were given by UK map curators at both conferences, and published in LIBER quarterly.12 LIS-Maps continued to be the main email discussion list for UK map librarians, although the list of the Society of Cartographers, Carto-SoC, also carried much useful traffic. For more specialized interests, MAPHIST provided an international forum for map historians, HISTORY-GIS a discussion list for applications of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology to historical research, while members of the Charles Close Society started a discussion list for those interested in past and present Ordnance Survey mapping.13 UK map curators could also find much of value – for example on questions of cataloguing, or on issues of international map availability – on the United States-based MAPS-L or the Canadian listserver Carta.14

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Manuals, periodicals and resource publications Although not widely used by UK map collections, a new G schedule for the Library of Congress Classification was published in 2001, while an updated section providing ‘Special instructions and tables of subdivisions for cartographic materials’ was subsequently placed on the web as a PDF file.15 In 2002 a new edition of Cartographic materials, the essential manual for interpreting AACR2 rules for cataloguing maps, was published in a new loose-leaf form, followed by an update in 2004 which brought rules into accordance with its parent AACR2 updates, and included rules for remote access to electronic materials.16 The cartographic journal continued to include papers relating to UK map librarianship. Of particular significance was the publication in 2005 of a special Map Curators’ Group issue under the guest editorship of Anne Taylor, with a large number of papers focused on map librarianship. This provided a valuable guide to some of the emerging issues for map libraries at the beginning of the 21st century.17 The Journal also provided valuable summaries of mapping organizations and map production in the UK in the form of the National report to the General Assembly of the International Cartographic Association.18 A new international journal for map librarians, Journal of map and geography libraries was launched in the United States in 2004, and the second issue was devoted to European map library issues.19 LIBER quarterly continued to feature papers presented at the biennial conferences of the Groupe de Cartothécaires de LIBER,20 while INSPEL, an official journal of IFLA, did the same for its Section of Geography and Map Libraries. However, the latter journal was discontinued from 2002.21 An overview of current issues in map librarianship was provided in a book edited by Parry and Perkins, The map library in the new millennium, which drew on the views of an international range of map curators, map users and cartographic practitioners.22 Although relatively little has been published about maps in public libraries, a review by Ian Maxwell gave interesting insight into how such libraries were dealing with map acquisition and access in the digital age, while Richard Abbott presented his thoughts on map use in Birmingham Central Library.23 Several periodicals continued to provide background reading for map curators on historical cartography, sometimes also featuring news about map collections and people in the map library world. Mercator’s world, a popular illustrated magazine, focusing mainly but not exclusively on historical maps, abruptly ceased publication in 2003. Much of its content had had an American slant, although it included a feature on Tony Campbell’s achievements as head of the British Library Map Library on the occasion of his retirement.24 In 1999, a web-based magazine MapForum.com, was launched, describing itself as an ‘antique map magazine’. This had several UK map curators on its editorial board and introduced a feature on British map libraries, which continued through the first few issues.25 In 2004 MapForum was also launched as a printed publication.26 Imago mundi continued to be the main organ for publication of research in the

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history of cartography, and included substantial review sections of new literature, a detailed bibliographic section, and an annual chronicle. Previously published by the British Library, publication was transferred to Routledge in 2003 and the journal also became available to subscribers online.27 The long-running History of Cartography project received a further blow in 2004 with the untimely death of David Woodward, one of its two main architects (his co-founder Brian Harley had died in 1991), and although no further volumes were published during the reporting period, work was begun on the 20th-century volume, and the publishers, the University of Chicago Press, declared their resolve to complete the project.28 Numerous county carto-bibliographies were completed during the period (though not generally by map curators), while members of the Charles Close Society continued their invaluable work on the history of Ordnance Survey map series.29 Additionally, a new edition of Richard Oliver’s Ordnance Survey maps: a concise guide for historians was published.30 Rodney Shirley completed a catalogue of individual maps in pre-1800 atlases in the British Library Map Library, which was published in 2005 in hard copy and as a CD-ROM.31 At the University of Exeter, Kain and Oliver’s project to produce an electronic map of pre-1850 historic parishes, townships, and other local administrative areas of England and Wales begun in 1998 was completed in 2001.32 A further project by these authors, together with John Chapman, resulted in a definitive guide to enclosure maps, accompanied by a searchable web-mounted catalogue of all parliamentary and non-parliamentary enclosure maps extant in public archives and libraries.33 Towards the end of 2005, The map book, impressively illustrating the evolution of the cartographic art from 1500 BC to 2005 AD, was published under the editorship of Peter Barber of the British Library Map Library.34 Online resources Initiated in 1995 by Roelof Oddens the curator of the map Library of the Faculty of GeoSciences, University of Utrecht, Oddens’ bookmarks continued to function as the premier website for anything related to cartography. Converted to a database and further restructured in 2004, the site by this time contained over 22,000 links.35 For early maps, the Map history website maintained by Tony Campbell provided a wealth of information and links.36 Following a decision made at the Map Curators’ Workshop in 2002, a Map curators’ toolbox was developed principally by April Carlucci, Tinho da Cruz and Anne Taylor and placed on the BCS website. This provided a wide range of source material and web links to help those managing map libraries.37 Two initiatives, one aimed exclusively at the academic community, set out to provide access to public and private sector geographical information. GIgateway, formerly known as askGIraffe, was developed by the Association for Geographic Information (AGI) to provide a facility for geospatial searches using one of three tools: the data locator for returning geographical information using text and

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geospatial searching; the data directory, a list of data and service providers, and area search, returning governmental administrative data from a postcode search. Go-Geo!, developed jointly by Edina and the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex, was a similar tool intended to help British higher education to find and share geospatial datasets, and was being offered as a trial service in 2005.38 A related project, GeoCrossWalk, also under development by Edina and the UK Data Archive, aimed to provide a gazetteer of geographical names stored not only as point locations but as ‘footprints’ (defining the spatial extent of features by a coordinate listing). Funded by JISC and described as middleware, GeoCrossWalk aimed to enhance spatial searching by tagging spatial referencing to metadata and text documents, and providing a means of linking different geographies, such as place-names to electoral boundaries to postcodes.39 Acquisitions Apart from the legal deposit libraries, most map libraries continued to rely substantially on donations and exchanges to sustain their paper map collections. Many national and university collections continued to benefit from the disposal of superseded or surplus mapping from the Ministry of Defence Geospatial Library. LIS-Maps provided a means of advertising surplus maps for donation and exchange, and some collections also advertised their surplus maps on their websites. The release of topographic maps and city plans from the former Soviet Union continued to have an impact on the map acquisitions of major libraries, while some universities took advantage of the availability of these maps in digital form. David Watt estimated that the total inventory of Soviet-produced maps amounted to well over 1,000,000 individual sheets.40 A major transfer of historic military mapping from the Ministry of Defence archive to the British Library took place during this period, while the National Archives received military mapping of the Peninsular War from the early 19th century,41 and material from Ordnance Survey, including original artwork for OS map covers. In 2000, OS was established as a place of deposit on behalf of the National Archives for annual ‘snapshots’ of the OS National Topographic Database. These data were to be held on CD-ROM and secure from public access for 30 years.42 Digital maps Following the agreement between the legal deposit libraries and OS signed in 1997, these libraries began to receive annual ‘snapshots’ of Ordnance Survey large-scale digital data (so-called Land-Line.Plus® data) beginning 1998. As discussed in the 1991–2000 report, this had become necessary with the cessation of the lithographic printing of OS large-scale mapping.43 The replacement of the Ordnance Survey tile-based Land-Line digital data by a re-engineered and seamless dataset called MasterMap® posed new problems of storage and delivery for the legal deposit libraries. It was decided to replace the existing static standalone applications for Land-Line with a networked architecture and online delivery from

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a central hub. A working group was established in 2004 to pursue the requirements for this new system.44 Concerns about the general demise of paper map series in favour of maps only available digitally or as print-on-demand led BRICMICS to establish a small group to investigate the extent to which this was happening. The group reported in 2001 but found at that time that although many national survey organizations had established digital flowlines for map production, there was no evidence to indicate an abandonment of the printing of national map series at medium and small scales. However, subsequently Canada announced the closing of the Canada Map Office and the cessation of map printing by the federal government. The launch in 2000 of the Edina Digimap subscription service to higher education institutions had an important impact on British academic map libraries. This service allowed access for bona fide research and teaching purposes to a number of Ordnance Survey digital datasets. At first restrictions were placed on the proportion (30%) of geographical cover at the largest scales which could be accessed in any one year, but subsequently this impediment was removed and a fuller range of different scale datasets was added, making this a highly valuable resource. Historical OS maps were made available through the Digimap service in 2005, and consideration was being given to the possibility of offering geological and hydrographic data to subscribers for an extra charge. The original Digimap agreement was to last five years, but was successfully re-negotiated in 2004. By the end of 2005 some 170 institutions were subscribers, including a number of sixth form colleges. The replacement of Ordnance Survey Land-Line digital data by MasterMap® also presented Edina with complex problems in providing a delivery mechanism for these re-structured data through the Digimap service. Development work was due to start in 2006.45 A feature of the period was the growing accumulation of maps and spatial data on the web. Many national libraries contributed to this by scanning selections of their holdings of historic maps for web access. These included the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, and the National Maritime Museum. As noted below, as well as providing a valuable resource, these images also served as a new form of publicity for map library holdings. An international listing of web image sites was added to the Map history website.46 A private company, Sitescope Ltd, initially scanned the entire Royal Geographical Society collection of OS 1 : 10,560 scale maps of Great Britain from the earliest editions of the 1840s to about 1950, and made these available for purchase on CD-ROM. Subsequently it signed an agreement with Ordnance Survey to scan its archive of historic OS maps. Following the company’s acquisition in 2003 by Landmark Information Group’s parent company, DMG Information Limited, Sitescope and Landmark Information Group Limited were merged and Landmark became the main commercial supplier of Ordnance Survey historical map data, providing mapping at scales of 1 : 10,560 / 1 : 10,000, 1 : 2,500 and 1 : 1,250 which could be site-centred and overlaid with the contemporary national grid. Essentially this was one example of an online map library

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service operated commercially, and bypassing the traditional role of national collections in providing the original historical analogue maps for business users.47 This historical Ordnance Survey mapping became available as part of their service level agreements to local authorities (and therefore potentially to public libraries). The mapping also became available to HEIs (for an additional subscription), through the Edina Digimap Service discussed above. Cataloguing and map library automation The collaborative three-year project Mapping the world: collaborative support for overseas mapping, led by the Bodleian Library, Oxford and funded by the Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP) continued until 2002. The records of the seven contributing academic libraries were added to the CURL (Consortium of University Research Libraries) database, and to COPAC, the free-access online catalogue of the CURL libraries. A total of 36,959 records was achieved.48 The British Library Map Library had undertaken retroconversion of its map catalogue in the 1990s, which was originally marketed on CD-ROM. Most other national map libraries had engaged in online cataloguing either during or before the period of this report. In 2000, the National Library of Scotland began online cataloguing of new map accessions, and retroconversion of its card catalogue began in 2003, the records becoming accessible online in the main library catalogue and on COPAC. The National Library of Wales also automated its map catalogue and made it available online. In 2002 Cambridge University Library began cataloguing new acquisitions online to MARC 21 standard. Meanwhile Glasgow University converted its map shelf register to an online catalogue in 2004. The National Maritime Museum, which held some 100,000 maps and charts, began to add records of these to the library’s Unicorn system, and numerous images were captured and displayed, together with their catalogue records, on the NMM website, which was re-launched in 2005.49 COPAC, which continued to provide online access to catalogue records of the 27 research libraries belonging to the Consortium of Research Libraries (CURL), added a map searching facility in 2004.50 From 2003 COPAC gave free access to the whole British Library Map Library catalogue, previously available for purchase on CD-ROM. The National Library of Wales also added 50,000 map records to COPAC, and the National Library of Scotland and other libraries also contributed records as they became available. Unlocking the archives, which provided new access and storage for collections at the Royal Geographical Society, as mentioned above, also facilitated retroconversion of the map catalogue, and development of web pages containing educational materials and access to the map catalogue.51 From 1999, the Public Record Office (subsequently the National Archives) undertook a Map Catalogue Retrospective Conversion Project, with the intention of integrating map records into the National Archives online catalogue. With an estimated six million maps, plans and architectural drawings scattered through its

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holdings,52 this was a major project given the varying sources and quality of its existing map records, and was ongoing at the end of this reporting period.53 The Ministry of Defence Geospatial Library had, beginning in 1989, developed MODMAP, an internal computerized cataloguing and retrieval system for its collection of over 600,000 maps. This was migrated from a mainframe to a PCbased Windows environment as MODMAP2, which went live in December 2002. MODMAP2 facilitated much more useful search and display features, and enabled the electronic distribution of records in MARC 21 format. Proposals were in hand to market the software and records to other libraries and possibly to include records with the superseded maps donated to other libraries. A proposal to scan the entire collection was also under consideration. Following completion of the computer cataloguing of maps in the Geological Society Library, this catalogue became available on the Society’s website.54 Exhibitions, publicity and outreach A number of excellent exhibitions were mounted by major libraries during the period. They included the highly successful Lie of the land: the secret life of maps at the British Library which ran from July 2001 to April 2002. This focused on how maps can fabricate or have some special story behind them, and an accompanying book featuring 30 of the maps was also published.55 Another highlight was the exhibition of urban cartography at the Bodleian Library in 2003, also accompanied by a fine book illustrating 38 of the maps.56 In 2001 Cambridge University Library held an exhibition of maps tracing the history of western exploration of Australia and entitled Fantasy to federation: European maps of Australia to 1901, and in 2003, an exhibition focusing on Cambridgeshire: Unfolding landscapes: maps of Cambridgeshire from Elizabeth I to Elizabeth II. Exhibitions held at the National Library of Scotland included, in 2003, Wish you were here!, which included about 30 maps as well as manuscript journals both historic and recent of visitors to Scotland. The most significant development in publicity and outreach was with the development of a number of imaginative websites during the period. In 2003, the British Library launched Collect Britain, the product of a £3.25 million, lotteryfunded, digitization project to put on the web a searchable collection of some 100,000 images of items held in the BL. Several sections of this collection were devoted to maps, including ‘Streets of London’, 1,000 maps and plans from the Crace Collection of the capital, tracing its growth from the 16th to the 19th century, ‘Britain Uncovered’, maps of Britain from 800 through 1600, and ‘Military alert’, original drawings from which the earliest Ordnance Survey inchto-the-mile maps were compiled.57 In Scotland, Project Pont ended in 2001 with publication of the book A nation survey’d, the launching of a website, and the mounting of a travelling exhibition reflecting Timothy Pont’s work.58 Following the success of the project, the NLS began to extend its activities in the production of high-resolution scanned map images, assembling these as individual websites at its digital library home page.59

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A three-year collaborative digital imaging project (1999–2002) was also established with principal funding from the Research Support Libraries Programme: ‘Military maps of Scotland’ featured mainly 18th-century maps and plans produced by the Board of Ordnance and included the manuscript maps from the Wade collection. In 2004, a Blaeu website was added. More money came from the New Opportunities Fund to be used for scanning maps of Scotland from 1750 to 1900. This was part of a project called Resources for Learning in Scotland. The NLS also undertook a project to scan all the first edition six-inch (1 : 10,560) scale OS maps of Scotland, and 1800 Scottish OS town plans were also added to the web. Charting the nation: maps of Scotland and associated archives, 1550–1740 was initially developed by the Department of Geography at the University of Edinburgh and subsequently managed by Edinburgh University Library, but involved the collaboration of a core consortium of nine other higher education and national institutions within the United Kingdom. The collection of over 3,500 images was viewable on the web.60 The NLS was instrumental in 2002 in setting up the Scottish Map Forum. This built on the success of Project Pont but was intended to reach out to the broader map user interest group. It organized an annual seminar and launched a biannual newsletter called Cairt, which was downloadable in PDF format from the web.61 The National Archives publicized its map holdings through online exhibitions and several articles in periodicals. A new edition of a book on Maps for family and local history was also published,62 and an insider’s guide to the National Archives was due for publication in 2006. Publicity for maps generally and map libraries in particular was stimulated by a second series of Mapman television programmes presented by Nicholas Crane on BBC2 in autumn 2005. The successful annual series of seminars on Maps and society, convened by Tony Campbell and Catherine Delano Smith, continued to be held at the Warburg Institute, while the Bodleian Library continued its Oxford seminars in cartography, and Cambridge University its History of cartography seminars. Issues and trends Increasingly national mapping agencies (NMAs) moved towards a cessation of the production of printed maps. At first this mainly affected the largest scales, but as noted above, some agencies, for example the federal NMAs in Canada and the United States, began to abandon – or to consider abandoning – the production of printed maps. Paradoxically, there seemed to be no diminution of paper map production from commercial publishers, mostly aimed at the burgeoning global tourist market. Questions of copyright in relation to maps continued to be hotly contested.63 In particular the question of the charging policies of government agencies (such as Ordnance Survey) for data originally collected at public expense continued to come under wide scrutiny, exacerbated by a conflict between freely available web mapping and government’s desire to protect and capitalize on its own data.

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A major issue which emerged both before and during this reporting period was that of a map theft epidemic. Several professional thieves had been visiting libraries and removing plates from highly valued early atlases. A number of major libraries had been targeted in Europe and North America, including the British Library Map Library and the National Library of Wales. Although thefts in some collections had taken place since the early 1990s, the extent of these depredations emerged only slowly, as collections began to share their bad news via the internet. In April 2002 a major international seminar, ‘Responding to theft’, was convened at the National Library of Wales by BRICMICS and the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association to discuss this problem.64 New security measures were introduced in these libraries, and general questions of map library security were also widely discussed in Britain, the USA and elsewhere. With the growth of map storage on digital media, concerns developed about the problems of digital preservation. In 2001 a Digital Preservation Coalition was established, bringing together interested parties from all sectors.65 A Continuing Access and Digital Preservation Strategy for JISC (2002–2005) was also formulated,66 and 2004 saw the establishment of a Digital Curation Centre, funded by JISC ‘to support and promote continuing improvement in the quality of data curation and of associated digital preservation’.67 In the early years of the new millennium it became increasingly possible for a map collection – or an individual – to build a ‘virtual’ collection, without owning any maps. Some deliberate moves had already been made to establish a ‘virtual library’ of web mapping, notably the Alexandria Digital Library project (ADL) in the United States.68 But with the growing availability of geospatial data on the web and the ability of desktop computers to handle large datasets, it became possible for individuals to develop and manage their own ‘virtual’ map libraries simply by assembling links to online providers of maps and geospatial data.69 Web mapping was essentially of two types: firstly there was a fast-growing collection of mostly early maps, scanned and mounted on the websites of major libraries and by projects such as the Great Britain Historical GIS Project, as well as contemporary maps delivered on the web by some national mapping agencies.70 Much of this mapping could be downloaded free, and some of it was unique. Secondly, with the web distribution of spatially tagged data by centralized agencies such as, in the UK, the Office for National Statistics and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs it became possible, without resort to a library, for individuals not only to download or consult maps and geospatial datasets, but also to create their own customized maps.71 In this reporting period, several books were published on how to exploit web mapping and create such map ‘mash-ups’.72 A further contributory factor was the US government’s removal in 2001 of selective availability from the Global Positioning System, thus facilitating accurate copyright-free capture of network data (for example road networks) using cheap and portable GPS receivers. Some saw this as a move towards the democratization of the mapping process. Significantly for map libraries, it raised further problems in the capture and storage of such elusive and transitory data.

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These developments gave rise to a common assumption, especially prevalent among those having to deal with the allocation of limited budgets, that map libraries, in their traditional physical manifestation, were becoming redundant. ‘Isn’t this all online now?’ was a common retort of those investigating the allocation of space or funding to map libraries. Even the Digimap Service, which was originally formulated as a means of enabling map libraries to supply digital mapping to their users, was soon delivering straight to the user’s desktop without the need for an intermediary. The most vulnerable collections in the digital age appear to have been the academic map libraries in HEIs. Yet, somewhat ironically, it was these institutions which had significant numbers of users of spatial data in digital rather than analogue format. A few of these collections took advantage of the new technologies by adding scanners and access to GIS software to their facilities, while their curators developed new skills in the management of spatial data and knowledge about sourcing and acquiring such data. There was no doubt that such a support and advisory role could be of great value, but a sampling in 2005 of UK academic map libraries by Fox indicated that only half the respondents provided support for Digimap, and most referred GIS problems to specialists outside the library.73 It is thus unsurprising that collections in HEIs continued to be underfunded and neglected, and sometimes dismantled or closed during this period. While this happened in a piecemeal fashion, numerous conferences and academic papers continued to argue, usually supportively, about the map collection’s future. There was a danger of too much fiddling while Rome burned. Many of these collections were rich in international map series from the pre-World War II and post-war periods, while having neglected more recent developments in both digital and analogue mapping. What was seriously lacking was an attempt to bring into the debate those who were responsible for authorizing, funding and supporting map collections. Acknowledgements The author wishes to acknowledge his extensive use of the news of map library developments reported in Cartographiti, and his indebtedness to its editor and contributors. Also invaluable were the two excellent biennial National progress reports to the Groupe des Cartothécaires de LIBER produced by Nick Millea.74

Notes 1 2 3

A directory of UK map collections. 4th ed. available at: . The National Archives website is at: . The MoD Geospatial Library was part of the former Defence Geographic and Imagery Intelligence Agency, the latter renamed Defence Geospatial Intelligence in 2005. Defence Geospatial Intelligence (DGI) is the MoD’s primary organization for the provision of Geographic Information and Imagery Intelligence (IMINT). The Head-

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quarters of DGI and the Defence Geographic Centre (DGC), which includes the MoD Geospatial Library and Map Depot, are located at Feltham in Middlesex. Other recipients were the National Archives, the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum, the British Film Institute’s National Film and Television Archive, the University of Portsmouth, Cambridge University Library, and the Bodleian Library. Surplus map stock was sold to the map dealers OMNI in the United States. These included Anne Oxenham (University College London), Moira Courtman (University of London Library), Graham Steele (Aberdeen University Library), Dr Andrew Tatham (Royal Geographical Society), Ann Tillotson (University of Leeds), Anne Sutherland (Edinburgh University Library), Elaine Bimpson (Geological Society), Ken Winch (HarperCollins) and Bob Parry (University of Reading). The substantial collection at the School of Geography, University of Oxford was closed and dismantled in 2005. The collection at Keele was transferred to the University Library, while that at Reading remained in the Department of Geography but became the responsibility of the University Library; collections at Sheffield and Durham were to be moved to their main university libraries. Casualties included collections at the University of Exeter and King’s College London, both of which were closed, while the future of the map collection at the University of Edinburgh Library was under review. New appointments included Peter Barber as Head of Map Collections, British Library, Lesley Preece at the Geological Society, Judith Fox at the University of Reading, Gillian Hutchinson, who was appointed Curator of the History of Cartography at the National Maritime Museum (and responsible for the Museum’s 100,000 maps and charts), and Evelyn Dodds as Geography Resource Manager, University of Sussex. Reported by Nick Millea, ‘United Kingdom National Report 2000–2002’, presented to the LIBER Groupe des Cartothécaires. Workshops were held at the universities of Liverpool in 2001, Portsmouth in 2002, Durham in 2004 and Plymouth in 2005. In 2003 a joint meeting of the BCS with the SoC was held at the University of Reading, and the workshop was incorporated into the main programme. Summaries of some papers presented at this workshop were published in Cartographiti 74, 2005, and 76, 2006. Only one of these was held during the period of this report; it included a series of lectures at the National Library of Scotland on the theme of ‘Access, access, access’. A summary of these two events by April Carlucci appeared in Cartographiti 74, 2005, 22–9. Published papers from the LIBER conferences included the following: Robert B. Parry, ‘Who’s saving the files? Towards a new role for local map collections’, LIBER quarterly 13, 2003, 39–47; Christopher Fleet, ‘The legal deposit of digital spatial data in the United Kingdom’, LIBER quarterly 13 (1), 2003, 28–38; John Moore, ‘Digital map soup: what’s cooking in British academic map libraries, and are we helping our users?’, LIBER quarterly 15 (1), 2005, 34–44; Nick Millea, ‘The LIBER Groupe de Cartothécaires map usage survey, summer 2003: a mandate for change?’, LIBER quarterly 15 (1), 2005, 28–33; Christopher Fleet, ‘Web-mapping applications for accessing library collections: case studies using ESRI’s ArcIMS at the National Library of Scotland’, LIBER quarterly 15 (1), 2005, 75–84. LIS-MAPS: ; Carto-SoC: ;

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MapHist: ; History GIS: . MAPS-L: ; CARTA-l: . Library of Congress, Library of Congress classificatio. G: Geography, maps, anthropology, recreation. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 2001; Subclass G (Cartographic materials) – Special instructions and tables of subdivisions: . Elizabeth U. Mangan (ed.), Cartographic materials, a manual of interpretation for AACR2, 2002 revision, 2nd edition. London: Facet for American Library Association, Canadian Library Association, Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, 2003. A set of update pages was issued in 2004. Cartographic journal 42 (3), 2005. Cartographic journal 40 (2), 2003, ICA special issue. Journal of map and geography libraries. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Information Press, 2004–. Vol. 1 (2), 2005, had the theme ‘Geoscapes in Europe’ and included: Jan Smits, ‘Expect the unexpected: geospatial data issues and opportunities in Europe’, 7–49; Nick Millea, ‘Map library usage in Europe: a vision for the future? An assessment of a questionnaire conducted during the summer of 2003’, 51–83. LIBER quarterly: the journal of European research libraries. Munich: K. G. Saur. The journal ceased regular publication in printed form in 2003, and became a web journal published by IGITUR, Utrecht Publishing and Archiving Services for LIBER . However, Saur agreed to continue to publish a printed annual cumulative volume for libraries wishing to continue to acquire the journal in this form. Vol. 13 (1), 2003, and vol. 15 (1), 2005, were devoted to map library topics. INSPEL: international journal of special libraries, archived at: . Papers on map librarianship appeared in vols. 35 (2), 2001, and 36 (1 and 3), 2002. Robert B. Parry and Christopher R. Perkins (eds.), The map library in the new millennium. London: Library Association, 2001. Ian Maxwell, ‘This blessed plot: public libraries and map acquisition in the digital age’, Cartographiti 65, 2001, 19–29; Richard Abbott, ‘Finding your place and placing your great grandfather’, Cartographiti 68, 2003, 7–10. Richard Pflederer, ‘Map man par excellence: Tony Campbell’s continuing cartographic career’, Mercator’s world 6 (5), 2001, 12–16. Map Forum website: . MapForum Ltd, PO Box 27391, London E12 5WG. Imago mundi: the international journal for the history of cartography, published annually by Routledge. Online access available for subscribers at the institutional rate. News about the project was posted at the project’s website: . Preparations for v. 6, The twentieth century, were undertaken as a series of ‘exploratory essays’, published in a special issue of Cartography and geographic information science 29 (3), 2002. Tim Nicholson, The birth of the modern Ordnance Survey small-scale map: the Revised New Series colour printed one-inch map of England and Wales, 1897–1914. London: Charles Close Society, 2002; Roger Hellyer, A guide to the Ordnance Survey 1 : 25,000 First Series. London: Charles Close Society, 2003; Richard Oliver, A guide to the

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Ordnance Survey one-inch Seventh Series. 2nd ed. London: Charles Close Society, 2004; Roger Hellyer and Richard Oliver, A guide to Ordnance Survey one-inch Third edition maps, in colour. London: Charles Close Society, 2004; Roger Hellyer and Richard Oliver, Military maps: the one-inch series of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Charles Close Society, 2004. Richard Oliver, Ordnance Survey maps: a concise guide for historians. 2nd ed., rev. and expanded. London: Charles Close Society, 2005. Rodney Shirley, Maps in the atlases of the British Library: a descriptive catalogue c. 850-1800. 2 v. + CD-ROM. London: British Library, 2005. The product consisted of a digital map, available from the History Data Service, UK Data Archive, University of Essex, and a book explaining the project: Roger J. P. Kain and Richard R. Oliver, Historic parishes of England and Wales. Colchester: History Data Service, 2001. The map was available on CD-ROM and consisted of a reference base scanned from Ordnance Survey 1 : 63,360 scale New Popular Edition maps with National Grid, boundaries of over 18,000 parishes, stored as solid red lines, and reference numbers linking these units to a gazetteer/metadata dataset. The maps were available on CD-ROM in Adobe Illustrator™ v.6 or Adobe Acrobat PDF™. Roger J. P. Kain, John Chapman and Richard R. Oliver, The Enclosure maps of England and Wales, 1595-1918. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. The catalogue could be found at the AHDS History website: . Peter Barber (ed.), The map book. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2005. Oddens’ bookmarks: . Map history website: . Map curators’ toolbox: . Gigateway: ; Go-Geo!: ; UK Data Archive: . GeoCrossWalk: . The software also facilitated ‘geoparsing’ so that a text document could be automatically processed to recognize place-names and link them to spatial coordinates. An overview of this and other initiatives was provided in James S. Reid et al., ‘Spatial data infrastructures and digital libraries: paths to convergence’, D-Lib magazine May 2004: . David Watt, ‘Soviet military mapping’, Sheetlines 74, 2005, 9–12. Geraldine Beech, Eunice Gill and Rose Mitchell, ‘Safeguarding the memory: major military map holdings in the UK’, Cartographic journal 42, 2005, 168–72. Eunice Gill and Jonathon Holmes, ‘Ever wondered what Ordnance Survey stores on behalf of the National Archives?’, Cartographic journal 41, 2004, 55–7. Robert Parry, ‘Map libraries’ in British librarianship and information work 1991–2000 ed. J. H. Bowman. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006, pp. 227–44. Christopher Fleet and Kimberly C. Kowal, ‘Planning the migration to OS MasterMap in the UK legal deposit libraries’, Cartographic journal 42, 2005, 214–21. Further information and reports on new developments are to be found on the Digimap website at: . At . The stimulus for this development came from the introduction in the early 1990s of new planning regulations requiring developers to investigate the history of land being redeveloped. This was discussed in the author’s previous report.

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48 Website at . 49 National Maritime Museum: . There were 1,200 items in this category by 2005. 50 COPAC: . A leaflet, Quickquide to the Map Search was issued. 51 The collection was accessible through the RGS-IBG website at: . Additionally an educational website was established at: . 52 Eunice Gill, ‘The National Archives and Public Records’, Cartographic journal 42, 2005, 238–40. 53 The complexity of this project was fully described by Geraldine Beech, ‘The National Archives Map Catalogue Retrospective Conversion Project’, Cartographic journal 42, 2005, 241–4. 54 Geological Society: . 55 April Carlucci and Peter Barber (eds.), Lie of the land: the secret life of maps. London: British Library, 2001. 56 Nick Millea, Street mapping: an A to Z of urban cartography. Oxford: Bodleian Library, 2003. 57 The British Library site is at: . 58 Project Pont, a collaborative project between the NLS and several other universities, ran from 1996 until 2001. It included seminars, talks, excursions and a travelling exhibition, as well as the creation of a website and the publication of a book of essays: Ian C. Cunningham (ed.), The nation survey'd: essays on late sixteenthcentury Scotland as depicted by Timothy Pont. Edinburgh: Tuckwell Press in association with the National Library of Scotland, 2001. 59 National Library of Scotland: . 60 Charting the nation: maps of Scotland and associated archives, 1550–1740: . 61 Cairt: newsletter of the Scottish Maps Forum was launched in April 2002 and was published twice a year as a PDF document on the web at: . 62 Geraldine Beech and Rose Mitchell, Maps for family and local history. 2nd rev. ed. Kew: National Archives, 2004. 63 Tim Padfield, ‘Maps and copyright’, Cartographiti 70, 2004, 17–19. 64 In 2004 Peter Bellwood was jailed for four-and-a-half years for thefts from the National Library of Wales and in 2005 another suspect, a previously respected antiquarian maps dealer E. Forbes Smiley III, was arrested in the United States. A page of the Map history website was devoted to news and advice on this topic. This also included a report by Chris Fleet of the seminar held at the National Library of Wales (also published in Cartographiti 66, 2002, 15–20); . See also Tony Campbell, ‘Early maps thefts: why the injured libraries are themselves part of the problem’, Cartographic journal 39 (2), 2002, 167–70. 65 Digital Preservation Coalition: . 66 Published on the web at: . 67 Digital Curation Centre: . 68 Alexandria Digital Library (ADL): . 69 R. B. Parry, ‘Moving on. Where should the university map collection be going?’, Cartographic journal 42 (3), 2005, 197–201.

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70 , website of the Great Britain historical GIS project, an evolving project now (2005) based at the University of Portsmouth, and concerned principally with the collection and digitizing of information about Britain’s localities as they have changed over time. A companion website designed to make its resources easily available to everyone was A vision of Britain through time: . 71 For example, the Office for National Statistics released the 2001 census data on its website , while in 2002 a partnership of eight UK environmental agencies (including DEFRA) launched MAGIC, a website bringing together a range of environmental data and simple web-based mapping tools: . For academic users CasWeb provided a web interface to census aggregate outputs and digital boundary data: . 72 For example, Shuyler Erle, Rich Gibson and Jo Walsh, Mapping hacks: tips and tools for electronic cartography. Sebastopol, Calif.: O’Reilly, 2005; Tyler Mitchell, Web mapping illustrated. Sebastopol, Calif.: O’Reilly, 2005. 73 Judith Fox, ‘Reading map library questionnaire: summary of responses’, Cartographiti 73, 2005, 6–9. 74 These were available on the web for 2000–2002: and 003–2004 .

16

Local studies Ian Jamieson

Local and family history continued to be a matter of great interest to the public, and this of course created more demand on libraries. Although the majority of enquiries were related to family history more people seemed to be taking an interest in their local communities and this was encouraged by local projects aimed at bringing the community together by tracing its origins, and by encouraging ethnic minorities and recent arrivals to tell their stories. All these projects needed at least background information and therefore public libraries found their workloads increasing despite or because of increasing amounts of information available on the internet: many clients needed help with interpreting the material, and of course much local documentation was not available there anyway. Students in various disciplines also needed local material and increasingly made use of public library collections. Libraries coped by continuing to expand their use of information technology, and by 2005 the internet was a major source of enquiries locally, nationally and worldwide. As well as providing the sources, however, staff expertise was essential if enquiries were to be answered properly, and this aspect was causing concern in terms both of numbers and qualifications. Local studies libraries are a microcosm of the public library service as a whole: every aspect of librarianship is encompassed, from acquisition, cataloguing, promotion and enquiry work to the use of IT and thus they are affected by many of the general policies and decisions of management and often have to fight for funding against more ‘heavyweight’ departments, despite their high rating with the public. Because they cover all aspects of work they were affected by almost any of the major reports which were published during the period, whether on IT or on the purchasing of stock. Most of these reports did not mention the local studies collection specifically and although they did affect the collection they are not referenced in this chapter, as they will initially have been discussed and decided upon by the authority’s management team. Academic libraries as a whole are not very strong on local materials, though some universities have older and rare material, and little seems to have been written about them. Public libraries started local collections well over a hundred years ago, and many are very comprehensive, so students are often directed there for most basic work. Some academic libraries have small working collections,

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while some have material which is simply distributed among the general stock. Durham University Library’s local collection, however, had its own room and was accessible to member of the public as well as to university staff and students. With 6,500 books, 3,500 pamphlets and 1,300 periodical volumes as well as maps and photographs, it had substantial information about Durham, particularly the university and the cathedral and had recently been re-catalogued.1 Because of this lack of knowledge of the extent of local collections in academia as a whole a PhD research project on local studies collections in academic libraries was set up at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, in 2003, with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Board. Its aims were to examine the content and scope of local studies in further and higher education libraries in the UK; to investigate the effects of local studies collections on learning and research in these institutions; and to compile an inventory of such collections in academic libraries. By the end of 2005 much of the work had been done, with a view to completion in 2007. A useful article at the start of the research described its aims and objectives.2 The profession As the main channel of communication for those working in local studies, the CILIP Local Studies Group continued to be vital to practitioners in the field. It celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2002 and a brief history of its development appeared in its journal, The local studies librarian.3 Following this two further articles dealing with local studies generally were published. Michael Dewe looked at the development of services over the past fifty years and then gave his views on what he felt needed to happen in the future to maintain and improve the service – this included the further development of local studies centres as the way forward.4 Diana Dixon surveyed the rich literature of local studies librarianship over the years, dealing with various important works and ending with a volume published in 2002.5 She gave a useful list of references. The local studies librarian continued to be the only national British journal in its field and the main means of communication and information for the local studies library world: this is the reason why the vast majority of citations at the end of the chapter come from here. The Group continued to be consulted by CILIP on local studies topics and kept a close eye on central decisions which might affect its operations – particularly the assessment of the Special Interest Group structure and whether these Groups provided value for money (they were funded largely by capitation from CILIP). A Group Review Working Party was set up on which the Local Studies Group had a representative. The Group felt strongly that it did give value for money, citing its regular journal, its Guidelines, its subgroups – which were active in their geographical areas – and its support for Umbrella. Central support for the Groups in the form of capitation fees was also under discussion, with an underlying suggestion that there might be mergers of Groups. The Local Studies Group opposed this (as did other special interest groups), as it felt that there was no logical group for it to merge with. Ongoing discussions, continuing right to the end of 2005, however, seemed to indicate that this might no longer be on the agenda,

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although the final report had not been issued. As with other Groups (and CILIP itself) membership was falling, though at the end of 2005 it was still 1,456 and was one of the healthier Groups. By 2005 there were four subgroups: Midlands and Anglia, North West, Scotland (LOCSCOT) and Wales. The London and Home Counties subgroup had disbanded, mainly owing to a lack of officers: that for Wales, after a period of suspension, again because of lack of officers, as well as geographical problems, reformed in 2005 and had its first meetings planned. In addition the LISC (Northern Ireland) Local Studies Panel sent a representative to Local Studies Group committee meetings to represent members from the province. The library structure in Northern Ireland differed from that in the rest of the UK, there being only five library services, and a useful article explained the administrative structure and explained the work of the Panel.6 In those areas where there was not a subgroup the population was too small for one to be viable. The local studies librarian continued to be the main channel of communication for members, carrying as it did substantial articles as well as official items, news and reviews, while most of the subgroups issued their own journals or newsletters, the most substantial being from Scotland. The Group also supported Umbrella by presenting programmes at each one, although with increasing costs and more stringent delegation of attendees by employers to attend specific sessions, it became more difficult to attract good attendances, though joint presentations were usually successful. The Group continued to take its responsibilities to the profession seriously. In 2002 it issued a revised edition of its Guidelines for local studies libraries,7 taking into account the huge changes in library organization which had taken place, particularly in information technology, in the twelve years since the previous edition: while the general principles of collection, management and exploitation remained, the methods by which these should be carried out were in many instances very different. A reviewer, while commenting very favourably on the new publication in a long review, endorsed the comment in its Introduction that the speed of change meant that some of it might be out of date by the time it was published, and expressed the hope that, through the use of the web, access to a current, up-to-date version could be maintained. This seemed to be a counsel of perfection given that the Guidelines themselves had been compiled by a small working group of very busy practising librarians. At a very different level, Diana Dixon compiled a bibliography of local studies librarianship which the Group hoped would also be helpful to librarians by bringing together the most relevant works, remembering that it is not only the most recent works which can be helpful.8 In all it contains 1,646 annotated entries describing works by some 1,300 authors, covering all aspects of collection, management services, materials, IT, partnerships and works on general topics and individual collections. The coverage is worldwide and arranged by topic, and the whole work formed an excellent basic guide to sources, though users would need to keep themselves aware of new publications. Because the local studies library world is quite small, sales of commercial

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works are relatively limited, though as a leader in this specialism British books sell across the world. Even so, not many specialist works are published, and they tend to be expensive, especially for private buyers. A major work on collections management edited by Michael Dewe, already a well known author/editor in this field, was published in 2002.9 This was an entirely new and up-to-date work rather than a revision of his earlier local studies collections manual. In nine chapters by well-respected practitioners it provided an overview of current local studies librarianship, including collection management and developing areas such as digitization and the world wide web. Covering both Britain and overseas, each chapter included lists of further readings. Many of the articles in The local studies librarian and in LOCSCOT dealt with developments and procedures in individual libraries, and feedback showed that these too were found to be of interest and value to other librarians. Education for local studies was changing: with the demise of local studies options at the library schools there was more emphasis on short professional courses or day schools, often offered by the Group’s subgroups, or on wider but relevant topics such as copyright or aspects of management by CILIP. However, although the distance learning module in local studies had been suspended at Aberystwyth library school, a revised version was in preparation in 2005. In 2005, too, a new diploma by distance learning was announced by the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. This course was intended to serve the needs of both professionals and paraprofessionals: its twelve sections would cover various core aspects of local studies work, and each section included a 3,000-word printed ‘lecture’.10 By the end of 2005 applications had already been accepted for a start at the beginning of 2006. Meanwhile demand for a lower level course was appearing and at the end of the period the Local Studies Group was in the process of producing one, principally for library assistants who were working with local studies material: the original impetus came from a report to the Group committee about one developed in Devon by Ian Maxted. Some of the courses offered by the Group’s subgroups were highly successful and reports of and papers from some of them appeared in The local studies librarian. Apart from courses specifically for librarians, many staff working with local studies came to feel that they needed better subject knowledge, for instance on family history, historical sources, research or oral history techniques, and they therefore took advantage of the many courses available throughout the country or by distance learning. Jon Webster, an information librarian who had responsibility for local studies, pointed out the need for courses for librarians in genealogical and family history research and noted that there were now very few formal courses similar to that which he had undertaken as part of his MA.11 Such courses should be provided so that librarians could be trained in the use of sources, so that they could both help the public and train other colleagues. On the client side, he gave examples of ‘taster’ events for the public his library had given. The article proved controversial, with several replies being published: correspondents for instance pointed to courses run by CILIP groups and subgroups, and to various libraries

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already running sessions for the public. In reply, Webster said that while other courses were useful, he still felt that they were not a substitute for formal education in the library schools. Finally, Peter Reid pointed to the diploma mentioned above. Thus the article and correspondence, along with comments by librarians individually and at meetings, suggested that there was still some demand for formal training and some evidence that the need was being addressed by distance learning methods: it is fair to say, however, that individuals had constraints in cost and time. Local studies librarians continued their interest in international cooperation. This came to the fore when the former International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) Round Table on local history became the fully fledged Genealogy and Local History Section, and IFLA held its 2002 Annual Conference in Glasgow. Various people concerned with local history attended and the Local Studies Group sponsored a ‘two day’ delegate who produced a full report of her experience.12 Don Martin, editor of the Guidelines, gave a paper on their development to the delegates and Elizabeth Melrose of North Yorkshire County Library also gave a paper, on newspapers. Martin also summarized some of the other sessions he attended.13 British local studies benefited from a connection with IFLA when Elizabeth Melrose became Editor of the Genealogy and Local History Section’s online newsletter. Meanwhile the connections with Eastern Europe continued with a delegate attending the tenth anniversary of the Hungarian Local Studies Group at Vac.14 All of these involved the Local Studies Group, though there must have been many other contacts by individuals or local authorities, perhaps by twinning agreements, which were not publicized. As a relatively small organization the Group cannot of itself do much more than encourage contacts, remembering that most of its international activities started from enquiries by the other parties. However, international contact did increase during the period, helped by the experiences of those who went to IFLA in Glasgow. An important topic which concerned local studies librarians was the question of staffing, both in numbers and in duties. While the local government reorganization of 1997 was now well behind us, there were questions about local authority commitment to local studies. What had been feared after 1997, a dilution of qualified staff, seemed to have come about in that, with continuing financial constraints, many of the new authorities were unable to establish specific local studies posts, making work with local studies part of the duties of the information librarian. The Local Studies Group was concerned about this, fearing that it could make for a less efficient service at a time when demand was still growing; this was discussed several times in Committee. There were, however, mixed messages being sent out: at a meeting of local studies librarians in the South West regradings as a result of job evaluations were discussed – for instance in one library the lead local studies librarian had gone down a grade, while another (in a different authority) had gone up. In fact the number of posts could not be precisely calculated as authorities were sometimes using new terminology for jobs, often to create a generic tier of posts – for instance North Yorkshire, one of the authorities which combined reference and local studies, by 2005 used the term ‘Project

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Officer, Local Studies and Information’ for its county coordinator. A better piece of news was that in 2003 Dorset appointed its first County Local Studies Librarian. This plethora of terminology for the names of posts was commented upon by Morris Garratt in an article on information given in job advertisements and their effectiveness in encouraging potential candidates even to apply.15 This was a follow-up to a 1999 article and the author found that not a great deal had improved during the preceding five years. The community In order to serve their clients properly librarians need to identify the groups who form the community, and local studies librarians continued to try to do so, one aim being to let people see their common background as residents in a particular place. In a British Library Research and Innovation Centre report in 1998 a comment was made that local studies libraries were important to the communities surveyed.16 Librarians backed this statement from their own experience and over the last decade or so many carried out their own surveys, full or partial, but the results were not often available outside their own authority. Various groups were identified including children, the elderly, university students, the disabled and even travellers. A completely different group of the population and one which itself was subdivided were those who had arrived from other countries and were generally known as ethnic minorities. Many local studies librarians realized that these people were part of local life and began to produce projects both to give the new arrivals a sense of belonging and to inform the general public. An article in 2002, for example, dealt with ‘black history and local studies’ and was based on the Northamptonshire Black History Project.17 Most of the article demonstrated ways in which librarians and archivists could collect and promote sources for local black history, giving copious examples from the county, as well as its working definition of ‘black’ – people and groups from visible minorities especially those with African or Asian origins. Another large project was described by Nasreen Akhtar, who was involved in the organization of the Gloucestershire Minority Ethnic Group Project.18 The aim here was to document, for the first time, the contribution made over the previous fifty years by the three main ethnic communities in the county: this gave a chance to the older generation of immigrants to share their experiences of settling in a strange country and how they have been part of it. The project generated books, photographic records, a CD-ROM and a website. There were separate books dealing with the Chinese, the Afro-Caribbean and the Asian communities. The project attracted sponsorship from a variety of sources including local authorities and various charitable trusts and was able to employ four paid researchers. A third example of research among ethic minorities came from the Tameside Oral History Project, an HLF-funded project, this time over a year, allowed the local studies library to record the memories of immigrants from other countries.19 Over 150 members of the Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani communities took part and the full tapes and transcripts were made available in the new Tameside Local Studies and Archive Centre: this meant that they would be

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available for future students of historical and cultural change in the area. The library intended to carry on the programme with other immigrant communities from its own funding. A book of short extracts from the tapes was compiled: it was actually published early in 2006 and included a brief introduction and description of the project. While a good deal of emphasis seemed to be placed on ethnic minorities – one wonders whether this may in part have been from government policy regarding immigrants – local studies librarians felt that they were also playing an important part in a long-running government policy – lifelong learning. This did involve everyone who lived in a particular area. One example was schoolchildren, where local studies were now part of the curriculum at various stages. One problem was that teachers were not always aware of sources which could be used for local history topics, so they were one of the targets for librarians, and Elizabeth Melrose described a project in North Yorkshire in which the library worked in cooperation with teachers. Reaching the teacher, with the aid of a grant from the Yorkshire Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, resulted in a CD-ROM based on local resources in archives and libraries.20 It was a compendium for teachers rather than pupils, since it was intended that teachers should find the ideas and links a support for lesson planning rather than a template. A rather different kind of ‘client’, and one which is mentioned more in the general library press than in local studies, are travellers and gypsies. While by this time they often lived largely in one place they still saw themselves as a community and they showed a different way of life. Several authorities had education units to look after their interests, and Leeds Travellers Education Service produced a book of personal history, viewpoints and photographs which gives a picture over the years of their way of life. Local historians studying out of interest form a group who often make considerable use of the library, and are often quite vocal about their needs. In an article in Local history news Alan Crosby was concerned about the possible directions the local studies service was taking.21 He was worried about threats to the integrity and funding of county and borough local studies collections and called on local historians to campaign to maintain good libraries in the face of financial cutbacks and staff redeployment in various systems. He also related it to over-reliance on heavy spending on IT. He did not blame local studies librarians themselves as it was central management which was making the decisions. An interesting article by Mike Raftery drew attention to yet another part of the community – those interested in the local development of music, a group with a very wide range of interests.22 He described the development of a local music archive in Leicestershire from a minor collection in the 1980s to one of the most comprehensive collections of its kind by the turn of the century. The author commented on the kinds of material he sought and methods of building it up; in twelve years the collection of musical recordings had grown from 60 to about 1,500 in all genres. These are all simply examples of the range of people who form the local

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community. A slightly different approach was taken by Elizabeth Melrose, who was concerned with promoting local studies to everyone.23 Her preferred term was social inclusion (rather than social exclusion), and after giving some examples of the kind of people she meant, she went on to suggest ways of trying to ensure that they had access to the services they could use: many of them could be easily implemented and could be described as common sense. Social inclusion was also the term used in the title of a day school held in Alfreton.24 The report indicated that it was very well attended by local studies librarians and that the four papers generated a good deal of discussion. A general overview of what librarians could and should do in the field was followed by descriptions of three major projects, and the article provided a useful summary of recent work. Sources of information Sources of information for local historians continued to proliferate, either as printed works or via the internet. Libraries continued to establish their own websites and provide guides to their collections, either on the web or in print. General bibliographies and guides continued to be published, though they were becoming increasingly expensive. There were so many of these, general or specific, that it is impossible even to list them, but one general source of information should be mentioned as it would not necessarily be considered for use in the local collection, and indeed would be housed elsewhere. The Oxford dictionary of national biography was published in 2004, and was made available in print in sixty volumes or via online subscription: the online version was updated three times a year.25 Because of the large total number of entries, there were numerous people listed for every locality, and through the various indexes local connections of others could also be traced. Ian Maxted looked at the work in detail using Devon as an example and was surprised by the number of entries for the county. A further source of national importance for local historians continued to be the Victoria county history. Following more than one development in its content and style and after many problems, mainly financial, it still carried on its work. Still far from complete, after a new director and editor was appointed in 2000 the drive to widen the audience and to achieve financial stability received a new impetus, and an article by Carrie Smith dealt with the current position and suggested some ideas for the future, including a revision of working methods and use of the internet. Examples were given from Wiltshire.26 Librarians always need to have available some general works on local history and its sources to recommend to enquirers who need some general help to get them started. Kate Tiller’s introductory work enhanced its value with the appearance of a revised edition: she added a new chapter on sources and methods for writing local histories of the twentieth century and revised the bibliography.27 Having done research on a topic, many local historians wish to publish their findings, and what is possibly the most comprehensive modern guide, although it does assume some familiarity with the computer, appeared in a considerably revised and enlarged edition:28 the author himself, Bob Trubshaw, was both an experienced local history

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author and a publisher. As well as dealing with books and pamphlets it also covered magazines, CD-ROMs and websites. Organization and administration One of the notable features during the period was the continuing move towards the establishment of local studies centres, where local studies libraries and archives joined together under one roof: in publications at least there no longer seemed to be controversy over the desirability of this in terms of providing a better overall service to enquirers. As long as it was not done simply to save money, and the relevant staff were retained – and retrained where necessary – the only loss was sometimes lack of access to the general reference library, though this could be mitigated by some duplicate stock and access via the internet. There no longer appeared to be much published discussion about desirability and new local studies centres opened, for example, in Dorset and Tameside. In Tameside the local studies and archives services had operated together since local government reorganization in 1974 in inadequate accommodation, but it was not until 2005 that a new building, in Ashton-under-Lyne, could be provided. Working conditions for the staff were much improved and new and better equipped reading rooms increased public demand.29 In Dorset, after modifications to the premises, the local history library moved into the record office in Dorchester: the Dorchester Reference Library, however, was still close by. When the Norwich Library was rebuilt, too, a new Norfolk Local Studies Centre was created, bringing together local studies library and record office. In Devon, interestingly, things moved in the opposite direction. In 2005, following a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, the Devon Record Office moved from premises adjacent to the Westcountry Studies Library in Exeter to a large new building on a trading estate on the outskirts near a junction with the M5. The Westcountry Studies Library was hoping to expand into this building and to have available microcopies of the most used archival sources. With the 1994 Norwich disaster still in mind, planning for potential disaster was a much discussed topic: ‘Disasters happen quite unplanned, which is surely the best argument for a disaster plan’, and there were reports of disaster plans being updated. Luckily, as was said at one meeting, 95% of ‘disasters’ are minor, causing fewer than five cubic metres of damaged material. The other 5% can be devastating, as at Norwich, but both must be planned for. While planning in general terms can of course only be done by library management as a whole, specialist departments such as local studies must be closely involved because of the nature of their stock. Courses and day schools were held in various places, including one in reported in LOCSCOT:30 this made various points, dealing with the four aspects of prevention, preparation, reaction and recovery. Another workshop on disaster planning was organized in Sutton Coldfield in 2001 and attracted a large audience. Among the speakers was Clive Wilkins-Jones from Norwich, whose department was badly affected in that fire: he drew on his experience to provide some ‘dos and don’ts’ in making a plan. Other speakers dealt with disaster planning for museums, libraries and archives in the East Midlands,

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and a contribution by Joan Bray discussed some practical steps in producing a plan for the management of a disaster. An excellent report of this meeting was provided by Eleanor Nannestad.31 Meanwhile, Norwich Central Library (now known as the Millennium Library) was rebuilt and an article in The local studies librarian dealt with the redevelopment of the local collection, which had now become the Norfolk Heritage Centre, a coming together of the old Norfolk Studies Library and elements of Norfolk Record Office.32 Another general library initiative which impinged on local studies collections was the government’s ‘Best Value’ initiative, which had the laudable aim of ensuring that local authorities delivered the quality of service which local people expected, at a price they were willing to pay. All libraries, and inside that, all of their departments had to go through a ‘Best Value’ investigation. An article by Anita Thomas argued that although it might seem a great deal of extra work it would give you a chance to look at your service and hopefully to improve it to give your customers the best value for their council tax.33 A further topic which is library-wide but affected local studies departments more and more is copyright. Although copyright applies to local collections as much as to anywhere else, as the internet became part of library life and local studies librarians became more proactive, so it became more important to understand the law. Various projects concentrated on acquiring material from the public, but there were limitations on how this material could be used. With either photographs or sound recordings, for instance, there were problems of multiple ownership of copyright; libraries were therefore advised to ask for copyright to be assigned to them, but there could still be pitfalls. A work by Graham Cornish on interpreting the law for libraries and archives was intended as a desk tool and covered various kinds of material important to the local studies librarian in ‘question and answer’ form.34 Another useful work by Tim Padfield was more formal in approach and concentrated on archival material and the tangled web of copyright issues which could arise with for instance unpublished correspondence: this work proved particularly useful to those librarians who had moved into local studies centres.35 As an example of issues relating to a particular genre, Padfield also produced an article on copyright in illustrations.36 Yet another topic which concerned local studies staff was the question of stock purchase. A DCMS-commissioned report into the efficiency of the public library book supply chain recommended that library suppliers were to be used for all book purchases. Local studies librarians were immediately alarmed. There were still many locally published items which were not commercially produced and while librarians could draw the attention of suppliers to these, discounts were often not available, so the commercial suppliers might not be willing to supply, or might wish to make a service charge. Where libraries had already largely centralized their book purchasing, local studies librarians said that they acquired some material from petty cash, but there was always the risk of this being questioned as prices and numbers of such local works increased, and if control became tighter, they were worried about what might happen in the future. The situation of such a

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specialist department did not seem to have been addressed in the report. As, however, the report was only published late in 2005 this was still a major cause for concern at the end of the year and still needed to be resolved. One topic which had traditionally been a matter of controversy, particularly in local studies libraries, was the question of volunteers. However, because of financial cuts their use became much more acceptable in the library world, particularly where work of value to the community would otherwise not be carried out. The Community Service Volunteers organization was of the opinion that public libraries provided an important service to the population and one in which more opportunities for volunteers could greatly help to improve these services. Knowsley’s main focus in their ‘Lending Time’ pilot project was to create a social archive, and among other activities volunteers took photographs, recorded reminiscences and helped to sort and list material in the archive store.37 In Camden a group was responsible for the identification and listing of a collection of photographs donated by the local newspaper. Again, Camden relied on volunteers for its ‘Click 2000’ Millennium project, the aim being to invite anyone and everyone to contribute at least one photograph of their house or street to complete a ‘snapshot’ of Camden as it looked at the beginning of the 21st century. An article by Aidan Flood included practical details of the project’s organization and results: like many of the ‘millennium projects’ throughout the country it overran, the last photograph being taken well into 2001, but the aim of providing a visual image of every street in Camden was successfully achieved.38 One other topic which could be seen as an administrative problem was the funding of specific projects. Many external funders invited bids from libraries, and these might be competing for the same pot of money: some librarians therefore felt that the cost of preparing such bids was too high to be worth doing when so much other work needed to be done. However, an article on successful bidding by Robert Gent gave many ideas which would be likely to make a bid successful.39 Information technology and digitization Information technology in its widest sense had been used by librarians over many years and in that sense was not a new development. As far as local studies were concerned, older techniques such as microfilming and tape recording had been used to improve their collections. Oral recording as a means of capturing information was still an important method, as it gained material from people who were non-literate and whose testimony would not otherwise be gathered. Many projects were still being carried out and textbooks, not necessarily written for librarians, were still being published. Because oral history projects were time-consuming to carry out, they were usually externally funded, often by the Heritage Lottery Fund, which enabled project staff to be employed. Because oral history was still so popular a day school, ‘Word of Mouth’, was organized by the Midlands and Anglia subgroup of the CILIP Local Studies Group, and an excellent contribution by Cynthia Brown on ‘how to do it’ was later published.40 Microfilm continued to be used, particularly by NEWSPLAN, whose new

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programme, NEWSPLAN 2000, aimed to preserve early newspapers which were in danger of deteriorating: this was supported by a £5 million grant, supplemented by support from the newspaper industry. When the project was completed in 2005, 12.9 million pages of newsprint had been microfilmed and supplied to libraries, along with microfilm readers and reader/printers. At the end of the project, librarians met to consider the next step, in the light of changed priorities by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and it seemed likely that emphasis would now be placed on promoting access, rather than on filming of the remaining newspapers: as the meeting only took place in October 2005, firm proposals were not expected immediately. Digitization, however, became perhaps the main topic for discussion and action over these years. A major work by Peter Reid appeared in 2003, covering the topic extensively.41 An article by Nigel Rudyard in 2001 had offered a few pointers to its value to local history, the pros and cons of digitization and sources of information for help and guidance.42 He had made a brief survey of progress at the end of 2000 and this showed that approximately 133,000 of the estimated 1.1 million images available at north-west local history libraries had been digitized: most libraries were using a commercial supplier. Problems which libraries had found were discussed and the author’s conclusions suggested that digitization and the creation of digital libraries was an area where local history practitioners could get ahead of the game and that the role of the local history librarian/archivist as creator as well as custodian would inevitably increase: they would have to remember, though, that this kind of primary source was just as vulnerable as paper in that it could be deleted, altered or lost. There are many examples of digitization projects. Most of them started off with some kind of outside grant, most often from the Heritage Lottery Fund. A major problem arose in many cases when the funding stopped and either the programme slowed down or it had to cease altogether: an example of the latter was Leicester University’s Historical Directories digitization project.43 Leicester had had for many years an important collection of local history publications and the Directories project originated in a Higher Education Funding Council grant to catalogue the collection and which, among other things, allowed for the microfilming of some of the most used directories in the collection. By the time this was to start, however, it was felt that digitization would be a better option and a pilot study was undertaken. When the New Opportunities Fund announced the availability of grants for digitization, the University applied and was awarded £335,000 for the digitization of local directories. Work got under way, both with the directories and the search engine, in cooperation with other libraries who lent directories for digitization. The website was created and by the time funding ended in 2004 some 400 directory volumes had been digitized. Though the project had plans for expansion and some support from the University the project went into hibernation though the site continued. In some cases, however, libraries continued their programme out of their own funds after the initial finished, an example of one such being the Tameside Oral history Project.

