Biblio.for.mEDA

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Biblio.for.mEDA

• Cases of excellence a view from the UK
• Department of Information Science

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Survey of authorities in the UK

• Aim to survey 20 public library services in the
  UK
• 32 heads of library services approached

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Selection criteria for survey

• Good practice in their annual library plans
• 8 Beacon services for Libraries as a Community
  Resource
• Lifelong learning information and resources on
  their web pages
• Identified in a review of the literature

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Services involved in the survey

• London Borough of Merton
• Norfolk
• Northamptonshire
• Nottingham
• Rotherham
• Stockton on Tees?
• Suffolk?
• Sunderland?
• Tameside
• Wokingham

• Bath North East Somerset
• Blackburn with Darwen?
• Cornwall
• Halton
• Kingston upon Hull
• Knowsley
• Leeds?
• Liverpool?
• London Borough of Barking Dagenham
• London Borough of Barnet?

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Location and organization of the spaces

• Majority of managers felt that the buildings in
  their authority and the environment for learners
  were of mixed quality
• No! Lack of investment has not made them
  conducive to what a modern user would expect
  (Merton)
• The library environments are welcoming, safe and
  pleasant. All our libraries would be improved by
  some interior redecoration (Halton)

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Location and organization of the spaces continued

• Accessibility generally good most libraries
  served by public transport or within walking
  distance (PLS)
• Disabled access, if not yet achieved, services
  were working towards it
• Accessibility details for many services were
  available on the website

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Room meeting socialising

• Space for individual and group study/learning
  varied greatly
• Most services had facilities in their central
  library but it was often impossible to provide
  study space in smaller libraries

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Room meeting socialising continued

• Six of our seven libraries have areas for quiet
  study and areas for group learning. The seventh
  library is a small neighbourhood library, which
  does not have the space (Knowsley)
• Dedicated space for learning areas was frequently
  a key element in new building and refurbishment
  plans

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Services Provided

• First-rate library layout and signage, especially
  for new users, considered a matter of urgency by
  many of the services questioned
• Services were tackling these concerns in a number
  of ways using mystery shoppers and audits to
  identify areas for improvement and working with
  partners, community groups, consultants and
  specialist providers

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Services Provided continued

• Mobile library services
• Housebound library services
• Services to nursing and residential homes
• Postal service for borrowers registered blind
• Talking Books by Post Service (Merton)

• LIAZe vehicle - networked laptop computers,
  scanners, printers a digital camera
  (Sunderland)
• Books to go! - telephone or apply online for
  books to be collected from local library and
  returned to any library in borough (Tameside)

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Lifelong learning provision agreements

• The majority of library services had agreements
  with other libraries or institutions to improve
  accessibility to resources or space in which
  adults could learn
• Co-operative working with libraries included
  other public library authorities, academic
  libraries and colleges

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Lifelong learning provision agreements
continued

• ALLIN
• A special link between five libraries and
  information providers in Northamptonshire.
• All five partners hold a wide range of
  information and resources needed for study,
  research, updating skills or carrying out a
  project or assignment
• Website http//oldweb.northampton.ac.uk/lrs/allin
  /

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Lifelong learning provision network

• 12 of the 20 services are electronically
  networked with other institutions
• Public libraries are networked with museums,
  archives, schools and colleges to facilitate
  access to resources

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Lifelong learning provision network continued

• e.g. Blackburn with Darwen central library has
  PCs that local college students can use to access
  their college workspace
• e.g. Norfolk users can search the NOAH (Norfolk
  Online Access to Heritage) website which
  retrieves relevant content from museums, archives
  and libraries in Norfolk
• Website http//noah.norfolk.gov.uk/

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Lifelong learning provisioncourses

• ICT courses including ECDL, CLAIT, WebWise and
  safe surfing dominated
• e.g. All libraries in the authority are ECDL
  accredited centres, UKOnline and Learndirect
  centres. We are able to offer basic taster
  courses through the BBCs Computers Dont Bite
  and WebWise CD-ROMs. Through Learndirect we are
  able to offer courses from introductory to
  advanced level in ICT (Knowsley)  

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Lifelong learning provision courses continued

• Basic skills (literacy/numeracy/language) classes
  were mentioned by 6 of the 20 authorities
  including 2 services that provide English for
  Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) sessions
• More general courses e.g. creative writing,
  family history, sign language
• Courses that tie in with national promotions such
  as Bitesize, Adult Learners Week, Sign Up, Local
  Democracy Week and Family Learning

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Skills staff need to support lifelong learning

• People (e.g. patience, good at listening,
  communication)
• Customer care
• Diplomacy
• Equal opportunities

• ICT
• Support basic skills
• IAG (Information, advice and guidance)
• Mentoring/training/
• teaching

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Lifelong learning plans and developments

• Greater collaborative working within and outside
  local authorities
• Increase the range of learning sessions
  available, e.g. family learning courses
• Improving ICT-based learning facilities
• Basic skills was a focus of attention for 5
  services

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Summary

• Within those identified as cases of excellence
  there was variation