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Most local studies libraries by now had their own websites or were contributing to that of their parent authority. Most wished to digitize their collections and make them available, but the cost of this meant that progress would be very slow, particularly as the amount of funding seemed to be decreasing. Promotion and exploitation Having created and staffed a service it is self-evident that it needs to be promoted to users and potential users, and libraries continued to do this during the period, through the use of the press, using their own websites and publications, by giving talks to groups, and by holding exhibitions either on their own or in cooperation with others. The local press is always on the lookout for items and will usually include items submitted to them. Elizabeth Melrose, in a paper at Umbrella 2005 and a later article derived from this, called for local studies librarians to make use of the press – the time taken making contacts was worthwhile.44 She went on to give various ideas on how to do so. The press, too, will often welcome regular columns, and many librarians continued to provide them, Newcastle being one example. To make sure that people know about us is the first step: this means that we need contacts, and be willing to talk to people, whether they be schools, historical societies about specific topics, or bodies such as the Women’s Institute or retired men’s clubs. The main problem is that this takes time, but it can, for instance, produce volunteers to undertake specific projects such as those mentioned above. Unfortunately as much of this work is done on a personal basis, alongside other duties, it does not generally get written up: it also depends very much on the personality of the person concerned. One more unusual promotional event was an away day to a remote island off the Northern Ireland coast to introduce the service to the inhabitants.45 Within libraries, most librarians do know how to publicize and exploit their collections. Increasingly information gets put on the world wide web and this does increase usage of the service with many long-distance enquiries – although this does add to the workload. Exhibitions and displays have become common and these may bring people in, as well as interesting our existing clients and perhaps pointing them to new interests: most now ask visitors to give or lend any material they think would be of interest to others. Exhibitions can be tied in with national or local ‘history weeks’, so that there is a presence throughout the area at one particular date. The prime example of this was in Scotland, and Northern Ireland also organized these events: they were generally held to be successful. Again, however, because they are essentially local, they may get into the local press, but are seen by the organizers as not being of interest outside, so rarely get written up, even though one person’s experiences can clearly help others. An example of a different topic comes in an article on a day school specifically dealing with exploiting the illustrations collection.46 Most libraries continued to find that publishing material is an excellent way of publicizing collections and appealing for donations. The important thing is to

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provide publications of high quality both in terms of content and production. The Alan Ball Awards were set up to encourage quality, and results and comments were published each year in the Local studies librarian. A general comment made by the judges was that standards had steadily increased, though they would like to see more non-print material such as web publications or CDs. Results from these awards were circulated to the local press: most then carried news items and this again provided welcome publicity. Publications can also be successful in other situations: the Linen Hall Library was highly commended for its CD-ROM of posters and images of the Northern Ireland conflict in the Besterman/McColvin reference material awards, and in the sponsorship section of the CILIP/Emerald Public Relations and Publicity Awards Plymouth Library Services, City Museum and Art Gallery received a commendation for A naval tradition, a project which charted the lives of local people who were affected by the naval dockyard. Conclusion Local studies libraries continued to flourish during the period: indeed, with the expansion of use of the web, they became busier than ever. Unfortunately this was sometimes accompanied by cuts in staff and funding; this was of serious concern to librarians and was widely discussed at meetings and by the CILIP Local Studies Group committee. Thus, while the mainstream use of information technology helped, most services were still running to stay in the same place. One thing which helped was the amount of external funding for specific projects, which of course when completed improve information sources or the service: there were fears, however, that the amount available, particularly from the Heritage Lottery Fund, would reduce. At the end of the period, though, local studies library services were still in demand by the public, and were held in esteem: despite various problems librarians were coping with this increased demand for materials and information. This boded well for the future. Acknowledgements There were not many articles on local collections in the general library press during the period, though news items did appear: most of the references below, therefore, come from the two specialist journals. A great deal of useful information, however, is only reported in press releases, annual reports and library newsletters and at meetings and conferences. Papers from the latter are not usually published these days, although an editor may request a follow up article or report: after all, one of the values of these events lies in interpersonal communication. Grateful acknowledgement is made to all including the Local Studies Group committee, who have supplied information.

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Notes There are two main sources for professional information about local studies librarianship: The local studies librarian (Vol. 1 no. 1, 1982– ) and LOCSCOT (Vol. 1 no. 1, 1981– ). The former is the journal of the Local Studies Group of CILIP, while LOCSCOT is the magazine of its Scottish subgroup. These are the only national journals on the subject and carry specialist articles, news items and reviews of current literature. There is an index to Volumes 1–15 of The local studies librarian, and it is abstracted in Library and information science abstracts. The British Association for Local History is also helpful, producing various publications which are useful to librarians as well as local historians. Its journal, The local historian, includes numerous reviews and listings of material, while its magazine, Local history news, has short articles and comments, together with news items relating to libraries, record offices and museums. The editor has always been sympathetic to problems in local studies services, realizing that they may affect local historians. Local history magazine (No. 1, 1984– ) has always been supportive of local studies library services and carries articles, news items, and reviews and notices of books. It is more ‘popular’ in approach than The local historian, though with a recent change of both ownership and editorship there may be some changes. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15

Melanie Wood, ‘The local collection at Durham University Library’, Local studies librarian 23 (1), 2004, 2–4. Marie Nolan, ‘Local studies collections and academic libraries: a PH.D research project’, Local studies librarian 22 (2), 2003, 14–16. Ian Maxted, ‘Jubilee: a short history of the first 25 years of the Local Studies Group’, Local studies librarian 22 (1), 2003, 2–7. Michael Dewe, ‘Gifts, guidelines and gigabytes: local studies past and future’, Local studies librarian 22 (2), 2003, 2–7. Diana Dixon, ‘Local studies they wrote: the literature of local studies librarianship’, Local studies librarian 22 (2), 2003, 9–12. Yvonne Hirst, ‘Local studies services in Northern Ireland, Local studies librarian 22 (1), 2003, 14–18. Library Association, Local Studies Group, Local studies libraries: Library Association guidelines for local studies provision in public libraries. 2nd ed. London: Library Association, 2002. Extended review in Local studies librarian 21 (1), 2002,16–19. Diana Dixon, Local studies librarianship: a world bibliography. London: Library Association, 2001. Michael Dewe (ed.), Local studies collection management. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002. Peter H. Reid, ‘Local studies and continuing professional education’, LOCSCOT 4 (5), 2005, 10–12. Reprinted in Local studies librarian 24 (1), 2005, 8–10. Jon Webster, ‘Genealogy: an information need we cannot meet?’, Library + information update 4 (4), 2005, 42–3. Correspondence followed in Library + information update 4 (6), 23, 4 (9), 29 and 4 (10), 20. Margaret McGarry, ‘IFLA, Glasgow, 2002’, Local studies librarian 21 (2), 2002, 2–4. Don Martin, ‘IFLA, Glasgow, 2002’, Local studies librarian 21 (2), 2002, 4–7. Elizabeth Melrose, ‘Community, celebration and celebration: Vac, 2002’, Local studies librarian 21 (2), 2002, 22–3. Morris Garratt, ‘Vacancies and the prospective candidate: some further observations’, Local studies librarian 24 (2), 2005, 14–16.

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16 Rebecca Linley and Bob Usherwood, New measures for the new library: a social audit of public libraries. [London]: British Library, 1998 (British Library Research and Innovation Centre report; 89). 17 Terry Bracher, ‘ Black history and local studies’, Local studies librarian 21 (2), 2002, 11–14. 18 Nasreen Akhtaer, ‘Our unseen stories: the Gloucestershire minority ethnic group project’, Local studies librarian 21 (2), 2002, 3–5. 19 Nasrul Hoque et al., Here to stay: memories of Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani people who have come to live in Tameside. Ashton-under-Lyne: Tameside MBC, Local studies and Archives Centre, 2006. 20 Elizabeth Melrose, ‘By the teacher for the teacher: the Reading the Teacher project’, Local studies librarian 24 (1), 2005, 16. 21 Alan Crosby, ‘Local studies collections’, Local history news 62, 2002, 2–3. Reprinted in Local studies librarian 21 (1), 2002, 2–3. 22 Mike Raftery, ‘Compiling a comprehensive local music archive: some problems’, Local studies librarian 20 (2), 2001, 12–13. 23 Elizabeth Melrose, ‘Social inclusion: promoting local studies to all’, Local studies librarian 20 (2), 2001, 13–17. 24 Gwenda Culkin and Ruth Gordon, ‘Local studies and social inclusion: the Midlands and Anglia Day School, September 2002’, Local studies librarian 21 (2), 2002, 15–17. 25 Ian Maxted, ‘The Oxford dictionary of national biography and its value for local studies’, Local studies librarian 24 (1), 2005, 2–5. 26 Carrie Smith, ‘Community and change: the future of the Victoria history of the counties of England’, Local historian 32 (2), 2002, 84–9. 27 Kate Tiller, English local history: an introduction. 2nd ed. Stroud: Sutton, 2002. 28 Bob Trubshaw, How to write and publish local and family history successfully. Loughborough: Heart of Albion Press, 2005. 29 Alice Lock, ‘The new Tameside Local studies Centre’, Local studies librarian 24 (2), 2005, 20–2. 30 Sybil Cavanagh, ‘Planning your disaster’, LOCSCOT 4 (4), 2004, 17–19. 31 Eleanor Nannestad, ‘Emergency planning: report of a workshop, Local studies librarian 21 (2), 2002, 5–7. 32 Clive Wilkins-Jones, ‘After the fire: the local collection in the former Norfolk and Norwich central library ten years on’, Local studies librarian 23 (2), 2004, 6–9. 33 Anita Tomas, ‘Planning for best value in local studies’, Local studies librarian 20 (1), 2001, 7–10. 34 Graham Cornish, Interpreting the law for libraries, archives and information services. Rev. 3rd ed. London: Library Association, 2001. 35 Tim Padfield, Copyright for archivists and users of archives. London: Public Record Office, 2001. 36 Tim Padfield, ‘Illustrations are copyright works!’, Local studies librarian 23 (2), 2004, 2–5. 37 Eileen Hume, ‘Lending time: the Knowsley way, Local studies librarian 22 (2), 2003, 7–8. 38 Aidan Flood, ‘Click 2000, Camden’s Millennium photographic project’, Local studies librarian 20 (2), 2001, 7–10. 39 Robert Gent, ‘Successful bidding: a practical perspective’, Local studies librarian 20 (2), 2001, 2–6.

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40 Cynthia Brown, ‘Doing oral history: a short practical guide’, Local studies librarian 24 (2), 2005, 10–13. 41 Peter Reid, The digital age and local studies. Oxford: Chandos, 2003. 42 Nigel Rudyard, ‘Old wine in new bottles: local history in the digital age’, Local studies librarian 20 (1), 2001, 2–7. 43 David Welding and Suzanne Nash, ‘The historical digitisation project at the University of Leicester’, Local studies librarian 23 (1), 2004, 4–10. 44 Elizabeth Melrose, ‘Local studies and the press’, Local studies librarian 24 (2), 2005, 2– 8. 45 Yvonne Hirst, ‘Away Day to Rathlin Island: promoting the local studies library’, Local studies librarian 23 (1), 2004, 10–12. 46 Loise Stocker, ‘Picture it: exploiting your illustrations collection’, Local studies librarian 23 (2), 2004, 12–13.

17

Archives Elizabeth Shepherd

The period 2001–2005 saw some significant developments in the archival domain.1 The first national government review of archives for sixty years, the Archives Task Force, reported in 2003. The Public Record Office (PRO, founded in 1838) and the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (HMC, founded in 1869) came together in an administrative arrangement to form a new organization, The National Archives, in April 2003. New legislation for Freedom of Information came fully into force in 2005, which had major implications for records management in the public sector. The long overdue union of the PRO and HMC to create a national archives service and proposed new archive and records legislation in 2003 finally enabled archivists to see the possibility of securing the necessary framework within which they could play their full professional role. The profession had begun to engage with new audiences and in new ways, such as through the Archives Awareness Campaign. In the universities, which had provided first professional qualifications in archives since 1947, new teaching programmes emerged, established ones were closed, new subject areas were explored, new more flexible modes of study were offered and the beginnings of a research agenda could be seen. By 2005 archivists and records managers were starting to demonstrate their value to society more clearly than ever before. Legislative and policy framework Archives Task Force Following the success of the major reports on public libraries and regional museums, Resource turned its attention to archives.2 In July 2002 the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) invited Resource, the Council for Archives, Museums and Libraries, to carry out an in-depth analysis and review of the state of the UK’s archives and produce a vision for the 21st century.3 The objectives were to open archives up to ‘a wider and more culturally diverse audience’, to reorientate archives ‘in the public consciousness as a valuable community resource’, to develop creative partnerships to provide better public services and to change ‘professional attitudes through innovative and inspiring training opportunities’. The Archives Task Force (ATF) membership included representatives of national archival bodies, academic historians and other interested parties such as Liz

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Forgan, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund and Dame Stella Rimington, retired Director General of the Security Services and a former archivist. This highpowered group was well placed to make a real difference to national archive policy, funding and services. The ATF focused on structures and funding for archives, the national electronic archive network, specialist archives, and training and development. A new feature of the ATF investigation was the use of the Resource website to publish notes of the meetings, discussion papers and other information and to gather views while the ATF was in progress. Issues which had not been resolved by earlier investigations came to the fore again: structural arrangements for archives to complete a ‘distributed national archive’, centres of excellence (an idea which developed from the museum regional hubs concept, but had also been proposed in A national archives policy for the United Kingdom4 in 1995), the need for new archives legislation especially for local authority archives, and inspection and standards. In addition, newer concerns surfaced, including better understanding of user needs, homes for orphan archives, social inclusion work in archives,5 raising the profile of archives, statistical collection and mapping,6 and the national electronic archive network which had been developing since 1998.7 As one might expect from a DCMS-commissioned study, cultural heritage issues obscured any consideration of the role of records management in business or government. A significant piece of research which informed the ATF was the Archives Workforce Project, initiated by the National Council on Archives (NCA) and funded by Resource in 2002.8 The principal investigator was Margaret Turner, NCA’s honorary secretary and leader of the Society of Archivists’ team which had accredited the university programmes in 2001.9 The project was the first rigorous academic study of the work group. It looked at employers’ needs and the existing first professional qualification curriculum, career choice and recruitment into the profession, the retention of professional staff, training and development, career aspirations and opportunities and leadership and succession planning.10 It found that the existing MA programmes at universities were educating students well in the core skills, although there was a need for more specialist skills (such as in digital records and new legislation), and for more educational provision (which in 2003 was limited to four universities in England and Wales). Questions were raised about whether programmes should specialize or continue to seek to be broad-based and whether management skills should be included in the core curriculum. The report identified barriers to entry to the profession such as the low profile of the profession, poor careers information, the complex process required to gain the first professional qualification (including getting pre-course work experience, finding funding and applying for a programme), the limited range of entrants (most with an interest in history) and career limiting factors (such as low long-term remuneration, limited promotion and development opportunities and skills development). ‘Negative retention’ (i.e., employees who join and do not progress, blocking posts for new entrants) was identified as an issue, as much as the loss of high-flyers to other sectors. The need to develop leadership in individuals, organi-

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zations and the sector was highlighted and the question arose whether there was a lack of leadership potential in the profession or whether existing potential was not being developed. The project’s recommendations included systematic promotion of the profession; minimizing the barriers to entry; a review of pre-course experience requirements, core competencies and the relationship between first professional qualifications and continuing professional development; data collection about staff turnover and the impact of short-term contracts on the domain; and a strategy for developing leaders. The ATF report, Listening to the past, speaking to the future, eventually emerged in 2004, following consultation with over 700 people, eight meetings of the task force and the submission of extensive evidence from users and other experts.11 The ATF report made eight recommendations. The first was the creation of a digital gateway to UK archives, which would bring together existing archival information networks and new educational resources and offer routes to private and community archives as well as those in the public sector, to ‘give everyone the opportunity to participate in the archival heritage’. Recommendations 2 to 7 formed the core of a new ‘archive development programme’, which sought to modernize the workforce, develop new audiences and build capacity. For example, recommendation 4 was to ‘increase community participation in UK archives activities with particular focus on engaging hard-to-reach communities’, recommendation 6 was to ‘encourage the creation and sustainability of moving image, sound, photographic and digital archives through support for relevant strategies’ and 7 to ‘put in place a programme to modernize service management and improve workforce development opportunities’. The final recommendation was to create a forum to coordinate action on the recommendations. The archival domain had willingly engaged with Resource in the work of the ATF and was hopeful of finally making significant progress in areas of core need, such as description, preservation and storage of fragile materials and new services for users. There was widespread dismay in the archival community when the ATF report added new activities, such as community archives, to the agenda, while stating that ‘there is small chance of significant increases in funding locally and nationally’. Actions to fulfil the recommendations were mainly directed at nongovernmental bodies, such as the National Council on Archives, Film Archives Forum, Business Archives Council and the then unidentified ‘members of the Archive Forum’ (a task later assigned to the Inter-Departmental Archives Committee).12 However, ATF did provide a key reference point for future projects from description to diversity, digital records to film archives. It raised awareness among archivists of the need to engage more fully with excluded communities, to advocate more effectively for the value of archives to society and to address the needs of specific types of archives. For example, it was a catalyst for action on business archives, leading to a collaborative statement, Towards a strategy for business archives, and the appointment of a Business Records Development Officer at The National Archives (TNA).13 It also underpinned other Resource (from 2004 the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA)) projects, such

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as the Workforce Development Strategy and the Leadership Development Programme for Museums and Archives, piloted in 2005.14 The ATF report also kept archives on the MLA agenda, leading to a statement of priorities for the Archives Development Programme in 2005.15 Legislative changes: Freedom of Information (FOI) and proposed national records and archives legislation The UK Freedom of Information Act 2000 was gradually implemented across the public sector in the period 2000–05.16 Meeting the requirements of the Act to provide requestors with information within the time limit of 20 working days was only practically possible if good records management systems were in place. Although central government had benefited from public records requirements since 1958, other parts of the public sector, including local authorities, most police authorities, schools and many universities had less well developed formal records management services. The Lord Chancellor provided guidance on the application of the Act and records management in 2002.17 The Lord Chancellor’s Code required public authorities to recognize records management as a corporate function (s 5), to have a policy statement (s 6), to employ suitably qualified staff at a senior level (s 7), to manage records effectively (s 8) and dispose of them appropriately (s 9). Flowing from the Lord Chancellor’s Code, Model Action Plans were developed for particular sectors, including local government, central government, police authorities, the national health service and higher and further education institutions.18 These set out best practice for records management within the relevant sector, and with the force of the FOI Act behind them acted as significant spurs to the institutions to employ records managers and review records management policy and practice. From 2005, the Act replaced the provisions of the Public Records Act 1958 relating to access to information in public records. Although public records were still transferred to TNA when they were 30 years old and government departments still needed permission to retain records older than 30 years, once records were at TNA they were presumed to be open, irrespective of their age. The Act also changed the role of the Advisory Council on National Records and Archives, which, from 2005, advised the Lord Chancellor on the application of the Act to information contained in public records including those retained by government departments.19 In Scotland UK-wide matters fell under the FOI Act 2000, but for Scottish issues, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (which had broadly similar provisions to the main Act) applied. A Scottish Code of Practice on records management was drafted in 2003.20 A second strand of legislative reform was under review during this period. In 2001 the Lord Chancellor gave approval to start work on new national archives and records legislation.21 Information policy legislation (FOI and data protection) had left existing public records legislation in need of updating, and local authorities, in

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particular, needed greater incentives to undertake effective records management. The FOI Act’s wide definition of public authorities provided an opportunity to strengthen archives and records legislation outside central government, for example in universities. Responsibility for public records in digital form needed clarification. The PRO had been a leader in government in standards for digital records since the mid-1990s, with the twin programmes for datasets and electronic records in office systems, and government was committed to the electronic storage and retrieval of government records by 2004.22 However, the Public Records Act 1958 was considered inadequate for the selection and preservation of digital records. Changes in the physical nature of archives (digital having replaced paper), in the users of archives, in ways of delivering services using online spaces, in the need to secure a coherent national network of public archives and in the risks associated with failings in records management services all suggested that a new legislative framework was needed to replace the Public Records Acts 1958 and 1967, the Local Government (Records) Act 1962 and the sections of the Local Government Act 1972 which related to records. Picking up on recommendations in the Government policy on archives and Government policy on archives action plan,23 TNA initiated a consultation in 2003 on proposed national records and archives legislation.24 The proposals sought to ensure the proper treatment of digital records, to standardize records management practices in public authorities by inspection and standard setting, to bring regional and local authorities within the legislation, and to establish a new National Archives. Over 250 individuals and organizations responded and showed strong support for the proposals.25 New national records and archives legislation would complete the information policy legislation for the UK. However, by the end of 2005 no commitment had been obtained from government to take the proposals forward and no parliamentary time had been allocated. Establishing The National Archives In July 2002 Baroness Blackstone, Minister of State for the Arts, announced that the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts would combine with the Public Record Office to form The National Archives. The administrative reorganization took effect in April 2003 when TNA was launched, under the guidance of a joint Advisory Council for National Records and Archives. Since the PRO had been within the Lord Chancellor’s Department since 1959 and the HMC had been in the Office of Arts and Libraries under the Minister for the Arts since 1983, and latterly in DCMS, ministerial responsibility seemed to be divided: but TNA was positioned firmly with the Lord Chancellor. An unexpected consequence of a ministerial reshuffle in June 2003 was the reorganization of the Lord Chancellor’s Department and a proposal to abolish the Lord Chancellor’s office. However, the latter did not in fact materialize, and TNA remained part of the renamed Department for Constitutional Affairs. During 2001–2005, innovative use of internet-delivered services, including (in partnership with ancestry.co.uk) the 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 censuses on-line,

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digitized documents (Documents Online), archival catalogues (Archives Direct 2001), an e-newsletter and the education service, the Learning Curve, gradually revolutionized TNA services to users, through a relaunched website in 2005.26 Projects such as Moving Here and Pathways to the Past engaged new audiences and met government objectives for social inclusion and diversity.27 The professional leadership role of TNA developed significantly, particularly in technical areas such as the management of digital records and standards for the description of records (notably Encoded Archival Description, the Access to Archives project and the ‘seamless flow’ programme for the selection and preservation of electronic records created by government departments).28 Under FOI, TNA opened 50,000 records and responded to hundreds of FOI requests for newly released information.29 TNA also took an active part in EU developments, including the EU Report on archives in the expanded European Union, the European Document Lifecycle Management (DLM) Forum Conference on Electronic Records Supporting e-Government and Digital Archives, and the European Board of National Archivists.30 In 2005, a new National Archives Advisory Service was established under the guidance of Nicholas Kingsley, formerly Gloucestershire County Archivist, combining the expertise of the former HMC and PRO to bring together services for archives held outside TNA, including local authority archives and private archives.31 The service offered guidance on the management and preservation of archives, promoted a revised National Archives standard for record repositories (a successor to the HMC Standard), and offered a unified inspection service for archive repositories.32 In October 2005, a new Keeper was appointed to succeed Sarah Tyacke. Natalie Ceeney was a management consultant who had worked in both the private and the public sectors, most recently at the British Library.33 Her initial interests were in digital information management and services to government: at the time of writing it was too soon to assess whether TNA would take a new path under her direction. Archival endeavours Policy and professional bodies Resource supported the establishment of Regional Archive Councils (RACs) by providing £250,000 to appoint an Archives Development Officer for each Region in 2001/02. Further funding enabled the RACs to produce archive strategies which set regional goals and made recommendations on funding and policy to government.34 The strategies helped to consolidate the RACs, raised the profile of the domain and secured further funding from Resource.35 RACs provided a natural forum for regional collaborative projects, such as Access to Archives, social inclusion in archives and cross-domain projects.36 They also played an important part in ‘delivering and monitoring government policy’ in the regions and ‘ensuring that such policy is informed by local circumstance’.37 Resource hoped that single regional agencies for libraries, archives and museums would replace the separate professional networks: the first to emerge was the North East Museums, Libraries

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and Archives Council (NEMLAC) in 2001. However, RACs proved enduring, remaining in various forms until after 2005.38 As regional activity increased and the number of bodies with which archivists were involved proliferated, the existing professional bodies found it difficult to sustain their activities. In 2003, after decades of financial difficulties the Business Archives Council finally closed its offices, sold its library to the University of Glasgow, retired its employees and became a purely voluntary organization.39 It maintained its survey and publication work and held regular meetings and conferences and contributed to debates about the future of the profession.40 The British Records Association temporarily lost its grant-in-aid for the Records Preservation Section, sold its premises in Padbury Court, London, moved to the London Metropolitan Archives and then to Finsbury Library, and narrowly survived financially.41 The Society of Archivists (SoA) widened its membership structure, dispersed its library, moved its offices out of London, withdrew financial support for national advisers and struggled to fill its honorary officer posts.42 Increasingly the efforts of active professionals turned towards the government agenda, both nationally and regionally, and were both led by and sought to influence government policy-makers (primarily MLA and TNA) and external funders. In this environment the NCA flourished and its political influence and ability to deliver new ideas and projects were widely respected. Archivists gradually moved towards partnerships with other professions which offered new ideas and challenges and to an extent they neglected their established, archivallyfocused bodies, perhaps taking it for granted that these would continue to exist. Advocacy and demonstrating value: Archives Awareness Campaign The professional bodies recognized the need to improve their contacts with Peers and MPs, especially in view of proposals for new national archives legislation and the ATF inquiry. Accordingly, NCA, SoA, HMC, PRO and Resource collaborated in a profile-raising event at Westminster in 2002.43 The event was a success, a booklet Changing the future of our past was distributed and parliamentary briefing papers were subsequently issued. NCA turned again to the idea of a national archival promotional programme.44 Archive Awareness Month September 2003 was a ‘month long promotion of celebratory events across the UK and Republic of Ireland’ which sought to raise awareness of how archives were relevant to the present and to encourage more users from under-represented groups to join in. It was coordinated by the NCA’s Policy and Development Officer and enthusiastically led by the NCA chairman, Elizabeth Hallam-Smith. Over 250 local, national and private archives held 475 ‘events celebrating and promoting the wealth of archival treasures’.45 The Month was the first coordinated effort by the archive domain to address its low profile and it was considered a great success, with print media coverage reaching a circulation of 53 million over 30 days (equivalent to £823,000-worth of editorial), while 41% of visitors to events had not visited an archive before.46 In 2004 the Month was reconceived as a continuing Campaign to raise awareness about the value and uses of archives, with an annual

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47

theme as a focus. 2004 had a family history theme, Routes to Roots, and linked up with the very successful first series of BBC programmes, Who do you think you are?, and regional family history events. In 2005 the Campaign ran Victorian Voices, a short story competition for Key Stage 2 children.48 Archival education Teaching programmes Higher education provision for archives and records management changed significantly in the 2000s, with new staff teaching on traditional archive courses and universities offering new programmes.49 Programmes were available in a range of modes, including on-campus teaching, workplace learning, open and distance learning and full-time and part-time study. Provision was significantly altered by the closure of two of the six established archival programmes (University of Wales, Bangor in 2002 and the Society of Archivists (SoA) correspondence diploma in 2000).50 At Bangor, Dr A. D. Carr had sole academic responsibility for the Diploma/Masters’ in Archive Administration in the Welsh History Department from 1979 until 2001. His retirement led to the suspension in 2002, and eventual closure, of the archives programme, resolving the historical anomaly of two Welsh courses. Since 1980 the SoA Diploma in Archive Administration had offered candidates in post, especially in local government archives, an alternative to full-time study at a university. However, by 2000 it needed significant revision and updating. Both the profession and educational approaches had moved on too far for the SoA to bridge the gap with its limited resources. After much deliberation, and in view of the likely new provision of distance learning courses by Aberystwyth and in Scotland, the SoA did not recruit students for the 2000 intake and announced its decision to close the programme the following year. In 2004 two new programmes began, both in Scotland. In 1999 the Scottish Postgraduate Archives Training Project, developed by the Society of Archivists Scotland, investigated the viability of a Scottish-based graduate course for archivists and records managers. The project recommended the establishment of a Scottish-based programme delivered by a consortium of universities or by distance learning.51 In fact, two universities began separate programmes in 2004, Glasgow and Dundee. The MPhil programme in digital management and preservation at the University of Glasgow aimed to enable students ‘to manage digital information resources and electronic records in records centres, libraries and archives’.52 In Dundee, the University Archives led the development of a suite of distance learning modules.53 A number of universities investigated open and distance learning as a mechanism by which to offer new and established programmes. The University of Northumbria Library and Information Department had started an MSc in Records and Information Management and a graduate programme in records management, delivered by distance learning, in the 1990s. Unlike other programmes, the MA/MSc in Records Management was aimed at graduates working in records or information management. Learning was through paper and electronic materials,

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individual and group tutor support and a ‘student learner network’. University of Wales, Aberystwyth started a Master’s course in records management through its Open Learning Unit in 1999 to complement its campus-based Master’s. From 2002 it offered a Diploma/MScEcon in Archive Administration by distance learning.54 Distance students learnt through printed study packs, learning resources and Gwylan (a computer conferencing facility). Students attended study schools in Aberystwyth and London. The programme proved extremely popular and attracted record numbers of applicants. By 2005 full- and part-time one-year Masters’ programmes in archives and records management were available at seven universities.55 They ranged from those which focused on records management (Northumbria and Aberystwyth), to those which integrated records and archives (UCL and Liverpool), to those offered in a digital preservation context (Glasgow), to traditional archival programmes (Dublin). Some were taught face-to-face on campus and three were available by distance learning. All fulfilled the requirements of the Society of Archivists’ accreditation criteria.56 Few universities offered undergraduate programmes in archives or records management, although course units were offered to students studying other disciplines. In the 2000s Liverpool University offered an undergraduate Diploma or Certificate in Professional Studies: Records and Information Management, by distance learning, suitable for people working within a public sector records management environment. The programme was developed in conjunction with The National Archives, UCL and the University of Northumbria, and was delivered (with Northumbria until 2005) as the rm3 partnership.57 Some universities offered continuing professional development programmes. Northumbria offered customized training for organizations in-house (such as the BBC, Deutsche Bank, and the University of Cork). Students could put the courses towards a Lifelong Learning Award.58 The programme was supported at a distance by Northumbria’s e-learning platform, email and a Learning Resources e-gateway. Archivists and records managers seeking mid-career qualifications usually focused on management skills such as those offered in a Diploma in Management Studies or Master of Business Administration (MBA). UCL offered an MRes in Library, Archive and Information Studies for librarians, archivists, records managers, museum curators and other information professionals who already had a degree and a first professional qualification.59 It gave students the opportunity to develop their research skills and to follow a flexible programme of study to develop leadership, management, information technology and professional skills. Career development for strategic and leadership candidates could be pursued through a research degree, although in the UK higher research was not greatly respected by archives and records practitioners for career progression and there was little incentive for mid-career professionals to obtain one. A PhD programme in Archive Studies was available in the University of London from 1966. The Universities of Liverpool, Northumbria, Glasgow and Wales at Aberystwyth each also offered PhD and research programmes. The prospective development of

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‘professional’ doctorates with some taught components and a research thesis might make this a more attractive route.60 An alternative route to educational development for leadership was the Clore Leadership Programme, an initiative designed to help develop potential leaders in the cultural sector.61 The MLA supported three Fellowships in the first (2004) group, one each for libraries, museums and archives. The programme recruited between twenty and thirty fellows each year who undertook individual programmes of activities. The first archives Fellow conducted a research project into the management of digital archives, supported by the UK Data Archive at Essex University: future Fellows might be attached to active research groups at other universities. Research An academic discipline of archives and records management gradually developed in the UK through research. Records management research flourished at Northumbria University which was a partner in a European-funded curriculum project RECPRO, which ‘developed proposals for change in archives and records management teaching that took into account … the digital environment’.62 This was followed by e-TERM (European Training in Electronic Records Management), also European-funded, which included UCL and Northumbria in a group of six partners from five European countries. e-TERM aimed ‘to design a transnational vocational training course in the management of electronic records to meet the needs of administrators, information professionals, archivists and records managers’.63 Collaborative research projects enabled the discipline to develop new skills and knowledge. Northumbria University continued its research programme in the 2000s through projects assessing the impact of the international standard for records management ISO 15489:2001,64 a Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)-funded programme to develop records management practices in higher and further education institutions,65 and an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-funded project, Accelerating Positive Change in Electronic Records.66 Digital preservation research was fostered at Glasgow University. Glasgow undertook a range of interdisciplinary research in humanities computing, focusing on the relationship between digital and analogue objects, digital creation and storage, user evaluation and information retrieval.67 Projects included the Electronic Resource Preservation and Access Network, ERPANET, which disseminated information, best practice and skills development in digital preservation of cultural heritage and scientific objects, the Digital Curation Centre and a project on multidimensional visualization of archival finding aids.68 Other universities also investigated digital technologies and description. UCL ran the LEADERS project, one of the first large research projects funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB, later becoming a research council, AHRC).69 LEADERS developed a web-based demonstrator system to bring together encoded archival finding aids, transcriptions of records, contextual information on the persons and organizations involved and digital images for the specialist user. It used XML encoding systems as a basis for developing a generic

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toolset: Encoded Archival Description (EAD) for finding aids, Encoded Archival Context (EAC) for authority records and the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) for transcripts. In addition, LEADERS developed a segmentation model for profiling users of archival sources. Research to inform policy-making was begun by Liverpool University and the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. This included workforce development studies, such as those by Davies and Ellis, impact assessment by Horton and Spence, and studies on baseline data, such as that by Williams.70 Information policy legislation, community archives engagement with underrepresented groups and the e-government target of 2004 placed archives and records management firmly on the government’s agenda, but also increased the need for research to enable the domain to respond effectively.71 There was a research opportunity to evaluate and assess the impact of policy and practice which would help the profession to meet major challenges, including the long term preservation and management of digital records and information policy requirements. A few universities began to establish research groups and centres for archives and records management. Northumbria University focused its research programme on a Records Management Research Group.72 Glasgow University established HATII, the Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute.73 In 2005 UCL established an international centre for research and evaluation of key issues in the discipline of archives and records management (ICARUS), to develop knowledge and enhance understanding of the creation, management and use of records and their role in society, and map, monitor and evaluate significant changes in the archives and records domain using robust, evidence-based methods.74 Initial projects included studies of the implementation of FOI and the establishment of an AHRC-funded research network for archives and records management, ARMReN.75 The university research community in archives and records management in the UK was still in the early stages of development by 2005. Universities needed to inculcate a sense of the value of research for the future of the discipline among employers, individual professionals and with policy bodies, so that they accepted the validity of academic research in archives and records management and supported its future development. FARMER A Forum for Archives and Records Management Education and Research for the UK and Ireland (FARMER) was formed in 1999 for teaching and research staff in archives and records management in universities in the UK and Ireland, succeeding the annual meeting of programme directors.76 FARMER aimed to provide a focus for the discipline of archives and records management in an educational context, by supporting the development of teaching and research staff and member institutions, providing a forum for the exchange of best practice, facilitating the development of a national research strategy for the discipline, initiating joint research projects and acting as a voice for archival educators in the UK. An early

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achievement was successfully proposing candidates for the Research Assessment Exercise 2008 subject panel, ‘the sixth in a series of exercises conducted nationally to assess the quality of UK research and to inform the selective distribution of public funds for research by the higher education funding bodies’.77 FARMER established a student research prize (sponsored by the SoA), held the first ever UK conference for PhD students in 2005, an international conference the following year and developed an interactive web resource for archival educators. Conclusion Several significant changes occurred in archives and records management in 2001– 2005. The work of the Archives Task Force, while not fulfilling the high expectations of the domain, nevertheless provided a rare opportunity for reflection and examination by those outside the profession and set out some key markers for future developments. These included the need for archives to become better advocates for their value to society, the important part to be played by archives formerly regarded as outside the mainstream, notably community archives, and continuing innovations in online service delivery. The archival domain responded well to some of these challenges, for example through the outstandingly successful Archives Awareness Campaign, and the foundation of the Community Archives Development Group.78 Other major achievements of the domain in the 2000s, which there has not been space here to explore fully, were the publication and widespread adoption of standards for professional practice, including the international standard for records management, ISO 15489:2001,79 and the online delivery of services, in particular archival information network projects, such as Access to Archives, AIM25, the Archives Hub, and the Scottish and Welsh Archives Networks (SCAN, ANW).80 These grant-funded, collaborative projects converted millions of catalogue pages and significantly reduced the backlog of uncatalogued, and therefore inaccessible, archives. In the universities, archival educators ensured that Masters’ level first professional qualifications gave students an excellent practical and theoretical grounding for a career in the domain. An academic discipline of archives and records management began to be established. A research culture began to emerge, although it would need to be fostered and embedded in the universities, and by professionals, if it was to flourish as it should. The unification of the HMC and the PRO to form a new National Archives offered the possibility of a coherent national archival system. Benefits of the amalgamation included the single Archives Advisory Service and Framework of Standards which replaced a previously fragmented system. However, the opportunity was missed in 2003 to obtain new records and archives legislation which would not only have legitimized the administrative arrangement of TNA, but would also have resolved the lack of coherence over the records and archives obligations of the public sector outside central government. A single piece of overarching national legislation was needed which would require all public bodies to provide and fund archives and records services, while allowing authorities to deter-

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mine how best to deliver services locally. Standards could be set by TNA and services subject to inspection and approval. In the longer term, ways of ensuring that a new national records and archives system became robust and responsive would need to be developed. It was to be hoped that this legislative gap would be filled soon after 2005.

Notes 1

2

3 4

5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12

13

This chapter mainly deals with England and the UK as a whole. The pattern of archival development in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is significantly different from England and it is not possible to cover it in detail here. Resource, the Council for Archives, Museums and Libraries, Renaissance in the regions: the Regional Museums Task Force report, 2001, at: (accessed 20/5/03). The People’s Network programme for public libraries, at: (accessed 28/6/06). Resource, Archives Task Force: a searchlight on archives, at: (accessed 30/4/03). National Archives Policy Liaison Group, A national archives policy for the United Kingdom: a statement prepared by the National Archives Policy Liaison Group for Archives Council Wales, Association of County Archivists, British Records Association, Business Archives Council, National Council on Archives, Society of Archivists. [UK]: National Archives Policy Liaison Group, 1995. See for example: National Council on Archives, Taking part: an audit of social inclusion in archives. [UK]: National Council on Archives, 2001. See for example: Caroline Williams, ‘Data collection and management in the archival domain’, Journal of the Society of Archivists 24 (1), 2003, 65–81. National Council on Archives, Archives on-line: the establishment of a UK archival network. [UK]: National Council on Archives, 1998. Museums, Libraries and Archives Council/National Council on Archives, Archives Task Force, Annex G: Archives workforce study, 2004, at: (accessed 27/6/06). National Council on Archives, Review of the year 2001/2002. Cheltenham: National Council on Archives, 2002, 5. NCA, Archives workforce project (papers from a seminar at British Library, London, 9 July 2003) in the possession of the author. Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, Listening to the past, speaking to the future: report of the Archives Task Force. London: MLA, 2004. IDAC, a ‘co-ordinating mechanism within government for the handling of archive policy issues’, at: (accessed 27/6/06). National Archives, Towards a strategy for business archives, 2004, at: (acces sed 28/6/06); ‘Business records development officer’, Business Archives Council newsletter 142, 2006, 1.

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14 MLA, Learning for change: workforce development strategy, 2004, at:

(accessed 27/6/06); MLA, Leading archives and museums programme, 2005, at: (accessed 27/6/06). 15 MLA, MLA’s Archives Development Programme: our priorities 2005–2006, at: (accessed 27/6/06). 16 Freedom of Information Act 2000. 48&49 Eliz 2, c. 36. London: Stationery Office, 2003. 17 Public Record Office, Lord Chancellor’s Code of practice on the management of records, issued under section 46 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, 2002, at: (accessed 21/5/03). 18 National Archives, Model action plans for preparing for the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act, 2004, at: (accessed 1/6/05). 19 An extension of the non-statutory advice given for many years on applications for extended closure, etc. under the Public Records Acts 1958, 1967. 20 Peter Anderson, ‘Freedom of information in Scotland’, ARC 167, 2003, 4–5. 21 Duncan Simpson, ‘Archives, legislation and information policy’ in Proceedings of Archives in the regions: future priorities, Cheltenham: National Council on Archives, 2002, pp. 9–12. 22 National Archives, ‘E-government policy framework for electronic records management’, 2001, at: (accessed 10/2/05). 23 Lord Chancellor’s Department, Government policy on archives. London: Stationery Office, 1999 (Cm 4516). Also available at: (accessed 19/12/05); Inter Departmental Archives Committee, Government policy on archives action plan, 2002, at: (accessed 27/6/06). 24 National Archives, Proposed national records and archives legislation: proposals to change the current legislative provision for records management and archives: consultation paper. London: TNA, 2003. 25 National Archives, Report on the responses to the National Archives consultation paper CP 03/01, 2004, at: (accessed 27/6/06). 26 Public Record Office, 44th annual report of the Keeper of Public Records on the work of the Public Record Office and the 44th report of the Advisory Council on Public Records 2002/03. London: HMSO, 2003, 22; 43rd report 2001–02, 5, 40th report 1998– 99, vi, 3; 1901 Census online: (accessed 29/6/06); Documents Online: (accessed 28/6/06); Catalogue: (accessed 28/6/06); The Learning Curve, an online teaching resource: (accessed 28/6/06). 27 PRO, 44th report 2002–03, 4; ‘Pathways to the Past: online palaeography tutorial’, RecordKeeping autumn 2004, 36–7. Pathways to the past, web resources for lifelong learners, now part of Research guides, including a palaeography tutorial online:

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28 29 30

31 32

33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46

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(accessed 28/6/06); Moving here: (accessed 28/6/06). TNA, Seamless flow: (accessed 3/7/06). TNA, Annual report and accounts 2004–2005: (accessed 3/7/06). Historical Archives of the European Union, Report on archives in the enlarged EU: (accessed 10/11/05); DLM Forum, 2005: and (accessed 3/7/06); EBNA: (accessed 3/7/06). TNA, Archives Advisory Service: (accessed 3/7/06). TNA, Standard for record repositories: (accessed 3/7/06); TNA, Framework of standards: (accessed 3/7/06); TNA, Archive inspection services: (accessed 3/7/06). Natalie Ceeney, at: (accessed 3/7/06). National Council on Archives, Archives in the regions: an overview of the English regional archive strategies. [UK]: National Council on Archives, 2001. NCA, Review 2000/2001, 3. Access to Archives: (accessed 3/7/06). Katie Norgrove, ‘A seat at the table: the development of the English Regional Archive Councils’, Journal of the Society of Archivists 22 (1), 2001, 25–31, at p. 27. Regional Archive Councils:

(accessed 29/6/06). Business Archives Council: (accessed 29/6/06); Business Archives Council, Newsletter, 130 and 131, 2003. For instance: BAC, Archives Task Force evidence hearings: submission by the Business Archives Council, 1 August 2003. [UK]: BAC, 2003. British Records Association: (accessed 29/6/06). Society of Archivists: (accessed 29/6/06). NCA, Review 2001/2002, 5. NCA, Changing the future of our past. Cheltenham: NCA, 2002. NCA, Archive Awareness Month September 2003: (accessed 27/8/03). NCA, Archive Awareness Campaign, impact assessment and evaluation report, 2005, at: (accessed 29/6/06). Archive Awareness Campaign: (accessed 29/6/06). Victorian voices: (accessed 29/6/06).

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49 For a baseline study see D. Robinson, ‘Post-graduate courses in Archive Administration and Records Management in the UK and Ireland 1995: an overview’, Journal of the Society of Archivists 17 (1), 1996, 73–84. 50 Mary Ellis and Anna Greening, ‘Archival training in 2002: between a rock and a hard place’, Journal of the Society of Archivists 23 (2), 2002, 197; Anna Greening, ‘A force for sensitive change towards a cross-sectoral national training strategy’. MSc dissertation, University of Wales, Aberyswyth, 2003, 53. 51 F. Rankin, Scottish postgraduate archives training project report, 2002: (accessed 2/9/02). 52 University of Glasgow, Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute: (accessed 23/9/03). 53 Centre for Archive and Information Studies: (accessed 29/6/06). 54 University of Wales at Aberystwyth: (accessed 22/9/03). 55 University of Liverpool, Master/Diploma/Certificate of Archives and Records Management (MARM); University College London, MA in Archives and Records Management; University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Archive Administration (MSc Econ/Diploma) and Records Management (MSc Econ/Diploma) both also available by distance learning; Northumbria University, Records Management MSc by distance learning; University College Dublin, Higher Diploma in Archival Studies; Glasgow University, MSc in Information Management & Preservation (Archives & Records Management); University of Dundee, Archive and Records Management (ARM) Distance Learning Programme. 56 C. Rider, ‘Developing standards for professional education: the Society of Archivists’ accreditation criteria’, Journal of the Society of Archivists 17, 1996, 85–95. Accreditation visits took place in 2001 and were due in 2006. 57 LUCAS (Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies), 2004: (accessed 3/11/04); Caroline Williams, ‘Archival training at the University of Liverpool’, Journal of the Society of Archivists 18 (2), 1997, 181–8. 58 University of Northumbria, Lifelong Learning Award: (accessed 22/9/03). 59 MRes in Library, Archive and Information Studies: (accessed 29/6/06). 60 Arts and Humanities Research Council, ‘Working Group on the UK Doctorate in the Arts and Humanities’, 2005: (accessed 29/4/05). 61 Clore Leadership Programme, 2004: (accessed 22/3/05). 62 RECPRO, 2003: (accessed 29/4/05); Marjo Valtonen et al., ‘RECPRO: developing a European records management programme’, Records management journal 8 (3), 1998, 55–61. 63 E-TERM (European Training in Electronic Records Management), 2003: (accessed 29/4/05); Elizabeth Shepherd, ‘Report on the

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66 67 68

69

70

71

72 73 74 75

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proposal for a European training project for administrators, archivists and information managers: E-term’ in Proceedings of the DLM-Forum on electronic records. European citizens and electronic information: the memory of the Information Society Brussels 18– 19 October 1999. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2000, pp. 244–9. Julie McLeod, ‘Assessing the impact of ISO 15489: a preliminary investigation’, Records management journal 13 (2), 2003, 70–82. Northumbria University, 2003: (accessed 29/4/05). Awarded 2005, see: (accessed 29/6/06). Glasgow University, HATII (Humanities and Advanced Technology and Information Institute): (accessed 25/8/05). Digital Curation Centre (DCC), 2005: (accessed 22/9/05); Electronic Resource Preservation and Access Network (ERPANET), 2004: (accessed 24/8/05); Multidimensional visualization of archival findings aids project: (accessed 29/6/06). LEADERS (Linking Encoded Archival Description to Electronically Retrievable Sources), 2003: (accessed 29/4/05); Anna Sexton et al., ‘Understanding users: a prerequisite for developing new technologies’, Journal of the Society of Archivists 25 (1), 2004, 33–49; Arts and Humanities Research Council: (accessed 29/6/06). Susan J. Davies and Mary Ellis, ‘Employment trends in the archive domain’, Journal of the Society of Archivists 24 (1), 2003, 15–24; S. Horton and J. Spence, Scoping the economic and social impact of archives, MLA Yorkshire, 2006: (accessed 29/6/06); Williams, ‘Data collection and management’; Caroline Williams (ed.), Archives in the UK and the government agenda. Liverpool: LUCAS, 2002. National Archives, 2001, ‘E-government policy framework for electronic records management’: (accessed 10/2/05). Northumbria University: (accessed 29/4/05). Glasgow University, HATII (Humanities and Advanced Technology and Information Institute): (accessed 25/8/05). ICARUS: (accessed 29/6/06). Lorraine Screene, ‘How prepared are public bodies for the implementation of the UK Freedom of Information Act in January 2005?’, Records management journal 15 (1), 2005, 34–42; Elizabeth Shepherd, ‘Freedom of Information and records management in the UK: what has been the impact so far?’, paper given at the DLM-Forum, Budapest, 5–7 October 2005; ARMReN: (accessed 28/6/06). FARMER: (accessed 29/6/06). Programme directors had met annually since 1979.

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77 Research Assessment Exercise, 2008: (accessed 29/6/06). Archives and records management was included in the remit of sub-panel 37, Library and Information Management. 78 Community Archives Development Group (CADG): (accessed 6/7/06). 79 International Standards Organisation, ISO 15489–1–2: 2001 Information and documentation – records management. Part 1: General, Part 2: Guidelines. ISO, 2001. 80 Links to the component projects of the UK archives network: (accessed 4/7/06).

18

British and European Union official publications Howard Picton, Chris Pond, Valerie Nurcombe, Jane Inman, David Butcher, Grace L. Hudson

U K O F F IC I A L P U B L IS H IN G

Howard Picton Government information policy and government on the web By 2000 the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA 2000) was on the statute book but was not yet in force. Throughout 2001–05 the effects of the legislation loomed in the background. In the earlier part, this took the form of discussion on whether there should be a gradual or a ‘big bang’ approach to implementation. In fact the Act was delayed until January 2005 (although some clauses were brought into effect earlier to allow for implementation of the regime). However, the Campaign for Freedom of Information argued that such a delay was unjustifiable.1 Throughout the period there was considerable preparatory activity undertaken by central and local government in ensuring that publication schemes were produced and approved by the Information Commissioner and that procedures were in place to accommodate the new FOI regime.2 The Phillis report called for an ‘overriding presumption’ of disclosure in FOI.3 HMSO led work on Information Asset Registers and Inforoute.4 The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 came into force on 1 January 2005 and extended and clarified previous rights to environmental information.5 However, until FOIA came into force, the non-statutory Code of practice on access to government information, introduced by the previous Major government, remained in place.6 In 2001 ministers overruled the Parliamentary Ombudsman who had upheld a complaint about non-disclosure of information by the Home Office, the first time that a government department had refused to accept the ruling of the Ombudsman on releasing information under the Code. The Ombudsman also criticized departments for delays in responding to his requests for information.7 Hard on the heels of FOIA came the Public Sector Information (PSI) regulations that brought into force (1 July 2005) the EU Directive on the re-use of public sector information. The Directive’s purpose was to develop the EU information

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sector by encouraging commercial re-use of public sector data. The Treasury had already examined the British position on re-use of official information9 and the Directive was based on British practice. Cabinet Office issued a consultative document on the HMSO website with a deadline of 18 March 2005.10 The Advisory Panel on Crown Copyright was created ahead of the regulations coming into force to advise ministers and the Controller of HMSO and to act as a panel to monitor disputes. This subsequently changed its name to the Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information (APPSI) to reflect a wider role.11 In May 2005 a new body, the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI), emerged from HMSO with a remit to advise and regulate the PSI regulations. HMSO continued to exist within OPSI.12 HMSO re-launched its website in 2003 as HMSOnline.13 The trend towards digital publishing continued, partly through the ‘modernizing government’ agenda. This enthusiasm for digital rather than print publication led to problems of acquisition for libraries, both of regularly published titles and of monographs, for example in obtaining copies of the Shipman Inquiry First report14 and of access for users. There was also an issue in information disappearing from government websites as sites and their contents were removed.15 Following the 1999 white paper,16 the Office of National Statistics (ONS) was formed in May 2000 with the appointment of the first National Statistician, and a new website created.17 The Statistics Commission was created as an independent body to monitor the integrity and independence of the ONS.18 The publication of a consultation on the draft code of practice for National Statistics was announced in December 2001.19 In July 2005 the Statistics Commission issued its annual report, criticizing ONS.20 In November the Chancellor announced that ONS would be made independent.21 Wentworth looked at the problems of accessing statistics from a public librarian’s viewpoint.22 Public Library Access Scheme (formerly the Public Library Subsidy) The Office of Public Sector Information consulted CILIP members ahead of changing one aspect of policy on the subsidy. With SCOOP’s support, from October 2005, the subsidy was withdrawn from individual copies of legislation. The money saved was used to develop the web pages.23 Electoral registers Changes to the way the register was made available to the public were a theme of the period under review. Following a court case, some Electoral Registration Officers changed their policy of making free copies available to public libraries. Wentworth reviewed the position in 2002 and 2003.24 Parliament Access to parliamentary information underwent considerable change in the period. A SCOOP seminar gave an overview in 2003.25

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Government on the web The web formed the backbone of the government’s plans for transforming interaction and communication with the citizen. The programme had begun in the previous decade with the Modernising government white paper and the announcement that 25% of all transactions would be in electronic form by 2002. The National Audit Office (NAO) had previously noted that while Britain in the mid-nineties had led in web developments for central government, the impetus ‘has now flagged’.26 The NAO also stated that the Government’s definition (which included telephone calls – apparently only those using web-based technology – as electronic transactions) was ‘likely to be inherently confusing’. Following this criticism, officials told the Public Accounts Committee that targets would be reviewed and the government announced on 30 March 2000 that 100% of transactions would be available by 2005, not 2008 as originally stated.27 The web was the key to the ‘modernising government’ agenda for which the Cabinet took the lead.28 Two departments drove the agenda, the Office of the e-Envoy (OeE), launched in 1998, with the aim of getting the UK online, and the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), set up on 1 April 2000, to improve efficiency in the procurement budget.29 The OGC continued its work beyond this period but the OeE ceased in 2004. OeE was formed to promote e-commerce and new technology across both the UK and Whitehall,30 to ensure that the 2005 target was met and to take responsibility for UKOnline, broadband and digital TV. There were complaints about lack of progress.31 Budget and staffing grew initially but were curtailed in 2003 ahead of closure.32 One achievement was the replacement of UKOnline with Directgov. OeE’s real weakness lay in the e-Envoy’s lack of power in Whitehall. Its successor, the Cabinet Office’s e-Government Unit, had, unlike the e-Envoy, a mandate to examine IT across the public sector as a whole, including local authorities. The e-GU’s role differed from that of OeE in that it concentrated on delivering public services more effectively rather than attempting to deliver everything via the internet. It was there to support the Gershon efficiency review and the internal administration functions of government, such as HR and Finance.33 Some of OeE’s programmes were continued by the Department for Education and Skills (closing the digital divide) and the Department for Constitutional Affairs (e-democracy). The OGC reviewed its activities and one consequence was that the CCTA stopped hosting local and central government websites on 31 March 2002. A test version of the new central site, UKOnline, was launched towards the end of 2000.34 Refer reported the transfer of open.gov from OGC to OeE and noted that it would be hosted by UKOnline from 1 July 2001. Discrepancies between the two sites were noted at this time.35 The site appeared to undergo a revamp in 2003. Departments produced e-business strategies (all of them appeared on the e-Envoy website) with the aim not only of making all services available online but also of transforming service delivery ‘so that they are based on customer needs rather than the structures of government’.36 A new edition of Guidelines for government websites was published in July

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2002. The government achieved its target of having 6,000 UKOnline Centres available by the end of 2002.38 The PAC published a progress report in late 2002 in which it noted that many of its previous report’s recommendations had yet to be fully implemented.39 The National Audit Office (NAO) published a review of progress toward achieving e-government in April 2002.40 In July 2003 the OeE issued Quality framework for UK government website design which covered usability issues.41 The Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 came into force in January 2004 extending legal deposit to electronic publications. While awaiting specific regulations to be made under the terms of the Act, the Voluntary code of practice 2000 continued to apply.42 The e-Envoy was replaced in April 2004 by the post of Head of e-government based in the Cabinet Office. The eGU’s responsibilities included ICT strategy within government, monitoring the financial side of IT projects and provision of policy standards and guidance.43 The e-Envoy, in interviews, reviewed his time in the post, for example describing his struggle to radicalize thinking on the way processes might change.44 Direct.gov was launched in March 2004 by OeE as the replacement central government portal for UkOnline and gateway to 2,500 websites.45 There was criticism that this fell short of the ‘Online Government Store’ that had previously been heralded by OeE.46 Despite these government initiatives a survey published in July 2004 showed that 75% of the public had not noticed e-government. Another source reported (May 2004) that 40% of public sector staff were unaware of Directgov and 59% believed it would have no greater impact than UKonline.47 The practice of webcasting on official sites was discussed by Say.48 Individual departmental websites The Treasury launched a new website in November 2002 to replace one originally launched in 1994 that had struggled to cope with levels of demand on Budget day. Recorded visitors on pre-Budget day, 2002, were 50% higher compared to those on Budget day in 2001. One consequence of the new site was the removal of documents previously posted there.49 The Public Record Office launched its 1901 census website in January 2002 and was promptly swamped by the demand.50 The site was online again as a test site in August and was obviously operating by October.51 Smith and Riley in their respective papers offer a snapshot of the Department of Health, and the strategy behind the Department for Education and Employment websites.52 Work on the long-awaited Statute law database continued over the entire period of this review although the product never became available to the public.53 A joint Society of Information Technology Management (SOCITM) and Citizens Advice report (October 2003) looked at information available to the public on such things as housing, health and debt. It expressed disappointment in UKOnline as a guide to e-government services.54 Reference was made in the Lords to a report from Business2WWW that claimed that most of the 62 sites tested failed to comply with government metadata standards. The government response was that the e-

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Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS), which replaced the Framework, was mandatory for new public sector IT systems.55 Progress on individual Government websites was covered regularly in Refer.56 The National Archives (formed in 2003 by a merger of the Public Record Office with the Historical Manuscripts Commission) launched (September 2003) a ‘UK central government web archive’ to preserve 50 sites.57 Allan offered a guide to evaluating government web pages.58 The Government Gateway project This formed part of the infrastructure that the e-Delivery team at the OeE hoped would revolutionize the relationship between government and society. Essentially, it sat between ‘departmental back office systems and front office applications such as departmental websites’ to enable joined-up government.59 The target – by 2005 The Minister reported in January 2001 that 42% of services were online, ahead of the target of 25% by 2002 (although note, above, the NAO’s reservations on the very broad definition of ‘online’). There was disagreement between the Minister and the opposition on how much real progress had been made.60 In March, the Minister stated that from January 2001 all written consultations would be published online and that responses could be made by email. A register of all consultations would be available on UKOnline.61 The 2001 Annual report of the e-Envoy reported on departments’ progress in achieving the 2005 target. Over 50% of services were available online.62 An ONS survey (April 2002) showed that 19% of UK Internet users had accessed or used government services online.63 Accenture noted that progress had slowed in the UK and the FT stated that there were relatively few transactional services. The e-Envoy addressed this question in an article.64 The fourth UKOnline annual report (2003) claimed that two thirds of government services were online. It also stated that 99% of households were within 10 km of a public internet access point.65 Refer reported that ONS figures for 2003 showed that 8% of internet users claimed to have carried out an online transaction with government and 50% had used government websites for information.66 In October 2004 a minister reported that 28% of the adult population visited government websites.67 In July 2004 the Cabinet Office stated that 74% of services were being provided online.68 The digital divide Picton examined the issues for libraries.69 The Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit issued a document setting out the government’s strategy for meeting its target of ending the divide by the end of Labour’s third term.70

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Archiving The British Library established the UK Web Archiving Consortium (UKWAC) in 2004 to identify and capture snapshots of websites of the .uk domain.71 Websites and the disabled In 2001 government adopted the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Accessibility initiative for new and re-designed websites.72 Refer reported briefly on reports on accessibility in 2004.73

P AR L I AM E N T AR Y I N F O R M A T I O N W O R K

Chris Pond (Parliamentary copyright, House of Commons, 2006) Parliamentary documentation The process of parallel and synchronized presentation of parliamentary documentation in print and electronic form, which started in 1996 after the report of the Electronic Publications Group, was completed in this period. From June 2002 onwards, evidence taken in public by select committees began to appear on the web before the printed document.74 This had been restricted to oral evidence from Ministers only at first, but was followed by that of all witnesses from 2004 onwards. Also from 2002, PDF versions of reports as well as HTML were made available on the internet.75 Various changes made by the Select Committee on the Modernisation of the House of Commons worked through into the documentation of the House. From 1999, a parallel chamber had been set up off Westminster Hall, for the taking of subsidiary, local and other backbench business. It gave rise to a third sequence of page numbering in Hansard, with the suffix WH. The cessation of the system of planted (or ‘inspired’ or ‘pilcrow’) questions was followed in 2002 by another new category, that of the Ministerial Written Statement, pages suffixed WS. Written statements became very popular, with over 60 in a single day at certain times of year. The addition of these new pages to Hansard meant that the traditional fortnightly volume became too heavy for safe or convenient use, and from 2003/04, they started to appear routinely in three-week editions, each divided into two volumes, Chamber, and Westminster Hall in Vol. 1, and Written Statements and Written Answers in Vol. 2. In 2005 a House of Commons Library project began, to digitize and mount on the web free of charge a digitized version of Hansard since 1803. This project was due for completion in 2007. In 2005, the first tranche of a digitized edition of House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, 1800–date, was mounted as a subscription service by Proquest Ltd.76 Webcasting of proceedings in the House was piloted from 2001 and the form of a permanent service agreed in 2003.77 A major step forward was the electonicization of the House of Lords Record

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Office (for which the alternative title The Parliamentary Archives had been used without formal adoption since 2002) catalogue and its presentation on the web. The catalogue (Portcullis) was tested in-house in the search room during 2003 and made available on the web from 1 February 2004.78 A major new internal resource for parliamentarians was the debate pack – a compendium of material such as press comment, questions and ministerial statements, extracts from official publications and select committee reports, intended to support non-legislative topic debates in the Chamber and Westminster Hall. They were derived electronically and published in both electronic form on the Parliamentary Intranet and in hard copy. These commenced after pilot editions on 1 July 2003. Developments in parliamentary librarianship A major trend of the 2000–05 period in the House of Commons Library was the presentation of a large amount of material which had previously been available only in staff files for user self-service, principally offered to members via the Parliamentary Intranet, but increasingly to the public via the internet.79 This had the effect of reducing the Library’s enquiry load from both internal and external users. A ‘Change project’ was completed in 2005, one effect of which was centralizing the Library’s telephone enquiry services for all but the public in one place, and the rationalization of the in-person enquiry points, which had started in 2004, so as to minimize duplication and ease access for enquirers. During 2003 and 2004 the Library invested a great deal of time and effort in researching customer perceptions of its service, in order better to tailor services to their needs. A popular resource was the provision of PCs in the Members’ Library for office and research use. The number of these was trebled over the period. The Library consciously adopted a policy of more outreach activities – for instance open days for the information profession, which started in 2004, and series of talks and lectures by its research specialists, and an open day for insiders, which began in 2004/05. The task of classifying the Library’s book stock by Dewey was completed, and all the cataloguing records migrated from legacy systems on POLIS and microfilm to a Sirsi online catalogue accessed via the intranet. This involved considerable retrospective work, undertaken in 2004/05. A large proportion of the Library’s heritage stock, which was not core to present requirements, was transferred in 2004 to the British Museum, to help populate the King’s Library, where it was to be made available to outside researchers. In 2001, the history of the institution, which had been documented by David Menhennet,80 was completed by the discovery of a volume of early minutes of the Library Committee, which were published with a commentary in 2001.81 In 2003, the Library acceded to the Pan-Government agreement for mapping services, allowing access to GIS and other data from the Ordnance Survey, which was used particularly by the statistical sections of the Research Service. The major technical change of the period was the replacement of the Library’s

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information system, POLIS, which had started in 1979, and which had been developed as an indexing system in the intervening 25 years. A version of it had been made available via the internet to the public from April 2001. The decision to replace POLIS (which had originally used UNIDAS and later used Basis-plus software) was taken in 2002. The replacement system, based on Autonomy and Vignette, was named PIMS (Parliamentary Information Management System) and inaugurated in two stages in 2004 (for enquiry management) and 2005 (for information retrieval). The transition gave rise to a number of problems with accessibility and data capture, to right which a recovery programme was inaugurated in the latter part of 2005. At the end of 2005 the Library’s dedicated Information Systems Section, which had existed in various guises since 1980, was transferred to a new organization, PICT (Parliamentary Information and Communications Technology service), which was to serve both Houses’ IT requirements.

G O V E R N M E N T D E P AR T M E N T S A N D A G E N C IE S

Valerie Nurcombe E-government and preparation for Freedom of Information (FOI) were the key topics throughout this period as the government moved towards e-service delivery standards for the end of 2005. ODPM’s Two years on: realising the benefits from our investment in e-government was published in March 2005 outlining progress toward e-government since 2002.82 The whole was underpinned by Service design and delivery guide: achieving high take-up of e-service: cost savings and better public services.83 E-government and FOI worked together to increase the use of the web as both relied on document publishing via the web. Until 2003 much of this was developed, coordinated and promoted by the Department of the e-Envoy within the Cabinet Office but having been reduced in 2003 it was disbanded in 2004. Publication in hard copy became an issue as departments claimed to publish both simultaneously, but in reality print became more difficult to trace and increasing reliance was placed on the web. The Department of Transport indicated that items should be published on the web within 30 minutes of a press release while the Department of Trade & Industry and the Home Office claimed to print simultaneously in print and digital formats.84 But in fact the Department of Transport stopped publishing a range of statistical publications completely.85 Almost all pre-2002 publications of the Department of the Environment from former web sites were lost when the ODPM was created – its publications list stating that this only covered items from 2002. But the old websites quickly vanished – and with them the older housing, planning and other documents. They might not be current practice but were and will always be required by students and those studying the development of the current systems. However the DETR was

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already failing to publish in print and when it did documents were distributed to its publications list and were unavailable to others.86 The question of print vs digital was discussed by Picton and addressed briefly elsewhere in Refer showing that the predominance of web publication was increasing: for example, the ODPM covered 50 print titles in its list of publications in print 2004 but over 300 in the same list on the web.87 Items were still being produced in very limited print editions. Refer reported the DTI publication of the Higgs review,88 Review of the role and effectiveness of non-executive directors, which was published on the web on 30 January 2003 but with only limited print copies available so that institutions were limited to one copy each, which they were not allowed to collect. A bulk order from Parliament took the print run and many had to wait a week until more were made available. With its inclusion in UKOP, TSO was increasingly involved in the accessibility of this grey literature, under the watchful eye of HMSO. Until autumn 2003 UKOP, Catalogue of official publications in the UK, was published by Proquest, who had taken over Chadwyck-Healey, the originator of Catalogue of British official publications not published by HMSO in the late nineties. This now became available as a website – but still a subscription service.89 At the time TSO announced that ‘the appointment (of TSO) as a registration Agency for Digital Object Identifiers, provides an opportunity for TSO to work with the Government information community to provide a complete record of the discoverable input of Government’.90 Parliamentary questions (2001/02) also requested information on the print runs of documents and their availability, although the replies were not always helpful.91 Linked to this was the issue of whether publications and information should be free or chargeable – the implications of Freedom of Information Act provisions were already becoming inseparable from the issues of printing and publishing.92 The Lords discussed the lack of indexes and contents pages in some of the very important and large government reports and the Minister replied that the reprint of the Cabinet Office How to publish a command paper would also include necessary good practice, that all government publications should include indexes where appropriate.93 Bibliographic control had been thought to be improving over the nineties with UKOP merging HMSO/TSO lists and CoBoP but the problems mentioned here were increasing at the beginning of the new century. Richard Cheffins reviewed the situation at the same time as the development of the internet in official publishing was reviewed by Maewyn Cumming and Lucy Cuthbertson.94 Consultation documents were subject to similar problems as web consultations increased and print papers vanished.95 Not all were in the Sessional information digest (House of Commons Library). Directgov was implemented as an improvement (arguable) on UKOnline to provide a friendly and usable means of entry into the government services and web sites for the public.96 The background to the working of the UK, formerly in Civil service yearbook97 and the UK official yearbook (which ceased in print at the end of 2005),98 became increasingly accessible here.

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Print publication was diminishing. The Shipman report was available in its parts on the web but not in print until much later, and many comments later.99 Concerns by the end of the period suggest that many items were no longer available in print – unless the user printed them! Indeed Astron, the printer for the Scottish parliament, was issuing a list of items not published at all in print format, from 2004.100 Electronic developments affected not just central government but also its agencies, where the NHS developed NeLH, the National Library for Health, bringing specialist libraries and resources, official publications and much more, to the users in the health services.101 Public sector information was the subject of an EU Directive with the result that, at the last minute, the UK having failed to make the required provision, a new department was created in May 2005, the Office of Public Sector Information which was to subsume HMSO. Contrary to popular belief this had not disappeared with the privatization of HMSO in 1996, and the creation of The Stationery Office (see previous volume in this series) but played an increasingly liberalizing role with responsibility for Crown copyright, the availability of the Statutes and Statutory Instruments online and was now advising on how and what public information should be made more widely available. The Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information (APPSI) was established in 2003 and first reported in 2004.102 The awareness-raising role and development of the sector was in fact changed at the end of 2005 as the body was revised with new membership. Regarding statistics, this period saw the appointment of the UK’s first National Statistician, Len Cook, who became Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS). National Statistics itself had been launched on 7 June 2000 as the new face of statistics in England.103 At this time the Statistics Commission was also set up – an independent body – to encourage independence and accountability in the production of statistics.104 The Guide to official statistics was published in the 4th edition in 2000 but the four-yearly update sequence was not maintained with a 2004 (or 2005) edition.105 The 2001 census was published in full in record time but at the cost of many of the hard-copy documents. For the first time virtually everything was available on the web and even distributed to local authorities on CD – although the single CD distributed to authorities was often unlocatable for public librarians, as it was lost somewhere within the authority. Questions on the figures and the new methods were reported by many.106 The presentation on the website was sometimes difficult to use although the detail available in the neighbourhood statistics was far greater than formerly.107 However there are other issues with ONS publications. Standard titles such as Birth statistics (FM1); Marriage, divorce and adoption statistics (FM2) and Mortality statistics (DH2, DH3, DH4) became mainly available through the ONS website rather than in print – the print offering became a print-on-demand copy.108 This alternative format rendered publications difficult for libraries to shelve and use continuously. As has been said many times before, it is essential to understand the organization of government to understand its publishing. The guide to government

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on the web showed a full list of Cabinet and Ministers currently – but not in retrospect.109 In December 2005 these were government Departments, very few unchanged since 2000: Cabinet Office Department for Constitutional Affairs Department for Culture, Media and Sport Department for Education and Skills Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Department of Health Department for International Development Department of Trade and Industry Department for Transport Department for Work and Pensions Foreign and Commonwealth Office Home Office HM Treasury Ministry of Defence Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) Office of the Leader of the House of Commons Privy Council Northern Ireland Office Scotland Office Wales Office For example the ODPM was only established in May 2002 (to include the Regional Co-ordination Unit, the Government Offices in the Regions, along with the Social Exclusion Unit) and was to be gone in 2006. In May 2001 a new Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions had assumed from the old Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) (1997–2001) responsibilities for transport, as well as local government, housing, planning, regeneration, urban and regional policy. It was responsible for the Environment Agency, the Countryside Agency and English Nature. It also took from the Home Office responsibility for the fire services, electoral law, animal welfare and hunting. The Home Office gave up local government, regeneration, housing and planning to ODPM in June 2002 leaving Department for Transport as a separate unit. Elections at this point moved to the Lord Chancellor’s Department. A new Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in 2002 was to spearhead a major new drive on green issues and the countryside, in addition taking over responsibility for agriculture, the food industry and fisheries from the longstanding Ministry for Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF). 2001 had seen many other major changes illustrative of the way in which responsibility for official publishing could move rapidly. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) took over the Regional Development Agencies to coordinate

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with that Department’s regional economic responsibilities. The DTI also assumed sponsorship of the construction industry which had hitherto rested with the DETR (but note, not for the building regulations). The shared responsibility of the DTI and FCO for British Trade International continued but was reinforced by the appointment of a single Minister of State with lead responsibility for its work, holding office in both departments. The Home Office lost a number of functions to allow it to focus on tackling crime, reform of the criminal justice system and asylum. The UK Anti-Drugs Co-ordination Unit transferred into the Home Office from the Cabinet Office. As part of this streamlining the Lord Chancellor's Department took over from the Home Office its wider constitutional responsibilities including Freedom of Information, Data Protection and Human Rights. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) took on from the Home Office responsibility for gambling, licensing, censorship and video classification, horseracing, and planning for the Golden Jubilee. The Department of Trade and Industry took over the Home Office’s responsibilities for summertime and Sunday trading. A new Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) continued the reform of the welfare state, bringing together the Department of Social Security (DSS) and the Employment Service to enable the Working Age Agency (earlier named Jobcentre Plus) to be established with a single and clear line of ministerial accountability. Created on 23 January 2001, its objective was to change the way the Government provided support for people of working age. The DWP combined the employment and disability responsibilities of the former Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) with the welfare and pensions responsibilities of the DSS. The new Department for Education and Skills focused on raising standards in education further. The Ministry of Defence took on responsibility for the Security Services Group from the Cabinet Office and the War Pensions Agency from the former Department of Social Security. Another major change in June 2003 was the establishment of the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA), which took on, mainly, the functions of the Lord Chancellor’s office, although considerable debate followed on the constitutional position of the post of Lord Chancellor. This was the first Department with a manifesto, which stated not what it did, but what it proposed to do and the basis of those proposals.110 In June 2003 changes to the office of Lord Chancellor had been made removing the responsibility for the appointment of judges, the responsibility of his Department for the unification of the courts and tribunal system as well as its modernization and streamlining. The civil servants in the Scotland Office and the Wales Office became part of the Department for Constitutional Affairs in 2003, so as to ensure they did not move should the Cabinet Members change. The new Department had responsibility for the devolution settlement and the new Secretary of State like the Lord Chancellor before him chaired the main Cabinet Constitutional Reform Committee. In 2005 DCA also assumed responsibility for coroners from the Home Office and policy on the conduct of local government elections from ODPM so that elections policy was now in one department that included the Parliamentary Boundary Commissions for England and Wales. At the time the

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Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) assumed responsibility for the creative industries – from the arts to broadcasting to film and music. It already had responsibility for fashion design and the arts market across from the DTI, becoming joint sponsor with the DTI of the Design Council, covering advertising, computer games and publishing. DCMS also assumed oversight of the arrangements for Remembrance Sunday which until then was with DCA. Changes were continuous although many received less publicity. One such change was the announcement on 8 November 2005 that as a result of the review by Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, of the role and functions of the Cabinet Office, the Government Car and Despatch Agency was transferred to the Department for Transport. Responsibility for the Government Social Research Unit transferred to Her Majesty’s Treasury. Another change with little publicity was the establishment of the Cabinet Committee on Children and Young People’s Services supported by the cross-cutting Children and Young People’s Unit based at DfEE (28 July 2000). This was because at least eight departments and six cross-cutting units had interests in policies and services for children and young people.111 All such changes are usually announced at www.pm.gov.uk by the Office of the Prime Minister and usually appeared in Hansard for the same day when the Prime Minister informed Parliament. The existence of many agencies, executive and otherwise, official bodies and organizations was acknowledged with the commencement of Public bodies, annually. This listed all such quangos under the Department to which they reported. The last issue was 2004 as at the beginning of 2005 it was replaced with an online database, also called Public bodies, which could be interrogated. Not being able to scan a publication reduced its flexibility, however. It was clear that while the government continued its promise to reduce these bodies in 2000 and 2001 the number began to creep up again to a figure only slightly less than that of 2000 in 2005: they just had different names!112 Future research will be considerably hampered by the cessation of the central list of such organizations – presumably only traceable by visiting each departmental website – and then many have been known not to appear in the relevant location. Although the major changes to the machinery of government often follow a general election, and a change of ruling party, some of these very major changes followed consideration of the functioning to Parliament itself. Further implications can be inferred from the comments above on the increase of publishing through the internet. The publications of the former Department of the Environment disappeared, though a few were maintained on the sites of DEFRA, ODPM and their Agencies (which suffered less change). However, the results of these major changes and loss of publications, published only on the web, have resulted in negotiations since 2003/04, between the British Library and the National Archives to establish a system of archiving for websites. The whole question of the preservation of digital materials arose in this period and was far from being resolved at the end. SCOOP was active in encouraging a system of archiving for web pages as well as the PDF and similar documents on them.

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L O C A L A U T H O R IT Y P U B L I S H IN G

Jane Inman The period opened with publication in December 2001 of Strong local leadership – quality public services, which looked at the ways in which local government was expected to modernize. It set out the priorities for local government, the inspection regime known as the comprehensive performance assessment, and, linked to that, increased freedoms and flexibilities as well as an encouragement for more partnership working.113 A consultation was launched the same year into access to information in local government.114 The Freedom of Information Act had received royal assent in 2000 and although it was not to come into force until 2005, much of the period was spent in preparing for its implementation and wondering what its impact would be.115 The major change in access to local authority publications and information in this period must be the rapid growth in the content and quality of local authority websites. This, it could be argued, made local authority information and publications more readily available. However, the early part of the period in particular saw variations in the quality of local authority websites, in both content and navigation. Sites were often poorly maintained and would carry out of date information. The British Library ceased its input of selective local authority publications to the SIGLE (System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe) database in 2003. (In 2006 SIGLE itself was to be discontinued.) The British Library continued to receive local authority publications through the legal deposit legislation. Local e-government A target for all local government and government services to be available electronically had been set by the government and in March 2000 this was brought forward from 2008 to 2005. Progress towards this target was measured using an agreed list of services, which formed the basis of a Best Value Performance Indicator, BVPI 157. In April 2004 an extra set of targets, which became known as priority outcomes, was issued to run alongside the BVPI target.116 By the end of 2005 the SOCITM survey of local authority sites found that 38 local authority sites were judged to be ‘transactional’ and only a very few sites were still at the stage of simply offering basic content.117 Throughout this period SOCITM issued its review of local authority websites and tracked their progress towards the government target.118 In 2001 the first round of Implementing E-Government statements (IEGs) were required to be submitted by local authorities and these were repeated in 2002 and standardized in 2003. By 2004 they included progress in the areas described as priority service outcomes and the final IEGs were submitted in December 2005. By this time local authorities claimed to be 97% e-enabled on average.

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In November 2002 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister published the National Strategy for Local e-Government, and in December 2003 and in March 2005 progress reports were issued.119 In 2002 a web-based toolkit was launched which was designed to help local authorities record their progress against BVPI 157. Known as the esd-toolkit it was developed by local authorities and each authority could record its own data within it.120 It developed into a store of information about e-government in local government. To avoid duplication of effort 22 National Projects were set up and by the end of 2005 1,700 products had been delivered. These included schemas and standards for e-government functions. Details of these, which were funded by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, were made available though the locale-gov website.121 The government had issued version 1 of the E-government Interoperability Framework (eGIF) in 2000 and this mandatory standard was to ensure systems could communicate across government. It also published an E-Government Metadata Standard (eGMS) and work began to agree standard lists which could be used in the subject field of metadata and in website navigation and other parts of websites. The number of lists produced and the similarity of their titles caused some confusion and the esd-toolkit published a guide called What are all these lists? in 2004 which attempted to explain the role of each list.122 A framework for local authority websites were published by the Office of the eEnvoy, part of the Cabinet Office, in 2003, and gave top ten guidelines.123 The framework was part of the national Guidelines for UK government websites which included an Illustrated handbook for web management teams.124 A standard vocabulary was developed from what began life as the Government Category List, expanded to form a Local Authority Category List. This was amalgamated with a local authority thesaurus developed by the SeamlessUK project led by Essex County Council. This was published as the Integrated Public Sector Vocabulary in 2005 and its use on local authority web sites was to mandated for December 2006.125 Freedom of Information Act In January 2005 the long-awaited Freedom of Information Act finally came into force bringing with it an expectation that information held by local government would be more accessible than ever. In 2003, as preparation for the implementation of the Act, all public bodies covered by the legislation were required to develop publication schemes and submit them to the Information Commissioner for approval. These schemes were to identify categories and classes of information which local authorities would then be committed to make available. The schemes were to be available on local authority websites.126 Guidance on publication schemes was published on the website at of the Office of the Information Commissioner and included model schemes.127 SCOOP (the Standing Committee on Official Publications) arranged a seminar on publication schemes and published the proceedings.128

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As 2005 dawned and requests began to be received many issues were raised and the Information Commissioner’s office was kept busy dealing with queries and complaints as well as issuing guidance. Experience over the first six months of the Act’s being in force were collated by the Improvement and Development Agency.129 A survey of experiences dealing with Freedom of Information requests was conducted amongst attendees at the 2005 FOI Live event organized by the Constitution Unit of University College London. 130

D E V O L U T IO N A N D T H E D E V O L V E D A D M IN IS T R A T IO N S

David Butcher The devolved Scottish Parliament (SP) and the National Assembly for Wales (NAfW) received their powers in July 1999, while the new Northern Ireland Assembly first met a year earlier. The House of Commons Library guide to UK devolution, issued after new elections to the SP and NAfW in May 2003, summarized the powers transferred to the devolved institutions and those reserved to the Westminster Parliament.131 DevWeb and some libraries provided web guides to the devolved administrations.132 Cheffins, in his brief historical overview of devolution and introduction to the new devolved governments and their key publications, made a useful distinction between comparatively recent political devolution and much older administrative devolution.133 Scotland’s administrative devolution began in the late nineteenth century, the Welsh Office was established in 1964, and Northern Ireland had always had a separate administration. Scotland Moore and Munro’s guide to Scottish official publications covered Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive publications as well as material relating to Scotland from the Westminster Parliament and the European Union.134 The Scottish Working Group on Official Publications (SWOP) was set up as a forum for librarians working with official publications in Scotland. Its website included a Directory of official publications in Scotland and the minutes of its quarterly meetings.135 Scotland passed its own freedom of information legislation in 2002, enforced by an independent Scottish Information Commissioner.136 It came into force in January 2005 and a review of its operation was launched at the end of the year.137 Scottish public authorities produced publication schemes listing information available to the public. The Scottish Parliament’s scheme showed the items it produced with details of their format, though most were on its website.138 The main publications issued by the SP remained unchanged, except that the weekly digest of What’s happening in the Scottish Parliament ceased in July 2004. The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) provided an enquiry service and issued fact sheets and research briefings for MSPs.139 SP guidelines on

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retention of its publications were issued to the 80 public libraries in its Partner Library Network in 2002.140 Print versions of many SP titles were published by the Stationery Office, Edinburgh until 2004. Astron Publishing became the new print contractor to the SP and Scottish Executive; their main distributor was Blackwell’s Bookshop, Edinburgh.141 TSO continued to publish print copies of Acts of the Scottish Parliament, their Explanatory Notes and secondary legislation on behalf of the Office of the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.142 Astron produced email daily and weekly lists of Scottish official publications from October 2004; a web version of the weekly lists appeared on the SWOP website.143 Scottish Executive departments published over a thousand titles a year: they were listed on its website, in the Astron daily and weekly lists and in the annual Scottish Executive publications.144 Wales Unlike the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales could only exercise powers specifically given to it in legislation and could not make primary legislation. The Government of Wales Act 1998 listed many functions transferred to the Assembly, but others were contained in hundreds of individual Acts as well as secondary legislation. The Wales legislation online service identified by subject the specific legislation from which the Assembly derived its powers (including those passed since 1999) and listed the secondary legislation that it made.145 The Richard Commission reviewed the devolution settlement and recommended a legislative assembly for Wales.146 The government white paper on Better governance for Wales appeared in June 2005 and legislation to increase the powers of the Assembly was introduced in December 2005.147 A clearer distinction emerged between the executive and legislative functions of the Assembly, with a Cabinet of the First Minister and eight other ministers forming the government, to which the Assembly delegated many of its powers. Assembly members scrutinized the work of the Cabinet and questioned ministers. The Assembly’s website remained the principal source for NAfW publications; these were organized in categories, with links on the main Publications page.148 Subject listings of new Assembly publications were available from the Assembly weekly information bulletin page.149 Briefing papers produced by the Members’ Research Service gave factual summaries of many topics considered by the Assembly.150 The network of 40 Information Link libraries throughout Wales provided public access to the Assembly website and received a depository copy of everything the Assembly published in print.151 Northern Ireland The Northern Ireland Assembly (NIA) operated with devolved legislative and executive powers for less than three years before it was suspended in October 2002 and dissolved in April 2003.152 New elections due to be held in May were postponed until November 2003. The Assembly remained suspended as no

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agreement was reached on restoring a devolved executive and the province continued to be ruled directly from Westminster. Assembly publications were issued while the Assembly was in session and most were available both on its website and in print (usually from TSO). Bound volumes of the NIA Official report (Hansard) to April 2003 were the permanent record of Assembly proceedings.153 The NIA website provided the full text of committee reports for the 2001/02 and 2002/03 sessions and links to pages for the departmental, standing and ad hoc committees.154 A series of Research & Library reports and factsheets appeared up to 2002, but were not published by TSO.155 Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly 2000–2002 and their Explanatory Notes were published in print by TSO and on the HMSO (later OPSI) Legislation website.156 The English regions Political devolution in the English regions (other than London) did not develop in parallel with devolution elsewhere in the UK. The government white paper on regional governance, Your region, your choice (May 2002), proposed establishing elected regional assemblies in regions that chose to have them.157 They would not have legislative powers, but would prepare regional strategies, control the Regional Development Agencies, and take over much housing and planning work and some other functions.158 The Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Act 2003159 gave powers to hold referendums and three regions expressed interest, but after a decisive ‘no’ vote in the first referendum in the North East in November 2004 the government abandoned further referendums. Failure to establish elected regional assemblies left the eight existing unelected Regional Chambers with an unclear status and growing responsibilities. All had adopted the title of Regional Assembly by 2002 and had significant roles in developing regional policies, scrutinizing the work of the Regional Development Agencies and representing their region to UK government departments and European Union institutions.160 They became regional planning bodies in April 2003.161 However, they were not listed in Public bodies 2004 or designated as public sector bodies under the Freedom of Information Act. SCOOP expressed concern about the availability and bibliographic control of their publications.162 The Greater London Authority (GLA) became the strategic authority for London in April 2000. New elections for the London Assembly and Mayor of London were held in June 2004.163 A government consultation document in late 2005 proposed additional powers and responsibilities for the Mayor and Assembly.164 The GLA published over 450 formal publications (those with an ISBN or ISSN) between 2001 and 2005, excluding the output of its four functional bodies for police, fire, transport and development.165 These titles were included in its Publication list and most were available on its website, while some were issued in hard copy.166 Lists by subject of the Mayor’s and London Assembly publications were also available on the web.167

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Grace L. Hudson The period 2001–2005 saw a number of major events in the EU which had an impact on information provision needs. The Charter of Fundamental Rights came into force in 2001.168 From 1 January 2002 euro notes and coins became a reality on the streets of the eurozone countries, though not in the UK. Institutional reforms laid down in the Treaty of Nice169 paved the way for further enlargement of the EU and from 1 May 2004 ten new member states joined the existing fifteen. Following the adoption of the Nice Treaty, the Convention on the Future of Europe was established in February 2002 to examine ways of resolving outstanding issues to enable a Europe of twenty-five member states to function effectively.170 Resulting from this and the subsequent Intergovernmental Conference came the Constitutional Treaty for Europe171 which was signed in Rome in October 2005 and was due to be ratified by all member states through their own parliamentary processes by November 2006. One aim of the treaty was to simplify dramatically the legislative process and make the distinction between law and regulation, with a consequent impact on the documentation produced. Following the ‘no’ votes in France and the Netherlands the UK did not proceed to a referendum and a period of reflection was agreed before the EU proposed a way forward. Agreement was reached in 2005 on the adoption of the new .eu top-level domain name which would introduce major changes to URLs.172 The UK held the EU Presidency in the second half of 2005, focusing on economic reform, security and the EU’s role in the world. The move towards free provision of information via the internet continued to accelerate and the Europa website in particular was a key source charting the above events and providing access to the related documentation. Access to legislative and judicial texts became simpler over the period. The EUR-Lex law portal, available in an embryonic state beforehand, was properly launched in June 2001. Useful links to other sources such as the Court of Justice site and TED, the tenders database, made it a good entry route to a wide range of information. Not only did it provide access to electronic versions of the legal texts, it also offered different formats: graphics and tables were properly reproduced in PDF. The EUDOR document delivery service was withdrawn as free access was incorporated into EUR-Lex. The Official journal of the European Union was made available in PDF format from 1998.173 The printed Directory of legislation in force was provided online with the benefit of monthly rather than six-monthly updates.174 Commission working documents (COM documents) – both legislative and non-legislative, such as white and green papers – were a vital addition as the dissemination of paper COM documents to official information relays was withdrawn from 2003. Pre-Lex and OEIL continued – with some modifications – to provide information monitoring the legislative process. CELEX also continued until June 2004 as a subscription database alongside the new legal portal, providing more sophisticated and powerful search functions than EUR-Lex. However, following agreement on greater access to documents a European Parliament

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resolution sought free access to CELEX for all. With the accession of ten new members and the need to incorporate new languages it was decided to develop a new free service merging the best features of both systems. CELEX became freely available from July 2004 and continued to be updated until December 2004 while the new service, also called EUR-Lex, was opened in a very incomplete state and remained a work in progress even after its official launch in November 2004. Promised features such as the alerting service, advanced search and the national implementing measures database remained outstanding. Nevertheless the database provided straightforward and free access to legislative and judicial texts. Enlargement was one of the drivers for an increasing move towards electronic dissemination. Other EU countries such as France and Austria accepted the electronic text as authentic. In the UK however it was the printed version which remained legally binding. It was therefore concerning when free distribution of the printed Official journal was withdrawn from European Documentation Centres (EDCs) in 2000 and the discounted subscription rate offered subsequently discontinued. The Treaty of Amsterdam gave a commitment to greater openness and transparency, and access to documents.176 Regulation 1049/2001 required that the Commission, Council and Parliament provide a register of documents by June 2002, facilitating access.177 The Council had already established its own register in 1999; the two other institutions ran close to the deadline before implementation.178 While there were restrictions on which texts could be accessed, either by downloading directly or through supply on request, the registers proved helpful in enabling access to some of the SEC documents (of internal pre-COM document status) that had been notoriously difficult to trace. Increasingly however the legal databases and registers did not provide the full picture. Comitology committees179 were involved for some time in drawing up the detail of legislation in certain subject areas, and a comitology register was produced. However, given the difficulties of obtaining consensus amongst twentyfive member states, there was also an increasing use of new methods of lawmaking – also known as ‘soft law’ – such as the open method of coordination, benchmarking, scoreboards and recommendations.180 Employment is one example where such methods were used, and although DG Employment website on Europa collated the relevant documents, issues remained over the archiving of this material, and information providers needed to be aware that EUR-Lex did not give the whole story. Similarly in financial and investments services, the Lamfalussy process was introduced,181 raising concerns from the Parliament182 that its codecision powers were being bypassed. The Better Regulation183 and Better Lawmaking184 initiatives aimed to simplify the acquis communautaire through withdrawal of legislation, consolidation, codification,185 and improved drafting, resulting in a major reduction in the body of Community legislation in the lead-up to enlargement. Proposals for new directives were required to include impact assessments186 and COM documents were limited in size, becoming more of a framework with the details laid out in accompanying

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SEC documents. Access to SEC documents therefore became increasingly important. The interactive policy-making initiative187 required that consultation procedures be built into the legislative process. One extremely positive development was access to statistical data. This area had long been problematic and was not improved by the demise in 2001 of r.cade (Resource Centre for Access to Data on Europe)188 which had in some measure compensated for the loss of distribution of print publications to the official relays by providing controlled academic access. Eurostat agreed to the distribution instead of a CD-ROM of statistical data together with a password which gave privileged access to a deeper level of data from the Eurostat web site. However, the situation was completely transformed when Eurostat opened its website to allow entirely free access from 2005, including the downloading of electronic publications and searching of its databases Comext and New Cronos. Printed publications and CD-ROMs remained available for purchase. Also launched in 2005 was the EU Bookshop which enabled users to download electronic texts directly or order online (though items were supplied by the national sales agents, hence TSO in the UK). Europa was entirely revamped to offer different levels of access, catering for the general public, young people and more experienced users seeking in-depth information. The new search engine however was not significantly better. A major feature of the change was the introduction of interactive services, examples being the Your Europe and Your Voice in Europe portals. The Your Voice in Europe portal facilitated online public consultation on new legislative proposals. Information and communication policy was again a concern of the Commission, resulting in more review and strategy documents where the Commission was encouraged to make greater use of existing information networks.189 Reviews of networks in member states were prompted and consultation was undertaken in the UK.190 Responsibility for EDCs191 was moved again, this time to DG Press and Communication bringing together the information networks under the same banner. Management of the network and helpdesk services was contracted out to the organization TECIS, though EDCs were not at first included. Later they were able to benefit from the website facilities, including participation in the EDC exchange programme, previously organized by the European Information Association (EIA),192 accessing dossiers and submitting an evaluation report. EDC National Co-ordinators also attended a meeting Brussels in 2003. This period saw the demise of the UK’s European Resource Centres for Schools network. In 2005 across Europe a new network of Europe Direct Centres was launched, building on the Europe Direct central enquiry service.193 However, in the UK, in the lead-up to a possible referendum, the government was unwilling to see the new centres established here and it was not until the end of 2005 that agreement was reached for a call to be launched in the UK. The EDCs signed a new contract in 2005 and came under the umbrella Europe Direct network branding. The European Public Information Centres194 (EPICs) in public libraries remained strong and responsibility for the organization and delivery of training,

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now not just to EPICs but to all the official relays, was passed to the EIA. The EC Representation in the UK’s European Information Network website was developed to include an intranet with resources for relays, training materials and a discussion board. The field of commercial online databases remained highly competitive with further mergers into major groupings. Sweet & Maxwell, part of the Thomson group, acquired Lawtel in 2002. Leading sources were still Ellis, ILI, Justis Publishing, Lawtel, Lexis/Nexis, and Westlaw, producing versions of EU legal databases, and Proquest publishing the wider-ranging KnowEurope database, later renamed European Sources Online. The current awareness tool European Access, from which European Sources Online originated, ceased publication in print in 2002. While interfaces improved and became more intuitive, and sources moved increasingly to web access, there was also an explosion in the availability of free information, making it harder to find a way through the maze. Key sources such as the Bulletin of the European Union195 and the General report196 were provided electronically but basic printed guides continued to have a role in explaining how to find EU information.197 Although the issue of archiving was being investigated by the EU, concerns remained about consistent access to older material. Two electronic resources which sought to address the gaps were Eurotext, designed for academic use, and the University of Pittsburgh’s Archive of European Integration. On a wider front than digital access to its own documents, the Commission launched a digital libraries initiative to digitize and preserve Europe’s written and audio-visual heritage.198

Notes For information on developments in UK official publishing it is worth consulting issues of Refer. Also, the British section of the ‘Notable documents’ issues of the Journal of government information and its predecessor, Government publications review contain overviews of the state of official publishing, including web innovations. 1

Howard Picton, ‘Freedom of Information – but not yet’, Refer 18 (1), 2002, 2–5; The DCA website has a useful page on legislation and other documents concerning FOI that lists those clauses implemented ahead of 2005: (accessed 26/6/06). See also the annual reports on implementation, initially issued by the Lord Chancellor’s Department and then by DCA. All of them are available at: (accessed 26/6/06). See also: House of Lords Hansard, 24 June 2002; SCOOP news, Refer 18 (3), 16. Publication schemes were introduced in a rolling programme detailed in the first FOI annual report, 2001, HC367. CFOI press release, ‘Double blow to freedom of information’, 13 Nov. 2001, at: (accessed 14/606); Howard Picton and Andrew Coburn, ‘The price of liberty … : freedom of information and access to government information’, Refer 18 (3), 2002, 11–16.

288 2

3

4

5

6 7

8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20

British librarianship and information work 2001–2005 DCA produces quarterly statistics on implementation of FOI in central government: (accessed 26/6/06). Valerie Nurcombe (ed.), Publication schemes: access to official information in the 21st century. London: ISG, 2004. A brief overview of the seminar is given in: Valerie Nurcombe and David Butcher, ‘Publication schemes: access to official information in the twentieth century’, Refer 20 (1), 2004, 14–17; House of Commons, Public Administration Committee (Session 2000–01), Developments in freedom of information: minutes of evidence … 25 April 2001. London: TSO, 2001; Jane Inman, ‘First steps to freedom of information’, Refer 21 (1), 2005, 15–17; SCOOP news, Refer 19 (1), 2003, 25. SCOOP news, Refer 20 (2), 2004, 18–19; Cabinet Office, An independent review of government communications. Chairman: Bob Phillis, January 2004. Available at: . See also: Oonagh Gay, Changes to government communications machinery. House of Commons Standard Note SN/PC/2594 (last updated 19/1/04) at: (accessed 3/7/06). Alan Pawsey, ‘Official publishing: the challenge of the internet and the HMSO approach’ in Official publishing past, present, and future: SCOOP 30 years on anniversary seminar, ed. Valerie J. Nurcombe. London: CILIP Information Services Group, 2002, pp. 43–51. Environmental Information Regulations 2004, SI 2004 no. 3391. Available on the OPSI website: (accessed 19/6/06). For information on these see also the Defra website at: . Code of practice on access to government information: annual reports, 1998–2003: . Parliamentary Ombudsman, Annual report 2001–02. London: TSO, 2002 (HC 897, session 2001–02). Available at: (accessed 26/6/06). Full accounts are given in: SCOOP news, Refer 18 (1), 2002, 4–5; 18 (3), 2002, 13. The Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005, SI 2005 no. 1515. See: . Howard Picton, ‘Review of government information’, Refer 17 (1), 2001, 26–8. SCOOP news, Refer 21 (1), 2005, 23. SCOOP news, Refer 19 (2), 2003, 20; 20 (3), 2004, 17; 21 (1), 2005, 23. APPSI Annual reports may be found at its website: (accessed 3/7/06). SCOOP news, Refer 21 (2), 2005, 19; 21 (3), 2005, 23–4. SCOOP news, Refer 19 (2), 2003, 20; 19 (3), 2003, 24. Picton and Coburn, ‘Price of liberty’, 11–13. For comments on the adverse effect on regular titles, see: SCOOP news, Refer 17 (1), 2001, 19; 19 (1), 2003, 21. SCOOP news, Refer 17 (1), 2001, 20–1. HM Treasury, Building trust in statistics. London: TSO, 1999 (Cm 4412). Simon Dickson, ‘Access all areas’, Horizons 22, 2002, 8–9. Available at: (accessed 13/6/06). SCOOP news, Refer 16 (2), 2000, 24–5; Claire Evans, ‘Statistics you can trust? The work of the Statistics Commission’, Refer 20 (2), 2004, 1–7. Refer 18 (1), 2002, 24. Statistics Commission, Annual report, July 2005; Simon Briscoe, ‘“Official statistics” must be improved’, Financial times 15 July 2005.

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24

25 26 27

28

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Hansard, 28 Nov. 2005, col. 78w; SCOOP news, Refer 22 (1), 2006, 26. Stella Wentworth, ‘Lies, damned lies, and even more damned statistics: a public librarian’s viewpoint’, Refer 21 (2), 2005, 8–12. Howard Picton and Carol Tullo, ‘HMSO access scheme: making the best use of subsidy’, Library + information update 3 (9), 2004, 24. See also: SCOOP news, Refer 20 (3), 2004, 26; 21 (3), 2005, 29. Consultation report available at: (accessed 3/7/06). Stella Wentworth, ‘Electoral Registers: the saga continues’, Refer 18 (1), 2002, 6–8; ‘Electoral Registers: an update’, Refer 19 (1), 2003, 2–6. See also: SCOOP news, Refer 17 (1), 2001, 23. The court case may be found in: [2001] All ER (D) 243 (Nov). Valerie J. Nurcombe (ed.), Open parliament: a guide to parliamentary information in the 21st century. London: CILIP Information Services Group, 2004. National Audit Office, Government on the web: a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General. London: TSO, 1999 (HC 87, session 1999–2000). Public Accounts Committee (Session 1999–2000), Minutes of evidence, 13 March 2000 in Government on the web: twenty-first report. London: TSO, 2000. Available at: (accessed 19/6/06). See also: Committee of Public Accounts (Session 2001– 02), Improving public services through e-government: fifty-fourth report …. London: TSO, 2002 (HC 845, session 2001–02). Available at: (accessed 4/7/06). The first two years are treated in: David Butcher, ‘Progress on modernising government’ in Modernising government: its impact on information services, ed. Valerie Nurcombe. London: CILIP, ISG, 2002, pp. 7–14. In the same work, other aspects of the programme are discussed in papers by: Karen Lewis, ‘The Centre for Management & Policy Studies’, pp. 26–31; Catherine Murphy, ‘Adding it up: Performance & Innovation Unit after Modernising government’, pp. 32–43. Criticism was voiced in the paper: Eileen Milner, ‘E-government: rhetoric and reality’, pp. 44– 8. A review of progress in Scotland may be found in: Mike Traynor and Robin McLaren, ‘e-Government in Scotland: ticking the box or delivering meaningful services to the citizen?’, at: (accessed 19/6/06). Gloria Evans, Implementing e-Government: an executive report for civil servants and their advisers. Aldershot: Gower, 2003. The e-Envoy described his role in: Alex Allan, ‘Britain and a cyberspace odyssey’, Guardian, Guardian jobs and money, 27 May 2000, 25. Richard Sarson, ‘Second sight: despite Blair’s promises, Sir Humphrey and his friends must be celebrating the departure of Alex Allan, the e-Envoy’, Guardian 14 Sept. 2000; Victor Smart, ‘The shambles of Whitehall: the e-government drive is stalling and there’s doubt it will ever arrive’, Guardian online 16 Aug. 2001. SCOOP news, Refer 19 (2), 2003, 25–6. Jonathan Moules, ‘E-envoy urges better use of technology’, Financial times 8 Sept. 2004, 6; Michael Cross, ‘New head on the block: he’s inherited a target of e-enabling all government services by next year and is very keen on the idea of identity cards. Michael Cross listens as the new head of e-government sets out his agenda’, Guardian, Guardian life 9 Sept. 2004, 18; Michael Cross, ‘Efficiency: the new man’s mantra: security, privacy, self-service government and e-targets: it’s a tough brief for the public sector’s new information chief, Ian Watmore’, Guardian, Guardian e-

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37 38

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43 44 45 46

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British librarianship and information work 2001–2005 public 27 Oct. 2004, 3; Hansard 30 Mar. 2000, col. 203w; Sir Peter Gershon, Releasing resources to the front line: independent review of public sector efficiency. London: HM Treasury, 2004. Further information and a copy of the paper available at: (accessed 4/7/06). Some of the ideas behind eGU are carried forward in: Cabinet Office, Transformational government: enabled by technology, London: TSO, 2005 (Cm 6683); and in: Cabinet Office, Transformational government: implementation plan. Available at: (accessed 4/7/06). SCOOP news, Refer 17 (1), 2001, 21–2. SCOOP news, Refer 17 (2), 2001, 19–20; 18 (1), 2002, 21. Hansard 29 Mar.2001, cols. 781w–782w; SCOOP news, Refer 17 (2), 2001, 21–2. See the OeE website now archived on the Cabinet Office website at: (accessed 3/7/06). SCOOP news, Refer 19 (1), 2003, 25. See: (accessed 26/6/06). An interesting study of the centres is: Department for Education and Skills, UK Online Centres and egovernment by SQW Limited and MORI Social Research Institute (DfES research report RR632) at: (accessed 26/6/06). House of Commons, Committee of Public Accounts (Session 2001–02), Progress in achieving government on the web. 66th report. London: TSO, 2002 (HC936). Available via the PAC pages on the Parliament website: . See also: SCOOP news, Refer 19 (2), 2003, 24. SCOOP news, Refer 18 (3), 2002, 28; National Audit Office, Better public services through e-government. London: TSO, 2002 (HCP (2002–03) 704–I, II, III). OeE, Quality framework for UK government website design. At:

(accessed 19/6/06). At: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2003/20030028.htm> (accessed 19/6/06). See also the BL website at: (accessed 19/6/06). SCOOP news, Refer 20 (3), 2004, 19. See Guardian 2 Sept. 2004; Financial times 31 Aug. 2004. SCOOP news, Refer 20 (2), 2004, 19–20. Michael Cross, ‘Direct to your destination: as the government unveils a new web portal. Michael Cross asks whether it makes access to services any easier for its citizens’, Guardian, Guardian life 4 Mar. 2004, 17. See also: Michael Cross, ‘Year of living dangerously: 2004 marks a huge challenge for the government as e-services are rolled out across many sectors’, Guardian, Guardian life 8 Jan. 2004, 15. E-government investment ‘invisible’ to the taxpayer. Press release 16 July 2004: . Headstar (publishers of E-government bulletin) reported these figures. See SCOOP news, Refer 20 (3), 2004, 20–1. Mark Say, ‘In the video stream’, Government computing Apr. 2003, 21–4; SCOOP news, Refer 19 (2), 23. SCOOP news, Refer 18 (2), 2002, 25. SCOOP news, Refer 18 (1), 2002, 22–3; 18 (2), 2002, 21–3; 18 (3), 2002, 29; Fiona Harvey, ‘Census website is victim of its own success’, Financial times 5/6 Jan. 2002, 5. SCOOP news, Refer 19 (1), 2003, 20.

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David Smith, ‘Department of Health’ in Official publishing past, present, and future, ed. Nurcombe, pp. 69–72; Melanie Riley, ‘Department of Education and Employment’ in Official publishing past, present, and future, ed. Nurcombe, pp. 73– 6. Progress was regularly reported in SCOOP news in Refer. SOCITM and Citizens Advice, ‘Better connected: advice to citizens’, SOCITM insight Oct. 2003. SCOOP news, Refer 20 (1), 2004, 25–6. For example, SCOOP news, Refer 17 (1), 2001, 21–2. At:

(accessed 19/6/06). Alastair Allan, ‘Evaluating government web pages’ in Official publishing past, present, and future, ed. Nurcombe, pp. 52–68. Alan Mather, ‘Key to the Gateway’, Government computing Nov. 2001; Alan Mather, ‘Stand and deliver: Alan Mather talks to Michael Cross about the infrastructure of the Gateway’, Government computing Nov. 2001. The Gateway webpages include an FAQ page. These pages formed part of the OeE site now archived at: (accessed 3/7/06). Hansard 17 Jan. 2001, cols. 330–2; SCOOP news, Refer 17 (2), 2001, 22. Report published 16 Jan. 2001 at . Hansard 28 Mar. 2001, col. 663w; SCOOP news, Refer 17 (2), 2001, 22–3. OeE Annual Report published 4 Dec. 2001 on site archived at: (accessed 3/7/06). The House of Commons Trade and Industry Committee produced a report: Trade and Industry Committee (Session 2000–01), UK Online reviewed: the first annual report of the e-Minister and the e-Envoy. Eighth Report. London: TSO, 2001 (HC66). Available at: (accessed 26/6/06). Hansard, 21 May 2002, col. 250w; SCOOP news, Refer 18 (3), 26. SCOOP news, Refer 19 (2), 2003, 23–4. SCOOP news, Refer 21 (1), 2005, 24. SCOOP news, Refer 20 (2), 2004, 22. Of which 24% were looking for information, 8% for forms, and 6.9% to transact – Hansard 11 Oct. 2004, col. 59w. Hansard 20 July 2004, cols. 154–6; SCOOP news, Refer 21 (1), 2005, 23. Howard Picton, ‘Official publications: print v. digital’, Refer 20 (3), 6–16. SCOOP news regularly covers the topic, for example, Refer 21 (1), 2005, 25. Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, Connecting the UK: the digital strategy. April 2005. At: (accessed 3/7/06). SCOOP news, Refer 20 (2), 2004, 22; 21 (2), 2005, 18. SCOOP news, Refer 18 (1), 2002, 22. SCOOP news, Refer 20 (2), 2004, 25. Liaison Committee, Annual report for 2002 (HC 558 2002–03), 26. Ibid, 27. House of Commons, Parliamentary papers: . Information Committee, Minutes of proceedings, 3 March 2003 (HC 1308 2002–03), 6. Information from the Parliamentary Archives.

292 79

80 81 82

83

84 85

86

87 88 89 90 91 92

93 94

95 96 97

98 99

British librarianship and information work 2001–2005 See Chris Pond, ‘The House of Commons Library and the transfer of resources to electronic form for user self-service, 1979–2004’, Aslib proceedings 57 (4), 2005, 318–32. David Menhennet, The House of Commons Library: a history. 2nd ed., rev. Bob Clements and Chris Pond. London: TSO, 2000. The early history of the House of Commons Library, ed. Chris Pond. London: TSO, 2001. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Two years on: realising the benefits from our investment in e-government : the national strategy for local e-government. London: ODPM, 2005. Also available at: under Strategy. Cabinet Office, e-Government Unit, Service design and delivery guide. Available at: . See summary of this area in Refer 21 (2), 15. The National Audit Office reviewed progress in Better public services through e-government. London: Stationery Office, 2002. 3 v. (HCP 2002–02; 704–I, II, III). Hansard 17 Nov. 2004, col. 1618w and 16 Nov. 2004, cols. 1417–19w. See also Refer 21 (1), 2005, 27. Refer 16 (3), 2000. International road haulage, Road traffic statistics, Transport of goods by road, Seaborne trade statistics, Vehicle licensing statistics were all cited as no longer available in 2000, other than by telephoning the appropriate individual for each specific table in question. Refer 17 (1), 2001, 19. When ODPM in its turn was abolished (May 2006) some of the lessons had been learned and the content of the new department has so far remained similar and continuous with its predecessor. Howard Picton, ‘Official publications: print v. digital’, Refer 20 (1), 2004, 20. Refer 19 (1), 2003, 26. Refer 19 (3), 2003, 26. Refer 19 (3), 2003, 26. Refer 18 (1), 2002, 25 and 18 (2), 2002, 24. Review of government information at: . See also Refer 17 (3), 2001, 21–2. A document to fail at this time, for cost reasons, was the government’s Annual report introduced after the election of 1997: 1997–98 (30/7/98); 1998–99 (26/7/99) 1999–2000 (13/7/00). Other problems with publications included the Minister apologizing to the House acknowledging that the document from the National Audit Office, PFI and value for money, referred to in the answer to a Parliamentary Question, had never actually been produced by that office. Refer 18 (2), 2002, 26. Richard Cheffins, ‘Problems in the bibliographic control of government publications’, Managing information 8 (2), 2002, 48–52; Maewyn Cummings and Lucy Cuthbertson, ‘Wired in Whitehall: a survey of internet and intranet use in government’, Aslib proceedings 53 (1), 2001, 32–8. See SCOOP news, Refer 17 (1), 2001, 18. Directgov: . In 2003 the CSYB was relaunched by TSO as an online publication (and the CD version gradually phased out). This became searchable and updated. was now to be published twice a year with the same full details it had always had. Refer 19 (2), 2003, 20. Available at: . See Refer 21 (1), 2005, 26.

British and European Union official publications 100 101 102 103

104 105 106

107 108 109 110 111 112

113

114

115 116

117 118

119

293

Scottish Working Party on Official Publications – referred to in and appended to most minutes. See Refer 21 (1), 2005, 28. APPSI, 1st annual report, 2004: at . See also Refer 20 (3), 2004, 17. See first annual report, 19 July 2001, at: . See . Available as a searchable PDF from: . See Refer 19 (1), 2003, 20 and Valerie J. Nurcombe (ed.), Official statistics in the UK: proceedings of the seminar on 7 February 2005. London: Information Services Group, 2005. . Refer 19 (1), 2003, 21. . Department for Constitutional Affairs, Manifesto – for a new Department: . Press release 28 July 2000 at: . Taken from the database at: according to the front page of the 2005 database – by May 2006 this had changed to but with the proviso that the Public bodies database had ceased to exist 1 April 2006 and there would be no further volumes. This was only found while researching this article. The site aforementioned contained no Press release, just a terse note referring to the 2005 edition and changes in October 2005. Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, Strong local leadership: quality public services: the way forward. London: Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, 2001. Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, Access to information in local government: a consultation paper on aspects of the access to information regime for local authorities in England. London: Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, 2001. Freedom of Information Act 2000. London: TSO, 2000. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Defining e-government outcomes for 2005 to support the delivery of priority services and national strategy transformation agenda for local authorities in England. Version 1.0. London: ODPM, 2005. SOCITM, Better connected? A snapshot of all local authority websites 2005. Northampton: SOCITM Insight, 2005. SOCITM, Better connected? A year 2000 snapshot of local authority websites. Northampton: SOCITM, 2000; SOCITM, Better connected 2001? A snapshot of local authority websites. Northampton: SOCITM, 2001; Better connected 2002? A snapshot of all local authority websites. Northampton: SOCITM, 2002; Better connected 2003: a snapshot of all local authority websites. Northampton: SOCITM, 2003; Better connected 2004: a snapshot of all local authority websites. Northampton: SOCITM, 2004. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister National strategy for local e-government London: ODPM, 2002; Office of the Deputy Prime Minister National strategy for local e-government: one year on. London: ODPM, 2003; Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Two years on: realising the benefits from our investment in e-gov report. London: ODPM, 2005.

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120 esd-toolkit: (accessed 20/5/06). 121 Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Local e-gov: (accessed 22/5/06). 122 ESD-Toolkit, What are all these lists? A brief overview of controlled lists maintained by esd-toolkit and their role in local government: . 123 Office of the e-Envoy, Guidelines for UK government websites: framework for local government. London: Office of the e-Envoy, 2003. 124 Office of the e-Envoy, Illustrated handbook for web management teams. London: Office of the e-Envoy, 2003. 125 Cabinet Office, e-Government Unit, IPSV: Integrated Public Sector Vocabulary. Version 2.0: (accessed 22/5/06). 126 David Butcher and Valerie Nurcombe, ‘Publication schemes: access to official information in the 21st century’, Refer 20 (1), 2004, 14–17. 127 Office of the Information Commissioner: (accessed 1/6/06). 128 Valerie J Nurcombe (ed.), Publication schemes: access to official information in the 21st century. Proceedings of a one day seminar 17 November 2003. Winsford: ISG Publications, 2004. 129 Improvement and Development Agency, Freedom of Information: the first six months. The experience of local authorities in England: Briefing paper on the impact of the Freedom of Information Act on local authorities and recommendations for good practice. London: Improvement and Development Agency, 2005. 130 Christopher Bettiss and Sarah Holsen, Freedom of information in the first six months: the FOI practitioner’s perspective. Third annual information conference for the public sector: FOI Live delegate survey September 2005. 131 House of Commons Library, An introduction to devolution in the UK. 2003 (House of Commons research paper; 03/84). Available at: (accessed 19/6/06). 132 DevWeb – the internet’s only guide to UK devolution: (accessed 19/6/06). Examples of library guides include: Glasgow University Library, United Kingdom official publications collection: (accessed 19/6/06); Napier University, Edinburgh, Official publications: (accessed 19/6/06). 133 Richard Cheffins, How to find information: official publications. London: British Library, 2004, 46–52. 134 John Moore and Kay Munro, Scottish official publications: an introduction and guide. Norwich: TSO, 2001. 135 Scottish Working Group on Official Publications (SWOP): (accessed 19/6/06). 136 The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. Edinburgh: TSO, 2002; Scottish Information Commissioner: (accessed 19/6/06). 137 Scottish Executive, The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 – One year on: a consultation: (accessed 21/6/06). 138 Scottish Parliament and Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, Publication scheme. Edinburgh: TSO, 2004; Janet Seaton, ‘Freedom of information: the view from the Scottish Parliament’ in Publication schemes, ed. Nurcombe, pp. 28–32.

British and European Union official publications 139

140 141 142 143 144 145

146

147 148 149

150 151 152 153 154

155 156

157

158

159 160

295

Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe), Research briefings: (accessed 21/6/06). Listed by subject or chronologically. Paul Anderson, ‘Retention policy guidelines for Scottish Parliament material’, Refer 18 (2), 2002, 11–13. Jane Inman, ‘Scottish official publishing’, Refer 20 (3), 2004, 18. Office of the Queen’s Printer for Scotland, About OQPS: (accessed 21/6/06). Scottish Working Group on Official Publications (SWOP), Scottish official weekly listing: (accessed 21/6/06). Scottish Executive, A note on Scottish Executive publications: (accessed 21/6/06). Cardiff Law School, Wales legislation online: (accessed 21/6/06). Individual pieces of legislation are linked to the OPSI legislation website for full text. Commission on the Powers and Electoral Arrangements of the National Assembly for Wales, Report of the Richard Commission: (accessed 21/6/06). Wales Office, Better governance for Wales. London: TSO, 2005 (Cm 6582); Government of Wales Bill 2005. London: TSO, 2005 (HC Bills 100 2005–06). National Assembly for Wales, Publications: (accessed 21/6/06). National Assembly for Wales, Assembly weekly information bulletin: (accessed 21/ 6/06). National Assembly for Wales, Papers produced by the Members’ Research Service: (accessed 21/6/06). National Assembly for Wales, Information Link: (accessed 21/6/06). Robin Wilson (ed.), Agreeing to disagree: a guide to the Northern Ireland Assembly. London: TSO, 2001. Northern Ireland Assembly, Official report (Hansard): (accessed 21/6/06). Printed volumes available from TSO. Northern Ireland Assembly, Committees of the Assembly: (accessed 21/6/06). Printed committee reports available from TSO. Northern Ireland Assembly, Research & Library reports and factsheets: (accessed 21/6/06). Office of Public Sector Information, Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly: ; Explanatory notes to Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly: (accessed 21/6/06). Cabinet Office and Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, Your region, your choice: revitalising the English regions. London: TSO, 2002 (Cm 5511). A summary of government policies on the regions and the proposed responsibilities of elected regional assemblies can be found in UK 2005: the official yearbook of the United Kingdom. London: TSO, 2004, pp. 12–15. Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Act 2003. London: TSO, 2003. Jane Inman, ‘Making sense of regional government and keeping track of its publications’, Refer 18 (3), 2002, 1–5; English Regions Network, Regional

296

161 162 163 164

165

166 167

168

169 170

171

172 173 174 175

176 177

178

British librarianship and information work 2001–2005 Assemblies: the facts: (accessed 21/6/06). ‘Regional government’, Refer 19 (3), 2003, 27. ‘Not the devolved assemblies’, Refer 17 (2), 2001, 24 and 17 (3), 2002, 27. Greater London Authority, Mayoral and Assembly election results 2004: (accessed 21/6/06). The Greater London Authority: the Government’s proposals for additional powers and responsibilities for the Mayor and Assembly: consultation paper: (accessed 21/6/06). The Metropolitan Police Authority, London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, Transport for London and London Development Agency each has its own website with links from the GLA site . Greater London Authority, Publication list: (accessed 21/6/06). Greater London Authority, Mayor’s publications: ; London Assembly publications: (both accessed 21/6/06). Timothy Bainbridge, ‘Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union’, European access 3, June 2001, 11–15; European Commission, ‘Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, April 2001’, Bulletin of the European Union 12, Dec. 2000, 171–7. European Union, Treaty of Nice. EC, 2001. Desmond Dinan, ‘ Governance and institutions: the Convention and the Intergovernmental Conference’, Journal of Common Market studies 42, Annual Review, 2004, 27–42. European Union, Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. EC, 2005; Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe: commentary. London: TSO, 2005 (Cm 6459). European Commission, Communication from the Commission … Internet domain name system – creating the .EU top level domain. EC, 2000 (COM (2000) 421 final). Official journal of the European Union, L & C (daily), EC (previously entitled Official journal of the European Communities). Directory of Community legislation in force and other acts of Community legislation. EC. Six-monthly. Ceased in print following 41st ed., 2003. Michael Cashman, ‘Reforming the institutions: public access to EU documents’, European information 13, Jan. 2001, 22–3; European Union, Access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents: a user’s guide. EC, 2002; Regulation (EC) no.1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, Official journal of the European Union, L 145, 31 May 2001, 43–8. European Union, Treaty of Amsterdam. EC, 1997. Tony Bunyan, ‘Secrecy and openness in the European Union: the ongoing struggle for freedom of information’, European journal 10 (1), 2002, 15; ‘Openness and transparency in the EU institutions: access to documents’, European access 3, June 2001, 11–15. European Commission, Report of the Commission on the application in 2002 of Regulation (EC) no.1049/2001 of the European Parliament and the Council regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents. EC, 2003 (COM (2003) 216 final); Laurie Salemohamed, ‘The institutions’ registers’, Focus (EIA), June 2003, 7, 9.

British and European Union official publications 179

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Carl F. Bergstrom, Comitology: delegation of powers in the European Union and the committee system. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005; European Commission, Report from the Commission on the working of committees during 2004. EC, 2005 (COM (2005) 554 final). 180 Dermot Hodson and Imelda Maher, ‘The open method as a new mode of governance: the case of soft economic policy’, Journal of Common Market studies 39 (4), 2001, 719–46; Ian Thomson, ‘The information implications of alternative regulatory mechanisms and recent administrative reform at the European level’ in Accessing EU documents: new initiatives and developments from the EU institutions. Proceedings of a one day seminar held in London at CILIP, 9 June 2003, organised jointly with the European Information Association, ed. Valerie J. Nurcombe. Winsford: SCOOP, 2003, pp. 3–21. 181 European Commission, DG Internal Market, Financial services: initial report of the Committee of Wise Men on the regulation of the European security markets. EC, 2000. Chair: Alexandre Lamfalussy; Inter-Institutional Monitoring Group, First interim report monitoring the new process for regulating securities markets in Europe (The Lamfalussy Process). EC, 2003; European Commission, DG Internal Market, Lamfalussy report: summary of responses to the consultation organized by the European Commission. EC, 2005. 182 European Parliament, ‘Resolution on the implementation of financial services legislation’, Official journal of the European Union, C 284E, 21 Nov. 2002, 115. 183 European Commission, Communication from the Commission … Action plan ‘Simplifying and improving the regulatory environment’. EC, 2002 (COM (2002) 278 final); European Commission, Communication from the Commission … simplifying and improving the regulatory environment. EC, 2001 (COM (2001) 726 final). 184 European Commission, Commission report to the European Council. Better lawmaking 2001 (pursuant to Article 9 of the Protocol to the EC Treaty on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality). EC, 2001 (COM (2001) 728 final); European Commission, Communication from the Commission…European governance: better lawmaking. EC, 2002 (COM (2002) 275 final). 185 European Commission, Communication from the Commission … codification of the acquis communautaire. EC, 2001 (COM (2001) 645 final). 186 European Commission, Secretariat General, Impact assessment in the European Commission. EC, 2004. 187 European Commission, DG Internal Market, Interactive policy making (IPM). EC, 2001. 188 Mike Cuthbertson et al., ‘r.cade: The Resource Centre for Access to Data on Europe: creating a resource on Europe for UK academic researchers’, European urban and regional studies, 8 (4), 2001, 371–81. 189 ‘50 ways to improve communication’, Focus (EIA) Sept. 2005, 1–3; ‘Communicating Europe’, Focus (EIA) Mar. 2005, 1–3; European Commission, Communication from the Commission … The Commission’s contribution to the period of reflection and beyond – Plan-D for democracy, dialogue and debate. EC, 2005 (COM (2005) 494 final); European Commission, Communication on a new framework for cooperation on activities concerning the information and communication policy of the European Union. EC, 2001 (COM (2001) 354 final); European Commission, Communication on an information and communication strategy for the European Union. EC, 2002 (COM (2002) 350 final); European Commission, Communication on implementing the information and communication strategy for the European Union. (COM (2004) 196

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British librarianship and information work 2001–2005 final); Elizabeth Holt, ‘Information and communication in the enlarged EU’, Focus (EIA) May 2004, 4–5; Janet Royall, ‘E-Europe and the European Commission’s new information and communication policy’, European information 19, July 2002, 19–23; ‘Some thoughts on the Commission’s new information and communication strategy’, European information 20, Oct. 2002, 16–22. UK European Information Review Group, Concluding report – July 2002. EC Representation in the UK, 2002. Patrick Overy, ‘European Documentation Centres – a neglected network?’, European information 17, Jan. 2002, 23–5. Catherine Webb, ‘The EDC exchange scheme 2001’, European information 14, Apr. 2001, 15–16. Eric Davies, ‘Confusion over Europe Direct’, Focus (EIA) June 2005, 1–2. Norman S. Newton, ‘EPICs and the People’s Network’, European information 19, July 2002, 24–5. Bulletin of the European Communities. EC, 1968–1993. Monthly; continued as Bulletin of the European Union. EC, 1994– . Monthly. European Commission, General report on the activities of the European Union. EC. Annual. Eric Davies, Eurojargon: a dictionary of European Union acronyms, abbreviations and terminology. 7th ed. Manchester: EIA, 2003 (EIA quick guides); ‘The European Union: annual review of the EU’, Journal of Common Market studies (annual special issue); Christiane Mauwet (ed.), The guide to EU information sources on the internet. 2nd ed. Genval: Euroconfidentiel, 2002; Patrick Overy, European Union information: an introduction. Manchester: EIA, 2002; Publications Office, General catalogue of publications 2005. EC, 2005. European Commission, Communication from the Commission … i2010: Digital libraries. EC, 2005 (COM (2005) 465 final); ‘Promoting digital libraries’, Focus (EIA) Nov. 2005, 1–3.

19

Patents Stephen Adams

Introduction A simple introduction to patent information is provided by the current author in chapter 11 of the handbook edited by Bradley, especially at Appendix 1.1 In late 2005, the first edition of Information sources in patents, published in the BowkerSaur series ‘Guides to information sources’,2 was finally replaced by a completely rewritten book, which was able to incorporate many of the internet-related developments since the earlier version.3 As discussed in the chapter on patents in the previous volume in this series, the majority of industrialized countries now operate a system of dual publication, comprising an unexamined patent application at 18 months after the priority date, followed by the examined patent document, which may appear several years later. One of the most recent countries to convert to this method – and the most significant in terms of volume of documents published – is the United States. From March 2001 the US commenced publication of its pending patent applications at 18 months. However, although superficially similar to the corresponding publications from other countries, the US practice deviated significantly in some areas. For a review of the information implications of this, see the current author’s article in World patent information.4 Patents and patent information in the United Kingdom Most of the changes to patent information are addressed under different sections of this text, notably under ‘National and international legislative changes’ and ‘Key changes in products and services’. However, it is worth noting at this point that the European Patent Office continued to expand over the five years in question. At the beginning of the period under review, the European Patent Office had 19 members, including the United Kingdom, plus 6 extension states. Between January 2000 and December 2004 a further 11 countries joined, of which 8 (Turkey, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Iceland) were full members, and 3 (Croatia, Serbia–Montenegro and Bosnia–Herzegovina) were extension states, which recognized European Patents on their territory. Three of the existing extension states converted into full members (Slovenia, Romania and Lithuania). This meant that by the end of 2004 a British applicant could use a single applica-

300

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tion procedure to obtain protection in up to 30 countries across Europe, plus 6 extension states. The reciprocal rights were also true: applicants in any one of these 30 countries could use the European system to obtain patent protection in the United Kingdom. It thus became even more necessary to ensure that European Patent sources were consulted when attempting to establish the protection pertaining to an invention which was marketed in Britain. A new part of the Patent Office website was launched in March 2004, providing a listing of the Commonwealth countries, Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories in which United Kingdom patent protection could be reregistered.5 National and international legislative changes The year 2000 was initially set as the deadline under the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS Agreement, by which point member states, including developing countries, were expected to have implemented the necessary changes in their national patent regime to ensure compliance with the TRIPS minimum standards. Although there was significant progress, the late 1990s also saw increasing concern about HIV/AIDS in many countries, with a corresponding concern over the implications for access to patented drugs for treatment. Developing countries felt that faced with such a public health emergency, they could not be expected to impose Western standards of monopoly protection on life-saving technologies. Partly as a result of this, the WTO member states issued the Doha declaration, under which least-developed countries were given until 2016 to implement the required changes in their intellectual property laws.6 In the intervening period, it was to be hoped that these difficult conflicts of interest could be addressed. After an extended gestation period, the EU issued a Directive in 1998 on policy for handling biotechnological inventions,7 which was implemented in UK law by Statutory Instrument between 2000 and 2002.8 There was no substantive change in the nature of what could be patented in the UK as a result of this Directive. However, the first of the implementing Statutory Instruments involved the modification of section 60 of the Patents Act 1977, which defines infringement. The new definition allowed farmers to retain, for re-use on their own land, the seed from a small range of specified plant species, without infringing intellectual property rights (including patents and plant variety rights) which might be held in such seed. This important derogation illustrates some of the hugely complex and controversial background to international law on trade in biological material. For one viewpoint, that of the developing countries, the reader is referred to the book by Bellmann et al.9 The UK government approach to these issues can be found in the work of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Commission, which was supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and published in their final report in 2002.10 Following the 1998 conference mentioned in the previous volume of this series, a further UK Patent Office consultation was held in autumn 2000 on aspects of software and business method patents. This resulted in a recommendation for no

Patents

301

immediate change. Business methods continued to be unpatentable under UK law, and software was only patentable when a distinct ‘technical effect’ could be demonstrated. Further public consultations and workshops took place in 2004 and 2005, as the EU draft Directive continued to progress slowly through its procedural stages.11 The Patents Act 2004 made some significant changes to the Patents Act 1977.12 It received royal assent on 22 July 2004 and some minor provisions entered into force on 22 September 2004, by Statutory Instrument.13 The first major aspects to come into force affected entitlement proceedings (where there is a dispute about the inventorship or ownership of the invention), restrictions on filing abroad, employee compensation, enforcement of damages and various aspects of infringement proceedings.14 The most significant of these from the information point of view was the filing restrictions: it now became permissible for a UK national or UK resident company to file for patent protection outside of the United Kingdom without first filing within the UK. This could have a bearing on the priority country of record for many cases filed by multinational companies, and consequently on the structure of patent families in databases. The most innovative change, enacted by a later Commencement Order,15 introduced a new service of the Patent Office, the so-called ‘non-binding Opinion’. This was a process of legal hearing on questions of validity or infringement, designed to help parties in dispute to test the strength of their arguments at the Patent Office before (or instead of) resorting to litigation before the courts. A new set of procedural rules was also introduced at the same time.16 The Community Patent had long been proposed and discussed, as a means of providing for a genuine transnational protection mechanism within the trading territory of the EU. The EU published a draft Regulation in 2000, which was not progressed further.17 The Competitiveness Council reached a so-called Common Political Approach during 2003, but this eventually foundered on the major issues of translation and – to a lesser extent – the mechanism of litigation. The latest move was in the form of a new proposed Council Regulation.18 In October 2000 there was an inter-governmental conference in London which concluded with the signing of the so-called ‘London Agreement’, a measure to reduce the costs of translation under the existing EPO system.19 At the time of writing, this Agreement had not yet entered into force, but in the view of some industry commentators it had addressed one of the key weaknesses of the EPO system, namely the cost of translating the granted patent into all the official languages of the designated states. The United Kingdom implemented the Agreement by means of the Patent (Translations) Rules 2005,20 which would cause section 77(6) of the Patents Act 1977 to cease to have effect on the day when the Agreement entered into force. Work was also underway to address the difficulties inherent in litigating a European Patent issued under the current system. The intergovernmental conference of 1999 mandated a Working Party on Litigation to prepare a draft text for an optional protocol to the European Patent Convention, in the form of a European

302

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Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA). This draft agreement was published in 2004.21 If both the EPLA and the London Agreement were to enter into force, it would render the need for a parallel Community Patent less acute, if not entirely redundant. The interaction between national and international legislation is illustrated by the introduction of an amendment22 to the UK Patents Act 1977 to take account of the requirements of the WIPO-administered Patent Law Treaty (PLT), adopted in Geneva in 2000. The PLT essentially laid out a set of model procedures and forms, in the hope that as individual countries adopted this pattern, it would streamline administration of world-wide patenting. The British Patent Office The process of moving to modern methods of doing business started with the MIPEX project in 1996, which was discussed in the chapter in the earlier volume. By 2000 the Patent Office was reporting that over 60% of patent renewal fees were being received electronically, although progress towards electronic filing of patent applications was slower than anticipated.23 It was not until early 2004 that the Office finally adopted the EPO’s epoline® software suite for electronic filing of patent applications, and had successfully received its first online filing. The Patent Office website expanded as a search tool during the period. At the formal launch of the European Patent Office’s esp@cenet® search service in 1999, the UK Patent Office’s contribution consisted of a small searchable file of unexamined British patent applications (the so-called Level 1 server under esp@cenet). Initially, member states of the EPO committed themselves to loading a running 2-year search file, with older material being removed and replaced by newer material on a continuous basis. However, many offices, including the British, decided to leave the older material in place, and even to expand it by loading a backfile. By the end of 2005, all United Kingdom unexamined applications published under the 1977 Act were available for search by basic bibliographic data fields. In addition, the legal status registers for patents, designs and trade marks became available on the Patent Office website. A search facility for designs, including the key images, was also implemented by 2000. In December 2000 the website was relaunched with a new design. The search features now included text and proprietor search for trade marks, and a separate search section relating to Supplementary Protection Certificates issued by the UK Patent Office. In 2002 the UK Patent Office celebrated its 150th anniversary, having being founded on 1 October 1852 as a consequence of the Patent Law Amendment Act which abolished separate Irish and Scottish systems and created a single patent system for the United Kingdom.24 The Patent Office Library was originally opened to the public in 1855, later successively becoming part of the British Museum Library, the National Reference Library for Science and Invention, the Science Reference Library and, in 1973, the British Library. Its stocks were now principally held in the St Pancras building in London.

Patents

303

The work of the British Patent Office had for many years included an education element, but mainly aimed at small inventors and local industry. In 2003 a package of materials was launched under the title of the ‘THINK Kit’®, which was aimed at schoolchildren in the 14–16 years age group.25 It was very well received, by both pupils and teachers, despite the time constraints imposed on optional modules by the demands of the national curriculum (by 2005, it was estimated that 70% of secondary schools had requested a copy). During the same year, increased emphasis was placed on the understanding of the patent system by small industries. This was promoted with the launch of the Innovation Logbook, a simple recordkeeping mechanism to help ensure that companies did not lose control of their intellectual property by premature disclosure or though being unable to prove records of inventorship.26 It is interesting to observe that by 2003 some 24% of all applications filed at the UK Patent Office were lodged by private individuals, unrepresented by a patent agent – this mechanism is allowed for in British law, which does not require that patent applicants make use of a qualified agent or attorney, but may represent themselves at all stages. The Patent Office indicated that a special unit had been set up to handle this class of applications. On 1 January 2004 the UK Patent Office welcomed a new Chief Executive, Ron Marchant. His predecessor, Alison Brimelow, was appointed to the post of President of the European Patent Office. In an unusual move, it was decided to split the normal six-year presidential term between the two leading candidates, with each person taking a three-year term. Although not due to take up the appointment until 2007, Ms Brimelow decided to relinquish the post of Chief Executive of the British office early.

Table 1 2000–2004 UK Patent Office statistics

Calendar year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

UK patent applications filed

UK patent applications published (GB-A)

UK patents granted (GB-B)

31,412

12,517

8,253

30,576 29,911 29,835 28,223

12,103 13,562 13,089 12,993

7,555 8,690 9,761 10,541

The number of applications filed at the Office, published unexamined at 18 months and granted, for each calendar year, is shown in Table 1. The trend was for a reduction in applications filed directly, but an increase in patents granted. This was partly due to new working practices which enabled the Office to tackle its backlog of cases. The reduction in new applications filed does not necessarily

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mean fewer inventions were being protected; a substantial proportion of patent rights valid in the UK were by means of European Patents, which showed no signs of abating. Unfortunately, the Office appears to have ceased publishing in its Annual report any specific figures on the numbers of European Patent translations lodged in the UK, which is a partial measure of the EPO rights entering into force in the UK. Approximately 60% of granted European Patents were published in English, and did not require translations to be lodged before entering into force. British sources of patent information As mentioned in the earlier chapter of this review, there are few truly ‘homegrown’ sources of patent information. This is due in part to the dominance of the United States in the electronic information industry as a whole, but also to the international demands of patenting, and intellectual property in general. There are only limited occasions when a single country’s information on protection of intellectual property (IP) rights is adequate: for all patentability searches, for example, it becomes necessary to consult sources beyond national boundaries to get the complete picture. However, the period under review did yield at least two databases implemented by UK organizations. The first was the Intellectual Property Case Search System (IpCass), launched by the UK Patent Office in 2003 in association with the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS). It was designed for use by enforcement agencies, and provided an index to IP court cases in the United Kingdom. Each record includes a summary of the case using language which is understandable for non-lawyers, accompanied by the full citation for each case. The IpCass database was intended to be a tool for investigating and prosecuting IP crime.27 The second major British tool was PatBase, designed and launched by Minesoft Ltd and RWS Group, both London-based companies.28 The search system contained bibliographic information from over 70 countries around the world, with the earliest coverage dating from the early 1900s. In addition, full text information was available from six different authorities. The family records were unusual in that they combined classification information from several different systems into a single record, allowing a breadth of retrieval which is not available in singlecountry files. It was still, at the time of writing, a relatively new tool, but had been well received in the profession as the first major new search tool (in the sense of both the data and search engine being totally new) to emerge for many years. Sadly, the period under review also saw the loss of one significant source of information. The advent of the internet significantly affected the economics of all document supply systems, including patents which, being copyright-free, were particularly susceptible to the creation of new distribution channels. The British Library’s Patent Express service, known for many years as a source of quality documents, finally closed in mid-2002,29 barely 18 months after the completion of a major Digital Patents Archive to house the specifications being published on CDROM and DVD-ROM. It continued to be possible to purchase patents via the

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British Library, but the service was run within the normal Document Supply Service, preferably via ARTTel or ARTWeb. The importance of document delivery was not, however, declining overall, as evidenced by the launch in 2001 of the ChemPort service, a web-based link into established full-text delivery mechanisms from within the Chemical abstracts suite of bibliographic databases loaded on STN. International sources of patent information The period under review saw a substantial number of mergers and acquisitions, many of them involving the Thomson Corporation. One product which made the transition from internal tool to public product was the original IBM Patent Server. This was originally designed as a search tool within IBM, then released as a public search tool providing access to US patents only. During the next few years, it first expanded to become the IBM Intellectual Property Network (adding Japanese abstracts, PCT texts and European Patents to the collection), then was spun off as Delphion Inc. and started to add more sophisticated search features and charged-for premium files, including the Thomson Derwent World Patent Index. By December 2002, it had attracted the attention of Thomson Corporation, who bought the company. Earlier the same year Wila Verlag, a long-established publisher of German-language current awareness bulletins in the patents field, was merged with Derwent, to become part of the Thomson stable, and the Current Drugs group of companies, including Current Patents Ltd, producers of the pharmaceutical patent database DOLPHIN, was also purchased by Thomson. In early 2004, the biological database BIOSIS was purchased and integrated into the ISI wing of Thomson, bringing more non-patent literature into the product mix. Finally, in late 2004– early 2005 IHI Holdings, the parent company of MicroPatent, was also bought by Thomson, bringing with it not only the MicroPatent PatentWeb search tool, but also the assets of Aurigin Inc, a company specializing in patent data visualization tools which had been acquired by MicroPatent from the bankruptcy courts in early 2002. This sequence of mergers and acquisitions caused some concern in the industry, particularly as it meant that the two major web-based search engines – Delphion and PatentWeb – were owned by the same parent.30 However, at the time of writing, there did not appear to be any plan to merge the services. One non-Thomson acquisition was the purchase in early 2005 of Univentio, a producer specializing in full text and machine-translated files of national patents, by Lexis-Nexis, part of the Elsevier group. Key changes in products and services In March 2000, the Dialog Corporation was purchased by Thomson. This did not immediately affect the services offered by this host system, but did mark the beginning of its renaissance in the science and technology field – during its ownership by Knight-Ridder, it had been concentrated on news and business information. A number of new services were launched in 2000. From the patent offices, the PAIR legal status website first emerged from the US Patent and

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Trademark Office. Numerous other smaller patent offices started to create basic search tools or simple electronic gazettes, including the patent offices of Bulgaria, Brazil, Romania and Thailand in 2000 alone: the scope of expansion over the five years can be gauged by referring to the extensive list of links produced by the British Library, dedicated to the patents field.31 The European Patent Office began to test an internet-based version of its own legal status register, which had been available for many years by a direct X25 connection to its computer in The Hague. This project was eventually to blossom into the epoline® system, incorporating scanned images of correspondence files and a much more sophisticated access to the basic register entries.32 The Patolis Corporation in Japan, which had only recently emerged into the private sector from quasi-government status, invested heavily in producing an English-language interface for its established Japanese patent search engine (Patolis-e), which was launched in April 2000.33 In the academic sector, the University of Ilmenau in Germany loaded the GlobalPat CDROM product on to its web servers as part of the established PATON service. Work by the established hosts also continued in the area of adapting their command line systems to a new generation of web-based searchers. The QuestelOrbit organization first launched QWEB, a new product which departed from the previous policy of merely providing TCP/IP communication links and a command line run inside a browser window. The QWEB product was designed from the outset to be suited to browser searchers, and provided access to a subset of the Questel-Orbit database suite. The professional tool, meanwhile, saw a lot of changes in command structure as the Intellectual Property Gold (IPG) project tackled the problem of merging the best of the former Questel and Orbit platforms, Questel having purchased Orbit back in 1994, but run the two systems in parallel for several years.34 During 2000, a management buy-out was completed, leaving France Telecom holding only 20% of the stock, and releasing the company to develop a very specialist expertise in intellectual property searching. One of the first fruits of this development was the release of the PlusPat file, based on the EPO’s own EDOC file, but with added elements from other files. As one of the largest files available for prior art searching, in terms of country coverage, it quickly established a place in the armoury of many patent searchers. Producers of established files also introduced some major changes in 2000. The Derwent WPI file was reorganized, with new structured abstracts and – for the first time – a direct search engine based on chemical structures to provide alternative access routes to the file. The Derwent Chemistry Resource represented a move away from the complex text-based coding systems to search chemical structures, and towards a topographical system similar to that used for searching the Chemical Abstracts Registry® file. Chemical Abstracts Service themselves initiated the first of a number of projects to expand their older backfile, by releasing patent number fields for the 1907–1966 data set. They also started to use machine-translated abstracts as a means of accelerating the editorial process, and reducing the time-lag between document publication and availability in the search file, with value-added indexing. MicroPatent, best known for the PatentWeb search tool, also started to

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license its proprietary data, including a search file of the full texts of some PCT international patent applications, created by OCR of the paper originals. This file (PCTFull) was launched on STN and Dialog in early 2000, but was subsequently withdrawn owing to contractual difficulties. It was replaced by a similar file from the Dutch producer Univentio in 2002. A significant trend during the period was the loading of further full text files on all three of the major commercial hosts, including full texts of European Patents and national patents from Britain, France and Germany. Equally important in the specialist pharmaceutical area was the continued development of databases covering genetic sequence information, such as the PCTGEN database on STN, containing genetic sequences appearing in PCT international patent applications. The major development of 2001 was the introduction of United States early published documents, which created considerable difficulties for database producers, in terms of both volume of documents and the data formats adopted by the USPTO. For the first time, a major new set of patent documents was being issued in which the electronic release constituted the actual record of publication: there was no corresponding Gazette for these documents. Initially released from 15 March 2001, volume quickly rose to several thousand per week, creating large workloads for the editorial departments at database producers around the world. Volume of production was also the driving force behind the migration of a number of disk-based products from CD-ROM to higher capacity DVD-ROM; before it was completed, the EPO’s facsimile disk product covering PCT international applications was producing up to five CDs per week in order to contain the rate of publication. This migration also required a lot of technical development in the MIMOSA interface software for searching the disks. The esp@cenet service continued to flourish during 2001. After its launch in 1999, the commercial sector asked the EPO for a more formal route of communication, leading to the PATCOM committee.35 This was designed to improve links between the EPO and the commercial information producers, ensuring better compatibility of products and services. With many patent offices providing information free, the commercial sector had to prove that its premium products were capable of producing better and more relevant results to key industry users, whilst recognizing that free-of-charge products have their place in the market, particularly for small inventors with limited information budgets. Version 3 of the esp@cenet interface was launched in November 2003, incorporating new INPADOC legal status data and a different family record structure. As an alternative to the EPO-built service, the EPO also started to provide direct access to XML data streams, in the form of the OPS (Open Patent Services), allowing users to write their own interfaces to the data. One of the earliest products to take advantage of this service was Minesoft’s Patent Family Portal, launched in 2003. To add to the range of solutions available, the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA) launched the DepatisNet service in 2001 with both German and English interfaces.36 The acquisitions of Thomson, parent company of Derwent, resulted in a

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development of some of the niche products, addressing specific industry sectors. At the time of taking over Current drugs, the DOLPHIN database of pharmaceutical patents had been in late beta-test, and saw many changes as a result of merger with the IDdb product and other sources of industry data: the new identity was a web-based product called Thomson Pharma. Derwent also attempted to launch specialist ‘Web of …’ search engines in the fields of software and nanotechnology (respectively called Web of Software and Web of Nanotechnology). The characteristic of these products was the attempt to leverage Thomson’s patent and non-patent literature holdings within one tool; for example, Web of Software included a subset of US granted patents in the software field (defined by US classification), some 2,000 journals from ISI’s Web of Science, a further 1,000 journal records from Gale (also part of the Thomson group) and peer-reviewed website links. Despite the effort expended in creating these products, neither attracted sufficient customers to continue, and both had disappeared from the portfolio of Thomson products by 2005. Research continued into information systems with specific patent uses. One such was WISPER (Worldwide Intelligence in Semantic Patent Extraction and Retrieval), launched in 2002, partly funded by the EU.37 It was not clear how this project had developed, but some of the partners included the French company TEMIS, still active in patent information management systems, and Synthema, an Italian company which marketed a data-mining tool originally developed by IBM and related to the visualization tools in Delphion. The same year, WIPO started a prototype full-text search of its PCT international applications, which eventually became the PatentScope service launched in late 2005. A major change in search techniques was due to be introduced on 1 January 2005, in the form of the revised International Patent Classification.38 The new scheme proved rather more complex than anticipated, however, and the decision was made in February 2004 to defer the launch for one year, until 1 January 2006. At the end of the period under review, a second major change in the Derwent WPI file was introduced, in the form of WPI FirstView, a fast-alerting companion file to WPI containing basic bibliographic details for a limited number of patenting authorities, with English language titles and abstract for major authorities, some of which are machine-translated for speed of processing. The concept was to produce an ‘in-process’ file for very recent material with minimal bibliographic data; all records were transferred to the parent WPI file once editorial processing was completed and full indexing had been added. The launch of FirstView was seen as a response to the increasing competition from free-of-charge services providing access to full texts on the day of publication for many of the major patenting authorities. Patent libraries in the United Kingdom Many of the established patent libraries continued to function during the period, but as noted above, the economics of document supply were hard hit by the internet, and some of the larger libraries (such as London and Leeds) turned to

Patents

309

alternative services to attract revenue. Commercial document suppliers were increasingly attracted to the free-of-charge websites as sources to deliver full documents, sometimes (as in the case of PatentOrder.com, from Minesoft) incorporating software to merge the one-file-per-page provision from these sites into a single PDF file for eventual delivery. The PIN network in the United Kingdom remained at 14 during the period under review. User groups and professional development These years saw a substantial increase in the number of national user groups in the field of patent information. The largest single group remained the PIUG, formally incorporated as a not-for-profit organization based in the United States, and with a membership of over 500 individuals, some 20% of them outside the US. In Europe, new user groups were founded in Italy (Associazione Italiana Documentalisti Brevettuali, AIDB), Denmark/Sweden (the Patent Information Forum, PIF) and the Francophone countries (CFIB, covering France, Belgium and French-speaking Switzerland).39 There were also plans for a new user group in Spain. These were very encouraging developments, as they would help in the process of raising the status of the information specialists involved in this area of work.

Notes 1 2 3 4 5 6

7

8

9

Stephen Adams, ‘Patent information’ in The business and economy internet resource handbook, ed. Phil Bradley. London: Library Association, 2000, pp. 200–24. C. Peter Auger (ed.), Information sources in patents. London: Bowker-Saur, 1992. Stephen Adams, Information sources in patents. Munich: K. G. Saur, 2005. Stephen Adams, ‘A comparison of early publication practices in the United States and Europe’, World patent information 25 (2), 2003, 117–22. Patent Office website: . ‘Declaration on the TRIPS agreement and public health’. WTO document reference WT/MIN(01)/DEC/2, issued 20 Nov. 2001. Geneva: World Trade Organisation, 2001. Available from: . ‘Directive 98/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 1998 on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions’, Official journal EEC, L 213, 30 July 1998, 13–21. The Patents Regulations 2000. Statutory Instrument SI 2000 no. 2037, entered into force 28 July 2000, implementing Articles 1–11 of the Directive. London: Stationery Office, 2000; The Patents (Amendment) Rules 2001. Statutory Instrument SI 2001 no. 1412, entered into force 6 July 2001, implementing Articles 13–14 of the Directive. London: Stationery Office, 2001; The Patents and Plant Variety Rights (Compulsory Licensing) Regulations 2002. Statutory Instrument SI 2002 no. 247, entered into force 1 March 2002, implementing Article 12 of the Directive. London: Stationery Office, 2002. Christophe Bellmann, Graham Dutfield and Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz (eds.), Trading in knowledge: development perspectives on TRIPS, trade and sustainability. London: Earthscan, 2003.

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10 Integrating intellectual property rights and development policy. Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, final report. London: DFID/CIPR, 2002. Also available on their website: . 11 ‘Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions’. Document COM(2002) 92 final, Official journal of the European Communities, C 151E, 25 June 2002, 129–31. Subsequent to the period covered by this chapter, it was announced that the European Parliament had rejected the Council common position and that the legislative procedure was closed effective 6 July 2005. 12 The Patents Act 2004: Public & General Acts 2004 ch. 16. London: Stationery Office, 2004. 13 The Patents Act 2004 (Commencement No. 1 and Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Order 2004. Statutory Instrument SI 2004 no. 2177 (C94), entered into force 22 September 2004. London: Stationery Office, 2004. 14 The Patents Act 2004 (Commencement No. 2 and Consequential, etc. and Transitional Provisions) Order 2004. Statutory Instrument SI 2004 no. 3205 (C140), entered into force 1 January 2005. London: Stationery Office. 15 The Patents Act 2004 (Commencement No. 3 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2005. Statutory Instrument SI 2005 no. 2471 (C.105), entered into force 1 October 2005. London: Stationery Office, 2005. 16 The Patents (Amendment) Rules 2005. Statutory Instrument SI 2005 no. 2496, entered into force 1 October 2005. London: Stationery Office, 2005. 17 ‘Proposal for a Council Regulation on the Community patent’, COM/2000/0412 final, Official journal of the European Communities, C 337, 28 Nov 2000, 278–90. 18 ‘Proposal for a Council Regulation on the Community patent’. Document 7119/04. Brussels: Council of the European Union, 8 March 2004. 19 ‘Agreement dated 17 October 2000 on the application of Article 65 of the European Patent Convention’, Official journal of the EPO, 12, 2001, 549–53. Also available as UK Command Paper Cm 5247, Miscellaneous series 2001 no. 9: London: Stationery Office, 2001. 20 The Patent (Translations) Rules 2005. Statutory Instrument SI 2005 no. 687, entered into force 6 April 2005. London: Stationery Office, 2005. 21 Draft Agreement on the establishment of a European patent litigation system. EPO Administrative Council, Working Party on Litigation. Munich: EPO, 16 Feb. 2004. Available from: . 22 The Regulatory Reform (Patents) Order 2004. Statutory Instrument SI 2004 no. 2357, entered into force 1 January 2005. London: Stationery Office, 2004. 23 Annual report and accounts, 1999–2000. Newport: Patent Office, 2000. 24 Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852. 15 & 16 Vic. c.83. 25 David Morgan, ‘THINK Kit®: educating tomorrow’s innovators’, World patent information 28 (2), 2006, 136–9. 26 Innovation logbook: . 27 ‘New products launched in fight against piracy’, Mark-IT! (the newsletter of the Trade Marks Registry) 7, Dec. 2003. Available at: . 28 ‘Minesoft and RWS launch PatBase’, Electronic library 22 (1), Feb. 2004.

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29 Nancy Lambert, ‘Patent Express: the end of an era’ (Newsbreaks), Info today 10 June 2002. Available at: . 30 Peter Rees, ‘Consolidation strikes the patent industry’, Research information 13, Sept./Oct. 2004, 15–16. 31 Stephen van Dulken, . 32 Véronique Rogier, ‘The epoline® Online European Patent Register’, World patent information 25 (1), 2003, 53–6; Véronique Rogier, ‘epoline®: Register Plus service and Online Filing update’, World patent information 27 (3), 2005, 251–6. 33 Irene Schellner, ‘Sources of Japanese patent information’, World patent information 23 (2), 2001, 149–56. 34 Nancy Lambert, ‘Orbit and Questel-Orbit: farewell and hail’, Searcher (US) 8 (2), Feb. 2000, 73–6. 35 Gert Frackenpohl, ‘PATCOM – the European Commercial Patent Services Group’, World patent information 24 (3), 2002, 225–7. 36 DepatisNet service: . 37 WISPER (Worldwide Intelligence in Semantic Patent Extraction and Retrieval): . 38 Heiko Wongel, ‘The reform of the IPC: consequences for the users’, World patent information 27 (3), 2005, 227–31; Mikhail Makarov, ‘The eighth edition of the IPC’, World patent information 28 (2), 2006, 122–6. 39 Associazione Italiana Documentalisti Brevettuali (AIDB): ; Patent Information Forum (PIF): .

20

The book trade Iain Stevenson

Introduction The five years reviewed in this chapter were probably the most turbulent and dramatic in the history of the modern book trade.1 Although publishing and bookselling had undergone profound change since the collapse of the Net Book Agreement (NBA) in 1995, the book landscape at the beginning of the new millennium was recognizably similar to that which had prevailed since the end of the Second World War or earlier. Publishing and bookselling were still dominated by familiar long-established names, and commercial relations although jolted by the end of resale price maintenance remained fundamentally unchanged. The book business seemed largely oblivious of the tides of electronic enthusiasm that were sweeping through other sectors of the information economy. That apparent stability was replaced by almost constant revolutionary change, swift in pace and frequently unexpected in direction. Although often described as ‘in crisis’, the British book world exhibited great resilience and success with more titles than ever before being published with a number of individual titles achieving unprecedented sales.2 Nevertheless, there do appear to be have been definitive and permanent shifts in the relations between the main players, the media and form of publication and the business structures of bookselling and publishing. Two main trends emerged since 2001. The first is an increasing concentration in publishing and bookselling ownership, albeit balanced by a healthy specialist and start-up sector. The second is an increasing awareness and impact of electronic media and delivery, variably across sectors but with impact for all. The British book market In 2004 over 161,000 individual book titles were published in the United Kingdom, increasing from 119,000 in 2001 and over two-and-a-half times the number published in 1990.3 Rate of growth in title output was not however constant: it was relatively slow between 1990 and 1996 and actually fell between 1996 and 1997. However, from 2001 the pace quickened and showed no sign of slowing. Consumer spending on books at £2,436 million in 2004 had increased from just over £2,000 million in 2000, comfortably ahead of inflation.4 The Publishers Association estimated that the total value of book sales from the United Kingdom

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313 5

exceeded £3,400 million, with over one-third being exported. The balance of trade was extremely healthy with almost twice as many books by value being exported as imported. The largest export market for books was consistently the European Union with £566 million sales in 2004 with steady annual increases. Sales to the next two largest markets (United States £221 million) and Asia and the Far East (£215 million) had been more variable and registered declines over the period, attributable to the Asian economic slowdown and currency fluctuations. Other significant export markets included Africa (£79 million) and Australia (£75 million). (All figures refer to 2004.)6 The largest sector of the market was consumer, mainly retail to individuals, and comprised roughly 70% of book sales. Sales of academic and professional books, mainly to organizations and companies, accounted for roughly 25% of the market and the remainder comprised educational titles to schools. Within these categories a number of interesting trends can be discerned. The most significant was the increasing dominance of the frontlist as against the backlist. Frontlist titles are those defined as less than a season old. Publishing seasons are six months long, usually being defined as ‘spring’ (January to June) and ‘autumn’ (June to December). From 1998 sales from the frontlist increased 42% in value as compared to an overall 23% increase in the value of the domestic book market. Just under 50% of the total consumer market in 2004 comprised newly published books. This process of concentration was driven by bookselling and publishing factors that will be considered later and appeared to be true of all subject areas, but was particularly noticeable in hardback fiction with almost 90% of sales coming from the frontlist in 2004, and children’s books where the frontlist proportion leapt from 31% of sales to 46% between 1998 and 2004. This dramatic change was partly attributable to the impact of the Harry Potter titles but also seemed to show that older titles in this category had lost some of their traditional appeal. In general, the market showed less diversity in consumer choice. In 2004, the top one hundred best selling titles accounted for 13% of the total consumer market as compared to just under 10% six years previously. Fiction was the largest category within the general retail market and was worth £281 million in 2004, with paperback sales comprising £230 million. Hardback fiction title output remained relatively stable over the period at about 5,500 but paperbacks showed considerable growth, which was partly attributable to the introduction of intermediate formats at higher prices.7 The next largest category was Children’s with over 50,000 titles in print, producing an annual sales yield of over £175 million. Even allowing for the distortion caused by the publication of a new Harry Potter title, alone worth over £33 million, this category displayed impressive growth. Most non-fiction categories showed modest growth in both output and sales but Biography put in a particularly strong performance with a 6% increase over the period. This would have been much larger had the strongest performing biographical title, David Beckham’s My side (HarperCollins) of 2004 not been categorized as Sport where it alone accounted for a 22% increase.8 Other notice-

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able increases occurred in Humour (24%) and Language and Dictionaries (20%) but these were largely attributable to individual titles, like Lynne Truss’s Eats, shoots and leaves (Profile), published in time for the Christmas market in 2003 and achieving sales of over 920,000 copies in a year.9 One major area of decline was in the field of computer software manuals and computer books in general which fell by 25% and may have represented a structural shift from paper-based products to downloadable sales, and the increased impact of book sales by computer retailers. Travel, management and business and cookery also registered declines.10 The British book market showed strongly localized geographical concentration. Just over 31% of book sales were made in London (defined as the London commercial television area and with about 20% of the national population) and accounted for over £465 million and 55 million units in 2004. Elsewhere, only the Southern region (Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and Dorset) with 11% of national book sales bought more than its population would suggest, while Scotland with a market share of 8.2% reflected exactly its population. The reasons for London’s dominance were the obvious factors of high levels of disposable income, the ‘world city effect’ of tourist visitors but mainly the high concentration of booksellers. The London region of the Booksellers Association had 660 members in 2004, almost three times that of the next largest region, Scotland, with 276 members.11 The concentration of publishers Over the last decade, observers noted the increasing conglomeration of publishing and the concentration of ownership into fewer groups. Eric de Bellaigue, in his elegant study of the business history of British publishing since the 1960s, charted the main processes that brought this about and provided detailed case studies of how major and famous publishing companies, like William Collins, lost their independence.12 During the 1980s and 1990s, it had become fashionable for private equity investment to be made in publishing from outside the industry and a number of venture capital companies, CinVen, Candover, Apax and 3i, were active in providing funds to expand companies or finance acquisitions.13 By 2000 with the end of the ‘dot com’ boom, the enormous and probably unsustainable prices being paid for general and trade companies began to decrease. The eye-watering price ($156 billion) paid by AOL for the publishing interests of Time Warner (which had annual revenues of $27 billion) in January 2000 had probably been the most extravagant investment in the sector from outside. At almost six times earnings, many observers felt that such investment would never be returned (and so it proved as the Time Warner Book Group was disposed of six years later for just over one year’s earnings or $537 million, a much more realistic price). While the scarce and sought after companies in the professional reference and business sector continued to attract high prices, the frenzy to acquire ‘content’ at any price subsided and while publishing lists and companies continued to be sold, they tended to achieve modest prices. Christopher Gasson has provided a detailed overview of the

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takeover activity in the sector with a clear-eyed analysis of the factors and processes involved.14 A cautionary tale of over-enthusiastic conglomerization in publishing was provided by the case of Vivendi Universal Publishing (VUP). Originally a French utilities company, with a small interest in publishing, it embarked under the enthusiastic direction of its charismatic chief executive Jean-Marie Messier on a breakneck programme of acquisition of publishers from 2000, absorbing a large part of French publishing, British houses Chambers, Harrap and Kingfisher, and in June 2001 paying over $2.2 billion for the venerable American educational publisher Houghton Mifflin. Messier’s vision did not live up to the realities and barely a year after the Houghton Mifflin takeover, faced with almost €19 million of debt and little prospect of recovery, he was forced to resign and his hastily constructed publishing empire disintegrated, mostly selling for much less than had been paid.15 Houghton Mifflin, with the aid of venture capitalists T. H. Lee and Bain, was sold to its management for €1.7 billion (about one third less than had been paid fourteen months previously). Although more circumspect about business growth and probably better off from the collapse of unrealistic expectations about potential yields from the industry by outside investors, publishing emerged into the twenty-first century in reasonably robust financial health. The number of publishers large enough to be registered for value added tax (VAT) declined from 2,410 to 2,275 between 1998 and 2003.16 The greatest decline occurred in publishers turning over between £250,000 and £1,000,000 per year, who had decreased more than 10% in numbers. Very small publishers (turning over between £50,000 and £100,000) actually increased in numbers, reflecting a healthy start-up sector. However, the overall trend in the industry was concentration, with the top ten largest companies progressively capturing a greater share of the market. Table 1 shows this evolution between 2003 and 2006. (2006 figures are estimates based on half-year actuals but are reasonably accurate.) In 2006 the ten largest publishers accounted for more than 60% of the total UK book market and indeed the top four companies accounted for half the market for the first time. More significantly, for the first time ever, one publishing group alone achieved a greater than 15% market share. This was Hachette, the publishing arm of the French media and industrial conglomerate Lagardère, which had more than tripled its market share in three years to become the largest publisher in Britain as well as a major international publishing force. This remarkable growth was built on a policy of shrewd acquisition and clear business objectives. Hachette in 2000 had only a small presence in British publishing with a 70% stake in the recently founded trade publisher Orion. In October 2001 it acquired the mass market nonfiction illustrated house Octopus for what many considered a bargain price of £35 million.17 Picking up the pieces of the Vivendi fiasco in its native France preoccupied Hachette for the next two years, although a number of small British acquisitions continued to be made, like Godsfield and Gaia in 2003. Restructuring and list rationalization led to improvements in profitability and market share which

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topped 5% in 2003. At the end of that year Lagardère signalled its intention to invest more significantly in British publishing.18 Few however predicted the extent of its ambition.19 Table 1 Market share 2003–200620 Publisher Hachette

% Share 2003 5.3%

% Share 2004 12.9%

% Share 2006 16.2%

13.0%

14.4%

14.2%

12.9%

12.1%

11.6%

8.6%

8.2%

7.7%

4.5%

4.2%

3.3%

1.9% 4.5% 1.7%

1.9% 2.1% 1.8%

1.9% 1.8% 1.5%

37.1% 100%

1.5% 1.3% 39.0% 100%

(Hodder Headline – Little Brown – Orion)

Bertelsmann (Random House – Transworld)

Pearson (Dorling Kindersley – Pearson – Penguin)

News Corporation (HarperCollins)

Holtzbrinck (Pan Macmillan)

Oxford University Press Bloomsbury Viacom (Simon & Schuster) Elsevier John Wiley Others TOTAL

47.4% 100%

Part of the reason for Hachette’s British expansion was that it had reached the limits of market domination permitted by EU competition rules in France and Spain, but it was also a strategic move to become a major player in Englishlanguage publishing internationally. It had enormous capital resources, a strong management and strategic vision. All it needed was a major acquisition opportunity. This appeared in spring 2004 when following a strategic review W. H. Smith indicated that it wished to dispose of the book publisher Hodder Headline that it had rather surprisingly acquired in May 1999. Hodder Headline had itself been a notable success story. Founded as a new mass market trade publisher in 1985 by the entrepreneurial publisher Tim Hely-Hutchinson, it had grown rapidly and in a remarkable ‘reverse takeover’ had absorbed the venerable, large but cash-starved and weak Hodder and Stoughton in 1993. It subsequently took over educational publishers Edward Arnold and Robert Gibson and in its most remarkable coup

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acquired Britain’s oldest and most famous independent publisher, John Murray in June 2002. It had carved out a strong and diversified presence in mass market, general trade, education and specialist book publishing and with Bertelsmann, News Corporation and Pearson had become one of the ‘top four’ in British publishing with a 7% market share. Hachette’s purchase of Hodder Headline was swift and decisive. It faced down competing offers from Pearson, News Corporation and CinVen with a cash payment of £210 million plus an agreement to accept a pension fund deficit of £13 million. In a single leap, Hachette’s book business in the UK became worth over £250 million per year, comfortably making it the largest British publisher, compared to Bertelsmann’s £229 million. Hachette’s entire book business decisively swung towards Britain and the English language with well over half of its €600 million revenues coming from this source.21 Hachette further consolidated its leading position in February 2006 by buying the Time Warner Book Group (renamed Little, Brown) for $538 million.22 Hachette’s emergence as leader sharpened competition between the leading publishing groups. For several years, German-owned Bertelsmann’s companies Random House and Transworld had disputed market leadership with Australian News Corporation (HarperCollins) and Anglo-American Pearson (Penguin, Dorling Kindersley and Pearson Education). In 2006 the sustained expansion that Bertelsmann had enjoyed in its market share reversed for the first time and persistent rumours of a sale or restructuring of the privately owned parent may have restricted access to investment funds. Pearson had enjoyed very mixed fortunes with its Penguin division suffering significant sales losses due to distribution problems following the chaotic inauguration of a new warehouse in 2004 which were only partially repaired in 2005. HarperCollins also slipped in market share and suffered an outflow of editorial talent which adversely affected its competitiveness. Among the smaller publishers, Pan Macmillan, ultimately owned by the German Holtzbrinck group, put in a variable performance although a large part of its revenue and most of its profit came from the non-book scientific and medical information sector under the banner of the Nature Publishing Group. Under the ebullient leadership of its chairman Richard Charkin, it maintained interesting and innovative trade publishing, including the launch in 2005 of a scheme to encourage new writers.23 Britain’s largest independent publisher Bloomsbury seemed to be very erratic in its performance but its figures were massively skewed by the appearance (or not) of a new Harry Potter title in any given year. The unprecedented success of these children’s fantasy books is legendary and Bloomsbury marketed them cleverly and even more wisely invested their proceeds in other publishing ventures that produced more durable long-term benefits. They acquired the distinguished reference and non-fiction publisher A. and C. Black in May 2000 and later developed their reference list further with the acquisition of the Whitaker’s

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almanack titles. They also opened editorial offices in Germany and the United States. Despite the dominance of the major groups, small and newly founded publishers flourished and occasionally broke through to the bestseller lists. Faber and Faber remained fiercely independent and continued to win major literary prizes while pursuing a successful commercial list under chief executive Stephen Page. Even smaller houses like Profile (Eats, shoots and leaves), and small nonmetropolitan houses like Canongate (Life of pi) and Polygon (the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series) saw their titles enter the bestseller lists. The transformation of bookselling The bookselling scene also experienced a process of concentration and even greater transformation than publishing but for different reasons. The Net Book Agreement (NBA) which had been in place since 1900 and which was one of the last legal forms of resale price maintenance enabling publishers to set the price at which books could be retailed had been abolished in 1995. This was however a consequence rather than a cause of major retailing changes which were already underway. Prior to 1995, each major British city was served by its own independent bookseller, usually family-owned, long-established and often with substantial school, university and library supply businesses to supplement retail trade. These included Thornes of Newcastle, Austicks of Leeds, John Smith of Glasgow, Thins of Edinburgh, Hudsons of Birmingham, Georges of Bristol and many more.24 There were two long-established bookselling chains, W. H. Smith and Son and John Menzies. The retail model adopted by most of the trade was staid, oldfashioned and oligopolistic. As retailing in the deregulated 1980s and 1990s changed to more competitive, consumer-oriented models, bookselling could not remain aloof indefinitely. The earliest challenge to traditional bookselling models had come as early as 1982 when Tim Waterstone set up his first shop in London offering a wide, rather eclectic stock range and famously friendly, informed and highly educated staff. The attractive and welcoming shop proved successful and several new branches were opened. At around the same time accountant Terry Maher took over the London university bookseller Dillons and began aggressively to expand with new branches. Waterstones responded by opening competing branches, often in the same street, but overstretched themselves and were taken over by W. H. Smith in 1995, although the brand and retailing style remained separate and distinct. Dillons had earlier suffered from cash-flow problems related to over-expansion and Maher departed in 1993 when the chain was bought by EMI Group. He later emerged as an independent bookseller. Maher also campaigned vociferously against the NBA but its death-knell came when the supermarket chain ASDA began to sell discounted books and major publishers, led by HarperCollins, decided that it was unsustainable. Warnaby and Upton in an academic study published in 1994 summarized the arguments for a price deregulated book market.25

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The main argument for the NBA had been that it had preserved a level playingfield between large and small booksellers, and without it small retailers would fail to compete, range of titles offered would lessen and the book market contract. Initially this did seem to occur. Between 1995 and 1996 consumer book sales fell by about 7% from £1,884 million to just over £1,800 but this proved temporary. In the following year the retail book market grew by 4% and more or less continued its growth subsequently. However, the way in which books were merchandised and sold and the profile of the retail trade were very different in 2005, compared to 1995. Table 2 presents the sales turnovers of the main players in bookselling in 1995 and 2005.26 Table 2 Bookselling change in the United Kingdom 1995–200527 Bookshop sales 1995 (£ million) W. H. Smith incl. Waterstones Dillons Blackwells John Menzies Hammicks Other multiples Independents Book Clubs Supermarkets CTNs (newsagents) All others

300 125 45 25 20 150 650 210 25 90 700

Total retail market

2340

Bookshop sales 2005 (£ million)

Waterstones W. H. Smith Amazon Borders Ottakars Book Club Associates Blackwells Book People British Bookshops Supermarkets David Flatman Total retail market

450 360 255 200 160 120 88 86 40 100 25 2850

In 1995 almost two-thirds of bookselling was in the hands of independents and small retailers. Only W. H. Smith which had just acquired Waterstones possessed a greater than 10% market share and Dillons, despite Maher’s frenetic investment, took just over 5%. Ten years later, chain booksellers accounted for about 60% of book sales and independent booksellers took just over 10%, according to Booksellers’ Association figures.28 From 2001, chains had increased their turnover by 18%, while independents had decreased by 16%. Supermarket sales, dominated by ASDA and Tesco, had increased by 90% since 1991 and sales via the internet had gained a massive 183%, mainly through Amazon.co.uk. Book club sales almost completely delivered by the Bertelsmann subsidiary, Book Club Associates, had recorded a steady fall since 2001 although it seemed that this sector had recovered somewhat in 2005.29

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Waterstones with a 15% market share in 2005 had had a chequered history since being sold to Smiths in 1995. In March 1998, EMI Group sold its HMV music retailer and Dillons to a new company HMV Media Group which promptly also offered to buy Waterstones. Smiths agreed and for a short time the two former deadly rivals Dillons and Waterstones were operated in parallel but in 1999, they were amalgamated under the Waterstones brand identity. This led to a rationalization of the chain’s assets and closure of redundant stores, although it acquired the prestigious Piccadilly site of Simpsons in 1999 as its flagship London location. Under pressure from aggressive supermarket discounting of key titles, Waterstones reduced its stock range, attempted to improve stock turn and introduced new merchandising techniques like ‘3 for 2’ offers. It also sought higher discounts from publishers and requested lengthened payment terms. Increased competition came not only from supermarkets but from the arrival of two new chains. Ottakars was founded in the west of England in 1987 by James Heneage and sought to fill a perceived gap in the market once occupied by Waterstones for a quirky range bookseller. Growth was slow until 1998 when a flotation on the Stock Exchange enabled expansion by new openings and the acquisition of Thins and Hammicks bookshops in 2002 and 2003. It eventually comprised 140 shops with 366,000 square feet of space (compared to 1,295,000 square feet of Waterstones). Ottakars’ strategy was focused. It concentrated on small prosperous market towns (often opening opposite branches of W. H. Smith) and encouraged its staff to run events and become involved in the local community. Initially at least, it eschewed central buying as practised by Smiths and Waterstones and made a particular feature of children’s bookselling. The second chain competitor to arrive was the American multiple Borders. Founded in Ann Arbor in Michigan in 1972, Borders created a new bookselling model, the ‘destination store’, selling not only books, but music, newspapers and magazines in a browser-friendly environment, with sofas and coffee bars. In 1997 Borders had entered the UK market with the purchase of the Books etc. chain and began the development of its own book superstores in city centres and ‘out of town’ locations. Progress was initially rapid with its merchandising space doubling between 1999 and 2001 to 650,000 square feet. Although popular with particularly younger customers, Borders did not find the UK an easy market and they did not subsequently expand as quickly as predicted.30 Although the fourth largest bookselling chain, they achieved barely a 4% market share. The Oxford-based academic bookseller Blackwells also grew substantially, mainly by acquiring local university booksellers, most notably its Cambridge rival Heffers in 1999, and opening a major new branch in London. Although it stocked possibly the widest range of any bookseller, its financial performance was variable and its direction uncertain with reported rifts among its family owners and persistent rumours of a sale.31 A completely new model of bookselling that achieved remarkable success was that pioneered by The Book People. Founded in 1988 by Ted Smart, the company bought guaranteed quantities of selected titles from publishers at high discount

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which it sold to customers at lower than high street prices through mail order, internet sales and sales people visiting workplaces and schools. By shrewd buying and rigorous control of overheads it had carved out a largely new market worth almost £90 million by 2005. Its margins were however narrow and it reacted to competitive pressure from retail booksellers by reducing its discounts to customers.32 The small regional chain British Bookshops which had a rather lacklustre performance and a confused retail offering was acquired by the Irish retailer Eason in 2005. Eason had a highly successful track record as a dynamic and innovative bookseller and its entry to the UK heralded a significant increase in competition.33 Although the independent bookselling sector had steadily contracted, there were signs that it was recapturing lost ground. The London independent Foyles, once ‘the world’s largest bookshop’, had suffered a sad decline under the idiosyncratic ownership of Christina Foyle and its shabby though well-stocked Charing Cross Road location seemed destined for closure, with widespread fraud and mismanagement. Following Christina’s death in 1999, the business was taken over by her nephews, Christopher and Anthony Foyle, and Bill Samuel who revitalized and repositioned the retailer.34 From a position of losses and low turnover of just under £10 million, it embarked on a major refitting and refurbishment, returning to profit and doubling sales. It widened stock range and avoided the price-cutting that was deemed essential elsewhere. New branches were opened and Foyles seemed poised for further expansion. Similarly, the specialist map and travel retailer Stanford which also seemed in terminal decline, refurbished and redesigned its Long Acre premises and reported a healthy growth of business.35 The two major points of contention between publishers and booksellers between 2001 and 2005 were discounts and returns. Aggressive pricing by supermarkets over popular titles forced chains and larger independents to demand increased discounts from publishers. Reputedly some even sought to charge publishers (so-called ‘bungs’) for merchandising space.36 Certainly stock ranges were curtailed and key window and entry spaces were devoted to best-selling titles. Independent booksellers complained that they did not receive fair discount treatment from publishers and many found it cheaper to buy stock from local supermarkets. Observers commented that substantial price cuts were being offered on titles that needed no such incentive, like the Harry Potter series. It was estimated that when Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was published in 2003, price discounting from the recommended retail price cost the UK book trade £11 million.37 Smaller publishers, unable to compete on discounts, complained that their titles received less and less bookselling space. An attempt by Waterstones in 2000 to impose large discounts on independent publishers proved abortive after a vociferous campaign by the Independent Publishers’ Guild.38 By 2005, deep price discounting had become the competitive weapon of choice by chain booksellers seeking to increase market share. In particular W. H. Smith applied huge price cuts of 50% or more at Christmas 2005 (traditionally the peak

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bookselling period), which was widely felt to have caused harm to the overall bookselling market.39 The return of unsold stock for credit by booksellers had been an established trade practice since at least the 1940s but by 2000 virtually no sales to booksellers were ‘firm’ and the general inefficiency of the ‘supply chain’ was causing publishers, wholesalers and retailers concern and costing a great deal of money. A joint Code of Practice to regulate returns set up in 2000 had little effect.40 A joint ‘returns initiative’ was subsequently set up to automate the time-consuming and expensive process of returns authorization, and major publishers like Random House and Penguin put simplified systems in place by the end of 2005, but for most of the trade the problem remained intractable.41 The final twist in the transformation of the book retail sector came in 2005 with Waterstones’ move to take over Ottakars. James Heneage had first attempted to return the chain to private ownership with an offer of £91 million in September 2005 and a few days later HMV made a counter offer of £96.4 million.42 Following protests from authors and other literary pressure groups, the proposed merger was referred to the Competition Commission, which reported in March 2006 that it could see no threat to bookselling competition in the creation of what had become known as ‘Wottakars’. This was not a view widely shared in the book trade.43 A rather surreal development was a simultaneous and abortive attempt by Tim Waterstone for the sixth time to buy his eponymous book chain from HMV and it was rumoured that W. H. Smith was considering making a £63 million bid for Ottakars.44 In the event, HMV agreed a much reduced price of almost one-third less for Ottakars in May 2006, largely due to the poor trading figures experienced during the previous Christmas season.45 At the time of writing it seemed likely that the merger would go ahead but which bookselling style would prevail from two very different chains remained to be seen. Despite its problems and complaints, it must not be lost sight of that British bookselling had performed well. Internet bookselling had grown considerably but had not reached the dominant position widely predicted, nor had it had an appreciable impact on capturing sales from terrestrial bookshops.46 There was evidence that the early disappointing experience of traditional booksellers with internet retailing had been overcome and some were reconsidering their internet selling sites.47 The market had grown in real terms and books were probably more visible in the public eye than they had ever been. The market had been extended to new readers by the success of individual titles like Dan Brown’s much criticized but wildly popular The Da Vinci code, which had sold over four million copies, and the impact of the television book club hosted by Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan.48 Joint trade initiatives like World Book Day inaugurated in 1997 and the BBC’s Big Read campaign of 2003 had appreciably widened the market for books.49 The electronic challenge It had long been anticipated, particularly by librarians, that electronic media and forms of delivery possessed undeniable advantages over on-paper publishing and

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would sooner or later replace it. Publishers, booksellers and readers were less sure.51 In the commercial and trade sector, e-books proved to be an expensive flop, mainly because e-book readers, like Rocket and eBookman, modelled on portable music players, proved heavy, unwieldy and expensive and found very few users. A number of large publishers, Random House in particular, which was involved in an expensive legal battle after it failed to secure electronic rights in its print publications, acquired electronic rights and created digitized text files, but there was little actual electronic publishing activity in the trade sector. Experiments in downloadable digital text for iPods were made by some, mainly travel, publishers, but the results were commercially inconclusive.52 Publishers nevertheless invested heavily in digital text management, and created the so-called ‘digital warehouses’. HarperCollins for example set up a sophisticated digital store of their copyright materials and their chief executive Victoria Barnsley expressed her continued faith in the essential role of the publisher to operate in a transformed digital world: ‘I remain confident that the publisher’s role can’t be replaced …’, she remarked in a speech in January 2006. Internet content providers ‘lack the creative skills to enhance the authors’ own work in the way that we do’.53 Print on demand (PoD) technology allowed digitized text stores to produce cost-effectively very small print runs and so keep books in print indefinitely. Many publishers used the resources of specialist printers like Anthony Rowe or Lightning Source to provide PoD editions from digital files that look to all intents and purposes like normal litho-printed books in print runs of 50 copies or less.54 It seemed likely that libraries and bookshops would eventually be equipped with PoD facilities, but not for some years yet. Direct publishing on the internet was still rare, but an interesting trial was carried out in 2001 by the American thriller writer Stephen King in association with his publisher Simon and Schuster. King wrote a novelette Riding the bullet which was made available on the Simon and Schuster website for download, requesting downloaders to pay an ‘honor fee’ of $2.50. Over 400,000 downloads were made but very few payments were forthcoming. King and his publishers withdrew the download facility and the novelette was subsequently published in conventional print form. King later experimented again by posting an earlier novel of his, The plant, on his own website chapter by chapter, requiring that a minimum number of ‘honor’ payments for downloads be made before he would post another chapter. He posted six chapters before the payments fell below his minimum and he suspended publication. Some observers believed that King was in fact deliberately undermining the claims of internet publishing by demonstrating its financial unviability; the fact that the plot of The plant features a giant vegetable that terrorizes a publishing house may be taken as evidence.55 One strength of digital handling and storage of text is to allow the repackaging of material in new forms, sometimes customized to the users’ needs. There was a great deal of enthusiasm for ‘repurposing’ or ‘slicing and dicing’ in the early 2000s, although the technique was not a new one and had been used in con-

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ventional print publishing for many years.56 Guidebook publishers experimented in this area and the law publisher Cavendish produced customized learning materials using ‘sliced and diced’ content. While publishing sectors like reference and travel dipped their toes in the digital pool, the education area, particularly higher education and research, dived head first. Particularly in scientific and scholarly journals the digital transition arrived quickly and brought profound changes. The internet, originally conceived as a means of scientific communication, seemed a natural vehicle for the publication of scientific papers, but its free ethos challenged the lucrative subscription model for journal publication operated by publishers like Elsevier, Springer and Wiley. Many librarians, who felt that publishers had historically overcharged them, welcomed the change to web publishing but other users worried that the peer review system that guaranteed quality and objectivity would be undermined.57 The most influential publishing model was ‘open access’ (OA), where the author of an article paid for it to be kept in a digital store, maintained either by a journal or by a research institution (called ‘institutional repositories’ or IRs), and allowed users free access to download. These were pioneered by on-line publishers like Public Library of Science (PLoS) or BioMed Central (BMC) although their commercial basis was obscured by subsidy and grant revenue. Commercial publishers cautiously explored the OA model, and perhaps the most successful trial was carried out by Oxford University Press, which set up conventional print subscription, ‘hybrid’ (conventional with some OA), and completely OA journals to test how users and contributors reacted to them. The Science and Technology Select Committee of the House of Commons investigated scientific publishing in 2004 and recommended a limited experiment with a national OA system, but the government demurred.58 Research funders like the Wellcome Trust and the Research Councils expressed their support of OA, but learned and professional bodies, like the Royal Society, mindful of the publishing revenue that supported their activities, were less enthusiastic. The Cambridge sociologist, Professor John Thompson, conducted a major research project into how academic and higher education book publishers reacted to the opportunities presented by electronic publishing.59 His wide-ranging investigation, based on interviews within sixteen leading publishing companies as well as over two hundred participants in the education and technology fields, was the most thorough study of a publishing sector ever attempted and charted the complex impact of and responses to digital technology within the scholarly book business. His conclusion that electronic transformation was more likely to preserve the printed book than destroy it was judicious and welcome. Digital technology had less benign impacts on publishing in the field of intellectual property. The propensity of the internet to be ‘everywhere and nowhere’ challenged copyright protection of publishers’ content. The ease with which entire books could be scanned, stored and downloaded without payment threatened to undermine the financial basis of publishers’ businesses.60 There was widespread internet theft of titles like Harry Potter, some innocent, others

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obviously less so. An advisory system of ‘notice and takedown’ was developed in association with internet service providers (ISPs) to remove copyright infringing sites and seemed to be effective. The prevailing UK copyright legislation (Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988) dated from before the internet and it had little to say about copyright protection in a digital environment. A European Directive of 2001 which passed into UK Law in October 2003 introduced important new protection for publishers in the electronic environment. 61 Chief among these was a new exclusive right of communication of material electronically to the public by copyright owners thus clarifying the copyright status of downloads (i.e. downloaders need permission and may have to pay). Other new rights included: a temporary copying exception which recognized that electronic manipulation of copyright material might be permitted by carriers; the specific protection of systems to protect copyright material electronically; and a new right to injunct ISPs if they knowingly carried infringing material.62 While still much less digitally aware than other jurisdictions, most notably the United States whose Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998) was widely regarded as a model for elsewhere, the UK now had a much stronger regime to protect against digital infringement of copyright.63 An unexpected challenge to publishers and their copyrights emerged in early 2005 when Google, the Californian-based internet search engine launched in 1999, announced the creation of GooglePrint (later renamed Google Book Search) with the ambitious objective of digitizing ‘all the world’s books’.64 Publishers, particularly in the trade sector, reacted angrily and Nigel Newton, chairman of Bloomsbury, called for Google to be boycotted. Google, who had clearly misunderstood or underestimated strength of feeling among publishers to wholesale digitization without permission, modified their position but still found themselves the target of a major lawsuit in the United States, alleging copyright breach on a massive scale. Other internet enterprises like Amazon and Microsoft announced similar digitization schemes, although Google seemed to bear the brunt of criticism and action from publishers. Their announcement in early 2006 that they would sell digitized copyright content and pay royalties to publishers received a qualified welcome from trade publishers.65 In general, academic and scientific publishers, who had lived with electronic competition longer (and perhaps understood digital rights management better) were more sanguine about Google’s plans.

Notes 1

2

This chapter was written when I was on study leave at Simon Fraser University, Canada, in summer 2006. I am very grateful to Professor Rowlan Lorimer of the Canadian Centre for Publishing Studies and Professor Carole Gerson of the Department of English for their generous hospitality and research facilities during my visit. Harriet Dennys, ‘2005 review: the best of times, the worst of times’, The bookseller 5 Jan. 2006.

326 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

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Booksellers’ Association Reports Library: (accessed 21/6/06). BML: . Publishers Association: . Booksellers Association Reports Library. Alison Bone, ‘Headline reveals ‘classier’ format’, The bookseller 24 Oct. 2005. Beckham saves for HarperCollins’, The bookseller 12 Feb. 2004. Chartbuster: Eats, shoots and leaves’, The bookseller 27 Jan.2005. Tom Holman, ‘Range shrinks on High Street’, The bookseller 27 Feb. 2003. (accessed 21/6/06). Eric de Bellaigue, British book publishing as a business since the 1960s. London: British Library, 2004. Bellaigue, British book publishing, 216–20. Christopher Gasson, Who owns whom in British publishing. London: Bookseller Publications, 2002. ‘Vivendi to sell Houghton Mifflin,’ The bookseller 14 Aug. 2002. Source: Office of National Statistics: . The threshold for VAT registration increased from £50,000 to £55,000 over the period. ‘Octopus sold to Hachette-Livre’, The bookseller 24 Oct. 2001. Liz Bury, ‘Bouyant Octopus eyes acquisitions’, The bookseller 11 Dec. 2003. ‘Hachette targets UK market’, The bookseller 13 May 2004. Source: The bookseller and Nielsen BookScan: . Joel Rickett, ‘Hachette aims for UK top spot’, The bookseller 5 Aug. 2004. ‘Hachette buys Time Warner’, The bookseller 5 Feb. 2006. ‘New writing on tap’, The bookseller 20 May 2005. Danuta Kean, ‘The family way’, The bookseller 2 May 2002. G. Warnaby and J. Upton, ‘Are books different? The impact of price on retail market development’, International journal of retail and distribution management 22 (4), 1994, 13–19. Compiled from reports in The bookseller and information provided by Neilson BookScan. The figures quoted are total retail turnover for the bookselling sector and include certain non-book items like stationery, magazines and recorded music. (accessed 23/6/06). ‘Random House UK delivers on profits and sales: BCA breaks even’, The bookseller 22 Mar. 2006. ‘Borders suffer from ‘challenging’ UK’, The bookseller 24 May 2006. ‘Blackwell’s rebels fight back’, The bookseller 2 Dec. 2004. Fiona Fraser, ‘The Book People prices up for profit’, The bookseller 24 Feb. 2005. Fiona Fraser, ‘Eason boosted by British Bookshops’, The bookseller 18 Aug. 2005. ‘Talkin’ about a revolution – at Foyles’, The bookseller 17 Nov. 2000. ‘New horizons for Stanfords’, The bookseller 12 Sept. 2002. Danuta Kean, ‘Bungs: are they fair trade?’ The bookseller 14 Feb. 2002. ‘Harry Potter discounts cost £11m’, The bookseller 24 June 2003. ‘Publishers protest to OFT’, The bookseller 1 Dec. 2000. Fiona Fraser, ‘Publishers slate discount chains’, The bookseller 19 Jan. 2006. ‘Many happy returns’, The bookseller 4 Aug. 2004. ‘Returns initiative progress slow, admits BIC’, The bookseller 24 Nov. 2005.

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42 ‘HMV posts Ottakar’s offer document’, The bookseller 20 Sept. 2005. 43 Anthony Cheetham, ‘Still no to Wottakars’, The bookseller 20 Apr. 2006. 44 ‘Tim offers £280m for Waterstones’, The bookseller 24 Apr. 2006; ‘W H Smith targets Ottakar’s’, The bookseller 15 May 2006. 45 ‘HMV agrees £62.8 million deal for Ottakar’s’, The bookseller 31 May 2006. 46 Liz Bury, ‘Adapt or die, booksellers warned’, The bookseller 20 Mar. 2003. 47 Alison Clements, ‘How can bookselling multiples and independents compete with Amazon?’ The bookseller 17 Apr. 2006. 48 ‘Da Vinci and Richard & Judy spur market’, The bookseller 21 Mar. 2006. 49 ‘Review of 2004: from the small screen to bumper sales’, The bookseller 22 Dec. 2004. 50 Sarah Ann Long, ‘The case for e-books: an introduction’, New library world 104 (1184/5), 2003, 29–32. 51 ‘Scanning for gold’, The bookseller 10 Nov. 2005. 52 ‘Wake up and hear the podcast”, The bookseller 26 Jan. 2006. 53 Victoria Barnsley, ‘Publishing in the digital age’, The bookseller 19 Jan. 2006. 54 Jonathan Dean, ‘Books live forever in PoD future’, The bookseller 6 May 2005. 55 See The official Stephen King website: . 56 Iain Stevenson, ‘Nothing new under the sun: repurposing content in publishing: some theoretical perspectives and an historical case study’, International journal of the book 1, 2003, available at: . 57 Iain Stevenson, ‘Is open-access the new vanity publishing?’, Learned publishing 17 (2), 2004, 83–4. 58 House of Commons, Science and Technology Committee, Scientific publications: free for all? Tenth report of session 2003–04. London: Stationery Officer, 2004 (HC 399). 59 John B. Thompson, Books in the digital age. Cambridge: Polity, 2005. 60 ‘Publishing code to tackle e-piracy’, The bookseller 22 Apr. 2004. 61 The copyright and related rights regulations 2003. London: Stationery Office, 2003 (Statutory Instrument 2498). 62 Hugh Jones, ‘Copyright: the compromise’, The bookseller 27 Oct. 2003. 63 Hugh Jones and Christopher Benson, Publishing law. 3rd ed. London: Routledge, 2006. 64 Anthony Beevor, ‘A brave new world?’, The bookseller 12 May 2005. 65 Alison Bone, ‘Cautious welcome for Google’s pay plans’, The bookseller 16 Mar. 2006.

21

The internet and libraries Phil Bradley

Introduction The internet in 2001 was in a process of evolution, having successfully survived the last year of the last millennium. It was beginning to recover from the ‘dot com’ boom and bust of previous years, culminating in the collapse of many companies in 2000. There are many and varied reasons for this collapse and perhaps chief among them was a limited understanding of exactly what the internet was, and how it worked. Many of these commercial organizations hoped that by giving away products, increasing a brand awareness and hopefully market share, while initially running at a loss, would recoup their investment and be able to charge for their products later on. Many companies raised cash through offerings to the public on the stock exchanges, with stock soaring to unrealistic heights and making their owners very rich – at least on paper. Of course as we later discovered, the basic model was intrinsically flawed. It is really only possible for one company to monopolize a particular industry segment, or at best, two or three companies to succeed in a particular market. Inevitably the vast majority of organizations were bound to fail, some quite spectacularly, and the bubble burst in March 2000. One by one these companies became bankrupt, were liquidated or were acquired by their more powerful rivals who had managed to keep going during this volatile period. This bleak scenario was made worse by the increasing number of viruses that either just replicated themselves endlessly or which damaged users’ machines, or which were used in denial of service attacks on other systems. Spam was on the increase as well, and users and internet service providers (ISPs) were having to find ways to deal with this heavy burden. In other areas organizations such as Napster were able to make music available over the internet as their technical solution of file-sharing meant that sharing and copying music became very easy. Of course, this file-sharing was in direct contravention of copyright laws, but it was very popular amongst its users, who either did not care about the contravention or assumed that if something was on the internet it was free for anyone to use. There was considerable movement on the technical front as well. Computers and connections were becoming ever faster, cheaper and more easily available. Mobile phones were released with internet connectivity built into them, so it was

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possible to view websites or download news or information while on the move. Computer systems were becoming much more robust, and were designed to be used by anyone, so the home user could go out and buy an internet-ready computer without (at least in theory) having to worry about any of the technical details. It was becoming much easier for individuals with little or almost no computing skills to create their own websites and publish their own information. I do not think that it is too much of an exaggeration to say that for the first time in history everyone – or at least everyone who could get access to a computer – could become their own publisher. Web size estimates pushed the number of publicly available web pages to over 1 billion. So, by the beginning of 2001 the internet increasingly resembled the old American Wild West: legal issues were often ignored, some people made profits quickly and disappeared without a trace, others similarly lost fortunes, the concepts of copyright and publishing increasingly came under threat, and vast amounts of information was flooding out on to systems that were constantly being upgraded. Information professionals How were the librarians and other information professionals dealing with this chaos? I found it quite enlightening that two of the first articles that I looked at when trying to discover how librarians were coming to terms with the change and chaos were entitled ‘New landscapes’, in which Philip Hunter was looking at the development of the eLib project and various successors,1 and ‘It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine) or, How I learned to stop worrying and love the e-book’, in which Sarah Ormes was discussing e-books, how they could be used, what hardware was required and how they could be circulated.2 In the same issue Brian Kelly was looking at non-traditional methods of accessing the internet, such as via the television or mobile phone.3 The concept of the ‘hybrid library’ was continuing to take shape. A workshop and much discussion as to what exactly a hybrid library was, and how it was different to an existing one, brought out several important strands of thought. The increasing use of the internet to obtain information and its impact on library staff and their role in an increasingly electronic environment; the change in core resources to assist teaching in academic environments; how best to manage this change, both for the information staff, but also for their users. The British government was also upbeat about the possibilities available to libraries with all the new technology becoming available. The vision was to create ‘a learning culture in which individuals and communities take charge of their own learning and recognize its importance’.4 This vision was backed up with resources as well; £170 million to provide the People’s Network with ICT equipment and £20 million for staff training being just two examples. In turn this meant that the library infrastructure and perceived ways of doing things were going to change. Staff would have to learn new roles – becoming facilitators and helping, supporting and training users. A list of new roles for staff was identified, including ‘information technology gatekeeper’, ‘information consultant’, ‘net navigator’ and

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‘information manager’.5 Libraries (particularly public libraries) could do more than ever before in the field of outreach, and working with non-traditional users. The government also expected that the total number of work stations (including those for on-line access to catalogues) available for public use will equal or exceed 6 per 10,000 population by the end of the three year planning cycle to commence in April 2001. Every static service point is expected to provide public internet access by 31 December 2002.6

So, far from being concerned about the chaos of the previous year librarians (at least from this very small sample), and indeed government, were looking at the potential future of the internet, and embracing the possibilities that were becoming available. Search engines As we have seen already seen, by 2001 there was a lot of chaos, confusion and people just making things up as they went along, but there was also a feeling of excitement and that we could expect much more in the coming years. What was the search landscape like in the first year of the new millennium? Google was beginning to make more of a name for itself, although it was not exactly unknown either: by mid-2000 the company had indexed over 1 billion documents and searches per day were up to 18 million. AdWords made their debut at the end of 2000, by which time Google was returning results on over 60 million searches a day.7 Although not of direct importance to the library community, it is worth saying a few words about this innovation from Google, since it does have longterm ramifications for the whole of the internet, not just that one company. For several years internet search engines had been flailing around trying to work out business plans; they knew that they could make money, but just did not know how. Some of them had experimented with paid positioning within the results returned from searches, but this had not been well received and companies that had taken this approach dropped it. Of course, they could offer advertising on their home pages, or indeed anywhere on their sites, but this would be costly, and more importantly most visitors would not be interested enough to click on an advert that might have little relevance to the information they were looking for. Google AdWords worked rather differently. To put it simply, Google engineers realized that if a user was running a search on mobile phones for example, they would probably be interested in looking at sites that had a commercial interest in mobile phones. By linking advertisers and advertisements to key words, and then using these in conjunction with the searches being run, visitors could be shown adverts that were related to their search query, increasingly the chance that they would click on the link, visit the advertiser and spend money. The advertiser would be happy, the consumer would be happy and Google would be very happy, since it was able to charge for the placement of the advertisement in the first place. Although this model did not occur all in one go, and it took some tweaking to get

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there, 2001 became the seminal year for the development of the company, and it is in this year that it really became the organization that became so familiar in the following years. It is also during this year that Google began the expansion that we also became familiar with: adding more data and resources to their collections. In 2001 they added public phone book information and a new image search tool, and increased the size of their index to over 3 billion documents. This in turn threatened the position of some of the other major search engines, and retrievers of information were really wondering where to go. However, more search engines were appearing on the scene, each trying to be slightly different in an attempt to carve out a niche for themselves. Ask Jeeves for example was trumpeted as a natural language search engine, Teoma arrived (and was snapped up by Ask Jeeves before the year was out) and AltaVista, which had long been the stalwart of searchers, began to flail around, changing its look and feel for the fourth time in a year, losing market share every time. By the end of 2001 I had regretfully come to the conclusion that its day had passed, AllTheWeb had taken its place, but Google had become the search engine to use.8 Portals 2002 could be described as the ‘year of the portal’, at least as far as the information community was concerned. A portal could be described as a one-stop shop website, which included search facilities, email, user-controlled groups, and possibly chat rooms: in effect, a site so designed as to encourage the visitor to stay on the site, rather than going elsewhere. These were around since the mid- to late 1990s as search engines tried to work out what they were doing on the internet and how they were going to make money, but they generally fell out of favour although ironically they later swung back into fashion again. However, the concept of a portal was very attractive to librarians, perhaps because they could see in a portal the concept of a library, ideally providing all things to all people. An interesting example was described in an article by Paul Miller which explained what a portal was, and gave some examples of how they were being used in a library and information environment.9 The portal created for the Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER) and that of the 24-hour museum were looked at in some detail. Looking at the Proceedings of the 2002 Online Information Conference I was struck by the number of papers that considered the role of the portal, with a case study on the development of a portal for the National Maritime Museum, another which stated boldly that portals were the future for libraries and a third that regarded portals as being gatekeepers to content within higher and further education.10 That is of course of interest, and gives an indication of some of the thought processes that were driving the library community. However, what is much more significant is the fact that much of this work was (and of course continued to be) done by the librarians and information professionals themselves. A paper presented at the Online conference by Dennie Heye and Eldert van Schagen which discussed the development of a company portal was in fact quite explicit, saying:

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… a clear decision was made not to have this project be driven by IT; rather it was the library which gave input into the project providing both skills and content expertise. This gave the EP (Shell Exploration and Production) community a good example of the kind of expertise held by the library professionals!11

Portals in and of themselves were not new; various search engines had tried out the concept in the late 1990s, and a number of subject gateways such as SOSIG and BUBL had been in existence for most of the previous decade.12 Librarians and information professionals had been doing a lot of work in the background – helping to create websites and learning HTML coding and design skills (a very popular course at TFPL for example was on exactly that subject – webpage writing and design and was often oversubscribed – I know, because I ran it!). However, this is merely a brief introduction to the changing role of the information professional, but before we can look at that in more detail there is one specific initiative that helped change the role of the professional more than any other that should be looked at. The People’s Network While there have been many initiatives in library development, particularly the public sector in the first half of this decade, one in particular stands out as worthy of mention in detail. That is of course the People’s Network; a project designed to provide internet connectivity to every public library in the country, create new learning centres and to train library staff to be able to offer support, training and assistance. It was funded by a £120 million lottery grant; not only the largest ever IT installation of its type, but also without a doubt the largest single investment in the history of the public library service. There can be no doubt that the People’s Network was a great success – by the end of 2002 more than 30,000 terminals had been made available in over 4,000 public libraries. These offered over 60 million hours of internet access to users, ensuring that everyone who wanted to could get involved with, and on, the internet. The effect of the service – on library staff, library users and the public perception of libraries was quite remarkable. It got an average of 27% of each library’s users on to the internet, hundreds of people were able to harness the power of the internet to get new jobs, enrich their local communities, thousands made new friends, kept in touch with family via email, or started a new hobby. Perhaps more importantly in terms of public library development, the People’s Network attracted people back into libraries, with Leeds noticing a 10% increase in library use and with 60% of the local population becoming members. Library staff too began to see their roles changing, as they become responsible for helping members of the public to use terminals, be it using a mouse, writing an email or interrogating a genealogical database. In a very short space of time librarians acquired new skills themselves in order to provide such assistance, and saw their role within the library and library community turning into that of a facilitator.

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The changing role of the information professional This was one of the major effects that new technology had within a library context, be it in public, academic, commercial or special libraries. Prior to new technology, librarians would act as ‘gatekeepers’ for the information they kept: a user would request something, a particular fact for example, and the librarian would decide on the most appropriate resource, retrieve the information and give it to the person requesting it. The user and the information were separated, with the librarian acting as the intermediary. CD-ROM technology began to change that situation, and for the first time library users were able to interrogate large complex databases themselves safe in the knowledge that it was not costing them or the library vast sums of money based on usage. The librarians in turn could point users to these databases, show them how to use the CD-ROMs and let the enquirer find the information they needed for themselves. So, even before the advent of the internet within a library setting, the role and functionality of the information professional was changing, in some cases almost imperceptibly from the ‘gatekeeper’ to the ‘facilitator’ – not getting the information required, but teaching end-users how to get it for themselves. This is of course a vastly simplistic overview of a process that took at least two decades to reach. At the beginning of the 21st century many information professionals were uncertain as to their role, with the apocryphal question being asked, ‘Why do we need librarians now that we have the internet?’. An understandable question from someone who doesn’t know very much about either the internet or the role of the librarian, but regardless of the ignorance inherent in the question it sounded very much like a warning to the entire profession. However, the People’s Network specifically, and more generally the introduction of the internet into information work, and more generally again the introduction of new technology, gave information professionals more work to do than ever before, and made them not less useful, but more useful, albeit in a slightly different way. Because of the anarchic nature of the internet, the skills of the information professional in the traditional skills of cataloguing, classifying, search and discovery became vital. The major difference however was that they became vital outside the traditional concept of the ‘library’, and into the digital world. As librarians understand the value of information and the ways in which it can be accessed, search engine companies found the input of information professionals to be invaluable. When Microsoft was developing its own search engine intended to rival Google one of the first things that they did was to create a ‘Search Champs’ programme, in which they invited a variety of search enthusiasts to look at their engine and make suggestions for improvement, and in this group they specifically included librarians.13 Information professionals with their specific skill sets are in an excellent position to help bring order out of chaos; not just on the internet in particular (though I will admit to only having a faint hope there), but particularly within their own organizations. While they may not have always possessed the technical skills required to set up an online database or create a webpage, in many respects those

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are skills that can either be learned, or delegated to technical support teams. The conceptual skills of organizing data, arranging the useful flow of information, appreciating the nature of different types of information, are integral to successful use of the internet within an organization. However, it would also be true to say that librarians have traditionally lacked some social skills such as teaching, managing others, marketing and self-promotion; a generalization of course, but not incorrect because of it. In fact, a report by Abell and Chapman at the beginning of the 2000s highlighted the danger: Employers perceive information professionals as possessing valuable skills, but as back office workers who provide services and resources as directed by ‘real’ managers.14

However, the needs of the information professional in utilizing and harnessing the power of the internet have forced (though in many cases without much struggle) information professionals to embrace a new skill set. They became trainers, both in formalized sessions with new staff, a new intake of students or members of the public, and in informal sessions. Of course, they had always performed this role, but the change or development of the skill set was in publishing training guides, promoting resources, marketing the role of the information centre and of course becoming very familiar with digital information rather than printed. Librarians have always been collectors, but the internet provided a particular challenge that they were uniquely able to meet: arranging huge collections of information, analysing and synthesizing it, in many cases manipulating it into other forms and then publishing that on websites or virtual libraries. In other words, information professionals became creators of information, rather than simply users of it. Users’ perceptions changed as well. The phrase ‘Google it’, which really means ‘look it up on the internet if possible’, led users to believe that any and all information that they required was available at the touch of a button. Consequently the information professionals needed to increasingly assume an advisory role (and here we come back to facilitation), and take on a role similar to that of an interface designer. While the user may consider the internet to be the one font of all knowledge, the information professional is aware of the multiplicity of sources, both on and off the internet, and they are in the best position to draw all of these resources together. They are also able to offer their users an unbiased and independent view of the information that is returned as the result of a search. Furthermore, as users become dissatisfied with the results that they achieve when utilizing poor search strategies on immense databases such as Google, mediated searches on complicated queries becomes an increasingly important and central skill of the information professional. Far from being in a position where people do not need librarians because they have the internet, it becomes a situation where they do need librarians because they have the internet! I think that it is no coincidence that in the early part of 2002 the Library Association was unified with the Institute of Information Scientists to create the new body, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.

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UKOLUG, the UK Online User Group, also changed its name to UKeiG – the UK eInformation Group, though this did not take place until the end of 2004. The reasoning behind the name change is illuminating. Gary Horrocks, the Chair of UkeiG, is quoted as saying: We felt the term online was rather nebulous. It was a question of rebranding and thinking about our future direction. We wanted to take that very successful brand and recreate it with a twenty-first century angle. The main message is that we exist as a collective resource for information professionals.15

Quite clearly the change in the role of the information professional, and the skill set needed was being reflected at the highest levels within the profession itself. By 2003 there was evidence that the profession was undergoing a metamorphosis almost anywhere that you looked. The January 2003 issue of Ariadne, an online journal for information professionals, included a variety of articles which showed librarians in a rather different light to the generally accepted stereotype.16 There was discussion of sharing the history of science and medicine gateway metadata, building an infrastructure for collaborative digital libraries in the humanities, exploring the possibilities of charging for a digital library cultural heritage, creating websites for e-citizens, and comparisons of web server software used in UK universities and web testing tool interfaces. Librarians and other information professionals were not only doing this, but they were interested in reading about it. Government strategy The government also had something to say on the development and future direction of the public library service. The government strategy for the coming decade was unveiled, and emphasized the development of activities such as providing expert help to community organizations that wanted to set up their own websites, ‘taking part in the IT revolution’, and encouraging access to digital skills and services.17 It is of course well and good to make fairly broad and generalized statements of that nature, but there is the question of how best could libraries achieve any or all of these goals? Two examples of how libraries could collaborate to maximize their resources are SAGE – an initiative allowing users to search across many websites and databases simultaneously for information on resources available in libraries, museums and archives in the south west of England – and WISDOM – the South West Interoperability Project, allowing users to browse the catalogues of a number of the south-west library services.18 Not only did initiatives such as this take libraries and library resources out of the building and directly into the community, they increased the profile of the information service and staff, and engaged them in high-level technological advances. The wider context It is also important not to forget about the wider ramifications of developments on the internet. Throughout the whole of 2003 Google was increasing its hold over the

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internet search market. Many other search engines were trying to make an impression, but the field was really limited to just a few: Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves (later Ask.com) and Microsoft acting as a dark horse. Sophisticated searching, so beloved of information professionals, was being brushed aside as Northern Light (a search engine that concentrated on the information profession market) closed its doors, and other search engines, such as AltaVista went down the route of simpler search functionality. The real buzz of 2003 was the emergence of weblogs. Weblogs allowed individuals to publish on the web much more easily, freely and quickly than had been possible up to that point. The development of weblogs, which started out firmly in the domain of personal online diaries, was very soon taken over by organizations and individuals providing information and expert commentary on a wide range of issues. Although the impact of weblogs on British librarianship was not felt immediately it was the precursor to the range of new utilities that can loosely be described as being under the Web 2.0 banner, which is discussed later. New roles for libraries Throughout the whole of 2004 and 2005 libraries of all types and descriptions had to contend with an ever increasing range of technologies such as MP3 players, wifi connections in libraries, the use of instant messaging services and converging technologies such as advanced (or third generation) mobile phones and personal digital assistants. The response to these ever faster changes in technology was varied, as one might expect. In Hampshire residents could now visit ‘Discovery Centres’. These were ‘an exciting new way to deliver library services, by combining books and reading with a range of other services such as cultural exhibitions, IT and community resources’.19 The library in Bow, East London, became one of several Idea Stores, described as: more than just a library or a place of learning. As well as the traditional library service, much valued by residents, they offer a wide range of adult education classes, along with career support, training, a creche, meeting areas, cafes and arts and leisure pursuits.20

A different approach was taken by the public library authorities in South Yorkshire, creating a resource called IT For Me. These allowed users to create their own personalised collection of electronic information sources harvested from the Internet, including web-sites, on-line books and magazines and web logs. These resources have been selected by librarians as the best of their kind.21

Interestingly the service was designed to be an alternative to search engines such as Google or Yahoo. They concentrated on relevant resources for people in the region, with good high quality information selected by librarians. There are of course many other examples that could be cited from public, academic and commercial library and information centres; that they are not included relates to considerations of space, rather than anything else. They are

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however illustrative of the way in which libraries and library professionals were affected by the internet. Information professionals learnt, and learnt quickly, to embrace information technology rather than shying away from it. While they may not have initially been familiar with some of the requirements of computers, web design and the internet generally, in these five years they showed a desire and enthusiasm to become more involved in this new area. Librarians are good at arranging knowledge and access to that knowledge. Nothing new here of course; that has been central to their role for hundreds of years. However, what changed was the methodology by which this was done: a direct involvement with the creation, publishing, maintenance and promotion of information resources. Although this is only opinion (though based on considerable experience) it is not hard to see internet resources that have either been created by information professionals or where they have had a large role in their construction. The idea that the library is full of old books at the end of a dusty corridor came to a swift and merciful end. Libraries, regardless of their title, became increasingly vibrant centres of community, academic and commercial interest. They were able to adapt quickly to the changing needs of their constituent groups, utilize internet resources to assist in this and if those resources are not available, create them. Internet technology enabled libraries and staff to do more outreach than ever before, and to encourage interest and participation in the information centre. Libraries explored ways of taking their services to the users, rather than expecting the users to come to them. Librarians worked in an environment where developments and evolution of one resource into another were happening at an ever faster pace. The only constant was the need of the user for information and the role of the librarian in making that available. Consequently one huge change was that user workflows: internet resources began to affect the job of the professional, both requiring and allowing them to discover, manipulate, remix and publish information. Previously, the storage medium of the information and its geographical location would have dictated what a librarian could do with that data and would have constrained their ability to manipulate it; rather, the opposite was now occurring. Conclusion If this were not enough, the emergence of the Web 2.0 phenomenon with the attendant Library 2.0 label not far behind was threatening or perhaps promising to increase this rate of change exponentially. This is not the place to debate the definition of ‘Web 2.0’ either in practical or philosophical terms, but rather to accept that the internet began to see another seismic change in 2005. The arrival of many new resources such as photograph sharing sites, shared bookmarks, RSS, collaborative writing with weblogs and wikis, user created tags, taxonomies and folksonomies to mention just a few, was now allowing greater freedom of expression, manipulation of data into different formats, and faster access to, interpretation and repackaging of data. All of these things would continue to

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change the way in which library services and the role of the information professional changed in the next few years. However, based on the experience of the previous five years, it was something that information professionals would embrace and utilize to create new and even more effective ways of doing their jobs.

Notes 1 2

3 4

5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17

Philip Hunter, ‘New landscapes’, Ariadne 26, Dec. 2000: (accessed 9/6/06). Sarah Ormes, ‘It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine) or, How I learned to stop worrying and love the e-book’, Ariadne 26, Dec. 2000: . Brian Kelly, ‘Web focus: The web on your phone and TV’, Ariadne 26, Dec. 2000: . Penny Garrod, ‘Public libraries in the information age and the role of the librarian’: . Building the new library network. LIC . Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Comprehensive, efficient and modern public libraries: standards and assessment. London: DCMS, 2001. Also available at:

(accessed 9/6/06). John Battelle, The search: how google and its rivals rewrote the rules of business and transformed our culture. London: Nicholas Brealey, 2005. Phil Bradley, ‘Goodbye AltaVista, hallo AllTheWeb’, Ariadne 30, Dec. 2001: . Paul Miller, ‘The concept of the portal’, Ariadne 30, Dec. 2001: . Online Information 2002. Oxford: Learned Information, 2002. Dennie Heye and Eldert van Schagen, ‘Portals are the future for libraries’ in Online Information 2002, pp. 137–40. Social Science Information Gateway: ; BUBL: . ‘How to build a better search engine’. Microsoft press briefing, 2005: . A. Abell and D. Chapman, ‘Even greater expections’, Library Association record 102 (10), 2000, 572–3. Jane Dudman, ‘Ahead of the game’, Information world review April 2006. Also available at: . Ariadne 34, Jan. 2003: . ‘Arts Minister Tessa Blackstone unveils government library strategy for the next ten years’. Press release, Museums, Libraries and Archives South West, 10 Feb. 2003:

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. SAGE, Gateway to the heritage of the South West: ; WISDOM, Connecting libraries in the South West: . Winchester Discovery Centre: . The Idea story: (accessed 9/6/06). IT For Me, South Yorkshire: navigating the web made easy: .

22

Education and training Marion Huckle and Margaret Watson

Introduction By the start of the 21st century library and information services had become more streamlined and much more dependent upon technology: staffing needs and profiles had also changed. Far fewer professional staff were in post across the sector and many demanding and relatively complex duties had been transferred to paraprofessional and support staff. This created a more varied demand for education and training and the boundaries between formal academic provision and training became increasingly blurred. Employers’ expectations of new entrants also expanded and they looked for new solutions to help their workforce keep pace with the demands of a dynamic and rapidly changing discipline. The role of the information professional became multi-faceted: encompassing custodian, systems developer and manager, evangelist and educator. Information professionals were expected to alert and inform, search and evaluate, retrieve and interpret, index and organize, train and teach, negotiate and influence, collate and synthesize, obtain and deliver, talk the language of users, plan and market, and critically appraise practice and assumptions. They became the designers and managers of knowledge systems, educators, problem solvers, e-navigators and publishers.1 By 2000 it was clear that employers and the LIS community could no longer rely on initial education and occasional training to remain competitive. The challenge of the 21st century was to make opportunities for learning available to all in the most appropriate and accessible formats and to encourage all those working in the sector to commit themselves to becoming lifelong learners. Higher education Significant changes occurred in the higher and further education sector as the government sought to ensure that its goals of widening access to and participation in higher education were achieved. Many of these impacted directly on teaching and learning, research, and funding in the domain. The dramatic rate of increase in student numbers witnessed during the previous decade continued after 2000. In 2004–05 there was a total of 2,287,540 students in higher education in the UK (23% postgraduate, 48% part-time) of whom a large

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number were mature students. Additionally, some further education colleges began to offer higher education courses, such as foundation degrees, validated by higher education institutions or other national bodies.2 Recruitment to library and information studies (LIS) courses, accredited by CILIP, declined.3 This could in part be attributed to the increase in provision, and competition from departments of library and information studies (DLIS) in the new and developing countries. Indeed some UK universities developed satellites, tapping into rapidly expanding markets, principally in South East and Far East Asia. The major influence on LIS recruitment was the realization by students themselves of the changing skills profile required in the sector: students chose courses in new and emerging areas such as web management and information architecture in preference to the more traditional library orientated-courses. There were two major drivers for change during the period surveyed in this chapter. The first was the Roberts report, which considered strategically important and vulnerable subjects in higher education (HE) and suggested the strategies that might be required to support such subjects.4 Much of its advice related to actions for the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and other organizations with a role in the funding of HE, such as Sector Skills Councils (SSCs), the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), Research Councils and the Higher Education Academy (HEA). The report identified a need for a considerable increase in the number of computing graduates. It had a significant impact in a number of universities, which had to make difficult decisions about strategic reinvestment that then led to downscaling and closures in a number of institutions although there is no direct evidence that LIS courses were affected. The report also included proposals to revise the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) dealt with later in this chapter. Total funding for HE in 2000 was £13,498,558: in 2005 the total was £17,993,162. The second key driver was the Higher Education Act 2004.5 The aim of the Act was to widen access to HE and enhance the UK’s competitiveness in the global economy, through measures such as the reintroduction of maintenance grants for students from low income households and the provision of bursaries for students from under-represented groups. Some elements of the legislation, such as the creation of an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), equivalent to the research councils established in the Science and Technology Act 1965, were UKwide. Other provisions applied to specified home nations, for example, the authority for determining student fees. Most controversially the Act introduced variable tuition fees, from 2006. Although the Act suggested possible special support for students taking health-related and teaching qualifications, there were great concerns about the impact on librarianship and information education: the majority of these students were drawn from a profession that had always been notoriously low-paid. It was feared that variable fees would discourage students from entering

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HE for fear of incurring debts, although at the time of writing it was too soon to see if these fears had been realized. Formal measures to enhance the quality of learning and teaching in higher education led to the creation of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).6 The Academy was formed in May 2004 from a merger of the Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (ILTHE), the Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN), and the Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund (TQEF) National Co-ordination Team (NCT).7 It provided discipline-based support through a network of 24 subject centres, located within relevant higher education institutions (HEIs), for academics, subject departments and communities of practice. The Information and Computer Sciences subject centre delivered a comprehensive and diverse range of products, services and awards to help academics share good practice, debate topical issues and access resources. Much of their work was done in partnership with relevant professional bodies such as CILIP, the British Association for Information & Library Education and Research (BAILER) and the British Computer Society as well as with employers.8 From April 1995 to December 2001, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) subject review procedure was applied to evaluate the quality of educational provision within taught programmes of study at all levels.9 From 2001 the QAA changed the review procedures and reviewed HEIs using primarily the institutional audit, or ‘light touch’ method. QAA review also extended to all HE provision within further education (FE) colleges funded by HEFCE, such as foundation degrees. The current review process for HE in FE was due to be replaced by a new process following the academic reviews scheduled for 2006/07.10 Research Fundamental changes shaped the approach to library and information research during the period under review. The transfer of the research activities of the former Library and Information Research Commission (LIC) in April 2000, to Resource, the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries (MLA) changed the nature and focus of the research agenda outside the academic sector.11 Resource (MLA) was launched in April 2000 as the strategic non-governmental organization to work with and for museums, archives and libraries. The new organization replaced the Museums and Galleries Commission and the Library and Information Commission, and included archives within its portfolio. One consequence of the change was the dilution of LIS research in favour of broader crosssectoral research aimed at creating a stronger impact in promoting the role of museums, libraries and archives in people’s lives.12 Academics and practitioners expressed concern about the loss of a dedicated lead body for research strategy and funding for the library and information sector.13 CILIP commissioned an investigation from CIRT (the Centre for Information Research, an independent research unit within the University of Central England,

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Birmingham) into the research landscape for the broad LIS domain. This highlighted the complexity of the research community within the LIS domain and also noted some of the difficulties affecting researchers. These included the relatively low priority awarded to research by employers, despite an appreciation by practitioners of the value of research in providing evidence to support work and initiatives in key areas of LIS policy and strategy. The conclusions stressed the need for greater collaboration and cooperation between funders, academics, practitioners, government and the research community.14 Within CILIP the recommendations and conclusions were taken very seriously and led, eventually, to the development and adoption of a CILIP Policy for Library and Information Research.15 The major source of research support in the UK HE sector was provided the eight research councils. Along with the direct funding given to universities by the four HE funding councils this made up the dual support system, which sustained the research effort and preserved and developed the research infrastructure. The establishment of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) replacing the Arts and Humanities Research Board in April 2005 underlined the importance of high-quality research in the arts and humanities for the cultural, creative and economic life of the nation. The AHRC supported research and postgraduate study within a huge domain from traditional humanities subjects, such as history, modern languages and English literature, to the creative and performing arts. It included librarianship and information management. During the year April 2001–March 2002 the Arts Humanities and Research Board allocated a total of £25.8 million (£22 million to research programmes, £23.8 to postgraduate masters). By 2004/05 the figures had increased to £33.1 million (£32.5 million to research, £30.6 million to postgraduate masters). The money was allocated as grants, to individual researchers, projects, programmes or designated research centres, fellowships, and postgraduate studentships. Inevitably, competition for funding was fierce and demand exceeded supply. One of the major funding streams, the Professional Preparation Master’s Scheme was seen to form the bedrock for the training of practitioners in disciplines essential to the welfare of research across the arts and humanities. The 2005 report on the AHRC’s competition for postgraduate awards expressed disappointment in the number and quality of applications to the Doctoral scheme within information science, journalism and librarianship. The most undersubscribed area was librarianship, which the report highlighted as a major cause for concern as a clear relationship was perceived between doctoral research and the supply of teachers and researchers in this subject area.16 One response to the report was the establishment of a ‘Library, Archive & Information Management Sector Interaction Study’ to improve understanding of the interaction between research, and policy and practice, and to make recommendations for improvements. The report was due to be published in the autumn of 2006. Another key influence on university funding was the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), which conducted periodic assessments of the quality of research carried out in HEIs in all disciplines and across the UK. The next UK-wide RAE

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would be completed in 2008: the sixth in a series of exercises conducted nationally to assess the quality of UK research and to inform the distribution of public funds for research by the four UK HE funding bodies. The RAE was due to be replaced with a less bureaucratic system after 2008, using a ‘metrics’ based approach. Considerable initial concern about the proposals was expressed, particularly within universities focusing on arts and humanities, which feared they would be penalized should a more quantitative method of assessing research be introduced. Further education In 2001 the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) was replaced by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). This body was to be responsible for planning and funding vocational education and training for everyone over 16 in England, other than those in HE. The LSC retained the goals identified in Learning works17 of skills improvement so that by 2010, young people and adults in England should have the knowledge and skills matching the best in the world.18 In February 2005 the government published a white paper which looked at all provision for 14–19-year-olds.19 The proposals introduced new specialized lines of learning leading to diplomas in 14 broad sector areas. Employers, through SSCs, would lead in their design and HEIs would also have an important role to play. The specialized diplomas would replace the current system of around 3,500 separate qualifications and should provide an alternative gateway to higher education and skilled employment. Sector Skills Agreements (SSAs), which were being developed by SSCs between 2004 and 2008, would put in place a framework that would enable employers to sign up to a key set of skill priorities with the main funding and delivery agencies. The focus of the agreements would be on national sector issues, although delivery of the agreements was likely to involve a regional and local dimension. HEFCE, with DfES, supported the first four pilot SSCs to engage with the HE sector to address both supply and demand issues. In particular, HEFCE was encouraging SSCs to develop closer partnerships with institutions to deliver the provision required by employers, for example through involvement in Lifelong Learning Networks and collaboration on the design and delivery of curricula, including foundation degrees. There was a much slower take-up of foundation degrees within LIS than in other domains, such as computing and ICT. Although there were now two validated LIS foundation degrees the first cohort of students would not enter until 2006.20 In November 2005 a review of the FE sector, Realizing the future, was published by the DfES in which recommendations for the future were further clarified.21 One of the recommendations was that a new workforce development strategy should be produced, led by DfES but developed with the Association of Colleges and other stakeholders.

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Lifelong learning The emphasis placed on lifelong learning by the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) in 1995 continued into the twenty-first century. The continuing enhancement of knowledge and skills became part of the government’s agenda for workforce development in all sectors. The DfEE was replaced in 2003 by the DfES, which published the government’s skills strategy in 21st century skills: realizing our potential, followed in 2005 with a second white paper Getting on in business, getting on at work. A Minister for Skills was appointed and the Skills Alliance formed in 2003, bringing together the four major government departments (DfES, Department of Trade and Industry, HM Treasury and the Department for Work and Pensions) with employers and union representatives. Lifelong learning continued to be important for the LIS domain in two ways, firstly as part of the support system for lifelong learning in the community and secondly in ensuring that all staff working in the sector had the necessary knowledge and skills. The latter covered both initial training and qualifications and continuing professional development (CPD). Towards a strategy for workforce development, published by Demos in 2003 for MLA, identified drivers for change and a need for workforce development in the public sector. MLA, after consultation with employers, professional associations and other stakeholders announced its workforce development strategy in 2004 and later now set up various pilot projects to help develop a more diverse workforce and to identify and develop new skills.22 Examples of these projects included a Training and Needs Analysis Toolkit and public library apprenticeships. In 2003 MLA published The Wider Information and Library Issues Project (WILIP) study, in which MLA consulted with libraries and information services outside the public library sector to investigate areas of common interest, including workforce development. After publication of the WILIP report the main stakeholders committed to a further stage that would respond to the findings of WILIP including identifying ways in which the capacity of libraries to address their high level vision could be improved. This stage was called ‘Routes to Knowledge’. A Steering Group was established in 2004 and affirmed the importance of ‘making the case’ for libraries in terms of their economic and social impact, with two areas (health and small to medium size enterprises (SMEs)) being selected for particular attention. In December 2005 MLA and Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK), the new SSC in the LIS sector, announced a strategic partnership agreement to develop a more skilled and responsive libraries and archives workforce; both parties signed up to a three-year programme of joint working which would open up greater opportunities for staff in terms of career progression and development. At the same time CILIP and LLUK were drafting a memorandum of understanding that articulated the individual authority and responsibility of each organization for education and training in the sector.

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Work-based learning Over these five years work-based learning (WBL) became increasingly important both in initial training and CPD. There were some notable successes in the public library sector, the health sector and in HE. Perhaps one of the most successful work-based programmes was the ICT training programme undertaken to help staff in public libraries deliver and support the People’s Network, part of the government’s commitment to give everyone in the country the opportunity to use computers and to access the internet. The project was lottery-funded by the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) and managed by MLA. The funding enabled over 4,300 public libraries in the UK to get online. The Building the new library report recommended two levels of training to help people become familiar and comfortable with the role and use of ICT in libraries, both for themselves as staff and on behalf of users.23 £20 million was allocated from NOF between 2000 and 2003 for training public and school librarians to help staff meet the challenge of Building the new library.24 The ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) was widely used to equip staff with basic ICT skills. Advanced training, including web navigation, web design, information skills training, e-content and management, was offered to staff who already had some ICT skills. Leadership was also identified as a serious training need by both the former LIC, ISNTO and other surveys of the LIS sector. In response MLA invested £105,000 per annum since 2004 to fund MLA Fellowships on the Clore Leadership programme. MLA also launched the Leading Modern Public Libraries Programme in 2004 and: To date, heads of service, senior managers and future leaders from 148 authorities (out of 149) have participated in the Leading Modern Public Libraries programme run for public libraries by FPM, including 119 heads of library services. A partnership of Information Management Associates and the University of Sheffield have been appointed to carry out the external evaluation of the programme and are due to report in the summer of 2006.25

Within the health sector similar concern was expressed about the need for lifelong learning to be incorporated into workforce development. A report published in 2001 set out a coordinated approach and stressed the need for the development of effective learning organizations which valued and developed their staff.26 The government established the NHS University (NHSU) in December 2003 to be responsible for learning and skills development but this was dissolved in July 2005. The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement became responsible for strategy and policy and Skills for Health (the new SSC) became responsible for developing the integrated competency framework. Similarly, in HE, ICT skills and leadership were identified as areas for development. Among many initiatives in HE, the JISC-funded eLib programme including the Netskills project provided training to upskill LIS in ICT.27 Netskills was very successful and became an independent training provider, covering all LIS

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28

sectors. The HIMSS project was funded by HEFCE to contribute to the sector’s succession planning for information managers.29 The provision of WBL was also making progress in HE according to a report by the HEA, based on a study carried out by the Academy for DfES.30 The study revealed that a great deal of workforce development activity was underway in the HE sector. The report outlined seven case studies of successful WBL initiatives taking place in HEIs. An analysis of all seven case studies found that a flexible approach to delivery, in which the learner has a greater say over where and when learning takes place, is important. The extent to which WBL should be regarded as having equal value to more traditional academic learning and receive equal credit was an issue yet to be resolved in the higher education sector, though progress had been made. Northumbria University, for example, had a framework for accrediting in-house company training and could award credit for learning in the workplace. Much WBL, according to the report, remained uncertified. Vocational qualifications From 2000, National Training Organisations (NTOs) were responsible for the development and delivery of vocational qualifications following the demise of the Lead Bodies.31 From 2004 Sector Skills Councils were gradually set up to replace the NTOs. The new SSC LIS sector, LLUK, only came into existence in late 2005. It became responsible for the professional development of all those working in libraries, archives and information services, work-based learning, higher education, further education and community learning and development. The Information Services National Training Organisation (ISNTO) Vision Statement stated: ‘we must develop our workforce to the current and future service needs and enable all individual workers to realise their full potential …’,32 and in their Workforce Development Plan published in 2002 identified a need to resolve the ‘tension between the range of professional qualifications and the newer range of N/SVQs’.33 Two important Skills Foresight reports were published by ISNTO in 2001 and 2003. Both reports highlighted the wide range of skills required and ranked management and personal skills as slightly more important than ‘job-related’ (professional/technical) skills. Leadership and ICT competences were priority areas in both studies.34 Within the sector the LIS standards produced by ISNTO were still in operation, but it was expected that from 2006 revised occupational standards would be developed by LLUK working in partnership with employers, HE and FE, and professional bodies. ECDL and City & Guilds qualifications were also still available for paraprofessionals working in LIS. The ECDL (used widely in the public sector) was managed in the UK by the British Computer Society. Its stated aims were: to raise the general level of competency in IT, to improve productivity at work, to enable employers to invest more efficiently in IT and to ensure that best practice and quality issues were understood and implemented. The City & Guilds of London

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Institute awarded internationally recognized qualifications. They provided a combination of practical experience and theoretical knowledge. Two courses were currently available for LIS staff.35 Scottish and National Vocational Qualifications (S/NVQs) levels 2, 3 and 4 were available throughout 2000 to 2005. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) was given the overall task of bringing in a new National Qualifications Framework. In 2005 the QCA developed a draft single framework for personal, employability, learning and thinking skills for all learners aged 11 to 19. This single framework, together with functional English, mathematics and ICT, aimed to equip young people with the skills they needed to be employable and achieve success in life. A survey was run by QCA from the 3 October to 2 December 2005 to gather views on the framework. The revised framework would be available from the QCA website and updates on progress would also be provided from the website. The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) published its new framework in 2004 and also launched the two People’s Network legacy qualifications in December 2005. The two diplomas were part of the SQA’s Professional Development Awards and provided new routes to professional qualifications. They would enable staff to certificate their People’s Network training in the library contextual outcomes, fitting well with their ECDL certificates. Continuing professional development In the government report Framework for the future the need to recruit and retrain staff was highlighted once again: libraries also face more intense competition in recruiting and retraining the staff they need. A generation of leaders recruited to the library profession thirty or more years ago is due to retire within the next few years. Developing a new generation of library leaders fully trained in business management and marketing skills is thus an urgent priority.36

Earlier sections in this chapter have identified the training available through a variety of means to ensure that knowledge and skills in the LIS sector are enhanced. CPD, whether by formal or informal training, whether through HE/FE or work-based learning, was now a requisite for anyone working in LIS. As John Feather wrote: the increased widening of the information profession is leading to an increasingly disparate set of skills for information professionals depending on the sector in which they work.37

The professional associations, MLA and commercial training providers, such as TFPL, all recognized the challenge to provide CPD opportunities and to support individuals in their lifelong learning. The major shifts in CPD in this period were the move from a training-based approach to a learning approach and the need to demonstrate the impact of CPD on the service or the individual. The former was part of the general move towards

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developing a learning culture; the latter recognized the need for LIS professionals to make use of evidence-based practice and become reflective practitioners.38 The need for information professionals to become reflective practitioners underpins the new CILIP Framework of Qualifications and was an important development for the LTSN-ICS. Using the RAPID (Recording Academic, Professional and Individual Development) Progress file a portfolio planning approach for information professionals was developed by LTSN-ICS at Loughborough University.39 TFPL developed a Skills Toolkit to be used by individuals to record their skills and knowledge and to identify gaps by benchmarking against generic profiles on the website.40 Professional associations The period either side of the millennium was one of change and development for the two largest membership organizations for the LIS community as the Library Association and the Institute of Information Scientists engaged in the practical and legal work necessary to establish a new professional body. CILIP inherited a number of important strengths from its predecessor bodies, including the high value attributed to the Body of Knowledge and its status as a Chartered professional body. A key objective for CILIP was the creation of an authoritative and inclusive Framework of Qualifications and Accreditation (FoQA) to provide a strong platform for education and training for the LIS profession in the early 21st century. For some time concern had been expressed that professional qualifications were out of line with the qualifications procedures and modern career paths of those working within the broad discipline. Members of both predecessor organizations agreed that there was a need to develop and offer qualifications that better reflected the modern LIS environment and also to increase the emphasis on CPD. Transitional arrangements were put in place pending a full consultation amongst members about proposals for a new Framework of Qualifications that would incorporate a voluntary revalidation scheme. A Steering Group was appointed to oversee the project and took as its starting-point a review of the skills and competencies necessary for current and future roles.41 A key feature of CILIP’s Framework, introduced in April 2005, was the design and implementation of a Mentor scheme, which reflected the shift within formal education from a teacher–pupil relationship to the mentor–mentee relationship with an emphasis on self-directed learning. All CILIP’s qualifications were based on submission of evidence of CPD in a portfolio format reflecting development through both vocational practice and academic courses. An important development within CILIP’s Framework was the introduction of a Certification scheme for paraprofessionals based on work experience and training.42 Aslib remained primarily an institutional membership organization, with members in private and public sector companies and organizations throughout the world. Following a difficult period in 2004 the organization re-emerged in 2005, with 3 branches and 14 Special Interest Groups. It worked to help and advise

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organizations of all sizes and governments on issues and problems relating to information management and it supported members with books, journals and magazines as well as offering a comprehensive training and conferences programme.43 The United Kingdom Association of Information Systems (UKAIS) also had an interest in LIS education and training. UKAIS was established by leading UK academics in information systems (IS). The founders were concerned about the way in which IS teaching and research was funded and by the perceived lack of recognition of IS as a growing and important academic discipline. The UKAIS combines the roles of ‘learned society’, ‘communications channel’ and ‘pressure group’, complementing the work of the ICS-HEA subject centre. It supported IS teaching, research and practice through conferences, PhD consortia, workshops, regional groups and newsletters.44 The Records Management Society offered training events, publications and meetings to help support members working in records and information management and to those working in cognate disciplines. There was close affinity between records management and information management in the wake of legislation such as the Data Protection Act and the Freedom of Information Act. In 2002 the Society established its Higher Education/Further Education Group to promote and facilitate discussion between records management professionals working in higher and further education institutions with the goal of achieving consistency of approach across the higher and further education sector through mutual support and the sharing of knowledge and experience.45 The Special Libraries Association (SLA) was also influential in the education and training of LIS professionals in its sector. An international association, it represented the interests of 11,000 members in over eighty countries worldwide, including corporate, academic, and government information specialists. In order to support the professional development of its members SLA defined a set of competencies for special librarians that had much in common with other LIS knowledge frameworks, including CILIP’s Body of Professional Knowledge.46 In 2006 SLA was to introduce an online learning community focusing on continuing professional education for knowledge workers around the world. It would offer training for LIS professionals in core skills, management, communications, and leadership strategies and effective practices and methods for the collection, sharing, and use of information and knowledge in the modern working world.47 BAILER continued to be the only dedicated professional association for academics delivering formal LIS education. BAILER originally supported both a Main Committee and Heads of Department Committee (HoDs). The former was a membership organization for all staff in accredited institutions: the latter was the strategic and policy-making arm that represented LIS educators to funding bodies, research councils and other professional associations. The Main Committee was disbanded in 2004 but the HoDs Committee continued to represent the discipline in the HE sector, the profession and external partners.48 IFLA (the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions)

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was the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. Through its Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning Section (CPDWL) it embraced all aspects of professional development and learning in the workplace. CPDWL encouraged, promoted and supported CPD for information and library personnel across the profession and fosters the exchange of good practice between members.49 Course accreditation and approval Accreditation by both the Library Association and the Institute of Information Scientists was a blend of prescriptive and permissive elements: these were brought together in the Joint Accreditation Instrument (JAI) applied until 2005.50 Accredited courses were all assessed by the extent to which they provided teaching, and to a lesser extent research, mapped to the Body of Knowledge. The prescriptive element required that all students should be trained in research methods and also that they should have appropriate practical experience, either as a prerequisite for admission or as an integrated component of the course in the form of a placement.51 The permissive element was evidenced by the way that the LIS professional bodies did not dictate the curriculum, unlike professional bodies in the statutory professions. Accreditation denoted to employers that graduates had received a sound preparation for professional practice in both general and specialist areas of LIS. However, completion of an accredited course was not thought sufficient to provide all the relevant knowledge and understanding in such a rapidly changing discipline. Thus CPD was also considered essential and graduates wishing to join the professional Register were required to complete an approved period of professional work before becoming Chartered.52 The JAI was a historical document that did not take account of the introduction of external audit and quality assurance procedures within higher education: by 2000 much of what had previously fallen broadly within the remit of accreditation was undertaken much more thoroughly by the QAA and the RAE. The QAA subject benchmark statement for librarianship and information management, published in 2000, firmly embedded the professional bodies’ requirements within course content and curriculum design.53 Although the objectives of the QAA inspection were different to that of professional bodies there was a considerable degree of commonality between the documentation required by the different bodies. Also, as mentioned at the start of this chapter, employers’ expectations of new entrants had expanded. As John Feather wrote in 2004: a professional librarian needs an understanding of the wider scope of professional practice, with insights into ethical issues and the legal framework of information provision … But this is not all. The second thing employers are asking for – and actually it is probably the first thing – is the right kind of person. Interpersonal skills, a flexible approach to tasks and good communication skills are the basis of this. It is manifested in

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what we could identify as a confident and professional approach to tasks, and a willingness to continue to learn.54

Additionally, the widespread adoption of modularization with its emphasis on enabling students to determine individual pathways towards a named award meant that it was increasingly likely that a course, although identified by a relevant title such as MA Information Management, was not sufficient evidence that a student had been exposed to a consistent level of the LIS Body of Knowledge.55 A revised Accreditation Instrument, introduced in autumn 2005, retained the primary interest by the professional body in the relevance of the course to current and developing practice in LIS, with content broadly consonant with the Body of Knowledge. For the first time foundation degrees were included in the list of potentially accreditable courses as was the possibility of HEIs outside the UK seeking accreditation.56 In 2000 the Library Association accredited 60 courses at 17 institutions: the IIS approved 93 courses at 20 institutions. By the end of 2005 although there had been little overall change in the number of accredited institutions and courses (62 accredited courses at 17 HEIs) there had been a significant increase in the proportion of LIS accredited Masters’ degrees. Curriculum change and development National, discipline and institutional influences all impacted on the LIS curriculum. The practice of Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) was first introduced into UK HE in the 1980s as a useful way of determining the entry level of the increasing number of mature students who entered HE from non-traditional backgrounds and was linked to the widening participation agenda. Students who were APELed were awarded credit towards their academic awards. Initially limited to the polytechnics by the late 1990s APEL had been widely adopted by the university sector.57 A few DLIS recruited students on to courses at both Bachelor’s and in some cases Master’s level, through APEL: they did not hold formal academic qualifications but were able to demonstrate from their vocational and work-based learning that they had matched the normal entry requirements. The government was fully supportive of a more strategic approach to the future development of ICT in education and skills services. Its e-strategy set out a plan to maintain the UK’s world leading position in the use of ICT in pedagogy and for transforming the experience of learning. The strategy included a commitment to encourage all organizations to support a personal online learning space for learners that could develop eventually into an electronic portfolio for lifelong learning.58 New information and communication technology impacted on teaching and learning. Academic staff and students had to demonstrate a high level of skill and competency in the application of ICT to their own work. For LIS students there was also a clear expectation that they would be able to apply these skills when they entered the workplace.59 Some LIS courses were offered solely via distance learning. Distance learning was generally much more costly and intensive both in

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terms of faculty time and preparation as well as in relation to online interaction than a campus class. However, many lecturers found that participation by online students was consistently higher than in classroom interactions and this often led to additional questions and discussions that helped enhance the learning experience. Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) became established as the teaching environment in many universities, bringing challenges and changes for lecturers who now delivered modules through a digital environment. Use of an integrated VLE required a more proactive approach from the students, and from the lecturers’ perspective had to be less pre-structured and more responsive to students’ requirements.60 Lecturers and students also had to develop new skills in order to ensure they all made most effective use of the new technology.61 Library and information services are at the forefront of the knowledge economy and there is a strong imperative for academic departments to make changes to courses as the diversity of employment opportunities and challenges for graduates increases. The market for information professionals extended outside traditional areas creating employment opportunities in new and emerging sectors. Many graduates were attracted to posts in a much wider range of sectors and this created recruitment difficulties in LIS sectors that are traditionally lower paid, such as school and public libraries.62 DLIS introduced a new vocabulary into the curriculum. Terms such as social informatics, e-governance, health informatics, knowledge management and digital media occur frequently as module titles. They did not replace the traditional curriculum but were blended into new subjects and topics that more accurately reflected the professional environment. A major area of debate was in relation to the increasingly use of the term ‘knowledge management’ (KM). The potential overlap between information management courses and more technical aspects of LIS had been appreciated by LIS academics for some time. Some DLIS offered named Masters’ degrees in KM. However, many Business and Computer departments had different views on the nature and scope of KM, which led inevitably to competition between LIS courses and completely different courses within other academic disciplines.63 According to Tom Wilson: in the UK, the Departments and Schools of Librarianship and Information Science (LIS) have introduced information management options and, in some cases, new degree programmes in the field, and have made a strong bid within their institutions to be the lead departments in this new area. However, there is competition from the business schools (where the focus still tends to be on the strategic role of information technology and on the consequences of that role for the management of IT) and from computer science departments, which, in the early 1990s, felt the effect of declining demand for their courses and which, in consequence, have sought to broaden the basis for attracting students by offering courses in business information systems and information management.64

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The vocational nature of the discipline also stimulated significant developments in the nature and types of courses, for example with the design and delivery of foundation degrees. One response to the challenge of improving teaching and learning materials to support the expanding LIS curriculum within HE was the LIMES project.65 The project worked with academic departments, employers, specialist employment agencies and professional associations to identify and to provide a framework to embed suitable teaching and learning materials in the curricula, with the overall aim of enhancing graduates’ employability. LIMES incorporated the use of RAPID Portfolio. The project facilitated the development of an online version of RAPID, which was specific to the Information and Computer Science community.66 At the close of the period there were indications that the future of LIS within the HE curriculum was not altogether secure. In 2002 one DLIS announced the closure of its single LIS course despite strong support within the region, and in 2004 another DLIS closed all its courses to new entrants from the end of the 2004/05 academic year, despite good advance recruitment. Very few DLIS survived as independent departments: the majority were located in departments with cognate disciplines such as computing or business studies. At the close of the period LIS courses were primarily Masters’ degrees. The number of universities providing an LIS Bachelor’s degree had declined: there were now just 13 accredited Bachelor degrees in LIS compared to 24 in 2000. Many universities now also offered individual modules on a standalone basis for those who wish to top up their knowledge and skills whilst remaining at work. European Union The European Commission (EC) continued to encourage mutual recognition of both academic and vocational qualifications between the various education systems in Europe. The EC’s Erasmus Programme encouraged students from EU member states to participate in HE courses outside their own countries. There were concerns that the number of UK students taking part in the Erasmus programme had declined, whilst numbers entering the UK remained buoyant. This was largely attributed to student anxiety about debt in the light of the Higher Education Act 2004 and also to concerns about linguistic ability. The DfES was seeking ways in which to increase outward mobility from the UK. Leonardo da Vinci was the EC’s vocational training programme. It encouraged collaboration between organizations involved in vocational training, aiming to improve the quality of training provision, develop the skills and mobility of the workforce, stimulate innovation and enhance the competitiveness of the European industry. One of the projects set up as part of the Leonardo da Vinci programme was called DECIDoc. It aimed to define four levels of competence for those working in LIS. The original guide to competencies was published in 1999. In 2004 the CERTIDoc Consortium (a successor to DECIDoc) published a completely revised guide to LIS competencies.67 CERTIDoc offered potential benefits to UK inform-

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ation professionals as it might ease the recognition of their professional qualifications within Europe, thus complementing the European Directive on the Mutual Recognition of Qualifications. The EU’s Education and Training 2010 work programme set the framework for national policies and EU-funded programmes and mirrored the goals of the UK Government. Amongst its key objectives was an increase in participation in lifelong learning of those aged 25 to 64 to a minimum of 12.5%.68 45 countries were now committed to the Bologna process to create convergence of HE systems at the European level. The ultimate aim was to establish a European Higher Education Area by 2010 within which academic staff and students would move with ease and have quick fair recognition of their qualifications. Overall Bologna should enable the higher education systems in Europe to move towards a more transparent system using a common framework based on three cycles of degrees, Bachelor, Master and Doctor. In July 2005 the UK took over responsibility for the Secretariat to the Bologna Follow Up Group and its Board, and became responsible for providing information and news about work and developments in the Bologna process.69 In order to help to facilitate the transfer and recognition of qualifications held by individual citizens, the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) was introduced within the emerging European Higher Education Area. From 2005 every graduating student should have received a Diploma which was aimed at improving international transparency and at facilitating the academic and professional recognition of qualifications by providing a common description of the nature, level, context, content and status of studies. Conclusion As information expands, the management of and access to information become even more critical; it demands even more training for information providers. Information professionals may be required to undertake high-level tasks in terms of policy-making, planning and administration, in addition to core practical professional skills. Education, training, lifelong and work-based learning are all recognized as being essential to sustaining a strong and healthy economy. These four elements are crucial to individuals both for job and career prospects and for achieving a more inclusive society. Employers, education and training organizations and professional associations all make a key contribution to personal development, both directly through funding mechanisms and also through tacit support and encouragement for individuals at all stages of their careers. The nature and range of learning opportunities and experiences were creating a bewildering array of choices for information professionals: individuals must take an holistic approach to professional development, selecting from academic, vocational and work-based education and training to achieve personal and organizational goals. As most statutory professions now had compulsory CPD it seemed likely that in the following five years information professionals would be

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required to formalize their CPD within the new frameworks discussed in this chapter.

Notes 1 2 3

4

5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21

CILIP Corporate plan 2002–2005. Available at: . Higher Education Statistics Agency: (accessed 12/6/06). CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals was formed in April 2002 through the unification of the Library Association and the Institute of Information Scientists. HEFCE Chief Executive’s Strategically Important Subjects Advisory Group, Strategically important and vulnerable subjects: final report of the advisory group. HEFCE, 2005 (the ‘Roberts report’): (accessed 13/6/06). Higher Education Act 2004: 2004 chapter 8. London: Stationery Office, 2004. Also available from: . Higher Education Funding Council: (accessed 13/5/06). Higher Education Academy: (accessed 13/6/06). Higher Education Academy, Information and Computer Sciences: (accessed 13/6/06). Marion Huckle and Margaret Watson, ‘Education and training’ in British librarianship and information work 1991–2000, ed. J. H. Bowman. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006, pp. 353–68. Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education: (accessed 15/6/06). In 2004 Resource changed its name to the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and is referred to as MLA throughout this chapter. Museums, Libraries and Archives Council: (accessed 13/6/06). Bob McKee, ‘LIS research: mapping the gaps’, Library Association record 103 (6), 2001, 324. Sarah McNicol and Clare Nankivell, The LIS research landscape: a review and prognosis. Birmingham: Centre for Information and Research, 2002. CILIP policy for information and library research, 2005: (accessed 14/7/06). Arts and Humanities Research Council: (accessed 20/5/06). Further Education Funding Council, Committee on Widening Participation, Learning works: widening participation in further education. Coventry: FEFC, 1997. Learning and Skills Council: (accessed 3/6/06). Department for Education and Skills, 14–19 education and skills. London: Stationery Office, 2005 (Cm 6476). Foundation Degree Forward, Foundation degree programmes: (accessed 3/6/06). Andrew Foster, Realising the potential: a review of the future role of further education colleges. Annesley: DfES, 2005.

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22 MLA, Learning for change: towards a skilled and diverse workforce. London: MLA, 2005: (accessed 15/6/06). DEMOS was a think tank undertaking research and working in partnership with public, private and voluntary sector partners: see . 23 Library and Information Commission. Building the New Library. LIC 1998; Museums, Libraries and Archives Council http://www.mla.gov.uk (accessed 13th June 2006). 24 Huckle and Watson, ‘Education and training’. 25 Museums, Libraries and Archives Council: (accessed 13/6/06). 26 Department of Health, Working together, learning together: a framework for lifelong learning for the NHS. London: Dept of Health, 2001. 27 Netskills: (accessed 22/6/06). JISC: the Joint Information Systems Committee was funded by all the UK post-16 and higher education funding councils. It supported further and higher education by providing strategic guidance, advice and opportunities to use information and communications technology (ICT) to support teaching, learning, research and administration. 28 Pete Dalton and Clare Nankivell, HIMSS: hybrid information management: skills for senior staff: draft report and recommendations. Birmingham: CIRT, 2001. Available from: . 29 Patrick Noon, ‘ Developing the academic library managers of the future’ in Developing academic library staff for future success, ed. Margaret Oldroyd. London: Facet, 2004, pp. 41–60. 30 Higher Education Funding Council, Learning: illuminating the higher education landscape: (accessed 13/5/06). 31 Huckle and Watson, ‘Education and training’. 32 Information Services NTO: . 33 Information Services NTO, Workforce development plan. 2002. 34 Sheila Corrall, ‘Developing models of professional competence to enhance employability in the network world’ in Continuing professional development: preparing for new roles in libraries: a voyage of discovery. The 6th World Conference on Continuing Professional Development and Workplace, ed. Paul Genoni and Graham Walton. Munich: Saur, 2005 (IFLA publications; 116). 35 Qualifications for library assistants: (accessed 20/5/06). 36 Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Framework for the future: libraries, learning and information in the next decade. London: DCMS, 2003, 20. 37 John Feather, ‘Whatever happened to the library schools?’, Library + information update 2 (10), 2003, 40–2. 38 Andrew Booth and Anne Brice, Evidence-based practice for information professionals. London: Facet, 2004. 39 Alan Brine, Continuing professional development: a guide for information professionals. Oxford: Chandos, 2005. 40 TFPL, Knowledge and information skills toolkit: (accessed 10/6/06).

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41 Biddy Fisher, ‘Report on skills and competencies for information professionals’. Unpublished report for CILIP’s Professional Development Committee, June 2002. 42 CILIP, Certification regulations. 2005:

43 Aslib: (accessed 20/5/06). 44 UK Association of Information Systems: (accessed 13/6/06). 45 Records Management Society: (accessed 13/6/06). 46 Special Libraries Association, Competencies for information professionals in the 21st century. 2003. Available from: . 47 Click University: (accessed 26/5/06). 48 BAILER: (accessed 26/5/06). 49 IFLA: (accessed 20/6/06). 50 Joint accreditation instrument. LA/IIS Joint Accreditation Administration, 1999. 51 Peter Enser, ‘The role of professional body accreditation in Library & Information Science education in the UK: paper presented at the IFLA 2002 conference in Glasgow’, Libri 52, 2002, 214–19. 52 Marion Huckle, ‘Professional accreditation of library and information courses in the united kingdom: paper presented to a joint BAD/EBLIDA Seminar, Estoril’, in Cadernos BAD 1, 2003, 74–86. 53 QAA, Subject benchmark statements: Librarianship and Information Management:

(accessed 13/5/06). 54 Feather, ‘Whatever happened?’. 55 Peter Enser, ‘Future direction for CILIP’s accreditation role: a discussion paper’. Unpublished paper prepared for CILIP’s Accreditation Board, Feb. 2004. 56 CILIP, Accreditation instrument: (accessed 22/6/06). 57 Jonathan Garnett, Derek Portwood and Carol Costley, Bridging rhetoric and reality: accreditation of prior experiential learning (APEL) in the UK. Bolton: University Vocational Awards Council, 2004. 58 Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, Connecting the UK: the digital strategy. London: Strategy Unit, 2005. 59 Bronwen Jones et al., Staff in the new library: skill needs and learning choices; findings from the future, a public library research project. Boston Spa: British Library Research and Innovation Centre, 1999 (British Library research and innovation report: 152). 60 Margaret Markland, ‘Embedding online information resources in virtual learning environments: some implications for lecturers and librarians of the move towards delivering teaching in the online environment’, Information research 8 (4), 2003. 61 Philippa Levy and Sue Roberts, Developing the new learning environment: the changing role of the academic librarian. London: Facet, 2005. 62 Anne Goulding, ‘Never the twain shall meet? Changing syllabi of LIS schools, or, From cat and class to intranet construction and does it matter’, Impact 4 (4), 2002, 65–6. 63 Leif Kajberg and Leif Lorring, European curriculum reflections on library and information science education. Copenhagen: Royal School of Library and Information Science, 2005.

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64 Levy and Roberts, Developing the new learning environment, 121–32. 65 LIMES Library and Information Management Employability Skills was partnership between library and information science departments at Loughborough University, the University of the West of England and Liverpool John Moores University. It was sponsored by the Higher Education Funding Council for England as part of Phase 5 of the Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning (FDTL5). 66 RAPID portfolio: (accessed 20/6/06). 67 Euroguide LIS. Vol. 1: Competencies and aptitudes for European information professionals. 2nd entirely rev. ed. Vol. 2: Levels of qualification for European information professionals. ECIA, 2004. 68 European Union website: (accessed 13/5/06). 69 DfES Bologna Follow Up Group: (accessed 13/5/06).

23

Research David Nicholas

Introduction The intention of this chapter is twofold: (1) to describe the essential features of the research landscape during the period 2001–2005; and (2) to highlight the really important events and changes that took place during that time. The remarks made in the previous volume of British librarianship and information work regarding the general lack of comment and publication about LIS research, still hold true for this period.1 In the information-driven and challenged environment in which the UK found itself this is both puzzling and disturbing. Apart from Information research watch international (IRWI), the current awareness research newsletter, and the occasional review of the RAE2 there was generally very little that was published of worth or substance. However, no doubt in recognition of this, a review of research was in fact commissioned by CILIP. The overall aim of the project was to review LIS research during the period 1997– 2002 and to forecast research trends over the period 2002–2005. Identifying research trends, priorities, and funding sources was a main theme of the review. Data was collected via a literature review and a questionnaire survey of the LIS research community. The outcome of the review was the report The LIS research landscape: a review and prognosis which was published in 2005.3 Tom Wilson’s e-journal, Information research was also helping to disseminate and publicize research.4 However, as in the previous volume of this work, original analyses have been conducted to fill the information gap and update the published material that is available. The information landscape continued to change rapidly during this period, largely because of wide-scale digitization, and as a consequence the research landscape changed too – and quite dramatically. This was a period in which the influence of Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) – grew significantly and both were now very much the key drivers in shaping the new research agenda and landscape. There were other changes too. Firstly, the research activity – but not the influence – of the research ‘big’ research names of the last decade was scaling down. Tom Wilson, Harry East and Maurice Line had largely retired; David Ellis had moved to the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Micheline Beaulieu, once of City, had moved to a senior

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management job at the University of Sheffield and Stephen Robertson was doing most of his work now for Microsoft. The potential ‘loss’ of the big names gave rise to further concerns about the quality and future of LIS research (as compared to research in other related disciplines) and about where the new big names would come from. Nevertheless, some ‘new’ names were emerging. In this context the work of the CIBER research group, previously at City University, but from 2004 at UCL, should be noted in the field of the digital consumer, and that of Mike Thelwall (University of Wolverhampton) in the field of website link analysis. Secondly, with funding bodies like JISC and the DCMS opting ever more for a tender-based form of research commissioning, information consultancies such as Electronic Publishing Services Ltd and TFPL continued to make inroads into what was once academic research territory. Because consultancy-based research work tends not to result in peer-reviewed publication this generally resulted in a loss to the UK LIS research literature. The funding environment The funding environment continued to be difficult because of increased levels of competition resulting from more people wanting to conduct research in the field (RAE funding was a big encouragement here with its ability to provide LIS departments with large amounts of money for quite a long period – 6/7 years) and the decline in ‘dedicated’ LIS funders, which meant that LIS researchers had to compete for funds with researchers from other disciplines.5 Increasingly too, more funding was tied to the strategic agendas and missions of funders, so cramping individual research freedom. A wide diversity of organizations provided research funding during this period, and, if anything, the variety of funders grew. Wilson estimated that there were at least 33 organizations that provided research and development funds to LIS on a reasonably regular basis.6 Research Council funding, such as that provided by the AHRC, was regarded as the most prestigious, largely because of the stringent peer review process lying behind it: a process that meant that only about one in five applicants was successful. Funding from the European Commission was probably the most generous, although it came with significant administrative burdens, and income streams had to be divided between large numbers of European partners. In terms of sheer numbers of projects funded JISC won easily.7 IRWI provides us with a quantitative and changing picture of research funding during the first four years of the period (data for 2005 had not yet been published at the time of writing). IRWI data for 2001 showed that the European Commission was the top funder with 83 awards given.8 Of course, the EC funded not just UK institutions, so this is a bit misleading. As regards UK funders, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)/Wolfson Foundation Public Libraries Challenge Fund, administered by Resource, the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, was the main funder in terms of number of grants (48 projects). The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) was second with 36 projects, out of which 31 were given under the Distributed National Electronic Resource pro-

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gramme, DNER. The British Library’s Co-operation and Partnership Programme financed 23 projects, Resource itself 8, the Research Support Libraries Programme 7, the EPSRC 6, and the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) 2. In 2002 the European Commission proved again to be the top funder with 141 awards given.9 They were followed with DCMS/Wolfson Foundation, administered by Resource, with 18 entries. The National Manuscripts Conservation Trust and the New Opportunities Fund Digitization of Learning Materials Programme (‘NOF-digitise’) funded 14 projects each, and the AHRB 12. Resource funded 10 projects. In 2003 the European Commission was the top funder with 89 awards reported in IRWI.10 JISC funded 74 projects in their various programmes, such as ‘Focus on Access to Institutional Resources’, ‘Exchange for Learning’, ‘Digital Preservation and Records Management’ and ‘Portals Programme’. The growing influence of the AHRB was beginning to be felt, with 31 projects funded. Research Resources in Medical History and the Learning and Teaching Support Network Centre for Information and Computer Sciences awarded 11 projects each. The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), replacing Resource, funded 10 projects, and the National Manuscript Conservation Trust nine. The Laser Foundation funded four projects on its own and two others with the British Library and MLA. In 2004 the European Commission was the top funding organization, awarding 110 grants.11 The AHRB funded 65 projects. Thus in 2004 AHRB became the biggest funder in the UK and what follows is a profile of this prestigious and increasingly influential funder, which Wilson believed would inject a greater degree of rigour into LIS research.12 Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) The AHRC was established on 1 April 2005, replacing the Arts and Humanities Research Board. Given its increasing importance and special place as the main funder of LIS research (rather than development) we shall look in more detail at its work. Panel 6: Librarianship, Information and Museum Studies had the responsibility for our field. This panel covered studies concerned with the management of recorded knowledge, in librarianship and information science, record and archive studies, museology and information systems. These may include: information communities and the use and management of information in all forms and in all contexts; all aspects of archive administration and records management; museology, museum studies, and conservation; all aspects of information policy in the information society; information systems; systems thinking; systems development; information retrieval (including interfaces and gateways); preservation and conservation of recorded information; and the information industry (including publishing).13 The AHRC’s research programme had two strands: Responsive-mode schemes and Strategic initiatives.

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Responsive-mode schemes The research grants scheme was intended to support well-defined research projects enabling individual researchers to collaborate with, and bring benefits to, other individuals and organizations through the conduct of research. A sense of what research was going on at the top end of the profession is given by the selection of projects funded in 2004 shown in Table 1:

Table 1 Projects funded by AHRB in 2004 Contemporary discourses of public library purpose, value and strategy Award Holder Name: Dr Anne Goulding Institution: Loughborough University British town maps (Wales and Scotland), 1470–1895: a catalogue and cartographic analysis Award Holder Name: Professor Roger James Peter Kain Institution: University of Exeter Safeguarding heritage at risk: disaster management in United Kingdom archives, libraries and museums Award Holder Name: Dr Graham Matthews Institution: Liverpool John Moores University The role of the Internet in D/deaf people’s inclusion in the information society Award Holder Name: Dr Gill Valentine Institution: University of Sheffield Information management in the early information society Award Holder Name: Dr Alistair Black Institution: Leeds Metropolitan University Understanding the dynamics of information seeking: analysing searchers’ strategic changes over time Award Holder Name: Mr Nigel Ford Institution: University of Sheffield

The research leave scheme provided salary and associated costs for periods of three or four months, to enable an individual researcher to complete a significant research project. The research networks and workshops scheme was designed to encourage and enable the discussion and development of ideas by researchers across and between disciplines, either through establishing new research networks or by running a series of workshops or seminars.

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The resource enhancement scheme supported projects aiming to improve access to and use of research resources and materials. Many websites were funded under this scheme. Strategic initiatives Strategic initiatives addressed issues of intellectual and wider cultural, social or economic urgency that the Council considered were best supported by concentrated investments. A number have particular relevance for the LIS community: x The Museums and Galleries Research Programme, which aimed to integrate the UK’s Museums, Galleries, Libraries and Archives within the research base and provide tailored support. x The Diasporas, Migration and Identities Programme explored issues relating to diasporas and migration and their impact on identities and cultures, in order to contribute to a deeper understanding of these critical themes. x The ICT in Arts and Humanities Research Programme aimed to encourage, support and enhance the use of information and communications technologies in all areas of the arts and humanities. Research Centres served as a hub for research activity in areas of strategic priority, commonly extending across a range of disciplines. Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) An RAE was held in 2001, at the very beginning of the period we are concerned with, and it showed that research excellence (obtaining a 5 or 5*) remained largely concentrated in the same three institutions: University of Sheffield, Loughborough University and City University, as in the previous decade. Overall performance had improved substantially, with fewer 2s and 3s being awarded. The submissions of information system departments to the Unit increased, which resulted in the University of Salford and Brunel University being awarded 5* and 5 respectively in 2001. Twenty-three institutions made submissions under this Unit. London Metropolitan University did not enter. Wilson provided an evaluation of the result, compared it with previous RAEs and attempted a forecast for the next one (2007).14 His conclusion was that Sheffield, Strathclyde, Manchester Metropolitan, UCL, Leeds and Brighton were likely to appear in the ‘top half-dozen on the next RAE’. Holmes and Oppenheim attempted, reasonably successfully, to forecast the result of the 2001 exercise through a citation analysis, which showed that Sheffield attracted most citations, with City and Loughborough respectively second and third.15 Goulding and Usherwood examined what the obtaining of a top RAE score meant for teaching in their institutions and showed how research was incorporated into the curriculum at Loughborough and Sheffield.16

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Table 2 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. Unit of Assessment: 61 Library and Information Management

University of Brighton Brunel University University of Central England in Birmingham City University De Montfort University Leeds Metropolitan University Loughborough University Manchester Metropolitan University University of Northumbria at Newcastle University of Salford University of Sheffield South Bank University Staffordshire University Thames Valley University University College London University of West of England, Bristol University of Glasgow Napier University University of Paisley Queen Margaret University College Edinburgh Robert Gordon University University of Strathclyde University of Wales, Aberystwyth

2001 Rating

Proportion of staff selected

Number of category A and A* research-active staff (FTE)

3b 5 3a

D B B

17.0 29.0 20.8

5 3a 4 5 4

A C E B C

12.9 6.4 9.0 18.3 15.0

3b

C

15.4

5* 5* 3b 3a 1 4 3b

A A D A D A E

23.0 19.0 22.0 7.0 2.0 10.6 9.5

3a 4 3b 3b

A E B C

7.0 6.0 8.0 5.0

3b 4 3a

D A B

7.7 16.0 15.5

The main research issues and interests A good way of obtaining a wide-angle view of what concerned researchers during this period is to examine the most common index terms used in articles by British LIS researchers appearing in journals indexed in the ISI databases (over 50 specialist, scholarly LIS journals were covered). The following table shows the result of such an analysis, and, probably to no one’s surprise, the internet came top

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by some margin. The old research perennials – information retrieval and libraries – still featured strongly though. The most popular topics of the previous decade – document supply and inter-lending – had fallen much lower down the list.17

Table 3 Most popular subject descriptors for UK LIS articles, 2001–2005 rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7= 7= 9 10= 10= 12= 12= 12= 12= 16 17= 17= 19 20 21 22= 22= 22= 25= 25=

n 79 49 43 32 24 23 20 20 19 18 18 17 17 17 17 16 15 15 14 13 12 11 11 11 10 10

Subject descriptor Internet United Kingdom Information retrieval Libraries Information systems Information Academic libraries Information management User studies Document delivery Interlending Digital libraries Information technology Research World Wide Web Knowledge management Electronic books Electronic publishing Evaluation Information services Electronic mail Document supply Public libraries Publishing Electronic journals Health education

Source: Social Sciences Citation Index, Dialog Classic implementation. Note: The data here are very indicative since by no means all ISI-indexed journals carry descriptors.

The researchers As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter the influence of the ‘big names’ continued to be felt, with three of the top five researchers identified in British librarianship and information work 1991–2000 (Wilson, Ellis and Robertson)18 appearing in the top seven most cited UK LIS researchers in the world (see Table

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4). The appearance of Nicholas and Thelwall is explained by the new methodologies these researchers brought to the evaluation of internet use.

Table 4 Top seven UK LIS authors in the international literature, 2001–2005 World ranking 17 19= 39= 39= 54 61 93

Citations 158 153 103 103 93 88 74

Author Wilson TD Ellis D Nicholas D Thelwall M Robertson SE Van Rijsbergen CJ Oppenheim C

Source: Social Sciences Citation Index, Dialog Classic implementation. Note: The data here refer to citations received from articles (only) published in ISI’s Information Science and Library Science journal category.

A method for establishing the current active UK LIS research population is to look at authorship in LIS peer-reviewed journals. By ranking this data we can also establish outputs and relative contributions. Thus Table 5 gives the top fifty UK researchers. The declining role now played by Ellis, Wilson and Robertson is clearly demonstrated in the table. Of the top ten authors, five were members of the Centre for Information Behaviour and the Evaluation of Research (CIBER), previously at City University but from 2004 based at University College London, which conducted evidence-based research into the digital information consumer. The research outlets Where did UK LIS researchers publish the results of their research? Novice researchers and practitioners especially need to know this information and Table 6 provides it. The data were generated from the authors listed in the table above – the most productive UK LIS authors, 2001–2005. Twenty-five journals are listed and the top three journals should prove no surprises, except for the top position of Aslib proceedings, which is clearly a function of the fact that this was a popular vehicle for the dissemination of research by CIBER authors, who figured so prominently in Table 5. Conclusions The half-decade reviewed contained both positive and negative messages for the LIS community, but probably more positive than negative. On the positive side: x x

there was more research being conducted on a wider front work was often of a strategic importance to government and society

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Table 5 Most productive UK LIS authors of journal articles, 2001–2005 Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8= 8= 10 11 12= 12= 14 15 16= 16= 16= 16= 16= 16= 22= 22= 22= 22= 22= 22= 22= 22= 22= 22=

N 56 50 39 35 34 21 17 13 13 12 11 10 10 9 9 8 8 8 8 8 8 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

Author Thelwall M Nicholas D Huntington P Williams P Oppenheim C Gunter B Lewison G Ford N White M Wilkinson D Burrell QL Davenport E Morris A Shenton AK Vaughan L Foster A Hartley J Muir A Warner J Wilson TD Withey R Armstrong C Bawden D Gadd E Harries G Irani Z Lonsdale R Marcella R Price L Rowlands I Urquhart C

Source: Social Sciences Citation Index, Dialog Classic implementation. Note: The data, n, are author mentions, not numbers of papers since fractional author contributions are all counted as 1. The table refers to articles (only) with at least one UK corporate address. Its scope is the ISI journal category ‘Information Science and Library Science’ and covers information systems, publishing and geographical information science as well as core LIS.

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Table 6 Most popular journal destinations for UK LIS authors, 2001–2005 Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6= 6= 8 9= 9= 11 12 13= 13= 15 16= 16= 18= 18= 18= 21 22 23 24 25

N 135 78 62 57 56 53 53 44 39 39 36 31 26 26 25 22 22 21 21 21 20 19 17 16 13

Journal Aslib proceedings Journal of information science Journal of documentation Program Journal of librarianship and information science International journal of information management JASIST Interlending & document supply Health information and libraries journal Journal of information technology Scientometrics International journal of GIS Electronic library Libri JAMIA Information & management Online information review Information systems journal Social science computer review Telecommunications policy Information processing & management Information research Research evaluation Information society Econtent

Source: Social Sciences Citation Index, Dialog Classic implementation. Note: The data, n, are papers.

x x x

some the work UK researchers were doing was clearly of an international standard with the AHRC now onboard, the community had a research funder of substance, eminence and influence, which was busy supporting a very wide range of research activities the RAE had forced academic institutions to improve the quality and quantity of their research.

However, on the negative side:

British librarianship and information work 2001–2005

370 x x

x x

there was far greater competition for funds and funding, with success being far less assured the research community was faced with a more dispersed and diverse funding environment – the LIS community no longer had its ‘own’ researcher funder (Resource had departed and the British Library was no longer a funder of any consequence) questions about the quality of research conducted, as compared to that of other fields, were again being asked, and especially in AHRC circles, with a meeting to be held with the information community in 2006 the increasing share of the research cake being taken by consultancies meant that the research literature was being diminished (consultants tend not to publish in the peer-reviewed literature).

To conclude, research was becoming more challenging but also more difficult to conduct. Some things did not change, however, and the same organizations and same individuals who had dominated the previous decade were still dominating this one. Sheffield, City and Loughborough were still the leading institutional lights, although the next RAE (2007) could be expected to show changes in the information landscape as a result of changes and movements regarding research personnel. At an individual level, Robertson, Brophy, Ellis, Oppenheim, Willett and Wilson continued to exercise an influence. There was however a sense that there was a changing of the guard with Nicholas (UCL), Huntington (UCL) and Thelwall (University of Wolverhampton) now occupying some of the research top spots. Finally, according to McNicol and Nankivell, in their review of the LIS information landscape: the LIS research agenda lacks direction. To ensure research has the maximum impact, there is a need to identify priority areas and to consider issues in a broader context rather than examining specific issues in isolation. There is a need for more longitudinal research; very small-scale case studies are often not convincing, especially when attempting to influence those from outside the domain.19

Their solution was that: ‘All members of the research community: academics, funders, practitioners, commercial organisations, policymakers and politicians need to be involved in setting the research agenda.’ This was clearly a good thing but their complaint that the ‘research agenda, is at present, often driven by political priorities’ and to blame all on this is simplistic and naive. Research is a political and social activity, and not just in the field of LIS.

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Notes 1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15

16

17 18 19

David Nicholas, ‘Research’ in British librarianship and information work, 1991–2000, ed. J. H. Bowman. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006, pp. 369–86. Tom Wilson, ‘Research in librarianship and information science in the UK: the Research Assessment Exercises’, Information research watch international Feb. 2002, 2–4. Sarah McNicol and Clare Nankivell, The LIS research landscape: a review and prognosis. Birmingham: Centre for Information Research (CIRT), University of Central England, 2005. Available at: ; Sarah McNicol and Pete Dalton, ‘Striking a balance: priorities for LIS research’, Library review 53 (3), 2004, 167–76. Information research: . McNicol and Nankivell, LIS research landscape. Wilson, ‘Research in librarianship and information science’. See . Pirkko Elliot, ‘Who funded research in 2001?’, Information research watch international Aug. 2002, 1. Pirkko Elliot, ‘Who funded research in 2002?’, Information research watch international Aug. 2003, 1. Pirkko Elliot, ‘Who funded research in 2003?’, Information research watch international Aug. 2004, 1. Pirkko Elliot, ‘Who funded research in 2004?’, Information research watch international Aug. 2005, 1. Wilson, ‘Research in librarianship and information science’. AHRC website: . Wilson, ‘Research in librarianship and information science’. Alison Holmes and Charles Oppenheim, ‘Use of citation analysis to predict the outcome of the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise for Unit of Assessment (UoA) 61: Library and Information Management’, Information research 6 (2), 2001. Available at: . Anne Goulding and Bob Usherwood, ‘Research-led teaching in librarianship and information studies’, Journal of librarianship and information science 35 (3), 2003, 137–9. Nicholas, ‘Research’, 374. Nicholas, ‘Research’, 375–9. McNicol and Nankivell, LIS research landscape, 78.

24

Library buildings Michael Dewe and Alan J. Clark

Introduction The period covered by this article saw significant changes in the nature of library buildings in all sectors. Siren voices may have dismissed the need for new library buildings in an age of pervasive networked electronic resources but libraries continued to be built, enlarged and refurbished. The keynote for the whole period of library design from 1990 onwards was the step change in the nature and function of library buildings, as librarians and libraries embraced electronic resources and remodelled their role as the interface between recorded knowledge and its users. Library buildings are built within the context of contemporary architectural fashion and with the materials and building technologies available at the time. However, as we shall see, the definition of the role of the library and its staff changed vastly and the slightly pretentious popular phrase, ‘design of the knowledge space’, perhaps gives a better handle on some of the current concerns of library design. Phrases such as ‘a space for all’, and ‘the library as a meeting place’, emphasize the attempts to make the public library in particular more inclusive. As library buildings for 1991–2000 were not featured in the previous volume in the series and the latter part of that period in particular is linked with the years under review, the article necessarily includes some background to the earlier period. Further detail on recent public library buildings is also available from the Designing Libraries website.1 The Appendix provides a list of academic library buildings of 2001–2005. Although we shall treat developments in public and academic library buildings separately we shall see that in many areas common problems were faced and similar solutions found. Public libraries New Labour – new library landscape With the election of New Labour in 1997, public libraries were looked on more sympathetically than under the previous administration. However, it soon became clear that there was a political agenda behind this interest, with libraries being seen as a strong force for regeneration, lifelong learning and social inclusion, and this

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continued into the first decade of the new millennium. Devolution also fragmented UK responsibility for cultural activities, including public libraries, which became the responsibility of the home country governments, although Northern Ireland’s assembly was in abeyance. This meant duplication and differences. So for example there were different standards for public libraries in England and Wales, with only the latter showing some concern for space considerations. Two issues of importance for library buildings were the establishment of the People’s Network (launched in 1997), and the setting up of the influential Resource (from 2004 the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA)). The People’s Network provided computer facilities (as well as staff training) for public library users free of charge. This posed the space challenge of accommodating a number of terminals in old libraries and planning for their inclusion in new ones. Framework for the future The strategic influence of Resource is demonstrated in its formulation of what it considered to be the modern functions of the public library, as set out in its 2003 publication, Framework for the future.2 This identified three main tasks: x developing reading and informal learning x access to digital skills and services x building community cohesion and civic values. Better library buildings Working with the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) and Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Resource/MLA sought to influence the role that buildings should play in creating this modern public library through publications and an action plan: x Better public libraries (2003)3 – which drew attention to trends, design qualities and includes examples of good library building x 21st century libraries: changing forms, changing futures (2004)4 – dealing with developing a brief for a modern library, whether new or refurbished, and also including examples of best building practice x That part of the action plan concerned with public library buildings, and stemming from the Framework for the future, had three elements: x x x

the creation of a library buildings website provision of library design workshops carrying out an audit of public library buildings.5

The public library building estate This wide-ranging concern for public library buildings was in part a response to various reports from the 1990s onwards that, amongst other things, saw public library buildings as unattractive and unfashionable and urged the adoption of

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change and in particular retail approaches to the library, such as rebranding. Much of the criticism stemmed from the longstanding neglect and the lack of maintenance of library buildings. This was brought out in the controversial publication, Who’s in charge?6 and also endorsed by the findings of the Select Committee of the House of Commons.7 In summary public library buildings were seen as: x x x x

of outmoded design poorly located8 ‘drab and dismal’ discouraging use.

Some voiced the opinion that the decline – or indeed demise – of the public library was likely unless change took place regarding attitudes, services and buildings. But, as the following brief description of the outcome of MLA’s Framework for the future action plan shows, much was being done to help remedy the criticisms of the public library estate and to publicize achievements through, for example, the Public Library Building Awards. Designing Libraries website9 Following a successful pilot project, and funded by MLA, the Designing Libraries website went live in February 2005.10 Managed by a team at Information Services, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, it offered ‘library buildings online’ through access to information, ideas and images about recent projects. At the heart of the website was the library buildings database providing descriptions, images, features, costs and suppliers about libraries, based on the information supplied by librarians. In addition to the database, the website provided a range of relevant resources – details of publications, web links, news, a gallery of library images – to help with the library planning design and construction process. Whether creating a new building or redeveloping an existing one, the website provided a vital and growing resource that allowed the sharing of experience and best practice. ‘The website fulfils a long-held dream, now made possible by modern technology, of an accessible national archive of library building documentation and related information’.11 Although initially concerned with UK public library buildings Designing Libraries later extended its remit to other library sectors and other countries. Library design workshops As part of the Designing Libraries project, CILIP was asked to run a number of one-day design workshops. The aim of the workshops was to help library staff to ‘develop effective space planning and design skills’ to improve their libraries. During 2004–05, over 250 library staff attended 14 regional workshops.

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Audit of public library buildings MLA commissioned consultants to audit the quality of library buildings and identify the funding required to bring them up to ‘an acceptable level of repair and standard of presentation’. Following an analysis of the data from library authorities, a final report was expected in mid-2006.12 Public Library Building Awards13 In 1995 the Public Libraries Group launched its biennial building awards scheme. Sponsored by two library furniture suppliers, it made awards in two categories in 1995 and 1997 to (a) a new building and (b) a refurbished or converted building. Public libraries in the Republic of Ireland were considered for awards from 1997 onwards and a number were winners. From 1999 to 2003, four awards were made, one to large and one to small libraries in the two basic categories, as the judges found this more manageable and fairer. From 2005 new award categories were introduced with additional sponsors. These disregarded size and focused on ‘areas of key importance regarding building practice and customer service’: for example, partnership, architect meets practicality, and interior design.14 Public Library Building Award winners (including the Delegates’ Choice at the Public Library Authorities Conference) are noted by an asterisk (*) in the libraries mentioned in this chapter. European Capital of Culture Interest in library buildings was also stimulated by the European Capital of Culture initiative in which the competing British cities for the 2008 title often featured major library projects in their proposed plans – the Library of Birmingham (designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership) for example.15 Liverpool was the eventual winner, with a major refurbishment of its central library planned for completion in 2008. Public library buildings New Major new buildings that attracted media interest in the first five years of the decade include: x Norwich & Norfolk Millennium Library (2001): part of the impressive Forum building, including a tourist information centre, heritage attraction, and café, etc. x Bournemouth Library (2002): a PFI building and described ‘as a role model for new libraries’16 x Brighton Jubilee Library* (2005), PFI-funded and a winner of the Prime Minister’s Better Public Building Award. Other large buildings of the period were Durham Clayport Library* (2002) and Ballymena Central Library (2004). Amongst smaller-sized buildings were:

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x Calne Library (2001): a circular building combined with an L-shaped section x Epsom Library (2001): on the first floor of the Ebbisham Centre including a gym and medical facility, etc.17 x Parklands Community Library (2002): part of a larger PFI development including a school, etc. x Lewes Library (2005): and civic space for public events.18 Other libraries in this group are: Gorbals Library and REAL Learning Centre, Tiverton Library and Learning Centre (both 2004), and Dereham Library (2005), which featured a green roof over a single-storey ground floor area. Among the smallest buildings from these years were libraries at Cookham (2002), Alderley Edge, Camborne, Dickens Heath (all 2004), Cox Green (2005) and the largest in this group, Blakenall Library (2005), located in a multi-purpose building, the Village Centre. Refurbishment and extensions Major refurbishments took place. In 2003 at x Blackburn Library: including a ‘prayer’ or ‘meditation’ room x Swiss Cottage Library:* designed by Basil Spence and originally opened in 196319 x Lowestoft Library and Record Office:* a revamped 1975 building making good use of colour and graphics.20 In 2004 at x Hobs Moat, Solihull: containing an ‘IT Point’ x Hendon Library: a modernized listed building x Tamworth Library: with a rebranded interior. In 2005 at x Batley Library: an extended listed building x Bexleyheath Central Library: given a new front entrance and called additionally ‘Libraryplus’ x Bath Library & Information Centre: in a shared building x Grays Library, Thurrock: part of the redesigned Thameside Centre x Sidcup Library: includes a council contact point x Sutton Central Library: employing cutting-edge RFID and self-service issue technology.21 Refurbishment of smaller libraries took place, for example, at Clifton (Nottingham), Marsh Farm (Luton) and Wavertree (Liverpool) in 2002; Ash (Surrey) and

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Stone (Staffordshire) in 2004; and in Foleshill (Coventry), Long Eaton (Derbyshire) and Stowmarket (Suffolk) in 2005. Foleshill Library was a refit of a 2003 fire-damaged Carnegie building. Conversions In 2002 conversions of buildings to libraries included: x x x x

Anniesland Library, Glasgow: in a listed tower block Cricklade, Wiltshire: a listed 19th-century glove factory Magherafelt, Northern Ireland: extension to a historic building Minster Library and Neighbourhood Centre, Kent: 1970s supermarket.

In 2004 x x

Alvaston Library, Derby: a former electrical goods store Wickham Market Resource Centre, Suffolk: a converted bungalow.

Opened in 2005 were: x x x

Blackfen Library, Bexley: in a parade of shops Chatham Library: a former dockyard building and later bowling alley Datchet Library, Windsor and Maidenhead: a converted house.

Trends: more than a name change The Public Library Building Awards (and others such as the Civic Trust awards and Prime Minister’s Better Public Building Awards), the developments engendered by the competitive European Capital of Culture scheme, and the Framework for the future action plan all encouraged a considerable interest in public library buildings. Major new libraries were built and a number of 1960s and 1970s premises (and some from earlier or later decades) were refurbished. A wide variety of buildings continued to be converted for library use. In all this activity, often funded by PFI and other partnership initiatives,22 there were new departures, such as rebranding the library as an Idea Store (Tower Hamlets) or as a Discovery Centre (Hampshire and Kent),23 or naming a specialist facility at the Sage Centre, Gateshead, Explore Music (2004). There was the increasing provision of self-service facilities for the issue and return of library materials using RFID. The People’s Network significantly helped to establish the computer’s presence in the public library and later developments include assistive technology for disabled people and wi-fi access for laptop users. Encouragement was given for libraries to be located in shopping centres or in a shared building, a trend also noted in the 1990s. Internally, there was an emphasis on attractive colour schemes and striking graphics, sometimes using interior designers, and on the commissioning of public art. Public libraries were urged to imitate the supermarket and bookshop in the way library materials were displayed

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and thus to have a retail, rather than library, look. It might be argued that this was a refinement of, rather than a new departure from, existing public library practices. Libraries were also judged by their Disability Discrimination Act compliance, and the additional amenities on offer – shop, café, baby changing and toilet facilities, for instance. But public libraries are not just about buildings and stimulating interior design that provide the reader with a ‘wow’ factor or experience. They involved new roles, services, facilities and amenities, a modern role for staff and, something perhaps less tangible, the library as a community centre, a public forum, a socially inclusive space, a place to ‘hang out’ – the third place. A place in which to escape the loneliness of prolonged computer use. In wanting to define the library as a meeting-place, public libraries were urged to offer longer opening hours in the physical building, plus a 24-hour virtual service. And, by discarding the quiet library atmosphere of the past and doing away with rules about drinking and eating in the library – not always looked upon favourably by all – libraries attempted to be less ‘stuffy’ and more attractive to young people in particular. How far did this pressure to improve library buildings and increase library use result in projects that would often have been carried out anyway? And did all this flurry of activity result in the building of better quality, sustainable libraries of more fashionable design than might have been expected in any event? Would this concern, funding and activity be sustained? What was certain was that this focus on the public library estate – whatever the future held – would be seen as an effort that was well worth making; another high, perhaps, in the history of public library buildings, comparable to the Carnegie period or the years following the 1964 Public Libraries Act. As Ken Worpole has written: ‘Few would have expected this increased political and cultural profile ten years ago’.24 Academic libraries Faulkner Brown’s ten commandments of academic library planning attempted to bring a rational and systematic approach to designing academic libraries within the context of political, social, economic and technological constraints.25 He saw academic libraries as needing to be: flexible; compact; accessible; extendible; varied; organized; comfortable; constant in environment; secure and economic. Library building problems were to become much bigger and much more complex in the 1990s as student numbers and numbers of higher education institutions grew rapidly and institutions expanded and in some cases merged. Models of scholarly publishing and academic communication were also in a state of flux. Not only was the amount of published information mushrooming, but the economics of purchasing that information were threatening to blow academic library budgets out of the water. In addition, the whole model of teaching and learning in higher education was being reshaped, partly for pedagogic reasons and partly to take account, and advantage, of new technologies for recording, manipulating and distributing knowledge.

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This itself had implications for the relationship between library, learning resource units and computing facilities within the same institutions. Many converged library and computing services were formed, with a varying range of remits and an equally varied range of titles. Institutions in higher education found themselves with libraries which were physically inadequate, strapped for cash, unable to respond adequately to the new forms of recorded knowledge or to the new demands of their users, and with staff who also needed retraining to help them deal with the service crisis in which they found themselves. The government’s response included the Follett report, which had a major effect on academic library building activity.26 It was clear from the report that there was a crisis and that it could only be tackled by the expenditure of large capital sums, both for buildings, new builds and major refurbishments, and on IT-related developments. Government funding was made available for building developments, with substantial contributions expected from the higher education institutions themselves. Not surprisingly the result was a scramble by institutions to urgently formulate building plans or to dust off and update existing plans which had had to be shelved because of lack of money. Funding Council guidance was that refurbishment projects were likely to be favoured, with increases in study spaces a vital element in all proposals and an appropriate balance between different types of study places. At the start of the new millennium what design principles were seen as appropriate for new library buildings and what sort of buildings resulted from the interplay between economics, political, social and economic considerations, and the materials and technologies available? Many university buildings were still seen as unfit for purpose and the Funding Councils’ Poor Estates Initiative 1998–2001, which was targeted at major capital refurbishment projects related to re-structuring and more efficient use of space, was a source of financial assistance to many library and information services.27 In 1997 Andrew McDonald had adapted and revised Faulkner Brown’s ten commandments.28 For him the essential guiding principles, which he saw as aiming to create libraries that were functional, easy to use and economical to operate, were that the building should be: adaptable; accessible; varied; interactive; conducive (i.e. inspiring); environmentally suitable; safe and secure in respect of people, collections and equipment; efficient (i.e. economic in space, staffing and running costs); and suitable for information technology. The titles of three articles on library buildings perhaps give a flavour of contemporary ideas in library design. Bahr posed the question ‘Library buildings in a digital age: why bother?’.29 The answer is summed up in the title ‘Designing library space to facilitate learning: a review of the UK higher education sector’.30 We still needed library buildings partly because the nature of the library and its functions had changed to accommodate the changes in information technology, scholarly communication and learning. The discussion was not just about libraries as learning spaces, but about the

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nature of those spaces. It is also heartening to trace the increasing attention to the quality of libraries as physical spaces and to their fitness for a multiplicity of functions and of users. Shill and Tonner were concerned with ‘creating a better place’.31 Sackett, like McDonald, was concerned about providing for the multiplicity of functions and of users and the flexibility and adaptability now required of library design.32 An architect, Steven M. Foote, writing in 1995, although stating that librarians and architects do not invariably agree, felt that they did share a number of perceptions. These included the overriding need for flexibility and the fact that increasing use of technology had not reduced space requirements. He concluded: ‘All our experience reinforces the continuing and increasing significance of the library on college and university campuses’.33 SCONUL No account of academic library building activity in the UK could fail to mention the role of SCONUL. SCONUL, the Society of College, National and University Libraries, continued to play a prominent role in the academic library building scene in a number of ways, particularly through its Working Group on Space. Its database of library building projects available at has been a major source of information for this article.34 Information on any libraries cited in the text which do not otherwise have an individual reference will have been drawn from this database. The SCONUL Working Group on Space also organized critical visits to major academic library building projects and these were reported in SCONUL focus (until the end of 2003 SCONUL newsletter). Other articles in this periodical and the very useful ‘News from member libraries’ are a valuable source of information on academic library buildings. Finally SCONUL also made its Library Building Awards. The latest, in 2002, included buildings of more than 2000m2 completed between 1996 and 2002.35 Academic library buildings 2001 saw the new building (or was it the refurbishment?) of the British Library of Political and Economic Science at the London School of Economics, where the existing building was completely gutted internally and rebuilt with 1,686 reader seats. Central to the design was an atrium with a circular ramp and glass lifts. A double height lower ground study area housed more than 200 computers. Bookshelf layout was designed to absorb noise, and presence-detection lighting and natural ventilation were used to achieve energy conservation.36 The University of Central Lancashire, Cumbria Campus Library at 1600m2 was four times larger than the library it replaced and had many environmental features including a grass roof, low energy lighting, natural ventilation and a computercontrolled building management system to monitor and control heating and ventilation.37 At the new Sainsbury Library at the Said Business School, University of Oxford the firm intention was not to provide a large repository of printed materials.

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Ready access to electronic materials and the proximity of the wealth of Oxford’s library resources obviated that need. However, a place to study and a place for interacting with library staff were seen as valid and vital functions. Sited on two floors at the front of the Business School and with a front ‘glass wall’ the library could be seen as the public face of the building.38 At Glasgow Caledonian University the ground floor of the Library was redesigned to provide a Social Learning space called Real@Caledonian, the Learning Café. Despite the name, this was not an internet café, although it included 80 computers for the 200 reader spaces. Rather, it was intended to provide a venue for group and project work, a conversational learning space. The University of Plymouth finished a five-year project to refurbish its Plymouth Campus Library, a 1976 building which had a floor by floor makeover including latterly the replacement of the air conditioning system by an environmentally friendly and more economic combined heat and power system.39 2002 saw the University of Gloucestershire at its Oxstalls Learning Centre win architectural awards for design and sustainability. Of the 250 reader spaces 200 were at networked computers. St Martin’s College Ambleside, after a series of delays, moved into its new Charlotte Mason Library in 2002. Facilities included group and single study rooms and a cyber café, in a building designed to harmonize with its surroundings.40 The refurbishment of the University of Glasgow Main Library included a new air conditioning system, heating controls and solar blinds. At King’s College London, the 1850s building, formerly housing the closed access Public Record office, was transformed into the open access Maughan Library and Information Services Centre. Evans notes the high cost of purchase and re-modelling of the building and sees this as a reassuring assertion of ‘the value of a good library service to a leading academic institution’.41 Keynotes of the extension and refurbishment of the Sir Derek Birley Learning Resource Centre at the University of Ulster were flexibility for future internal alteration, disabled access to all areas, energy efficiency and low running costs, with low energy use PCs and on-demand lighting. 2003 saw more landmark designs. The University of Hertfordshire Hatfield de Havilland Campus Learning Resource Centre provided integrated library, computing and media services for 110 readers as part of a £120 million campus. A large, light, airy building with an atrium, raised floors and chilled beams, it was open 24/7 and provided a range of learning environments and assistive technology. The University of Ulster’s Magee Campus Learning Resource Centre was another visually striking building, set on a high point of its campus. Rectangular in plan it incorporated light wells to provide natural lighting and automatically controlled louvre panels and solar shading, all designed to provide a high degree of energy efficiency. Bournemouth University’s Talbot Campus Library and Learning Centre also had a prominent position, set in a courtyard with informal seating adjacent to a café. The building was topped with a fibre optic sculpture and floodlit at night. The

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building itself had many energy-saving features, as well as incorporating many features for those with special needs. Decoration was to a high standard.42 The University of York’s Raymond Burton Library for Humanities Research was also built to high environmental standards to safeguard the special collections it housed. University College Dublin’s James Ussher Library combined the roles of legal deposit library and undergraduate teaching library and had network connections to 750 reader spaces. High quality furnishing and stringent efforts to keep noise down gave a contemplative environment. It had an eight-storey atrium which provided natural light and ventilation while also dividing storage and reader spaces.43 At the University of Glasgow, the Library Research Annexe had 20,000 metres of mobile shelving in a warehouse building with environmental controls, a fire detection system and included a reading room. In 2004 the Open University opened its new 6000m2 Library and Learning Resource Centre with full library, computing and multimedia facilities and with an archive for Open University teaching materials constructed to BS5454:2000 standards. The library was fresh air-ventilated, air coming in through raised floors and out through a central atrium. Coloured carpeting signalled zoning within the building and movable stacks provided flexibility of layout. There was also investment in a number of pieces of art distributed around the building.44 The new Sheppard Library at Middlesex University incorporated RFID security and access control in a building designed with a range of study areas and with flexibility for future redesign of room layouts. The University of Plymouth Library built a large extension providing a range of new study environments including group study, silent study and café and 24/7 open access computing. Glass was used extensively to provide natural light, easy navigation and security. The library also provided full self-service issue and return facilities.45 Southampton University’s extension and refurbishment had to try to provide a coherent whole in conjunction with existing buildings spanning three stages and 80 years of construction. Once again energy efficiency was an important consideration.46 At Roehampton Institute teaching and residential accommodation was converted into the new Learning Resource Centre. At the University of Lincoln an old landmark industrial building was restored to provide the location for the 5,300m2 University Library. The University of Northumbria at Newcastle started a development programme by refurbishing a 1970s building to a high standard to provide a new IT and information skills training suite and a learning café. At Brunel University an extension to the library providing amongst other facilities group study rooms and an assistive technology centre, was incorporated into a building shared with a number of other campus services.47 The last year of this survey saw two new libraries. At the University of Central England, the Mary Seacole Library provided for the needs of Faculty of Health students on the ground floor of a new Faculty of Health building featuring two atria

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contributing to a light and airy space. At University College London, the School of Slavonic and East European Studies had a fully glazed lightwell with a glass ceiling over the lower ground floor. This was intended to provide a quiet study environment and intervisibility of staff and users for purposes of service and security. At the University of Kent refurbishment and conversion of a former naval drill hall built in 1903 and Grade 2 listed produced the Drill Hall Library, which, at 184 metres, was thought to be the longest library in Europe. Trends Academic libraries continued to be built and refurbished. Nor were they getting smaller despite the recent experience of declining physical use reported by many institutions. In many cases new buildings dwarfed the ones they were replacing. However, we should note that the new buildings were often providing a much wider range of services and facilities than their predecessors in an era where converged library and computer services were the norm and where libraries were trying to place themselves at the heart of the learning process. In the UK this also seemed to require that they were called something other than libraries, often Learning Resource Centres. Institutions were keen to embrace bold designs and to place library buildings in a prominent position on their campuses, seeing them as a means of marketing the institution and confirming its prestige. Many of the buildings cited above were striking buildings making bold use of materials. There was also a welcome commitment to make the buildings attractive spaces and an openness to high quality design and furnishing, sometimes complemented, as at the Open University, by the use of pieces of public art. The next key characteristic of contemporary academic library buildings is their multifunctionality. Sometimes the library shared a building with other campus services. Almost always it must accommodate a wide range of users, functions and services. This set architects and librarians severe problems of logistics and design as they attempted to provide a range of ‘quiet’ and ‘noisy’ learning environments for individual and group study, not forgetting recreational areas and cafés. With careful zoning, however, the library as public space and the library as learning space can co-exist. The design problems were further complicated by the overriding need for flexibility in space use over time. A major impetus for building projects, and for sources of funding, in these years was the need to provide: improved physical access to and within buildings to comply with disability-related legislation; furniture and equipment suitable for all users and staff and assistive technology pervasively, and in dedicated centres or study rooms. The contemporary academic library had a huge investment in information technology, with almost all study places and spaces accessible to campus computer networks via hard wiring or wireless. But it was not just in user provision that computing support was central. Security systems, RFID tagging and self-service pro-

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vision helped librarians design library layouts to help meet another set of constraints, namely to reduce staffing levels and costs whilst providing ever longer opening hours. Energy saving also became central to library design. The emphasis was on natural ventilation; light wells and atria; glass walls and solar blinds; energy-saving lighting and computer-controlled heating and lighting, and building management systems. But of course the process is continuous. Although outside the remit of this article, the Glasgow Caledonian University Saltire Centre, a five-floor, 10,500m2 building opening in 2006, promised a multi-purpose space whose ‘overall concepts are student centredness, open flexible space, integrated service provision and provision of a range of inspirational environments’.48 Later in 2006 the University of East London would be opening ‘a stunning new waterfront library and learning centre’ with at its hub ‘a social interactive learning island’.49 In these five years the challenge of accommodating the multiple roles of the modern academic library seems to have spurred librarians and architects into designing many library buildings which were innovative, efficient and aesthetically pleasing. Andrew McDonald’s comments on the 2002 SCONUL Building Awards are worth quoting at length. We were most impressed with the consistently high standard of design that has been achieved necessary to meeting the demanding requirements of modern learning, teaching and research support environments. Many new libraries were landmark buildings on campuses with a ‘strong sense of place’, demonstrating the continued importance of library buildings in the digital age. They had facilitated a ‘step change’ in library provision within their institutions, exceeding user expectations and stimulating significantly greater levels of demand.50

National libraries In Wales the National Library changed out of all recognition with a third storage extension (1996), a remodelled South Reading Room (2004) and Y Drwm (The Drum, a small multimedia auditorium with gallery space above created by filling in a courtyard) opening in 2004. Prior to that, new exhibition space, educational facilities, new offices and public viewing area for the National Screen and Sound Archive, a shop and a restaurant were provided during 2002–03 by reorganizing parts of the original building following the building of the extension. The international scene New libraries of the new millennium included Hong Kong Central Library (2001), Reims Library (2003), one of a number of new French large public libraries, and the trend-setting Seattle Library (2004).51 Doubts about the future need for public libraries in an IT world seemed to be dispelled by the world-wide investment in buildings and by the continuing effect that libraries have for the societies that

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invest in them. A 2003 UK impact survey also confirmed that libraries still needed to be buildings.52 Summary In these five years library design and planning produced many striking, sometimes iconic buildings, which were seen as customer-centred places of resort, ‘information commons’; places that users wanted to spend time in carrying out a range of informational, learning and recreational activities. These buildings were attractive, flexible spaces with attention given to energy efficiency and to the quality of design and furnishing. They invested heavily in information technology, in the provision of and access to materials, the provision of services and the operation of the buildings themselves. The question was how they would be judged in terms of function, efficiency and aesthetics, now and in the future.

Appendix Academic library buildings 2001–2005 New 2001

2002 2003

2004

2005

University of Cambridge, Betty and Gordon Moore Library University of Central Lancashire, Cumbria Campus Library University of Nottingham University of Oxford, Sainsbury Library, Said Business School Library Charlotte Mason’s St Martins College Ambleside, Charlotte Mason Library University of Gloucestershire, Oxstalls Learning Centre Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus Library and Learning Centre University College Dublin, James Ussher Library University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield de Havilland Campus Learning Resource Centre University of Ulster, Magee Campus, Learning Resource Centre University of York, Raymond Burton Library Birkbeck College Middlesex University, Sheppard Library Open University Library and Learning Resources Centre Oxford Brookes University University of St Andrews University College London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies Library University of Central England, Mary Seacole Library

Conversions 2004 Roehampton Institute, London Learning Resources Centre University of Lincoln 2005 University of Kent, Drill Hall Library Refurbishments and extensions 2001 Glasgow Caledonian University, Real@Caledonian – The Learning Café

386

2002

2003 2004

2005

British librarianship and information work 2001–2005 London School of Economics, British Library of Political and Economic Science Nene University College Northampton, Park Campus Library University of Cambridge, Reading Room refurbishment University of Huddersfield University of Liverpool, Harold Cohen Library University of Plymouth University of Wales, Swansea Law Library King’s College, London, Maughan Library and Information Services Centre University of Glasgow, Main Library University of Ulster, Sir Derek Birley Learning Resource Centre University of Glasgow, Library Research Annexe University of York, J. B. Morrell Library Brunel University University of Birmingham University of Glasgow, Main Library University of Lincoln Library University of Northumbria at Newcastle Library University of Plymouth, Plymouth Library University of Southampton, Hartley Library Middlesex University, Berridge Building University of Birmingham, European Resource Centre University of Birmingham, Barnes Library University of Glasgow, Main Library

Notes Publications The period saw a number of useful British and American publications for those concerned with the planning of library buildings. For example: Brian Edwards and Biddy Fisher, Libraries and learning resource centers. Oxford: Architectural Press, 2002. Nolan Lushington, Libraries designed for users: a 21st century guide. New York: NealSchuman, 2002. Andrew McDonald, ‘Planning academic library buildings in a new age’ in Advances in librarianship 24, 2000, ed. E. A. Chapman and F. C. Lynden. London: Academic Press, pp. 51–79. Michael Dewe, Planning public library buildings: concepts and issues for the librarian. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006. L. B. Brawner and D. K. Beck, Determining your public library’s future size: a needs assessment and planning models. Chicago: American Library Association, 1996. C. R. Brown, Interior design for libraries: drawing on function and appeal. Chicago: American Library Association, 2003. N. Lushington, Libraries designed for users: a 21st century guide. New York: NealSchuman, 2002. Gerard B. McCabe and James R. Kennedy (eds.), Planning the modern public library building. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 2003.

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T. D. Webb (ed.), Building libraries for the 21st century: the shape of information. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2000. Jeannette Woodward, Countdown to a new library: managing the building project. Chicago: American Library Association, 2000. Andrew McDonald, Space requirements for academic libraries and learning resource centres. London: SCONUL, 1996. The IFLA Library Buildings and Equipment Section continued to produce a number of useful publications,53 and the Australian People places: a guide for public library buildings in New South Wales is a help to public librarians everywhere.54 Much of the current UK and some of the international scene described in this essay are dealt with in Planning public library buildings. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12

13

14 15 16 17

Designing Libraries website: . Framework for the future. London: Department of Culture, Sport and Media, 2003, 7–9. Better public libraries. London: CABE and Resource, 2003. Ken Worpole, 21st century libraries: changing forms, changing futures. London: CABE and RIBA, 2004. ‘Building work begins’, Library + information update 3 (2), 2004, 5. Tim Coates, Who’s in charge? Responsibility for the public library service. [London]: Libri Trust and Laser Foundation, 2004, 18. House of Commons, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Public libraries. Vol. 1. London: Stationery Office, 2005, 31. Charles Leadbeater, Overdue: how to create a modern public library service. London: Demos, 2003, 16. Suggests ‘“hub libraries” in shopping centres’. Designing Libraries website. Michael Dewe, ‘Building on experience’, Public library journal 20 (3), 2005, 18–19. Michael Dewe, ‘Finding out about new public library buildings’, Public library journal 4 (2), 1989, 25; K. C. Harrison, ‘Building a record’, Public library journal, 15 (3), 2000, 70–1. Further information on these Framework programmes, as well as project reports and feedback, available at: (Public library buildings) (accessed 24/5/06). For an account of the first awards, see Pearl Valentine and Michael Dewe, ‘The Public Library Building Awards’, Public library journal 11 (1), 1996, 5–9. For later accounts see: Sarah Airey, ‘Diverse and best’, Public library journal 12 (4), 1997, 81–3; ‘1999 Public Library Buildings Awards’, Public library journal 14 (4), 1999, 105, 110; ‘Beautiful buildings’, Public library journal, 16 (4), 2001, 140–1; ‘UK/Eire share honours’, Library + information update 2 (11), 2003, 3; June Gowland and Josephine Brady, ‘How does it feel to be a winner?’, Public library journal 18 (4), 2003, 80–2; Philippa Harper, ‘Building better libraries’, Public library journa, winter 2005, 4–7. Trevor Knight and Jacquie Campbell, ‘Public Library Buildings Awards – new categories for 2005’, Public library journal winter 2004, 30. ‘Buildings: world-class flagship for Birmingham’, Library Association record 103 (1), 2001, 15; ‘An icon for Birmingham,’ Public library journal 18 (1), 2003, 3. ‘PM’s best building is – a library’, Public library journal 18 (4), 2003, 109. Graham Combe, ‘Take your partners’ Library + information update 1 (2), 2002, 39–41.

388 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

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Ian MacKellar, ‘The new Lewes Library’, Library & archives 1, 2006, 51, 53, 55. ‘Swiss Cottage revamp complete’, Public library journal 18 (2), 2003, 46. Gill Jenkins, ‘Winning by design’, Public library journal 19 (1), 2004, 10–12. Trevor Knight, ‘To boldly go – ’, Public library journal 20 (1), 2005, 8–10. R. Sibthorpe, ‘A new path to follow’, Library Association record 103 (4), 2001, 236–7; Shelagh Levett, ‘Getting into bed with the private sector – ’, Public library journal 18 (3), 2003, 61–2, 64. Richard Ward, ‘Turning vision into reality’, Public library journal 18 (3), 2003, 51–2; ‘Dover celebrates it new Centre’, Public library journal 18 (4), 2003, 108. Ken Worpole, ‘Changed beyond recognition’, Journal of librarianship and information science 36 (3), 2004, 99–100, at p. 100. Harry Faulkner Brown,’ British academic library planning 1966–1980’, Liber bulletin 16, 1981, 32–8. Joint Funding Councils’ Libraries Review Group, Report. Bristol: HEFCE, 1993. Chairman Sir Brian Follett. (The ‘Follett report’.) Higher Education Funding Council for England, Improving poor estates: invitation to bid. Bristol: HEFCE, 1997. Andrew McDonald, ‘Space planning and management’ in Resource management in academic libraries, ed. David Baker. London: Library Association, 1997, pp. 189–206. Alice Harrison Bahr, ‘Library buildings in a digital age, why bother? College and research libraries news 61 (7), 2000, 590–1, 608. Mark Powell, ‘Designing library space to facilitate learning: a review of the UK higher education sector’, Libri 52, 2002, 110–20. Harold B. Shill and Shawn Tonner, ‘Creating a better place: physical improvements in academic libraries, 1995–2002’, College and research libraries 64 (6), 2003, 431–66. Judy Hodge Sackett, ‘Planning the new central academic library’, New library world 102 (1165), 2001, 207–10. Steven M. Foote, ‘An architect’s perspective on contemporary academic library design’, Bulletin of the Medical Library Association 83 (3), 1995, 351–6. SCONUL, Database of library building projects: . Andrew McDonald, ‘Celebrating outstanding new library buildings’, SCONUL newsletter 27, winter 2002, 82–5. Clive Evans, ‘Library buildings visit: LSE Lionel Robbins Library and King’s College London Maughan Library, November 2003’, SCONUL newsletter 30, winter 2003, 7–8. ‘News from members’, SCONUL newsletter 25, spring 2002, 116. Fiona Richardson, ‘Library at the Said Business School, Oxford University’, SCONUL newsletter 26, summer/autumn 2002, 15–17. ‘News from member libraries’, SCONUL newsletter 24, winter 2001, 91. Lisa Bruce, ‘The Charlotte Mason Library at St Martin’s College Ambleside’ , SCONUL newsletter 28, spring 2003, 73–5. Clive Evans, ‘Library buildings visit: LSE Lionel Robbins Library and King’s College London Maughan Library, November 2003’, SCONUL newsletter 30, winter 2003, 6–7. Jill Beard, Julie Ferris, Jane Ryland, ‘Fit for purpose: Bournemouth University’s new library’, Library + information update 2 (6), 2003, 28–30. David Hughes and Jennifer Scherr, ‘Visit to the John and Aileen O’Reilly, Dublin City University and the Ussher Library, Trinity College Dublin 10–11 June 2004’, SCONUL focus 33, winter 2004, 75–7.

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44 J. Adam Edwards, ‘ SCONUL buildings visit 2005’, SCONUL focus 36, winter 2005, 75–7. 45 ‘News from member libraries’, SCONUL newsletter 31, spring 2004, 105. 46 Richard Wake, ‘Update on new university library buildings: Southampton University Library’, SCONUL newsletter 30, winter 2003, 8–10. 47 ‘News from member libraries’, SCONUL focus 33, winter 2004, 85. 48 SCONUL, Database of library building projects. 49 ‘News from member libraries’, SCONUL focus 36, winter 2005, 94. 50 Andrew McDonald, ‘Celebrating outstanding new library buildings’, SCONUL newsletter 27, winter 2002, 82–5. 51 L. Kniffel, ‘Seattle opening draws huge crowds’, American libraries 37 (7), 2004, 12– 13. 52 Jared Bryson, Bob Usherwood and Richard Proctor, Libraries must also be buildings? New library impact study. London: Resource, 2003. 53 M.-F. Bisbrouck et al. (eds.), Libraries as places: buildings for the 21st century. Munich: Saur, 2004. 54 H. Nesbitt and B.V. Nield, People places: a guide for public library buildings in New South Wales. 2nd ed. Sydney: Library Council of New South Wales, 2005.

25

Cooperation Linda Berube

The national context The beginning of the new century really felt revolutionary in a way: devolved governments and restructured English regions, central government delegating more and more government services to the regions, regional assemblies, increasingly prominent European initiatives. There was a sense of things moving out from the centre, and instead of national identification, there would be more regional identification. Indeed, national cooperatives, such as LINC and EARL, fell away, leaving collaboration and partnership development to the regions. The effects on libraries, and especially on existing partnerships, were mixed, with the result that at the end of this period librarians were still wondering which agenda to follow when. The turn of the century saw cooperation around web resources and services gain prominence, especially in public, academic, and NHS libraries. Jean Plaister observed in an earlier volume of this series, that ‘cooperation, from being a relatively unimportant part of the library and information service has, over the past decade [1980s], developed an increasingly important role’.1 From the late 1990s to 2005, cooperation became mandatory, especially if libraries were in search of external funding. In addition, impetus for multi-type library cooperation, as well as partnerships with other public and private sector organizations, grew, as more central government services devolved to the regions, and as government sought to ‘join up’ cultural services. An earlier response to the perceived need of crosslibrary cooperation, LINC (the Library and Information Co-operation Council), began life with strong support and by facilitating a number of key pieces of research and development. However, as observed by Jean Plaister: ‘Despite its wide remit, LINC has … few resources and no authority and cannot be expected to undertake the wider role envisaged … for the coordination of library and information services in the UK’.2 In any event, a new definition of cooperation evolved that went beyond libraries. The emphasis on the cultural sector, and cooperation across it, resulted in the combination in April 2000 of the separate national agencies for libraries (Library and Information Commission), museums (Museums and Galleries Commission), and archives into Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries (from 2004 the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA)). These

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partnerships were encouraged, not only for purported efficiencies and savings, but also to create a ‘joined up’ environment, in which cultural services and resources were presented in a seamless way.3 The funding for these initiatives and partnerships was often tied to the major government drivers of digital services (UK Online, Modernising and e-Government),4 lifelong learning (Empowering the Learning Community, Inspiring Learning for All, Towards a Unified e-Learning Strategy),5 Social Inclusion,6 and Regeneration.7 National cooperation funding and initiatives During this period there was a major push from government for cultural organizations to form partnerships with the private sector. Whether PPP (public–private partnerships) or PFIs (private finance initiatives), these partnerships fostered widespread private investment, not just in the cultural sector, but across the public sector also. These partnerships produced new libraries as well as new services, contributing towards sustainable communities and economic regeneration. For example, a reading partnership that had the potential of national implementation and funding was the East of England Books and Business pilot,8 based on earlier initiatives developed by Arts and Business and the Reading Agency.9 Specifically for libraries, an example of such cooperation could mean supporting literacy skills through book provision to the workforce of local companies. Another development that had potential for libraries was the Local Area Agreement (LAA), with Local Strategic Partnerships (LSP). Essentially, an LAA was struck between central government and a local authority and its partners, who formed the LSP. These partners could include the private as well as the public sector, and the LAA was the programme by which all partners cooperated to deliver public service. In pilot phase during this period, these agreements were being discussed across the regions, and regional museums, libraries and archives agencies worked to ensure that the cultural sector was incorporated. The web effect In previous decades, library-to-library cooperation centred on interlending, with discovery across catalogues limited to staff access and back office functions. However, at the turn of the century and following, there was a more intense focus on resource-sharing as a means of providing public access, not just to the resources themselves, and in some instances facsimiles of the resources, but to the mechanisms for requesting resources. The world wide web was a major impetus to the government’s and libraries’ interest in discovery. With central government’s various drivers, especially that of putting more government services on the web, came increased encouragement of more cross-sectoral and public–private initiatives as well as funding to support, especially, partnership working with the objective of increased public access. Examples of such funding included the British Library Co-operation and Partnership Programme,10 1998–2002, and NOFdigitise,11 2000–2003, a national programme to support digitisation projects with museums, libraries and archives partners. The NOF-digitise projects, which were

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delivered through consortiums of multi-type organizations, were part of the impetus to present cultural services and resources in a seamless digital environment. The People’s Network Indeed, this last programme was part of a larger central government initiative, the People’s Network12 (this was in turn part of UK Online, an initiative to provide internet and government services through high speed connections), which delivered technical infrastructure and training to public libraries, in addition to the multi-type organization digitization projects. The People’s Network was the result of two major government publications, New library: the people’s network and Building the new library network.13 Although not truly a cooperative network, like JANET the university network (this type of network had been suggested in the documents, but was not part of final implementation), the People’s Network did bring libraries together across the UK in a common initiative. In addition, some of the countries used the funding to promote such activities as joint procurement of electronic resources across the library sector (Scotland),14 or developing joint multi-type library services (Ask Cymru in Wales).15 In a sense, Framework for the future built on the foundation of the People’s Network, in that this programme proposed widespread development in public library service and provision, through a diverse work plan.16 Framework took the change started by the People’s Network and progressed it, in an effort to bring public libraries up to a baseline standard of service, not only in the digital environment, but also in books, reading and learning; digital citizenship; and community and civic values. Other funding streams especially supporting cooperative projects included DCMS Wolfson,17 the Laser Foundation18 (formed once the regional library system concluded business), and the Heritage Lottery Fund.19 Also to grow out of the People’s Network were the People’s Network services:20 Enquire, Read and Discover. While Discover provided access to, among others, the collections digitized as part of the NOF-digitise programme, Enquire was a national collaborative of 100 English public library authorities as well as their American partners, to deliver a virtual reference service using QuestionPoint software. The acquisition of the software was brokered by the Co-East management team, in partnership with OCLC, and jointly procured by the library partners. The impetus behind Enquire, indeed behind all the People’s Network Services, was 24/7 access to library services. However, Enquire marked a turning-point in information service delivery and cooperation: public library staff and expertise were available 24/7, and geographic boundaries did not obtain. Users could be from anywhere in the world and ask the most localized of questions. In this sense, the service came the closest to replicating those private sector web services, such as Amazon, that were continually held up as models and competition of national and international branding.

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The People’s Network Read service, delivered in partnership by Opening the Book and the Reading Agency, was representative of an intense national focus on reading and books, spurred by criticism in the national media of decreased lending and book buying, as well as a perceived focus on technology, in public libraries. The BBC supported the national focus through its Big Reads21 and National Book Days. These national days, delivered jointly by public libraries, were made possible by the People’s Network infrastructure. Another project that turned into a live, joint service, was Stories from the Web,22 a reader development programme managed by Birmingham Libraries, and started by the Centre for the Child, Bristol Library Service, Leeds Library and Information Service and UKOLN. Major government initiatives in education and health also had an impact on libraries, often leading to partnerships and cooperative projects for resourcesharing. For higher education (HE) libraries, the main driver was Widening Participation,23 and specifically the Aim Higher programme.24 These initiatives served not only to encourage HE to look beyond their campuses, and try to broaden enrolment across social and economic class, but also to engage actively with the surrounding communities, whether with further education (FE) institutions or with businesses. Indeed, forming partnerships with local business represented a key stream for knowledge and expertise exchange, as well as economic regeneration. While partnerships and outreach included web-based resources and e-learning, there was also the impetus to join this work up with LAAs (mentioned above). The beginning of this period also saw the winding down of such EU-funded programmes as eLib25 which laid the groundwork for sharing content, through projects such as the M25 Consortium, the Scottish network, CAIRNS, and the Riding Gateway.26 In addition, the Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP)27 produced mechanisms for mapping and providing access to diverse collections across the cultural sector (see below, ‘Collection descriptions and gateways’). Another national initiative funded through the regions to foster multi-type library cooperation, Inspire,28 was supported largely by HE (through SCONUL), public libraries (through the Society of Chief Librarians), and the British Library. This programme provided for baseline access to collections for all members of the public, and the development of discovery tools to promote special collections and collection strengths. Another similar national programme, UK Libraries Plus, promoted reciprocal access across HE libraries.29 Further education also benefited from central government’s learning agenda. Less formal, less structured learning was promoted through UFI, operating a network of Learn Direct and UK Online centres throughout the country, including in FE and public libraries.30 Learning and Skills Council funding, among others, meant that JISC not only acted as the agency for joint procurement of electronic resources for FE, as it did for HE, but also created a system of regional centres to support FE specifically in the area of e-learning, and promoted cooperation between FE and HE. In addition, FE colleges were connected to the JANET network. Another major initiative was the development of the National Learning Network

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(NLN). The NLN, which built on FE partnerships provided ‘a robust network infrastructure and a wide-ranging programme of support, information and advice, as well as the development of ICT materials for teaching and learning’. Health libraries, whether part of hospitals or of primary care trusts, were part of the nationalization of services brought on by the web. The most tangible results were such services as the National Library for Health (NLH), providing librarians with ATHENS-authenticated access to joint electronic resources, and the National electronic Library for Health (NeLH), where NHS Libraries worked together to develop a digital library for NHS staff, patients and the public.32 Library development and service delivery Although public libraries had been divided between nine regional library systems since the 1930s, whose main inter-library loan business was delivered through union catalogues, namely V3 and UnityWeb, the beginning of the period marked an intense focus from central government on regionalism. Some of the regions were reconstituted (for example, London and South East breaking into two separate regions; the East of England including East Anglia/East Midlands counties, as well as some others more proximate to London). Because of the new formulation of geographic regions, long-standing and prominent regional library systems, such as LASER, disbanded, with the result that the cooperative physical union catalogue and interlending system, V3, was taken over by OCLC PICA. Consequently, new partnerships based on new regional designations and focused on development formed, such as the London Libraries Development Agency (LLDA),33 and the remaining regional library systems took on a new agenda that often involved cooperative projects and services, such as in the East Midlands Regional Library System (EMRLS, subsequently Libraries and Information East Midlands, LIEM).34 Some of the regional library systems were incorporated into the regional MLAs, such as the Libraries Partnership-West Midlands.35 These partnerships usually involved multi-type library memberships, and included sub-regional partnerships around shared catalogues and access. Discovering and sharing cooperatives At the same time, a number of regional and local library consortiums evolved to deliver specific services at an operational level. In terms of web-based projects for public libraries, the EARL (Electronic Access to Resources in Libraries) consortium for public library networking had created national models or demonstrators for joint services, such as Ask a librarian, Familia (local history and genealogy holdings), EARLWeb (web subject gateway), and Magnet (journals holdings index). Another casualty of the increasingly dominant regional agenda, the Consortium disbanded in 2000, although the two national services, Ask a librarian and Familia, were taken over by the regional partnership, Co-East. The Co-East partnership in the East of England grew out of a 1999–2000 DCMS Wolfson grant to promote joint procurement of electronic resources, as well

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as the interoperability of library systems. Similar cooperatives around joint systems included: x x x x x

COPAC, a shared catalogue of research libraries sponsored by CURL36 Co-South, a sub-regional partnership of libraries in the South East Merseyside Libraries, a multi-type library cooperative in Liverpool37 the Riding Gateway, for Yorkshire libraries38 What’s in London’s Libraries (WILL).39

This joint catalogue development marked a new kind of resource-sharing technically: where joint catalogues, such as V3 and UnityWeb, were built on physical union databases, the new cooperatives were reliant on virtual union databases. Library catalogues were connected through middleware and the use of the search protocol Z39.50. However, virtual interlending, dependent on the ILL/ISO protocol, was less successful, leaving libraries to initiate requests through subscriptions to physical union catalogues, or especially for university libraries, the BLDSC. Largely, these virtual joint catalogues represented library holdings, and rarely included inter-library loan (ILL) functionality. It was often the case that while broadcast searching was achieved in the virtual environment, ILL was conducted via physical union catalogues, email, or specialized ILL packages (for example, East Riding and Essex libraries used FDI’s VDX software, which was designed for ILL requesting and management).40 So, while multi-type virtual catalogues, such as Merseyside Libraries and East Riding, marked a significant development in cooperative catalogues, the ILL side often depended on the previous decade’s processes and procedures. Others, such as WISDOM and SAGE, sub-regional resource-sharing arrangements between public libraries with different library management systems in the South East,41 did include ILL functionality (using a piece of middleware similar to VDX), and Co-South, again a public library cooperative, achieved resource-discovery and sharing through the use of a common library management system. One would be excused for assuming that all of the activity from 2000 to 2005 around establishing virtual cooperatives would have put paid to joint physical union catalogues. However, OCLC’s Open WorldCat, combining discovery and sharing from both joint physical and virtual catalogues, demonstrated the value of hybrid networks, usually operating via international standards and protocols, mostly Z39.50.42 As mentioned above, OCLC PICA acquired V3 from LASER, with the result that this content, known as LinkUK, was accessible via WorldCat.43 An interesting development during 2005 was the tender for a successor to UnityWeb,44 formed by The Combined Regions in partnership with Talis. It remained to be seen whether the result of this tender would have an impact on the national, multi-type library joint physical union catalogue in the UK.

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Joint procurement of collections The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) provided the model for other sectors in terms of negotiating commercial electronic resources procurement contracts, developing model licensing and a joint authentication platform (ATHENS)45 for HE. FE institutions came to benefit from this structured approach to procurement as well. Other HE partnerships, such as CURL (which produced the joint catalogue COPAC), also engaged in joint procurement, most recently in the purchase of QuestionPoint, the library chat management tool.46 For other sectors, however, funding and management of such a process was borne largely by the libraries themselves (as opposed to top-slicing), either regionally or nationally. As mentioned above, the national consortium of public libraries, EARL, endeavoured to manage this process. Once the partnership dissolved in 2000, however, some public libraries were able to find this support regionally, usually through regional partnerships, such as those in the East of England, the East and West Midlands, to name a few. Whether real savings were achieved was questionable, usually because of the size of the regions: often cost was beyond unitaries, and larger authorities ended up paying the same or even more. In a move away from a regional solution to this problem, characteristic of the latter part of this period, the MLA, as part of its Framework action plan, developed a national framework for public library procurement, including a tender process for suppliers and a model national licence. The framework itself was set to be launched in 2006. Collection descriptions and gateways As mentioned above, the RSLP programme, and specifically the schema, provided a platform through which collections could be discovered. This programme, and the Full disclosure report,47 which highlighted the number of ‘hidden jewels’ tucked away in libraries all across the UK, precipitated an interest in using technology to make these collections more visible to the public. A number of portals or gateways followed on, perhaps not always in direct response to the Full disclosure or RSLP work, but certainly as a result of the increased interest in discovery of collections. Certainly, the NOF-digitise programme benefited from the work on collections, as well as Cornucopia,48 a web-based searchable database of collections held by cultural heritage institutions, especially museums and archives. Cornucopia evolved from Treasures in trust,49 which like Full disclosure called for a means by which collections could be discovered. Another important area for discovery, community information, was realized through SeamlessUK, ‘a one-stop citizen’s gateway which integrates local and national information on health, education, employment, rights, benefits, government etc.’.50 The service included the development of locally-branded portals in each of the participating authorities, as well as a standardized thesaurus for categorization of information. RevealWeb, produced by the Share the Vision partnership of organizations

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representing the visually impaired and the library profession, provided wider access to library and reading service.51 Sustainability of cooperation Funded originally by DCMS, RevealWeb’s menu of various funders, including government departments, foundations, national libraries, and organizations, was an example of the challenge of sustaining cooperative ventures, especially national ones. Libraries across the sector found that, especially with joint web resources, the work did not end with project completion and launch of the website. Not only were the constant maintenance and renovations of these sites as crucial to quality and public interest as the integrity of the data, but the continuous search for funding was a primary area of concern, with the result that services and websites often fell foul of budget cuts. At the end of this period, and especially exemplified by the launch of the People’s Network services, libraries and government agencies were still at a stand-off regarding who had the ultimate responsibility and ownership of national services. Conclusion It remained to be seen what value these various initiatives, as well as the emphasis on regionalism, had for libraries and their users. The close of 2005 saw a resurgence of national cooperation, nationally based services, and a re-unification of the nine regional agencies with their separate regional agendas, into a newly reconstituted MLA with one national agenda. Whether libraries should throw in their lot with regional or national partnerships, remain locally focused, or all of the above, would be determined more by what society demands of public sector institutions in the face of great change to knowledge management and communication.

Notes 1

2 3

4

Jean M. Plaister, ‘Library cooperation’ in British librarianship and information work 1986–1990, ed. David W. Bromley and Angela M. Allott. London: Library Association, v. 1, pp. 23–36. Plaister, ‘Library cooperation’, 24. For background to these developments, see Department for Culture, Media and Sport, The comprehensive spending review: a new approach to investment in culture. London: DCMS, 1998; A new cultural framework. London: DCMS, 1998; Regional cultural consortiums. London: DCMS, 1999. Cabinet Office, Office of the e-Envoy, UK Online annual report. 2000. Available at: (accessed 31/5/06); Cabinet Office, Modernising government: annual report. 2000. Available at: ; Cabinet Office, egovernment: a strategic framework for public services in the information age. 2000. Available at: .

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7 8 9 10 11

12

13

14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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Education and Libraries Task Group, Empowering the learning community: report … to the Secretaries of State for Culture, Media & Sport and for Education & Employment. London: Library and Information Commission, 2000. Available at: . See also for bibliography on papers leading up to the initiative; Inspiring learning for all: . See also for bibliography; Department for Education and Skills, Towards a unified e-learning strategy London: DfES, 2003. Available at: . Department for Education and Skills, Skills for social inclusion and the knowledge economy: towards a shared vision. 2001: . See also for bibliography; Social Exclusion Unit: . See Local Government Association site: for bibliography. Books and Business: . Arts and Business: ; The Reading Agency: . British Library Co-operation and Partnership Programme: . NOF-digitise: ; tiny url: . People’s Network: ; tiny url: . New library: the people’s network. London: Library and Information Commission, 1998; Building the new library network. London: Library and Information Commission, 1998. Slainte: . Ask Cymru: . Framework for the future: libraries, learning and information in the next decade. London: DCMS, 2003. Available at: . DCMS/Wolfson Public Libraries Challenge Fund annual report 1999–2000: . Laser Foundation: . Heritage Lottery Fund: . People’s Network, online services: . The Big Read: . Stories from the Web: . Widening Participation: . Aim Higher: . e-Lib: .

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26 M25 Consortium: , which produced the Inform25 network: ; CAIRNS: ; The Riding Gateway: . 27 Research Support Libraries Programme: . 28 Inspire: . 29 UK Libraries Plus: . 30 University for Industry: . 31 National Learning Network: . 32 National Library for Health: ; National electronic Library for Health (NeLH): . 33 London Libraries Development Agency: . 34 Libraries and Information East Midlands: . 35 The Libraries Partnership-West Midlands: . 36 COPAC: . 37 Merseyside Libraries: . 38 The Riding Gateway: . 39 What’s in London’s Libraries: . 40 VDX: . 41 WISDOM: (for browsing Southwest library catalogues); SAGE: (for browsing across museums, libraries, and archives in the Southwest). 42 Open WorldCat: . 43 LinkUK: . 44 UnityWeb: . 45 ATHENS: . 46 Questionpoint: . 47 Ann Chapman, Nicholas Kingsley, Lorcan Dempsey, Full disclosure: releasing the value of library and archive collections. London: Library and Information Commission, 1999. Available at: . 48 Cornucopia: . 49 Department of National Heritage, Treasures in trust: a review of museum policy. London: DNH, 1996. Available at: ; tiny url: . 50 SeamlessUK: . 51 RevealWeb: .

26

Marketing Linda M. Smith

In 2003 the Chartered Institute of Marketing defined marketing as ‘the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably’. This means that effective marketing and promotion are a planned and sustained process, not a series of one-off events. In terms of marketing library services, the beginning of the twenty-first century witnessed the acknowledgement that public relations, publicity and marketing should be an integral part of any progressive library and information service. Library and information service marketing also began to reflect the definition provided by the Chartered Institute of Marketing. There was too a realization that all staff, no matter what their level of seniority, had a responsibility to engage in and contribute to this aspect of work. After a slow evolution in the 1980s public relations and marketing were brought to reality and permanence within the professional body. Despite this acceptance within the professional body, marketing and communications were still not pivotal in professional education. Maureen Wainwright argued that library and information service graduates were ill equipped with the practical skills necessary for their careers.1 She highlighted marketing, communication and presentation skills and competencies as being essential to the successful library professional but missing in the professional education curriculum. She also claimed, rightly, that the number of requests for help, advice and ideas about marketing and promotion on email discussion lists were further evidence of the need to include these practical skills in the professional curriculum. Was this reluctance to develop this area of professional education related to the idea that there was still a credibility problem with the term ‘marketing’ as applied to our profession? Surely not! Promotion of services, user needs, price, product and location are issues that libraries have been considering and acting upon for many years but conceivably have never regarded them as marketing or management initiatives. They are undeniably practical marketing tools but once the term ‘marketing’ is used to encompass them it seems to bring about reluctance and concern. Is this because, as argued by Morgan, we fear that once they are entrenched in a planned and sustained programme they challenge our professional instincts?2 He highlights the irony that successful marketing revolves around

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communication of information and that libraries are nothing if they are not communicators of information and ideas. Marketing and public relations (PR) skills and competencies were acknowledged by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) as integral to the professional body of knowledge. The value that they put on this was underpinned by the increase in the number of courses provided by CILIP (as the parent organization) and its Branches and Groups together with SCONUL and Aslib. Of special note were the intensive courses on marketing for public librarians facilitated by CILIP and presented by Terry Kendrick, a freelance marketing consultant. The courses were always well received, and their success can be largely attributed to the fact that Terry Kendrick had himself been a practising librarian and therefore had first-hand knowledge of some of the marketing challenges particular to libraries. Following on from this success, CILIP designed a marketing course programme for academic librarians and success built upon success. The Publicity & Public Relations Group (PPRG) of CILIP continued to provide a wide range of presentations on various aspects of public relations and marketing at CILIP’s biennial conference Umbrella, all of which were attended by a substantial number of delegates. In addition to this, its annual conferences at Grasmere earned respect within the profession for quality presenters, delegate participation and networking opportunities. The Group firmly believed that the library and information profession still had much to learn from the world of commercial marketing and promotion. The policy of the Group was, and would continue to be, the provision of speakers working in the commercial marketing environment or with in-depth experience of marketing and promotion within the library profession. It was easy to observe from delegates attending these PPRG events that there was tremendous enthusiasm for marketing libraries and a realization that marketing should be integral in professional education. There were of course other drivers to create the need for courses on marketing and communication skills. These were the government initiatives such as the Charter Mark scheme and Investors in People, which encouraged organizations to achieve excellence in service standards, including marketing and promotion of their services and facilities. The Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 also had an impact on the promotion of library services. Part III of the legislation related to goods, services and facilities, clearly stating that it was unlawful to treat disabled persons less favourably for any reason that related to their disability. This had implications for library accessibility, signing and guiding, publicity and marketing. (In addition to this, the Royal National Institute of the Blind produced guidelines on the size of type and use of colour in order to make printed material more accessible to people who had visual impairment.) The Act also stated clearly that if service improvements had been made, the service provider had a statutory duty to publicize the changes and modifications. The measures laid down in the Act were phased in over a period of five years to allow service providers to make ‘reasonable adjustments’. Initially the response from libraries was slow and concentrated on obvious

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disabilities. Eventually there was evidence of improved clarity in printed material; the availability of information about library services presented in different media; and the improvement of signing and guiding to accommodate braille and tactile letters. Many of the companies which manufactured signs produced guidelines to help libraries understand the implications of the Act. McCaskill and Goulding investigated the impact of the Disability Discrimination Act.3 The People’s Network Another major government initiative that had an impact on marketing in public libraries was the launch of the People’s Network. This initiative aimed to provide access to the internet through public libraries, and it was a mark of the government’s commitment to give everyone access to online information. As libraries submitted bids for funding, the onus was on them to promote the service to the wider community, especially to non-users who, perhaps it could be said, would benefit most from the new service provision. A typical example of service promotion was to be found in Plymouth Library and Information Services. For some years, the service had been suffering from declining library use (particularly in the 12–34 age group). The authority saw the People’s Network initiative as an opportunity to stem this trend. This of course meant that publicity had to be innovative and dynamic. Their campaign was delivered under the campaign heading ‘Surf’s up in Plymouth’, reflecting the maritime location of the city and the activity of surfing the internet. The authority took a bold decision to use a non-traditional form of advertising in the form of life-size posters of the library staff, who were photographed with surfboards, surf-related items or more traditional computer equipment. These large format posters were then displayed in poster frames and bus shelters on the streets of Plymouth. Of course the success of this depended on enlisting the support and cooperation of staff, and this was not insignificant as librarians are traditionally regarded as self-effacing. The posters were also branded with the new logo, as were mouse mats, pop-up banners used in outreach activities, and print media. The promotional campaign was enhanced further by large-format advertising banners that were displayed on local buses, by print media and by an official launch. After the official launch the campaign was cited by Resource as an example of best practice. The campaign was also recognized as an example of excellence in the PPRG’s PR & Publicity Awards. The government had now realized that reading for pleasure was essential to their strategy of skills for life and also national literacy. This meant that public libraries should be at the heart of the community and this was the basic vision of Framework for the future partners: CILIP, the Reading Agency and the Society of Chief Librarians. Framework for the future hoped to go some way towards remedying the political invisibility of libraries by giving libraries the remit to market their services and facilities. Framework for the future was ‘based on research and analysis carried out by the independent think tank, Demos’. After consulting with major stakeholders in the library sector it laid out a strategic ten-year vision for the public library service.

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Marketing was seen as a major area for development and this led to the Society of Chief Librarians coordinating work on public library service delivery nationwide and on the public perception of the ‘public library’. Within Framework for the future lay the encouragement of the public’s appetite for reader-centred activities, e.g. reading groups. This was further enhanced by media links, such as the BBC’s Big Read, and the coordination of opportunities nationwide by the Reading Agency. It also strengthened links with the publishing world via Reading Partners groups. The implications of reader-centred activities taking place in libraries were examined by McKearney.4 She argued that the success of this project relied on practical creative skills of staff and the development and encouragement of creative skills in new entrants to the profession. Publishers also kept a watching brief on reader-centred activities in libraries and they were impressed by the creativity in stock promotion. They grew to appreciate this market, and this would ultimately benefit library services as publishers have financial and administrative means and resources for marketing their authors and library stock. Many exciting examples of stock promotion developed in partnership with publishers were cited in Update. Some were centred around regional partnerships, e.g. Time to Read in north-west England, World Book Day, and the nationwide summer Reading Challenge for Children. All of these events continued to grow in popularity. The professional body The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP, formerly the Library Association) Marketing Group set up in 1999 became well established in the following years. Membership expanded and it widened its remit to academic and workplace librarians. The meetings continued to be informal but members now had the opportunity to use email discussion lists to increase their networking potential. Although the Group did not provide any formal training courses, it did provide a welcome opportunity to network and discuss common issues and challenges for those involved exclusively in marketing libraries or with a designated responsibility in their overall job description. To some extent the Group overlapped with the role of the Publicity & Public Relations Group (PPRG); however, this was not regarded by either Group as being disadvantageous to the respective memberships. Rather, it provided a platform for the interchange of ideas and indeed members of the Marketing Group frequently participated in the PPRG’s conferences. It was during this period that, following a long debate between both organizations, the Library Association merged with the Institute of Information Specialists in April 2001. Both organizations consulted their members about the name that would be adopted by the emerging organization; ideas and thoughts were many and diverse. Eventually it was decided that it should be the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. With the new name for the new organization came a new logo. This was a great opportunity to promote CILIP with a strong identity. Headed by the marketing team at the Library Association, work began on the design of a new logo and corporate brand. The brief was that the

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brand should be ‘a clean classic look, reflecting the new institute’s authority and credibility’ … ‘no pictorial images as they would become dated’. Tim Owen records a detailed account of the development and introduction of the new brand.5 It is easy to see the benefit that the Marketing Department of the former Library Association brought throughout the project and indeed to its launch. All Branches and Groups were invited to the launch where the thinking behind the new brand was explained in depth. CILIP’s Marketing Department also issued CDs with the logo represented in the range of formats that would be required by local commercial printers together with guidelines for its use by Branches and Groups. The presentation of the CD reflected the development of technological innovation to facilitate the production of quality print media. CILIP did everything possible to ensure that the new brand was applied consistently across the organization. Simultaneous with the emergence of CILIP was the decision to bring together all the major awards for excellence within the profession and present them at a gala luncheon. This included the PR & Publicity Awards. The combined presentation of awards provided a wonderful marketing opportunity and showcase for a celebration of excellence within the profession, and this was enhanced with press and media coverage. Unfortunately, this development was short-lived, as after two years CILIP announced that it was withdrawing support for all the awards except the Greenaway and the Carnegie Awards. The administration, organization and staging of individual award programmes was then vested with the appropriate Branches and Groups of CILIP. Many saw this as retrograde. The irony of a professional organization leaving the administration of awards for excellence to professional volunteers (albeit dedicated) was an unwritten message that was bitter to many. The PPRG embraced the challenge to administer the PR & Publicity Awards. The timescale was short and the transition was made more difficult as they learned that the previous sponsor, Emerald, was also withdrawing its support. Providentially, Farries Library Suppliers (the founders and original sponsors of the awards up until the date when the Company went into receivership) agreed to work in partnership with the PPRG. The takeover of the awards came at a very fortunate time – it coincided with the twenty-first birthday of the PPRG itself. The Group thought it appropriate to combine the presentation of the awards at a gala dinner at its annual conference. This of course provided an excellent marketing opportunity to promote the conference in the form of prizes. The prizes offered were: for the winner, one free place at the conference; and to commended and highly commended entries, discounted places pro rata. During this period the standard of entry in the PR & Publicity Awards showed a steady improvement. Entries highlighted the fact that there was a great deal of variation in the level of resources available for marketing activities in libraries. Each year the judges were inspired by the innovative ideas demonstrated in entries from all types of library service. The standard of printed material produced by libraries also showed a significant improvement and this was undoubtedly attributable to advances in printing technology. Entries to the awards programme reflected the now accepted collaborative partnerships existing between libraries

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and the commercial world and also other authorities. One outstanding example of the latter was the reader development project ImaginAsian, which was funded by DCMS/Wolfson grant of £100,000.6 It linked the library services of Harrow, Brent, Hillingdon and Leicester and brought together community organizations in each authority. Another significant trend was the increase in marketing to specific audiences rather that producing generic material aimed at ‘everyone’. Perhaps the most encouraging trend was that greater importance was being attached to evaluating the results and using the findings to build on success. Image and brand The general public had become extremely image-conscious and conscious of peer pressure to be associated with a particular brand. Of course, the commercial and leisure world were the key player in this field but it had a perceived effect on libraries. Librarians recognized the importance of the library environment as a marketing device. It is important that the buildings are attractive, friendly and welcoming. However, ambient marketing is not just limited to the physical environment, it also relates to customer service and expectations. Along with image and brand came significant developments in customer care and customer communication. Again the lead was taken from the commercial world where great emphasis is placed on customer focus. This was not just limited to the public library experience: users of any type of library developed greater expectations of service levels and interaction with the staff and the service. Indeed, this filtered through to all types of media, print and electronic, and to the built environment. All are points of communication with the reader and it is essential that every care is taken to convey the correct message in the correct tone. This is especially true in the case of electronic media where there is no human interface to complement the message. Libraries developed focus groups, customer value research programmes, mystery ‘shoppers’, and user surveys in the drive to develop and improve the level of customer care to the best possible standard. On a national level, a three-year cycle of compulsory surveys of adults, children and non-users was introduced for public libraries to enable informed decisions to be made on service developments and improvements. The impact of image and brand also percolated through to job titles. One only has to look back at the vacancy advertisements to see changes in vocabulary: Librarian becomes Library Manager, Information Specialist or Information Advisor. Increasingly, vacancies were advertised for Marketing Managers, Communications Managers, Promotions Officers and Service Development Managers. This suggests that more authorities and institutions were taking marketing seriously and were employing personnel to specialize in this type of activity. The idea of changing names in relationship to libraries was not limited to jobs. Librarians began to investigate whether it was the term ‘library’ that people (especially the younger age groups) found off-putting. Research indicated that libraries were not perceived to be attractive places by 14–35-year-olds. This age group did not want to identify with the library brand, they perceived libraries to be

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dull, unattractive with little to offer them. The twenty-first century saw great competition for libraries: the internet was providing access to information; Amazon provided discounted books online, and high street book superstores provided an alternative place in the community for people to access books in ambient surroundings. Cartwright’s Master’s dissertation provides useful marketing information on the libraries and book superstores.7 The London Borough of Tower Hamlets renamed its libraries Idea Stores and Gosport Library in Hampshire became a Discovery Centre, which won an award in the Publicity & Public Relations Group’s PR and Publicity Awards. Both authorities rolled out the branding across their areas as libraries were refurbished. Similarly, Haringey Libraries were transformed into more user-friendly and welcoming buildings by a public–private partnership with Instant Library Ltd. The authority had been criticized previously as being poor; having limited opening hours and no prospect for improvement. Details of this partnership and the evolution of the project have been described by Edmonds.8 Similarly companies such as Opening the Book provided opportunities for libraries to work in partnership to raise their profile. It was not only public libraries that changed their names, libraries in further and higher education institutions adopted names such as learning centres, resource centres, information services or library and learning resource centre. Of course, such a radical step as changing the name of a library aroused both professional and public interest, with critics claiming that the word ‘library’ should be retained at all costs. Their argument was that the coffee shop culture might deter existing users and a valuable resource would be lost. Their theory was that the professional services and quality stock, together with clear promotion of the depth and scope of the services and facilities, would ensure that the ‘library’ gained brand recognition by people all ages and social standing. Only time would reveal whether the idea was successful. For many years, the Public Library Building Awards (organized by the Public Libraries Group) had recognized excellence in public library design. However, in 2005, the award programme was re-vamped to reflect the importance of the components in the marketing mix of product, people and place in relationship to architecture fit for purpose. The categories then included: x Architects meet practicality: new libraries with architectural interest and practical and user-friendly facilities. x Interior design: new/refurbished libraries combing light, space, people movement, colour and design. x Heart of the community: designed to enhance, regenerate and/or tackle social inclusion, and/or innovate service delivery. A more detailed account of the categories is to be found in New library world.9 Angela Dove gives further weight to the importance of library design in successful marketing.10 She states that good design will make the library valuable

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and attractive for users and that this is one of the best advertisements that a library of any kind can have. The importance of the library building and its environment was also recognized by national libraries. The National Library of Scotland commissioned independent Stakeholder Research to investigate user perceptions of the organization and its services in October 2003.11 The objectives of the research, carried out by the NFO World Group, were: x to provide insights to inform the development of a new strategy x to elicit views on the Library’s current services, collection policy and accessibility x to understand better what else the customers wanted from the Library and to guide it on how this might be delivered x to provide guidance as to how a longer-term communication strategy might be put in place. This research revealed that the building was seen as prestigious but forbidding. Users and potential users were deterred by its appearance and therefore did not realize the value and potential of the services and facilities that were available. The result of this was the development of marketing campaigns and exhibitions to break down the barriers and encourage people to use the library. The trend for improved and strengthened brands continued into the early part of the twenty-first century. A significant marketing campaign was launched by the staff of Birmingham Libraries in 2002. It set out to change the brand and image of Birmingham Libraries. The campaign was developed by a partnership of the senior management team and the City Council’s Leisure and Culture Marketing Department in cooperation with an external design agency. Its success was underpinned by appropriate professional resources and a substantive budget of £50,000. This campaign won an award in the CILIP & Emerald PR & Publicity Awards and was highlighted by the judges as a textbook example of a properly resourced marketing campaign that should become the benchmark standard for marketing and branding for libraries. A special opportunity for marketing presented itself in 2000 with the 150th anniversary of public libraries. The Library Association encouraged libraries to participate in this marketing opportunity by launching a campaign on St Valentine’s Day, 14 February. In 1850 this was the date of the first reading of the Public Libraries Act. Bright red postcards, bearing the words ‘How do I love thee? Let me count the ways’, together with a list of library services and facilities, were designed and printed by the Library Association. These were sent to library authorities to send out to their users on St Valentine’s Day. The fact that this type of card was designed is significant in the development of marketing libraries: ten years earlier this would not have been acceptable. The St Valentine’s postcard was only a small part of the 150th anniversary campaign. On 8 March 2002 the Library Association organized a special meeting of the all-party group of MPs chaired by

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Linda Perham to coincide with World Book Day. This group championed libraries, and the response to the meeting was excellent with over 130 MPs attending. This was a great recognition of the support of MPs for public libraries, gaining extensive press and media coverage. By way of further national promotion of this significant milestone, a fifty pence piece was minted. The design for this coin was selected by the Royal Mint Advisory Committee chaired by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh. Along with the coins for general release there was also a special presentation pack that was promoted to the profession. The commissioning of a coin was a significant achievement for CILIP as there is always great demand for commemorative coins. Academic libraries This period also saw a great revolution in the development of public relations and marketing in academic libraries. As universities became more business-orientated, they developed marketing and communication strategies. Libraries were seen as a major marketing element, with the result that the library services became more conscious of the importance of marketing and gradually began to look at marketing and promotion strategically. Universities were keen to ensure that their brand filtered down to all faculties and support services and this of course had a major impact as libraries took on board this remit. University libraries benefited greatly as the parent institution gave them the facility to improve their publicity and marketing material. In many cases there was an appropriate budget and practical support in design and print. However, some universities said that the marketing drive was geared to the institution’s outward face and that support was inadequate for material produced by support services to market their services internally, often with short lead-in times. Leeds University, which decided to build on the University’s brand and strengthen the library’s identity through a library house style and the branding of its library buildings, was typical of the many universities that had support from their central marketing team. They also engaged in a considerable amount of customer research using online surveys. A further development in customer research came in a collaborative exercise with Leeds Metropolitan University and Leeds Library Service. Together they organized mystery visits to each other’s libraries to assess customer experience. This is an excellent example of low-cost information-gathering to assist with the development of marketing strategies. It is also an example of the greater willingness to participate in cross-sectoral activities. Academic library induction programmes were given dramatic facelifts to accommodate the expectations of a more sophisticated student body. Gradually, the library infiltrated into the domain of the freshers’ fair. With a long-standing reputation for being noisy and vibrant occasions, freshers’ fairs warranted more than the traditional library induction pack no matter how well the induction material was produced. Innovation and inspiration were required if the library was to capture the imagination and attention of the students. Competition for their attention was set against that of clubs, societies and inevitably bars. Oxford

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Brookes University was one of the leaders in the field. Their Marketing Group executed a very successful outreach programme at the freshers’ fair in 2001, which was based around the launch of the university library website.12 The strapline ‘Inspiration in the Library’ was supported by campaign material that used recognizable images relating to inspiration, included Newton’s apple and Rodin’s Thinker, together with the more quirky image of a ‘penny dropping’. This was an interesting example of successful low-budget publicity, the whole campaign coming in at a budget of less that £500. The campaign was also given a commendation in the PPRG PR and Publicity Awards for its simple innovative approach. Like public libraries, academic libraries became conscious of the importance of quality environments. Customer feedback revealed that students expected the library to provide, in part, the type of environment to be found in Waterstones, where they could browse and enjoy a coffee at the same time. There were of course different market forces in the commercial sector, but nonetheless the customers’ expectations of academic library services were driven in part by the commercial world. An example of this is to be found at the University of Northumbria, where the basement of the City Campus Library was converted into a learning café and shop. Here customers could use the facilities of group discussion areas, study areas, wireless access, refreshment area, public telephones and current newspapers. Stationery, stamps, computer accessories and wireless laptops for loan were available from the learning café shop and in addition there was access to binding and photocopying facilities. Library staff commented that the students appreciated the ‘vibrancy and buzz’ of the learning café and were using the facility to the full. It is interesting to note that the library staff, in an effort to create true customer focus, observed the way in which the area was used before designating specific zones for type of use. From the management point of view the project proved most successful and was a testament to inter-departmental collaboration.13 Similar attention to planning an ambient learning environment was being given at Glasgow Caledonian University in form of the Saltire Centre, which was due to open in early 2006. These projects are indicative that academic libraries were responding to the changing need of students in terms of marketing library study environments. Academic libraries continued to use partnership promotional services provided by such organizations as Youth Media and Oxigen. Youth Media identified sponsors who were interested in promoting their product and services to the academic sector. The range of promotional media included bookmarks, posters and display screen advertising. The sponsoring companies were of course vetted by the participating universities to ensure that they were appropriate to the institution’s values. Bookmarks carried a library message on one side and partnership advertising on the reverse. The company made its bookmark package more attractive by offering creative design services to assist participating libraries with the production of artwork. In some instances, for example bookmarks promoting Times Newspapers, the sponsor’s publicity was in the form of money-off vouchers. For the purpose of display of large format posters, Youth Media provided the participating library with poster frames, which, when they were not carrying advertising, could be used

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by the library for its own promotional purposes. The display screen advertising offered commercial companies the opportunity to promote themselves on screen and the participating library the opportunity to use spare screen space or use the ticker-tape message facility. With all the packages offered by the company, the participating libraries benefited from revenue and the opportunity to promote their own services free of charge. Technological advances There was also change in the more traditional areas of library induction and information skills. Advances in printing technology reduced the cost of colour printing to affordable levels. This enabled libraries to take advantage of producing printed material in full colour, thereby making the finished publication more eyecatching. This was particularly important as people became attuned to the sophisticated use of colour in design and print media. Material produced with spot colours, or even worse, black and white, made libraries appear to be out of touch. Other technological advances that had an impact were the digital camera, improved web technologies, wider access to email in the community, CDs, plasma screens and – in the architectural world – building cladding. Libraries now had the opportunity to produce virtual tours, introduce webcams on their websites, use plasma screens to replace posters and. in the case of new building programmes, promote the new library in a dramatic way on the exterior of the site as building progressed. Many libraries operated self-service issue systems, and in some cases (e.g. Nottingham Trent University) screen savers were used to promote library messages. Some libraries were using SMS text messaging systems to communicate with their customers. The advent of the virtual library and the competition from Google and other major search engines presented further challenges for libraries. The first few years of the twenty-first century saw great improvements in library web page design. There was evidence of seamless access to information; online activities and discussion lists for people of all ages, and the use of web pages to promote the library service itself. Perhaps the biggest challenge was the promotion of the website itself as there is little point in creating an excellent site if people are unaware of its existence. Libraries also had the advantage of creating web-based user surveys; those with the necessary technical resources and skills could now create their own. Others might wish to use products such as LibQual, which measured the customers’ minimum perceived levels of expectation and their desired levels of service and quality. Information from surveys provides a sound basis on which to develop marketing strategies. Marketing strategies As mentioned in the introductory paragraph of this chapter, libraries were now beginning to consider marketing seriously and were therefore developing their strategies to reflect the mission statement of the organization. Of particular interest

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is a project that was still in its infancy at the time of writing. It is the first example of a project to market public libraries nationally and with a single strategy. This project was being developed by the Welsh Assembly, which had identified marketing as a priority in the @Your Library programme. It was intended to develop a strategic framework to support a bilingual library service. This project was being developed in collaboration with external commercial agencies and was researching the perception of non-users, users and stakeholders. The findings were due to be published in 2007, and would be of undoubted significance to the library world. On a smaller scale, but no less important, marketing strategies were being developed by library services in all sectors. Many were being driven by strategies developed by the parent organization as has been seen in the case of academic libraries. All had the need to promote the value of their service to customers and stakeholders alike. The beginning of the twenty-first century saw the development of strong marketing and promotional activity across all types of library and information services. There was a greater emphasis on customer focus and communication, and this was facilitated by the advances in technology and the enthusiasm and initiatives of staff. Libraries began to exploit the wide range of media available in innovative and exciting ways. The future would see some media rendered obsolete and others come to the fore. What was certain is that planned communication and marketing would be pivotal to the success of any progressive library service. Acknowledgements Much of the information is based on the first-hand experience of the author in her capacity as Chairperson of the Publicity & Public Relations Group and Chairperson of the Panel of Judges for the Public Relations & Publicity Awards. She also acknowledges the help of her personal contacts engaged or formerly engaged in publicity and marketing activities in libraries, namely: Louisa Myatt (Marketing Manager, CILIP); William Jenkins (Youth Media Ltd); Jenny Stanistreet (North Sefton Leisure Services), Kate Hall (Leicestershire Libraries), Sue Benson (Cheshire Libraries), Anthony Brewerton (Oxford Brookes University); and David Lindley (former Director of Books for Students).

Notes 1 2 3 4 5 6

Maureen Wainwright, ‘A school for scandal?’, Library Association record 102 (10), 2000, 577. Steve Morgan, ‘Word for word’, Library Association record 102 (1), 2000, 35. Kirsty McCaskill and Anne Goulding, ‘English public libraries and the Disability Discrimination Act’, New library world 102 (1165), 2001, 192–206. Miranda McKearney, ‘Why F4F matters’, Library + information update 3 (10), Oct. 2004, 34–5. Tim Owen, ‘Branding – not for the faint hearted’, Public eye 58, 2002. Ann Copus, ‘ImaginAsian’, Public eye 59, spring 2003, 2–4.

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Helen Cartwright, ‘Change in store? An investigation into the impact of the book superstore environment on use, perceptions and expectations of the public library as a space, place and experience’, Library and information research 28 (88), 2004, 11–20. Diana Edmonds, ‘Portfolio for success?’, Library + information update 2 (7), July 2003, 50–1. Linda Ashcroft, Editorial, New library world 106 (5/6), 2005, 205–7. Angela Dove, ‘Designing space for knowledge’, Library + information update 3 (3), Mar. 2004, 23–4. See NFO WorldGroup, Qualitative research findings: executive summary. 2003. Available at: < http://www.bl.uk/communications/news/2003/nov03-e-legal_deposit. htm>. Brewerton, Antony, ‘Inspired! award winning marketing’, New library world 104 (7/8), 2003, 267–77. Annie Kilner, ‘Learning café is the right recipe for Northumbria students’, Public eye 66, 2005, 4. See also the website: .

Further reading Eileen Elliott de Sáez, Marketing concepts for libraries and information services. 2nd ed. London: Facet, 2002. The Reading Agency: . LibQUAL+:. Time to read. North West Libraries Reader Development Partnership: .

27

Information literacy David Streatfield and Sharon Markless

The rise of information literacy Fairly close monitoring of the literature suggests that interest in information literacy grew steadily in UK academic libraries over this period, with the concept gradually ousting the earlier preferred terms, ‘user education’, ‘bibliographic instruction’ and ‘library skills training’ in university libraries and the term ‘information skills’ in further education libraries. The picture here is further complicated by increased use of the term ‘i-skills’ in higher education to encompass a range of skills required to work with electronic information. Information literacy also became part of the preferred nomenclature amongst UK national organizations concerned with libraries (such as CILIP and SCONUL) during this period, although the Scottish Library and Information Council opted for ‘Information handling skills’ for its generic course launched in January 2004 for the post-sixteen sector.1 The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council-driven Framework for the future (of public libraries) made sporadic reference to ‘information literacy skills’, but more frequently talked about access to ‘digital skills and services’ and ‘learner support’. Interestingly, SCONUL retreated from its earlier position of rejecting the term information literacy in favour of information skills during this period, setting up a Working Group for Information Literacy in 2005.2 Again, information literacy was latterly adopted by some national educational organizations (such as Ofsted and the Higher Education Academy) when engaging with the libraries sector.3 However, the term was scarcely used in the workplace libraries domain: Abell and Skelton pointed out the difficulty of ‘selling’ the concept in terms of business value and outcomes.4 At the time of writing it was not yet clear whether and to what extent librarians in other domains would follow the HE example or whether practice would continue to lag behind the new Linnaeans. Some definitions and frameworks How should we define ‘information literacy’ at the close of this period and what elements did it encompass? We have plenty of material to call upon: if we confine ourselves strictly to the five years of this review and to UK published sources we still find definitions offered by Webber and Johnston, Herring, and the Information Literacy Group of CILIP, as well as frameworks encompassing the key elements as

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seen by the Big Blue (described below) and CILIP again.5 These offerings are described more fully below: Sheila Webber and Bill Johnston offered this definition on their information literacy website: Information literacy is the adoption of appropriate information behaviour to identify, through whatever channel or medium, information well fitted to information needs, leading to wise and ethical use of information in society.

James Herring was less specific but tried to resolve the battle of labels with information skills advocates by insisting that ‘Information literacy is a broader term, which encompasses not only skills but also attitudes to and motivation for learning’. The Big Blue framework for information skills was developed as part of an initiative funded by the UK universities’ Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) between 2001 and 2002. They avoided the temptation to produce their own definition, preferring to adopt the earlier (1989) version of being informationliterate offered by the American Library Association: To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information ... Ultimately, information literate people are those who have learned how to learn. They know how to learn because they know how knowledge is organized, how to find information, and how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them. They are people prepared for lifelong learning, because they can always find the information needed for any task or decision at hand.6

The Big Blue model focused on the changes sought in the behaviour of information-literate students. The main headings were: Recognises an Information Need Addresses the Information Need Retrieves Information Evaluates Information Critically Adapts Information Organises Information Communicates Information Makes use of Information Reviews the Process.7

According to Hilary Johnson, commenting in 2003, when SCONUL established their Task Force on Information Skills they specifically rejected using information literacy as the key term because The use of the word skills in certain sections of the UK HE scene is problematic, and we certainly feel that skills is too limiting a concept, because we feel real information

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literacy encompasses a range of cognitive as well as motor skills. However, literacy in some applications has a threshold meaning which we are anxious to avoid.8

By 2005 SCONUL had revised its position: the website for the Working Group on Information Literacy now asserted that Information literacy encompasses library user education, information skills training and education, and those areas of personal, transferable or ‘key’ skills relating to the use and manipulation of information in the context of learning, teaching and research issues in higher education.9

In introducing the CILIP definition, Chris Armstrong explained that ‘In an attempt to draw a line under this debate – at least for the UK – CILIP has produced a simple definition …’.10 This definition was originally published in October 2004 and consisted of 26 words: Information literacy is knowing when and why you need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner.11

They explicitly excluded a key element of information-related behaviour, metacognition (or thinking about strategies for finding and using information) because One might say that an information-literate person should have an ability to be a lifelong learner and to reflect on what they are doing. That is not part of IL …

In other words, the CILIP definition took a fairly narrow view of ‘skills’. Armstrong then asserted that ‘The skills, which are listed following the definition, explain in greater detail what it means to be information-literate’. The CILIP offering was a bland delineation rather than a definition and failed to acknowledge the complexity of much foregoing work on information skills development. It is hard to envisage teachers and other educators settling for a definition of literacy that allowed for no gradation between functional literacy and higher order skills. Two decades earlier Carol Kuhlthau was explicit about this point, firmly stating that ‘Information literacy is closely tied to functional literacy. It involves the ability to read and use information essential for everyday life’.12 As to the claim about the skills then being explained in greater detail, the two pages offered with the definition duly unpacked a list of concepts: Understanding a need Understanding availability Understanding how to find information Understanding the need to evaluate results Understanding how to work with or exploit results Understanding ethics and responsibility of use Understanding how to communicate or share your findings Understanding how to manage your findings.13

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However, the key element ‘to develop new knowledge and understanding’ received only this single mention, with no amplification. Essentially, we are dealing with the difference between having a broad definition covering the range of concepts, leaving librarians and others to decide what most concerns them for current attention, or a more limited outline which librarians are expected to see as manageable rather than challenging. Although the CILIP approach might be more reassuring, it is, as Lyn Robinson asserted, ‘necessary to understand the range of topics falling within the boundaries of the discipline, and to decide which of them we wish to support’.14 Put in other terms, the CILIP approach is based on a behaviourist/transmission view of education (commonly encountered amongst librarians in their training role) where the emphasis is on teaching discrete skills, whereas effective information literacy development calls for a constructivist approach. We will return to this issue later. The SCONUL Information skills model was originally published in 1999, but re-presented as the Seven pillars of information literacy model in 2004, reflecting its increasing use in university libraries during this period.15 Its definition (2004 version) saw information skills as encompassing not only study skills … but attributes of awareness and understanding of the way in which information is produced in the modern world, critical appraisal of the content and validity of the information, and some practical ideas of how information in the real world is acquired, managed, disseminated and exploited.

The model did attempt to build some progression into the process of becoming information-literate. It also referred to the iterative nature of finding and using information, but the model itself did not show where and how this might occur. The Big Blue model similarly implied that finding and using information was a sequence of steps. (This linear view of information seeking was, however, directly challenged by Alan Foster.)16 Re-labelling or change? Does the shift in labelling in higher education and amongst policy-makers signify a corresponding evolution in understanding about the concept, about what can be done to help information users to become more information-literate, or about the librarian’s role in these processes? Are the many librarians who still deliver what they call ‘information skills’ doing something different to the advocates of information literacy? An answer to these questions can be found by looking at the formal education sector, in which information literacy and its earlier formulations have received most attention. Returning to the pioneering work undertaken in British schools in the early 1980s, the preferred term ‘information skills’ was conceived as encompassing nine questions: What do I need to do? (Formulate and analyse need) Where could I go? (Identify and appraise likely sources) How do I get to the information? (Locate individual resources)

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Which resources shall I use? (examine, select and reject) How shall I use the resources? (Interrogate resources) What should I make a record of? (Record and store information) Have I got the information I need? (Interpret, analyse, synthesise, evaluate) How should I present it? (Present, communicate) What have I achieved (Evaluate).17

If we make a comparison with the definitions and models mentioned above, it can be seen that they have not advanced greatly in vision or specificity. But this is not the whole picture. If we now look briefly at developments in other parts of the world during the review period it is clear that the work has advanced. Leading academics such as Ross Todd and Carol Kuhlthau in the USA and Christine Bruce and Alan Bundy in Australia focused on ‘sense-making’, creating new understandings, and the iterative and emotional aspects of information-seeking.18 They helped to advance thinking about the importance of transforming information (by imposing new structures, refining and reinterpreting, and constructing new knowledge).19 Looking back at the British definitions and frameworks of information literacy, we see the recurrence of a common problem encountered by education professionals when attempting to translate a set of nuanced concepts or complex reflexive practice into workable projects, usually accompanied by simple diagrams, task lists, and specified outcomes – what Lincoln and Guba characterized as ‘the positivist incongruencies and inadequacies of merely reliable standards’.20 As David Bawden asserted: To deal with the complexities of the current information environment, a complex and broad form of literacy is required. It must subsume all the skill-based literacies, but cannot be restricted to them, nor to any particular technology or set of technologies.21

In reducing information literacy to simple definitions (CILIP) or to lists of the skills involved in finding and using information, the less tangible aspects of the process are lost, as are the often complex contexts in which the information-literate person is expected to operate. Some parts of the library world have tried to go even further: attempting to encompass their work into sets of measurable learning outcomes (SCONUL) which further exacerbates this problem.22 Information literacy is then turned into a curriculum that the librarian can manage and deliver rather than Bawden’s ‘complex and broad form of literacy’ embedded in learning and subject knowledge. Why the focus on information literacy? When Bawden reviewed the concepts involved in information and digital literacies in 2001, he concluded that Information literacy and digital literacy are central topics for the information sciences. They are associated with issues as varied as information overload, lifelong learning, knowledge management and the growth of the information society … [but] … they have

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not impinged much on the practitioner. Practical implementation of, and support for, these sets of skills, understandings and attitudes, apart from the library instruction setting, has been patchy at best. This may in part be due to the confusion caused by the varied terminologies and meanings ….23

Fortuitously, Bawden did not select information skills as one of his search terms (thus excluding much of the schools-focused work from this conceptual overview). As a result, his conclusions can be taken as largely sound, but only in relation to higher education libraries in Britain in 2001. How did things move on from then? If the evidence of the attendance at workshops and articles in the professional press offers any guide, librarians took to thinking and writing more about information literacy and its variants in the review period. Why was this? One obvious factor was the enormous growth in the impact of ICT on information communication and latterly on support for learning. There is little evidence to suggest that the expansion in the availability of information through the internet demands totally new information skills and competencies on the part of users (apart from enhanced keyboard competencies which, though desirable, are often lacking). Rather, the huge increase in the amount of (often scarcely organized or edited) e-information places greater demands on a range of information-related skills (relabelled as i-skills) that have always been important for students and scholars. In particular, the erosion of traditional methods of evaluating published information through publisher selection, peer review and editorial control placed new emphasis on the ability to search systematically, select and reject information, evaluate for authority, credibility and bias, and not plagiarize (knowingly or accidentally!). This in turn created new pressures on librarians of all kinds to extend, develop and make more systematic their traditional interest in information literacy development. ICT did not simply constitute a growing burden for librarians struggling with the consequences of the information explosion. The scope for increasingly sophisticated information-handling also offered opportunities for librarians to break out of the strait-jacket of simplistic and linear information skills training, usually based on a sequence of steps from keyword selection to assignment submission, in favour of more nuanced support for all phases of information-related behaviour mirroring the variety of ways in which people learn. The importance of skills in the formal education curriculum was reinforced during this period by the creation, in April 2001, of the Learning and Skills Council with responsibility for planning and funding further education (post-16 education and training other than higher education) in England, as well as by the government Lifelong Learning and Social Inclusion agendas as articulated in the Framework for the future24 and their strategy for Widening participation in higher education25 which was being pushed with HEFCE funding. Over the same period we were able to observe (through the changing demand for places at short courses)26 a spread of interest in teaching and learning by

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librarians from the original constituency of school and college librarians to health and university librarians, and then to public, government and workplace librarians. There was clearly scope for librarians to engage more heavily with the challenges of information literacy, but a note of caution should be sounded. For the librarian, getting involved in this work can be seen as a way of securing a recognized role in mainstream areas of teaching and learning, but the reality was often that their efforts are marginalized because ‘information literacy’ is not recognized as central to the pedagogic concerns of teachers and curriculum managers. Information skills and other options We have already noted that information literacy was by no means the dominant label throughout the world of libraries. During the review period, the preferred terms used in other UK library domains, as represented in published work, were: x School libraries and schools library services: information skills27 x Health libraries: information literacy (especially in dual academic and NHS library services); working with users (especially in the context of evidencebased working); user education x Public libraries: user training; user education x Workplace libraries: client information skills training; other variant terms. A view across the domains Schools Information literacy (under various titles) may have been taking hold in all areas of library work but the factors that were bringing this about varied and the concerns were not always the same. Information literacy in schools might be described as a long-established sideline for librarians and a central concern for schools’ library services. At least three influences could be identified: x The continuing government-led drive towards enhancing literacy in schools, through such initiatives as the ‘literacy hour’, the literacy initiatives at Key Stages and the introduction of designated Literacy Co-ordinators in schools. Although this campaign pre-dated our period, this was a time of growing awareness of the potential role for school librarians in fostering research skills and use of the library.28 This period closed with a review by Ofsted (the government education inspectorate) of inspection data collected from visits to 32 schools in 2004–05. The review concluded that teaching of information literacy was rarely effective or coherent and identified provision of a coherent programme for teaching information across the school as one of the areas for development, thus setting the agenda for the next five years.29

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x The New Opportunities Fund ICT training programme for school librarians in UK maintained schools (as well as their teachers) which ran from 1999 to December 2003. This programme amounted to the only major national inservice training programme thus far produced for school librarians.30 The scope and scale varied because training could be secured through any of a variety of approved training providers. However, some providers concentrated heavily on information literacy (e.g. two of the five modules offered by the Library Association ICT Training Consortium focused on this area). x As part of a more general thrust towards schools self-evaluation, the School Libraries Working Group of the Department for Education and Skills (England) commissioned self-evaluation processes for primary31 and secondary school libraries.32 This ‘toolkit’, published in July 2004, gave school librarians the means to evaluate, inter alia, the library contribution to pupils’ research and study skills, pupil reading and pupil progress in librarybased work, as well as the librarian’s contribution to information literacy. x Similarly, the Scottish Library and Information Council and HM Inspectorate of Education in Scotland produced quality indicators and illustrative case studies for evaluating Scottish school libraries as one of the ‘Self-evaluation’ series for schools. Information literacy was again covered at various points.33 Although many school librarians reported a sense of isolation in professional terms, it is interesting to note that where they did a significant amount of teaching ‘information literacy’, there was convergence round a limited number of models of information skills development. Most practice in British schools was based on one of three models, all of which were published in the decade before the review period: x The Big Six Skills Approach, which was developed in the USA a decade earlier by Michael Eisenberg and Robert Berkowitz and was subsequently exported widely (it was, for example, the dominant model amongst international schools in Hong Kong).34 The Big Six was a sequential model based on task definition, information seeking strategies, location and access, use of information, synthesis and evaluation, thus providing a relatively straightforward and logical set of steps for the librarian to use with students. (In common with most other models, the Big Six tended to promote a more logical and sequential approach to information seeking and exploitation than even the most accomplished information users actually exhibit.) x John Herring’s Plus Model,35 which had the merit of being relatively simple to apply and remember, centred as it was on the four themes of purpose, location, use and self-evaluation. These concepts were expanded into a total of fourteen sub-headings. x David Wray’s Exit Model, which offered ten process stages to support reading and writing of non-fiction in schools, from activation of previous

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knowledge through to communicating information. Take-up of this model in English schools was heavily boosted when it was referred to approvingly in the Key Stage 3 Literacy across the curriculum guidance.36 Further and higher education libraries British further and higher education libraries certainly became even more aware of information literacy during this period. Several influencing factors can be identified: x The Widening Participation agenda in higher education called for student recruitment from a wider socio-economic base, linked to greater support for the new students in relation to areas where they might be at a disadvantage compared with ‘traditional’ university students – including information literacy. As a result, many university libraries looked anew at their user education programmes, with potential benefits for all students. x The growing government-led tendency to focus on skills and competencies as part of the ‘new managerialism’ was also making itself felt in further and higher education with the introduction and promotion of key skills (which overlapped at various points with information skills). x As the ‘internet generation’ of students who grew up using ICT progressed through into further and higher education, concern was increasingly expressed by teaching staff about student over-reliance on internet access via a search engine and their apparent unwillingness to engage with books and journals. Closer attention to enhancing student information literacy was seen as part of the response to these concerns. x A variety of factors, such as the intensification of institutional focus on student numbers and retention, shifts in the role of teaching staff towards learner support in increasingly ICT-rich learning environments, the huge uptake of e-learning and virtual learning environments (VLEs) and the erosion of the knowledge custodian role of academic libraries, all seem to have contributed to more proactive librarian support for teaching and learning, as well as research in HE. All of these areas are closely allied to most HE definitions of information literacy. x Finally, advances in HE information literacy research and practice in other parts of the world (notably Australia, USA and Scandinavia) provided fresh stimulus in the UK, especially through adoption of models of information literacy and the introduction of the American and Australian literacy standards (which were adopted in some UK universities). Practical manifestations of information literacy in HE could be seen in the emergence of UK models (notably the Seven Pillars and Big Blue models referred to earlier), their adoption by university libraries and, occasionally (for example at the University of Cardiff), institution-wide adoption.37 Evidence of service impact evaluation linked to proactive engagement via information literacy interventions

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could also be found: for example, seven of the ten university library teams working through year one of the LIRG and SCONUL-funded Impact implementation initiative chose to focus their innovative activity and linked impact evaluation on information literacy interventions in their universities.38 There was also a gradual cumulation of case studies based on information literacy initiatives in specific institutions, notably Andretta’s work at London Metropolitan University and the work of Johnston and Webber.39 Health libraries Information literacy in the health libraries arena continued to be driven by the evidence-based working movement, which had already generated skills training for a wide range of health service practitioners on critical appraisal of research reports and on finding research evidence. During the review period the emphasis shifted towards supporting users when interacting with a plethora of e-resources (through, for example, the peripatetic librarians introduced by various health libraries to take information skills training to practitioners) and evaluating the impact of these types of interventions.40 The influence of the evidence-based approach could also be seen in the way in which health information literacy initiatives were prepared; for instance, when the London Health Libraries Group and the NHSU undertook their Learner Support project, their first step was to commission a literature review on facilitating the development of information literacy skills.41 Public libraries A belated large-scale take-up of ICT in UK public libraries (driven by the MLA’s People’s Network programme in England and parallel offerings in the other home countries), led to growing interest in fostering internet-related information skills amongst users, partly to try to reduce the dependence on library staff to find information and to help users with basic IT functions. The staff development programmes introduced by public library services throughout the UK as part of the New Opportunites Fund ICT Training Programme were expected to cover the use of ICT to support reader development as well as to support users in their use of ICT to ensure effective learning. This programme was intended for all public library staff; and had an added focus on the underlying educational issues through the Educator ‘Advanced Role’ offered to some staff as part of that programme, which finished in April 2004. The Framework for the future public library development programme, which was introduced by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in 2003 and then handed on to the MLA to manage, only made sporadic reference to information literacy skills, but in emphasizing the library role in supporting lifelong learning and in combating social exclusion drew further attention to the importance of information literacy. Meanwhile, national initiatives aimed at encouraging public libraries to concentrate on promoting reading for pleasure were driven by the Reading Agency42 and Their Reading Futures (aimed at encouraging younger readers).43

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In Scotland, the Scottish Library and Information Council and others developed a generic information-handling skills course44 focusing on planning, searching and evaluation, which was made freely available to public, school and other not-forprofit libraries (and was also available commercially).45 Workplace libraries We have already noted that information literacy was not accepted as a concept in business and industry although some companies took the information skills development of their staff seriously. Judging by enrolments on relevant CILIP courses, workplace librarians were becoming more interested in teaching skills, although their work in this area was usually restricted to providing training focused on use of specific databases. An interesting exception was the training programme on information literacy for the (UK and US) scientific staff of a multinational pharmaceutical research organization described by Bawden and Robinson.46 A similar pattern was detected in government libraries, where in-house teaching skills workshops were beginning to proliferate, again focused around intranet- or internet-specific skills training. The information research community It is reasonable to begin to see this as a research community because one growth area during this period was around UK networking, with the launch of a significant website (The Information Literacy Place and related weblog run from the University of Sheffield)47 and a national annual conference (Librarians’ Information Literacy Annual Conference organized by the Information Literacy Group of CILIP). There was also evidence of growing awareness of international research on information literacy, with papers presented at various international events by UK researchers and with the commissioning of relevant research literature reviews.48 Turning to the research itself, this was an interesting period for schools and for higher education. A major qualitative research project conducted in Scottish schools looking at The impact of the school library resource centre on learning, naturally with a heavy focus on information skills work, was published in 2001,49 and Sheila Webber and Bill Johnston began their three-year study of UK academics’ conceptions of, and pedagogy for, information literacy in the following year.50 The Scottish team then followed up their schools work with a study of teachers’ confidence in supporting information literacy development in schools.51 In the university libraries’ domain, in addition to supporting the Big Blue development, JISC funded two significant research projects, the JUBILEE Project and JUSTEIS. JISC user behaviour in information seeking longitudinal evaluation of electronic information services, based at the University of Northumbria ‘seeks to predict, monitor and characterise users’ information seeking behaviour’;52 JISC user behaviour monitoring and evaluation framework was based at the Department of Information and Library Studies University of Wales, Aberystwyth.53 The LIRG/SONUL Impact Implementation Initiative, referred to earlier, provided the

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opportunity to explore how practitioner–researchers could be supported when evaluating information literacy and related interventions.54 A significant development initiative pursued throughout this period was the Inspiring Learning for All programme driven by the MLA.55 This programme sought to enable museums, libraries and archives staff to plan, deliver and evaluate learning opportunities for service users. The generic learning outcomes and related resources offered as part of this work were beginning to be used by libraries in evaluating the effect of their training and learning support activities. Strategies for delivering information literacy The debate about how best to develop information literacy continued through this period. Some of the old arguments resurfaced, for example generic vs contextspecific skills training.56 The consensus seemed to be that successful programmes made information literacy training specific to the discipline, the profession or the work or study context. However, Robinson cautioned: This is not to say that generic IL training is not possible. Publicly available on-line information literacy tutorials are largely generic … whilst some face-to-face courses have been devised for student groups with diverse levels of initial IL skills.57

A combination of the generic and the context-specific was seen by some commentators as a good compromise. Andretta, for example, reported on a legal pilot study where students were offered common modules alongside subjectspecific modules.58 Parker and her colleagues suggested that: The integration of information literacy into the curriculum will progress steadily over the next four to five years in HE, the generic stand-alone course can be regarded as a pragmatic and cost-effective short-term solution.59

This links into another long-running debate: the extent to which partnerships are necessary to effective information literacy interventions. Although some librarians offered ‘exclusive’ information literacy programmes, Robinson concluded from her review of the literature that ‘in general, effective partnerships between LIS and other players are seen as vital for the success of IL programmes’60 and this view was confirmed by university library participants in the Impact Implementation Initiative.61 Other ‘old issues’ are the importance of relevance and timeliness in information literacy interventions. Markless emphasized the ‘crucial importance of relevance, timeliness, real needs and consequences … the importance of these elements in learning is supported by research into adult learning …’.62 There is anecdotal evidence, and some corroboration in case studies, that education libraries were attempting to schedule support at appropriate stages in the curriculum.63 The enhanced flexibility provided by the emergence of e-learning was beginning to help address these factors across the sector.64

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An understanding of how people learn is central to effective information literacy work. This key concern was taken up in several works on information literacy published in this period (e.g. the books by Webb and Powis, and by Martin and Rader).65 Markless stressed that It is important to put learning at the heart of session design, choice of activities, facilitation approaches and the librarian’s role in information literacy work … the challenge is to build information literacy programmes on a sound understanding of how people learn.66

Interest in theories and principles of learning appeared to be growing throughout this period (again evinced by the CILIP short course take-up). Perhaps the dominating influence on information literacy in this period was the explosion in e-learning. This led to a severe outbreak of publicly available online tutorials67 and to the gradual appearance of other forms of e-learning using virtual learning environments to support information literacy. Overall, there was growing realism about the advantages and disadvantages of e-learning to support information literacy, in specific domains such as health libraries or more generally.68 The term ‘blended learning’ was used in this period to describe approaches that brought together the advantages of e-learning, face-to-face sessions and other methods. This was increasingly seen as the most appropriate way forward.69 Booth summarized the experience of e-learning in the NHS by suggesting that: x it should be one of several learning approaches used to provide blended learning x it suits some, but not all, learning styles x it provides a desirable complementary approach to face-to-face learning.70 Overall, when looking at what made information literacy programmes successful, Robinson concluded that: x x x

They are based on a clear understanding or model of information literacy … They are based on a clear understanding of user needs … There is a balance between the generic and context-specific aspects of information literacy.71

Conclusion: new skills and knowledge needed? Librarians had been working on information skills or user education for years. How did things change in the period under review? The shift towards e-learning and blended learning put new emphasis on the skills needed to support learners in these evolving environments. Part of the response entailed generating the information literacy models and frameworks described in this chapter. More fundamentally, the new ways of working required to engage seriously with information literacy called into question how librarians had traditionally undertaken their teaching role. A transmission or demonstration model may be

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adequate to hone people’s basic skills but more is required when wider definitions of information literacy come into play. To develop the ‘thinking’ elements of information literacy, librarians need to understand and draw upon constructivist conceptions of teaching and learning. In this approach, learners actively construct new ideas by building and testing hypotheses, through dialogue, and via collaborative activities involving reflection, peer review and active experimentation.72 The range of skills required to support this type of learning is diverse and challenging: amongst other things it requires: x x x x x

facilitation rather than transmission opening up a dialogue with learners building on learners’ prior knowledge and experience setting problems for learners to tackle (with support) supporting reflection on different strategies and processes involved in becoming information literate x knowing when to demonstrate, or to feed in information. All these are in addition to the more traditional teaching skills covered in some LIS courses (e.g. planning sessions, setting learning outcomes, evaluating teaching). Robinson provided an overview of the skills needed to provide information literacy development, including working with e-learning materials (designing and customizing), choosing and recommending the best combination of training methods for their local users, high levels of information literacy and fluency with relevant information systems, including learning environments.73 In other words: Information skills programmes provide a means for library and information service staff to engage in continuing professional development.74

What would the next five years of continuous professional development bring to information literacy?

Notes 1 2 3

4 5

SLAINTE, Information handling skills: (accessed 6/06) SCONUL (Society of College, National and University Libraries) website: (accessed 6/06). Ofsted, Good school libraries: making a difference to learning. London: Ofsted, 2006. Available from: (accessed 6/06); Higher Education Academy: (accessed 6/06). Angela Abell and Val Skelton, ‘Intellectual linking: making sense of the dots’, Library + information update 4 (1/2), 2005, 44–5. Sheila Webber and Bill Johnston, ‘Information literacy: definitions and models’, definition posted in 2003: (accessed

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9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18

19

20 21 22 23 24

25

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6/06); James Herring, The internet and information skills: a guide for teachers and school librarians. London: Facet, 2004; Chris Armstrong, ‘Defining information literacy for the UK’, Library + information update 4 (1/2), 2005, 22–5, at p. 23. (accessed 6/06). Big Blue Final Report 2002: (accessed 6/06). Hilary Johnson, ‘The SCONUL Task Force on Information Skills’ in Information and IT literacy: enabling learning in the 21st century, ed. Allan Martin and Hannelore Rader. London: Facet, 2003, pp. 44–52, at p. 48. SCONUL website. Armstrong, ‘Defining information literacy’, 23. Armstrong, ‘Defining information literacy’, 24. Carol Kuhlthau, Information skills for an information society. Syracuse, NY: Eric Clearinghouse on Educational Resources, 1987 (Report ED 297740). Kuhlthau, Information skills, 24–5. Lyn Robinson, ‘Supporting the learner: facilitating the development of information literacy skills’. Unpublished report, 2004. SCONUl, The Seven Pillars of Information Literacy model: (accessed 6/06). Alan Foster, ‘A model of non-linear information seeking behaviour’, International Conference on Information Seeking in Context, Dublin, 2004. Michael Marland (ed.), Information skills in the secondary curriculum: the recommendations of a Working Group sponsored by the British Library and the Schools Council. London: Methuen, 1981. Christine Susan Bruce, ‘Information literacy as a catalyst for educational change: a background paper: white paper prepared for UNESCO, the US National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, and the National Forum on Information Literacy’, July 2002: (accessed 6/06); Alan Bundy, ‘Changing and connecting the educational silos: the potential of the information literacy framework’. Paper presented at the Lilac 2005 Conference, Imperial College, UK 5 Apr. 2005. Notably Ross J. Todd, ‘Evidence-based practice: overview, rationale and changes’ in We boost achievement: evidence-based practice for school library media specialists, by David V. Loertscher with Ross J. Todd. Salt Lake City: Hi Willow, 2003. For an interesting overview see: David Loertscher and Blanche Woolls, Information literacy: a review of the research: a guide for practitioners and researchers Salt Lake City: Hi Willow, 2002. Yvonna S. Lincoln and Egon G. Guba, Naturalistic enquiry. London: Sage, 1985. David Bawden, ‘Information and digital literacies: a review of concepts’, Journal of documentation 57 (2), 2001, 218–59, at p. 251. SCONUL, Learning outcomes and information literacy. London: SCONUL, 2004. Bawden, ‘Information and digital literacies’. Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Framework for the future: libraries, learning and information in the next decade. London: DCMS 2003. Also available from:

(accessed 6/06). Department for Education and Skills, Widening participation in higher education London: DfES, 2003.

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26 Notably the range of short courses on aspects of teaching and learning offered by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals throughout this period. 27 Ralph Tabberer claimed that the term ‘information skills’ ‘was agreed upon at a meeting of 16 educationists, researchers and practitioners, brought together in 1980 by the British Library Research and Development Department and the Schools Council to discuss overlapping concerns in library and user education, resource management, study skills, educational technology and reading and language development, at all levels of schooling’. See Ralph Tabberer, Study and information skills in schools. Windsor: NFER-Nelson, 1987, 1. 28 Department for Education and Skills, Literacy across the curriculum. London: DfES, 2002. See especially module 10 ‘Using the library/learning centre’. The Standards Site: (accessed 6/06) 29 Ofsted, Good school libraries. 30 Teacher Training Agency, The New Opportunities Fund ICT Training Programme for Teachers and School Librarians: a report on the quality assurance findings in England. London: TTA, 2001; Training and Development Agency for Schools website: (accessed 6/06). 31 Sharon Markless and David Streatfield, Improve your library: a self-evaluation process for secondary school libraries and learning resource centres. London: Department for Education and Skills, 2004. 2 v. Teachernet website: (accessed 5/06). 32 David Streatfield and Sharon Markless, Improve your library: a self-evaluation process for primary schools. London: Department for Education and Skills 2004: (accessed 6/06). 33 Scottish Library and Information Council and HM Inspectorate of Education, Libraries supporting learning. How good is our school. Self-evaluation series E Edinburgh: HMIe, 2005. Also available from: (accessed 6/06). 34 Michael B. Eisenberg and Robert E. Berkowitz, Information problem-solving: the Big Six skills approach to library and information skills instruction. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1990. 35 James Herring, Teaching information skills in schools. London: Facet, 1996. 36 Department for Education and Skills, Literacy across the curriculum. 37 Cathie Jackson and Rebecca Mogg, ‘Embedding IL into the curriculum’, Library + information update 4 (1/2), 2005, 32–3. 38 Philip Payne and Angela Conyers, ‘Measuring the impact of higher education libraries: the LIRG/SCONUL Impact Implementation Initiative’, Library and information research 29 (91), spring 2005 (whole issue devoted to the Initiative). 39 Susie Andretta, Information literacy: a practitioner’s guide. Oxford: Chandos, 2005; Bill Johnston and Sheila Webber, ‘Information literacy in higher education: a review and case study’, Studies in higher education 28 (3), 2003, 335–52. 40 For example, through the Folio Course run by the University of Sheffield School of Health and Related Research in 2004–05. 41 Robinson, ‘Supporting the learner’. 42 The Reading Agency: (accessed 6/06). 43 Their reading futures: (accessed 6/06).

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44 SLAINTE, Information handling skills: (accessed 6/06). 45 Rhona Arthur, Carol Stewart and Christine Irving, ‘Bite-sized learning for all Scottish citizens’, Library + information update 4 (1/2), 2005, 40–1. 46 David Bawden and Lyn Robinson, ‘Promoting literacy in a digital age: approaches to training for information literacy’, Learned publishing 15 (4), 297–301. 47 The information literacy place: (accessed 6/06). 48 E.g. Dorothy Williams, Caroline Wavell and Louisa Coles, Impact of school library services on achievement and learning: critical literature review … London: DfES and Resource, 2001; also the announcement of funding for a research review on information literacy (in higher education) by the Higher Education Academy in December 2005: (accessed 6/06). 49 Dorothy Williams and Caroline Wavell, The impact of the school library resource centre on learning. Aberdeen: Faculty of Management, Robert Gordon University 2001 (Library and Information Commission research report; 112). 50 ‘UK academics’ perceptions of, and pedagogy for, information literacy’: (accessed 6/06). 51 Dorothy Williams and Louisa Coles, Teachers’ use of research information: information literacy, access and attitudes. A report on research funded by the ESRC. Aberdeen: Robert Gordon University, 2003. Available at: (accessed 6/06). 52 JUBILEE Project: . 53 JUSTEIS Project: (accessed 6/06). 54 Sharon Markless and David Streatfield, ‘Facilitating the Impact Implementation Programme’, Library and information research 91 (29), spring 2005, 10–19; Sharon Markless and David Streatfield, ‘Gathering and applying evidence of the impact of UK university libraries on student learning and research: a facilitated action research approach’, International journal of information management 26, 2006, 3–15. 55 Inspiring learning for all: (accessed 6/06). 56 Ann Grafstein, ‘A discipline-based approach to information literacy’, Journal of academic librarianship 28 (4), 2002, 197–204; Bawden and Robinson, ‘Promoting literacy in a digital age’. 57 Robinson, ‘Supporting the learner’, 11. 58 Susie Andretta, ‘Legal information literacy: a pilot study’, New library world 102 (7/8), 2001, 255–64. 59 Jo Parker et al., ‘Is a standalone IL course useful?’, Library + information update 4 (1/2), 2005, 34–5. 60 Robinson, ‘Supporting the learner’, 11. 61 Library and information research 29 (91), spring 2005 (whole issue devoted to the Initiative). 62 Sharon Markless ‘Learning about learning rather than about teaching.’ Paper presented at IFLA Glasgow, Aug. 2002. 63 Jackson and Mogg, ‘Embedding IL’. 64 Allan Martin and Hannelore Rader (eds.), Information and IT literacy: enabling learning in the 21st century. London: Facet, 2003, 48.

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65 Jo Webb and Chris Powis, Teaching information skills: theory and practice London: Facet, 2004; Martin and Rader (eds.), Information and IT literacy. 66 Sharon Markless, ‘Information literacy: a learning-focussed approach’. Paper presented at Creating Knowledge III: Information literacy – bridging the gap between teaching and learning Akureyri, Iceland, Sept. 2003. 67 Ruth Stubbings and Alan Brine, ‘Reviewing electronic information literacy training packages’, Italics 2 (1), 2003: (accessed 6/06). 68 Andrew Booth, ‘E is for e-learning: essential ingredient or artifical additive’. Paper presented at CILIP Health Libraries Group Conference Sept. 2004; N. Joint, ‘Information literacy evaluation: moving towards virtual learning environments’, Electronic library 21 (4), 2003, 322–34. 69 Lyn Robinson et al., ‘Healthcare librarians and learner support: a review of competences and methods’, Health information and libraries journal 22 (2), 2005, 42. 70 Booth, ‘E is for e-learning’. 71 Robinson, ‘Supporting the learner’, 10. 72 See: JISC e-Learning and Pedagogy: . 73 Robinson, ‘Supporting the learner’, 14–17. 74 Big Blue Final Report.

28

Library management systems Lucy A. Tedd

General overview This chapter follows on from one on library management systems (LMS) written for British librarianship and information work 1991–2000.1 That chapter ended with an overview of library management systems of the late 1990s by Akeroyd who described some of the functionality required by future systems, including: x the integration of multiple sources and systems, both of bibliographic information and the full-text of documents x the simplification of access to sources x the personalization of systems x a change in the way that software is created and maintained.2 The period under review in this chapter, 2001–05, reveals a number of changes in the LMS marketplace. The annual commentary on the LMS marketplace carried out for the 1 April issue of Library journal gives a US perspective – which in many ways can be used to indicate trends in the period on this side of the ‘pond’ too. In 2002, for instance, Breeding noted that a small number of ever-expanding companies controlled the greatest share of the LMS market.3 OPACs were being developed to form ‘information portals’ to provide access to more content than basic bibliographic records (e.g., displaying book jacket images, providing access to tables of contents, abstracts, and reviews). A linked development involved allowing users to search across several information sources simultaneously. This technique became known as metasearching, or federated searching, with the resulting set of ‘hits’ presented to a user being usually sorted with duplicates (if able to be identified successfully) removed. Some LMS companies developed their own software for this, for instance Ex Libris’s MetaLib product, whereas others bought in the technology from others, such as MuseGlobal and WebFeat. A key standard used in metasearching was that of the OpenURL. Zhu provided an overview of the development of the OpenURL and its impact on library services.4 In 2003, Breeding and Roddy described how several LMS suppliers were ranked in specific areas, for instance:

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x Dynix supported the most multi-user systems x Sirsi sold the most multi-user systems, with 207 contracts for Unicorn x Innovative Interfaces maintained the highest retention rate of libraries migrating from its legacy system Innopac to the newer Millennium x Dynix had the largest overall personnel count with around 450 full-time equivalent employees.5 A trend noted in the academic library sector was for LMS companies to link in with student courseware packages, for instance, Endeavor’s links with the Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). VLEs became increasingly used in academic institutions in the UK during the 2000s and an overview of their development and the need for library staff to be involved in their implementation was given by MacColl.6 The launch of Google Scholar and the decision by Google to digitize collections of major libraries (including the Bodleian Library in the UK) caused Breeding to refer to 2005 as a ‘landmark’ year.7 The Google web search engine was found by researchers to be the search system of choice for many users, and so LMS providers needed to be aware that innovative technological solutions were needed to satisfy the expectations of users.8 One solution adopted by VTLS, and which was included in the implementation of the Virtua LMS at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, was the AquaBrowser visualization software which provided search features via a graphic interface.9 A major government initiative affecting libraries in the public sector in the UK during 2001–05 was the formation in 2001 of Resource: the Council for Museums, Libraries and Archives (this became the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) in 2004) and the linked regional agencies which aimed to lead the transformation of museums, libraries and archives in the future. In particular, one project, the People’s Network, revolutionized the delivery of the UK’s public library services, and, inter alia, had an affect on services supplied by LMS. By the end of 2003 all 4,000 public libraries had the necessary equipment, including 30,000 PCs, and communications technologies to enable users to access the web and other ICT services. Various evaluation studies of the People’s Network demonstrated its value both for digitally and socially excluded users as well as others.10 Part of the People’s Network funding was allocated for training of all library staff and in many instances this involved staff studying initially for the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL), which was then often followed by more specific training. Rainbow described how staff in Medway Library, Information and Museum Service benefited from this training and gained competence in applying ICT in a range of library activities.11 Following on from the People’s Network project many public libraries started to provide a variety of web-based services which meant that their users did not physically have to be within the library – e.g. with their library card number as an access key, information from a variety of e-resources could be accessed through the public library.

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In the academic sector, the funding for the Electronic Libraries (eLib) Programme which started in the 1990s completed with its final phase (Phase 3) in 2001. The aim of the final phase was to consolidate the work of the earlier projects in a practical context with a series of projects in areas including digital preservation, large-scale resource discovery (also known as ‘clumps’) and hybrid libraries. The hybrid libraries projects investigated issues surrounding the integration of digital and traditional library resources. Breaks provided an overview of these projects and described how one, BUILDER at Birmingham University, had built links with the Talis LMS.12 A summative evaluation of the eLib Phase 3 projects was carried out by Whitelaw and Joy, and Rusbridge, the programme director for of eLib, provided a personal overview.13 By the 2000s libraries, whether public, university, college, medical, government, legal, industrial, or school, dealt increasingly with digital (or electronic) materials including e-books, e-journals, e-reports, e-theses and so on. The phrases ‘electronic library’ or ‘digital library’, which began to be used in the 1990s, became more prevalent and books introducing these concepts were published e.g. Chowdhury and Chowdhury, and Tedd and Large.14 Ball, in a book on managing suppliers (including LMS vendors) and partners in a library environment, described how ‘traditionally’ LMS had provided access to material at the title level (i.e. titles of books, journals, etc.) but in the digital world users need access to articles within journals and to chapters within e-books and that LMSs needed to develop facilities to deal with the increasing range of e-resources.15 How best to provide access to the free internet sources that might be of relevance to their users was a challenge faced by Oxford University in 2001, and Burnett and Seuring concluded that access via separate gateways or via the OPAC of the LMS both had advantages and disadvantages.16 Cox and Yeates provided a review, undertaken in 2002, of a range of products from LMS suppliers that addressed the issue of managing access to e-content.17 Descriptions of some of these, as appropriate, are given in the following section on LMS. Secker’s book provided a clear introduction for librarians on how the proliferation of e-resources changed the information environment in which librarians worked and the ways in which students learn and how links can be made between the OPACs of an LMS and VLEs.18 An overview of digital libraries in UK further and higher education was presented by Baker who, inter alia, defined a digital library (in an academic context) as: an organisational entity that brings together a wide range of (academic) assets, including metadata, catalogues, primary source materials, learning objects, datasets, and digital repositories – in a structured and managed way. It will be a place to search for these assets, to discover their existence, to locate them and then, if required, receive them. It will also recognise and support the core authoring functions of creation, iteration, finalisation and publication.19

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Baker’s paper was based on research funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), which became a key source of funding for projects in this sector during 2001–05. JISC20 received funding from the UK’s further education (FE) and higher education (HE) funding councils to provide a centralized and coordinated approach in a range of activities including: x new environments for learning, teaching and research x access to electronic resources x the Joint Academic Network (JANET), providing internet access to the sector x guidance on institutional change x advisory and consultancy services x regional support for FE colleges. Examples of JISC-funded projects undertaken during 2001–05 that are relevant in this chapter include: x TOCRoSS – Table of Contents by Really Simple Syndication (RSS) – using the RSS 2.0 standard to place journal tables of content (TOC) data into a library catalogue without human intervention, thus improving the accuracy of records, saving time for library administrators and adding value for library users. Partners in this project included Talis, the University of Derby and Emerald Publishing.21 x Portals Programme – involving the development of a number of case studies in the assessment and implementation of portal solutions within an institution, and whether the choice of portal was linked to the existing LMS.22 x Helping to set up regional user groups for LMS (e.g., groups for ALICE and Heritage were set up in London and Yorkshire) and exploring support for the effective use of existing LMSs. x DELIVER (Digital Electronic Library Integration within Virtual Environments) – a project at the London School of Economics and De Montfort University which ran from 2002 to 2003 and designed and implemented software tools for both users and library administrators to enable course lists of reading materials to be linked between the LMS the VLE.23 Brief descriptions of some of the LMS available Although no major printed directories of LMS software appeared during this period the Multimedia and Information Technology Group of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) produced an online information factsheet providing access details for 30 LMS suppliers operating in the UK marketplace.24 The Library Technology Guide website was also developed in this period and provided an online information source, albeit from North America, on LMS, although information on UK companies and libraries in the UK using specific LMS was also included.25 Biblio tech review continued as an online

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source of information of LMS suppliers and related industries with a monthly newsletter as well as a directory of products.26 Biblio tech review continued with good UK coverage despite becoming part of Ringgold Inc. of Oregon during the 2000s. In the UK the main exhibition covering LMS was the Library and Information Show held annually in Birmingham where many suppliers had stands, and presentations were made by suppliers of their latest products. The following listing is in the same order as in the corresponding chapter in British librarianship and information work 1991–2000, with the inclusion of additions to the original LMS from the respective suppliers. ADLIB Initially developed in the 1980s by Lipman Management Resources of Maidenhead, in the 1990s this LMS was supplied by Adlib Information Systems. ADLIB comprised a suite of optional modules which could be integrated together as appropriate to serve the needs of libraries, archives or museums. Adlib had offices (and customers) in Australia, Germany and the Netherlands as well as the UK. Examples of customers in Britain included the Royal College of Midwives, the National Gallery of Scotland and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. The ADLIB system enabled cross-domain and distributed search facilities and it began to use open technologies such as XML. ALEPH 500 and MetaLib The ALEPH 500 LMS software from Ex Libris started to be used in the UK in the mid-1990s. UK libraries which installed ALEPH 500 included the British Library as well the university libraries of Aberdeen, Coventry, Dundee, Gloucestershire, Lancaster, Liverpool John Moores, Loughborough, Napier, Nottingham Trent, and the London Library. ALEPH 500 software was also used in the SUNCAT (Serials Union Catalogue) project in the development of a national union catalogue of serials accessible at the research libraries of the UK, so as to enable researchers to locate serials held; to assist upgrade of library OPACs; and to provide a component within the UK digital library.27 Researchers at Ghent University in Belgium worked on the development of the OpenURL and, with Ex Libris, produced a ‘product’ known as SFX (‘special effects’) which enabled links to be made from the LMS to the full text held within electronic resources. Ex Libris incorporated SFX into its Metalib module to provide for searching across databases. Lewis described the use of MetaLib at the University of East Anglia where it was used to provide a single search environment for managing e-resources (be they abstracting and indexing services, full-text e-journals, CD-ROMs, library catalogues, information gateways or local collections).28 Loughborough University acquired its ALEPH 500 LMS as well as MetaLib in 2001 and Stubbings described the approach taken for that implementation.29 By the end of the period ALEPH was being used at over 1,500 sites in 62 countries. There were several instances of libraries acquiring MetaLib and SFX for metasearching solutions linked to existing (non-Ex Libris) LMS. Examples included the

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universities of Salford and Staffordshire (both with Talis), Strathclyde (Voyager) and the West of England (Unicorn). ALICE, Liberty3 and Oliver The ALICE LMS originated in Australia and, following its introduction into the UK market by its producers, Softlink, in 1992, proved to be a popular product in school libraries. For instance all school libraries in Northern Ireland used ALICE. In 2005 Softlink acquired the LIMES system, which had also been used in UK schools. To complement its market in schools Softlink released Liberty3 in the UK market in 2002 as a web-based LMS product aimed at the corporate, special and tertiary education market. Hall describes the use made of Liberty3 at the library of the education centre of the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals Trust.30 A further product, Oliver, also web-based and also aimed at the schools market, was released by Softlink in 2005. Dhanjal described how Softlink software had been used successfully in two school libraries in England.31 Galaxy, OpenGalaxy, Calm The Galaxy 2000 LMS, from the British firm, DS, proved to be a popular system, and was used by around 30% of public libraries in the UK. It was chosen by the Electronic Libraries for Northern Ireland (ELFNI) project, as described by Frawley.32 ELFNI was established in 2002 to procure, on behalf of the five Northern Ireland Education and Library Boards, robust systems that would support and enable the delivery of electronic information services. During 2001–05 DS developed its OpenGalaxy system, built on the original Galaxy product but using an open systems architecture. Public library authorities which implemented OpenGalaxy included Brighton & Hove, Devon County, North Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire, Slough, Wakefield and West Sussex. DS also produced related software for the archive and museum sector: Calm for Archives and Calm for Museums respectively, along with a module DScovery for cross-database searching. The use of the Calm software in the development of an OPAC providing access from both on and off campus to the special collections held within the archive at the University of Birmingham is described by Needham.33 Heritage The Heritage LMS developed from a microcomputer-based software package of the 1980s at the Cairns Library at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. The original firm, Logical Choice, became known as Inheritance Systems during the 1990s and then IS in the 2000s and continued to be based in Oxford. Most of IS’s 1,300 customers of Heritage continued to be UK-based, and there were active user groups in various parts of the country (e.g., Cambridge Heritage User Group, South West Academic Libraries Heritage User Group). Heritage was designed to be suitable for use in special, medical and legal libraries, colleges, schools, charities and other resource centres. The large engineering consultancy, Arup, is one example of a specialist library which chose to implement Heritage in 2002. A case

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study description of Arup’s decision to use Heritage is provided on the IS website.34 IS released an inter-library loans module for Heritage, enabling journal articles to be requested and delivered electronically. Duffield et al. described the use of Heritage in the libraries of two law firms.35 Horizon, Unicorn, Corinthian and Enterprise Portal Horizon, Unicorn and Corinthian were all LMS products supplied by the firm SirsiDynix. The Horizon LMS was developed by an American firm, Ameritech Library Services, which merged with another major American LMS supplier, Dynix, during the 1990s. The firm changed its name to epixtech and then to Dynix. In 2005 the Dynix Corporation merged with another American company, the Sirsi Corporation, developers of the Unicorn LMS, to form SirsiDynix. During 2001–05, Horizon was chosen by a number of public and college libraries in the UK. Examples included public libraries in Bracknell Forest, East Dunbartonshire, the London Borough of Greenwich, Reading and Stirling, as well as the Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Studies, Chesterfield College, Glasgow College of Food, Trinity College Carmarthen, and the government library at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Many of these libraries chose to migrate to Horizon from a previous Dynix system. Unicorn was introduced into the UK in the 1990s and became a popular LMS in medical, legal and government libraries. During 2001–05 it was also chosen by a number of public libraries, including those of Cambridgeshire, Cardiff, Kingstonupon-Hull, the London Borough of Sutton, North East Lincolnshire and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. There were also sales to specialist libraries, such as the Royal Geographical Society in London and the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, as well as to academic libraries such as Bath Spa University College, Glasgow Caledonian University, Newham College and the Royal Air Force College. Guinea explained how Unicorn was used for the administration of document delivery, postal loans and literature searches for distance learning students at the University of Leicester.36 The Corinthian LMS, the newest product from SirisDynix, was designed specifically for academic and research libraries, following an extensive user needs analysis involving some 200 library staff. The University of Huddersfield opted to migrate from Horizon to Corinthian in late 2005. Reasons given for choosing Corinthian included its ability to integrate with other systems, such as the institutional portal, the VLE, and to carry out searches across different databases. SirsiDynix had over 4,000 library and consortia clients in many countries around the world. SirsiDynix also developed its Enterprise Portal Solution (EPS) as a single interface to a wide variety of e-resources made available through an institution, including books from the library’s collection, databases, digital archives, RSS feeds, virtual reference, etc.

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INNOPAC, Millennium, MAP Innovative Interfaces Inc. (III), an American company, started to market the INNOPAC system in the UK in the early 1990s, and subsequently developed its Millennium LMS, which was successfully implemented in a number of libraries in the UK during the 2000s. The university libraries at Durham, London Metropolitan, London South Bank, Stirling and Warwick, as well as Edge Hill College and Plymouth College of Art and Design are all examples of academic libraries that chose Millennium. In the public library sector Dorset Libraries implemented Millennium in its branches and in the special library sector the Wallace Collection Library and Archives chose it. At the end of the period there were thousands of Innovative customers in 40 countries worldwide. As with other LMS suppliers Innovative worked on the production of a portal ‘module’ using the OpenURL standard. Davidson from Innovative Interfaces provides a general description of the Millennium Access Plus (MAP) product and describes how it comprised three independent components: WebBridge, MetaFind and Web Access Management.37 The experiences of using MAP at Exeter University Library are well described by Myhill.38 OLIB, ZPORTAL Fretwell-Downing Informatics (FDI) was a British firm which since 1992 had been applying appropriate technologies to deliver new solutions for information discovery, library management and knowledge delivery. Its LMS, OLIB7, was implemented by a number of libraries in the UK and overseas. Yorkshire Libraries & Information Music and Drama Service, for instance, selected OLIB7 in 2003 to provide a single integrated catalogue to its collection of sets of music and plays, and Taylor describes the use of OLIB7 at Rotherham College of Arts and Technology.39 The experiences in implementing OLIB7 in the legal firm, Pinsents, are described by Fordham.40 Staff at FDI were also involved in developing a portal solution, known as ZPORTAL, and Murray describes how FDI was awarded the contract to develop a new search engine, based on ZPORTAL, for the UK’s National Library for Health.41 FDI was acquired by the European arm (OCLC PICA) of OCLC in 2005. Talis The Talis LMS developed from pioneering work with libraries in the UK and Ireland over the previous thirty years. Over 50 unitary, metropolitan borough and county councils in the UK used Talis, and much work was undertaken in developing extra features to enable increasing demands from users, e-government agendas, council financial systems to be met. In 2002 Talis launched its Information Environment, an architecture that included a new generation of its LMS (Talis Alto), a cross-domain resource discovery portal (TalisPrism), guided resource access (Talis SignPost), and a comprehensive cataloguing database. Sharp described how Leeds Library and Information Service had used Talis for its LMS since 1992 but said that it was not possible until the People’s Network project had

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been implemented to take advantage of all of Talis’s new products. Talis also worked with CyMAL: Museums Archives and Library Wales in development of the ‘@ Your Library Wales’ portal to provide unified access to both electronic reference resources and library book holdings throughout the principality. There were also over 50 university and higher education colleges using the Talis LMS and, similarly, extra features were developed to help users in that sector: reading and resource list management systems, integration with VLEs, links with student registry systems, etc. Miller, referred to as a ‘technology evangelist’, who worked at Talis, described the general developments of Web 2.0, and the implementation of Talis’s Library 2.0, using Web 2.0 technologies, was spelled out in a ‘white paper’.43 Library 2.0 was seen as a concept of a different type of library service where information would be made available wherever and whenever a user needed it. Virtua Virtua was an LMS product from the US company VTLS (which originally stood for the Virginia Tech Library System). VTLS Inc. had become a global company with a diverse company base of over 900 libraries in 35 countries. There was never a strong VTLS presence in Britain, although the National Library of Scotland used VTLS in the early to mid-1990s. In 2005 two major libraries – the Oxford University Library Service (OULS) and the National Library of Wales (NLW) – chose to implement Virtua-based systems. OULS was the largest university library system in the UK as it incorporated the Bodleian Library, which had been a copyright deposit library for over 400 years. The NLW was also a copyright library – but younger as it would celebrate its centenary in 2007. The press release regarding the signing of the contract in late 2005 at NLW noted that The new contract signed with VTLS will bring together records for around 3 million of the Library’s books and journals, around 55,000 archive and manuscript records, as well as 60,000 records of the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales on to one comprehensive system. It will make finding resources easier for researchers in the Library, and those who are one of nearly 600,000 hits which the Library’s website receives monthly.44

The NLW system would comprise the LMS product (Virtua) as well as an institutional repository module (VITAL), an Electronic Rights Management System (VERIFY) and the AquaBrowser graphical search tool. A description of the Virtua system, as implemented at the University of Lund, in Sweden, is provided by Dahl.45 Voyager, EnCompass The Voyager LMS was developed by the Endeavor Information Systems company in the US in 1994 and was implemented by a number of UK university libraries in the 1990s. Examples of universities which implemented Voyager during 2001–05

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included Abertay in Dundee, Heriot-Watt in Edinburgh, Kent, the London School of Economics, Plymouth and the University of the Arts in London. The processes of procuring and implementing Voyager in a consortial solution adopted for the National Library of Scotland and the University of Edinburgh are described by Cannell and Guy.46 A consortial solution involving the Voyager LMS was also implemented by the University of Wales College of Medicine and the Welsh National Health Service libraries.47 After becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elsevier Science Inc. in 2001, Endeavor developed a number of other products in its move towards providing a digital library solution for libraries. Its EnCompass system was intended for managing, searching and linking a range of digital information sources,48 with the linking function being achieved using Endeavor’s LinkFinderPlus product. In 2003 the National Library of Scotland and the University of Edinburgh acquired EnCompass to allow for federated searches. Swansea University Library had used Voyager since the 1990s and Brown and Smyth describe the use of LinkFinderPlus, as well as another product Serials Solutions, to provide access to the full text of electronic journals from the library’s Voyager OPAC.49 The University of Liverpool Library chose a variety of Endeavor digital library products for federated searching and VLE integration, to enhance its Innopac LMS. VUBIS Smart The VUBIS LMS was originally developed at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium in the early 1980s and was later acquired by the Canadian firm Geac to complement its offerings of LMS solutions for libraries. VUBIS Smart was launched in 2002 and was implemented in twelve public library systems in Britain, including Bridgend County Borough, Essex Libraries Consortium, North Lanarkshire, Swindon Borough and Tameside Metropolitan Borough. The Essex Libraries Consortium was one of the UK’s largest library services and had been a customer of Geac since 1989; this consortium comprised all the libraries in Essex County as well as those in Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock. VUBIS Smart supports the UK’s e-government initiatives through enabling access to e-books, e-payments and online registration. In early 2006 Golden Gate Capital acquired Geac and the company changed its name to Extensity. Extensity also became the main distributor in the UK for the AquaBrowser graphical search interface system. In comparing the LMS products available for use in the UK market in the 2000s with those of the 1990s it can be noticed that many of the products included in the 1990s ceased to be available in the 2000s. Examples include: ALS, Bookshelf/Genesis, CAIRS-LMS, DataTrek, Dynix, Geac ADVANCE, LIBERTAS and TINLib. There have also been changes in the companies supplying the LMS products, with mergers (such as between Dynix and Sirsi), re-formed companies (such as Extensity from Geac), as well as the demise of some companies.

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Reports in the literature of overviews of LMS during 2001–2005 Ebenezer’s paper published in 2002 described trends in integrated library systems and focused on developments in web technologies and standards, the software industry developments and enhancements in functionality and access from the user’s viewpoint.50 Yeates, also in 2002, reported on digital library and information systems and this included an assessment of the extent to which the LMS of the time supported the needs of the users.51 He noted that the library portal solutions of the time did not address all the likely needs of the users and that LMS suppliers were putting together ‘new product portfolios, through acquisition or development’. Felstead provides further detail of the functionality that was being offered by LMS suppliers in her digest of the literature in 2003 carried out during preparation work at the Bodleian Library and OULS for the replacement of their Geac ADVANCE system.52 This included features such as: x Inter-library loan (ILL) modules integrated into the circulation system (e.g. Unicorn). x Electronic check-in of serials using an ‘electronic packing slip’, an XML document uploaded to the local system and used to update check-in data at the issue level, including issue-level URLs for e-journals (e.g. Innovative Interfaces’ Millennium Serials E-Checkin). x Computer-integrated telephony for sending reminders and information on reservations to users, enabling them to conduct circulation-related transactions such as book renewals, checking of account status and cancellations or reservations over the telephone (e.g. Horizon Telephone Messaging). x RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology for stock checking, circulation and security systems, using RFID tags instead of the traditional barcodes and magnetic strips to identify and track items (e.g. VTLS’s FASTRAC). x Access to OPACs, including both searching and patron functions, via mobile devices such as wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs) and mobile telephones (e.g. Innovative Interfaces’ AirPAC). x Integration of reading list and resource management software into web OPACs. In addition Felstead described the new products being developed by the LMS suppliers that are separate from, but complementary to, the traditional products and these include: x Portal products, offering users the ability to search a number of resources at once via a single interface (e.g. MetaLib from Ex Libris). x Reference linking, using technology based on the OpenURL standard to generate context-sensitive links to other resources – for example, from a bibliographic record in the web OPAC to the full-text resource (e.g. LinkFinderPlus from Endeavor).

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x Digital library solutions, designed to create and manage libraries’ growing collections of local digital content (e.g. Endeavor’s EnCompass for Digital Collections). x Electronic resources management solutions to control subscription and licensing information for licensed resources such as e-journals and full-text databases (e.g. Electronic Resource Management by Innovative Interfaces). An overview of portal products (such as Ex Libris, EnCompass, MAP and ZPORTAL) from LMS suppliers was provided in 2003 by Ramsden of the Open University Library.53 Some developments 2001–2005 Some of the major developments affecting LMS in UK libraries during 2001–05 are described here. The range shows the wide variety of ICT-related developments that took place in UK libraries in the period. Technological developments Probably the main technological development during 2001–05 was the realization of the importance of adherence to standards and the idea of ‘openness’, and thus a move away from ‘legacy’ LMS systems that worked only with proprietary hardware and software towards the development of interoperable systems. Standards are necessary for interoperability and, as has been noted already, LMS of the 2000s often incorporated software written by organizations other than the main developer of the LMS. Standards that were used in LMS are various and include: Markup languages XML – the Extensible Markup Language became the de facto standard for representation of information content delivered via the web. Yeates reported on a European Commission-funded project investigating the use of XML by archives, libraries and museums for their catalogues.54 Digital object locators The static uniform resource locator (URL) of the 1990s which provided an address system enabling computers to communicate with each other via the web was developed in various ways that needed to be addressed by LMS suppliers. These included the digital object identifier (DOI), persistent URLs (PURLs) and the OpenURL. Metadata standards These include MARC and the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records from the Network Development and MARC Standards Office at the Library of Congress55 as well as the Dublin Core MetaData Initiative for describing eresources,56 and the Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standards (METS) for

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encoding descriptive, administrative and structural metadata for objects within a digital library. Character encoding The ability of LMS to function with different language interfaces became a mandatory requirement for some libraries in the UK. For instance, at the National Library of Wales the user interface with the Virtua system was available through Welsh as well as English. In many other libraries in Wales the choice of language was presented at the start of searching an OPAC – be it a Voyager-based OPAC (as used at the university libraries of Aberystwyth, Cardiff or Swansea), or TalisPrism for a consortium of public libraries in Anglesey, Conwy and Gwynedd, or Innovative at the University of Bangor. The Unicode standard (ISO 10646) was used in all those LMS to enable appropriate storage and display of the Welsh character set. Information retrieval protocols Z39.50 continued in use as the standard that enabled a user in one library to search and retrieve information from other libraries which had also implemented Z39.50. Z39.50 was an important standard used in the ‘clumps’ projects of Phase 3 of the eLib Programme and many of the LMS (e.g., Horizon, Millennium, OLIB7, Talis, Unicorn) enabled its use. Dunsire and Macgregor provided a review of the evolution of Z39.50 and how it was used in various JISC-funded projects, and Macgregor and Nicolaides suggested strategies for improved performance from distributed systems based on Z39.50.57 Inter-library loan protocols Developments in standardization of ILL protocols resulted in the ability to search across OPACs developed using different LMS, and then identify specific resources that could be shared amongst users. The Combined Regions (TCR) in the UK provided interlending services to its 140 member library organizations across the South West, North East, East Midlands, North East and Scotland, and UnityUK was TCR’s web-based resource-sharing and inter-library loan service. Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Oxfordshire were the first authorities to use UnityUK, which was based on software developed by FDI/OCLC PICA. Metadata harvesting The Open Archives Initiative was intended to develop and promote interoperability standards to facilitate information dissemination. The term ‘harvesting’ refers to gathering metadata from multiple distributed repositories into one combined store. The Open Archives Initiative–Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI–PMH) attempted to solve problems of digital library interoperability by enabling metadata to be harvested from OAI-compliant databases and assembled in one central location. OAI–PMH was a key standard used in the institutional repositories and

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subject repositories of journal articles, e-theses, etc. that were being developed across many UK academic libraries, such as that at Edinburgh University.58 Standards for circulation control Most LMS provided links from the OPAC to information about the location of a specified item (is it out on loan? if so, when will it be returned?, etc.) as well as linking to self-check machines from various manufacturers (Bibliotheca, 3M etc.). Standards such as the NISO (National Information Standards Organization) Circulation Interchange Protocol (NCIP) and the Standard Interchange Protocol (SIP) were used for such purposes. Web 2.0 was a further technological development that many LMS suppliers bagn to incorporate into their systems. The online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, defined Web 2.0 in the following way: Web 2.0 generally refers to a second generation of services available on the World Wide Web that lets people collaborate and share information online. In contrast to the first generation, Web 2.0 gives users an experience closer to desktop applications than the traditional static Web pages. The term was popularized by O’ Reilly Media and MediaLive International as the name for a series of web development conferences that started in October 2004. …The term may include blogs and wikis. To some extent Web 2.0 is a buzzword, incorporating whatever is newly popular on the Web (such as tags and podcasts), and its meaning is still in flux.59

Growth in e-content The LMS of the 2000s were mainly developed from earlier systems which were designed for use with print materials and comprised functions such as cataloguing; circulation control; providing access to the catalogue – via an OPAC; acquisitions; serials control; inter-library lending – to enable books and serials to be borrowed from different libraries. These processes continued to be needed, but much of the ‘content’ in libraries was now in digital form and so the LMSs needed to be able to carry out the necessary processes for users to access these information sources. The e-content covered various types of material – including e-books, e-journals, etheses and full-text reference collections such as encyclopaedias and dictionaries. Armstrong et al. described the state of e-books in the UK’s academic libraries in 2002.60 Much of this was based on a mapping project undertaken for the JISC’s Working Group on e-books and was one of a series of four projects looking at ebooks in libraries in further education and higher education institutions.61 E-books were also used in public libraries, Richmond-upon-Thames being one of the first authorities to provide access to these.62 In some cases access to e-content was ‘integrated’ into the LMS with records being included in the OPAC and links through to the full-text of the journal or book, whereas in other cases portal software linked to the LMS provided access to the e-content.

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Self-service and RFID An important development related to LMS during the 1990s was the installation of self-service issue and return machines in libraries, so that users could issue and return their own books. This development continued in the 2000s, and Gollin and Pinder reported on a survey of 127 academic libraries out in 2002 where 76% of responses received stated that self-check had resulted in a significant positive change to the operation of their library.63 A major development in this area was in the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems. Snelling described the use of self-issue workstations employing RFID at Colchester Library in Essex which, by 2004, had achieved a rate of 50% of all loans being carried out by selfissue.64 Hopkinson and Chandrakar described the first year of using RFID at the library at the University of Middlesex, and Backhouse prepared a Technology and Standards Watch report on RFID for JISC.65 UK Core Specification for LMS The United Kingdom Core Specification (UKCS) of functional requirements for LMS was made available in 2005 following a pilot project in which libraries from all sectors, academic, public and special, tested it out. UKCS was developed by Juliet Leeves in conjunction with a number of LMS suppliers in order to help staff in libraries who found that they had to develop a specification, or operational requirement, for a new LMS, often within a tight timeframe. The suppliers agreed a core set of requirements, together with a variant set to meet the needs of differing market sectors. The UKCS contained over 500 requirements covering the following main functional areas: x x x x x x x

bibliographic database management OPAC and end user services circulation control acquisitions serials control document delivery and inter-library loans management information.

The development of UKCS was supported by CILIP.66 Earlier work on the development of a model system specification for the procurement of LMS was reported by Fisher et al.67 LMS and library staff The days when only a handful of ‘systems staff’ were knowledgeable about matters related to LMS and ICT were long gone by the 2000s. Following the eLib Programme in academic libraries and the People’s Network in public libraries most library and information professionals had gained some ICT-related skills. Pinfield outlined, in general, the roles and skills that are now required by library and information professionals,68 and Biddiscombe discussed the changing roles of

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library and information professionals, exemplified by the situation at the University of Birmingham Library.69 However, some library authorities preferred to outsource all their LMS (and sometimes ICT) activity rather than have staff responsible for this within the authority. DS, for instance, offered a Facilities Management Centre and Surrey County Council is an example of an authority which used this for its Galaxy LMS. Because most libraries in the UK started to use LMS in the 1980s and 1990s, during the 2000s the challenge for library staff when a new system was introduced was how to migrate the data, procedures and so on from the old to the new system. Cohn et al. provided a basic text book in this area which was revised for a UK readership.70 However, Merthyr Tydfil Public Libraries, the smallest library authority in England and Wales, implemented its first LMS in this period. Mitchell described its implementation of Talis and concluded: ‘I think that the library management system is also having a major impact on the positive interaction staff can have with the public’.71 Building the confidence of library staff was an important factor when implementing a new LMS, and Brazier described how involving staff in the process of choosing the new ALEPH system at the British Library helped.72 Project management methodologies were sometimes used and Stanley et al. described the use of PRINCE2 (Projects IN Controlled Environments) for a number of projects, including the development of a portal based on MAP from Innovative Interfaces at the University of Leeds.73 Another methodology, the Six Sigma, and its phases Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control (DMAIC) phases was described by Kumi and Morrow, who used it to analyse aspects related to the 3M self-issue systems at Newcastle University Library.74 Although previous surveys of users in Newcastle had shown them to be satisfied with the service from the self-issue machines it was felt that the level of investment was not resulting in a high amount of use. The paper from Newcastle concluded: The Library benefited from Six Sigma not only in that it achieved its goal of increasing the self-issue percentage but it also provided us with a potential method of addressing a problem accurately and speedily in a systematic way. Whilst we at Newcastle University are by no means experts in Six Sigma, 3M were willing to share their expertise in this. Six Sigma methodology has given us a new problem-solving mechanism and one which we can seek to apply to future projects.

The project management issues faced by staff working on projects within the eLib Programme were identified by Pinfield and various lessons to be learned outlined.75 A good introduction to project management techniques for library and information professionals was provided by Allan.76 The North East Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (NEMLAC) produced a supplier selection toolkit in 2005.77 Although this was not directly aimed at those charged with choosing LMS, nevertheless the structure of the toolkit, with sections covering planning, tendering, procurement, evaluation of bids, contract, and managing suppliers, could prove to be useful in an LMS context.

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Staff always need to keep up to date with LMS, and related developments. For most staff a system of continuous professional development had by now become normal – involving attendance at appropriate courses, etc. Involvement with the user groups of LMS provided a good way for those closely involved with systems to learn of developments. Blogs, or weblogs, another development of the 2000s, were also a good way of keeping abreast of developments in LMS. For instance, Lorcan Dempsey, the former director of UKOLN and later vice-president and chief strategist at OCLC in Dublin, Ohio, had a weblog which, on occasion, included his views on LMS developments.78 The Talis website provided links to a number of blogs.79 LMS and library users The OPAC is the module of an LMS with which library users have most contact and therefore this needs to be designed and modified in an appropriate manner. The general tendency over the 2000s was to provide for as simple an interface as possible – the belief being that users were familiar with the basic search facilities of the online bookstore Amazon and the search engine Google and so would wish to search a library’s catalogue using an ‘Amazagoogle’ approach. This was the approach taken by the RedLightGreen project of the Research Libraries Group in the US,80 which was being investigated by some libraries in the UK. Some libraries were involved in creating special interfaces for specific groups such as children or the elderly. Following the implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act in the UK all libraries needed to ensure that they complied with the necessary regulations to ensure accessibility to their e-content. This could include those users with visual disabilities (i.e. blind or partially sighted, or colour-blind), hearing disabilities, physical disabilities, or cognitive disabilities. In the UK the Royal National Institute of the Blind provided help and advice on accessibility issues and in the academic sector JISC provided the TechDIS advisory centre.81 Reports appeared on how various libraries were providing access; for instance Cahill and Cornish described facilities for library users at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Edwards described facilities at West Sussex libraries and Jones and Tedd reported on accessibility issues of the OPACs in three university libraries in Wales.82 Users obviously featured centrally in the People’s Network project of the early 2000s and Potts described in 2003 the vision of public library service in the UK as seen by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and contained in the report Framework for the Future.83 The report suggested that the People’s Network should move forward from ‘just’ providing access to the internet by helping to deliver a variety of e-government initiatives through the provision of e-services. It was suggested that this should cover areas including: x online enquiries (Berube provided an overview of the Ask a librarian service in the UK in 2004)84

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x reference materials: dealing with e-content suppliers such as KnowUK, News UK, xrefer, and Oxford Reference Online meant that members of public libraries could access a variety of digital information sources 24/7 from outside the physical library building x e-government: to enable access for all to the UK government’s DirectGov85 x e-learning: through online courses available form agencies such as learndirect.86 The People’s Network website of 2006 provided links for users of England’s public libraries to Discover, Enquire and Read.87 Projects involving innovative use of ICT for reader development, with links to the OPACs of libraries in Wales, were described by Bird and Tedd.88 Some final thoughts One ‘hole’ highlighted in the ‘final thoughts’ section of the 1991–2000 chapter on LMS was the dearth of papers describing a post-implementation evaluation of LMSs. Myhill overcame that to some extent with a paper outlining a methodology for evaluating an LMS implementation, which involved allocation of points for various aspects or phases including pre-procurement; purchase; implementation and initial training and support; operation and ongoing training and support; development; and upgrade and replacement.89 The impact of digital content and digital libraries would continue to affect all library and information services and would need to be addressed by LMS suppliers in the future. In a book on the policy, planning and practice of digital libraries there was no mention of LMS in the case studies described.90 Breeding in his 2006 review of the LMS marketplace concluded that: ‘Industry fragmentation endures; a large number of companies offer highly overlapping products with marginal differentiation in a limited market. The reshuffling in 2005 may be only an interim stage as the industry reorganises itself, adjusting to a new balance of library priorities tipping more toward managing electronic content with less emphasis on traditional automation issues’.91 The application of Web 2.0 technologies and an ability to integrate access and management of digital content into their products would be key requirements of the LMS of the future.

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Lucy A. Tedd, ‘Library management systems’ in British librarianship and information work 1991–2000, ed. J. H. Bowman. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006. John Akeroyd, ‘Integrated library management systems: overview’, Vine 115, 1999, 3– 10. Marshall Breeding, ‘Automated system marketplace 2002: capturing the migrating customer’, Library journal 127 (6), 2002, 48–53. Qin Zhu, ‘Understanding OpenURL standard and electronic resources: effective use of electronic resources’, Program 38 (4), 2004, 251–6.

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Marshall Breeding and Carol Roddy, ‘Automated systems marketplace 2003: the competition heats up’, Library journal 128 (6), 1 April 2003, 52–64. Available at:

(accessed 31/5/06). John MacColl, ‘Virtuous learning environments: the library and the VLE’, Program 35 (3), 2001, 227–39. Marshall Breeding, ‘Gradual evolution: automated system marketplace 2005’, Library journal 130 (6), 2005, 42–7. Christine Urquhart et al., ‘Uptake and use of electronic information services: trends in UK higher education from the JUSTEIS project’, Program 37 (3), 2003, 168–80. Jasper Kalzer and Anthony Hodge, ‘AquaBrowser Library: search, discover, refine’, Library hi tech news 22 (10), 2005, 9–12. E. Sommerlad et al., Evaluation of the People’s Network and ICT Training for Public Library Staff Programme. London: Big Lottery Fund, 2004. Available at: . Lyn Rainbow, ‘ICT training new skills, new culture’, Library + information update 3 (9), 2004, 38–9. Michael Breaks, ‘The eLib hybrid library projects’, Ariadne 28, June 2001. Available at: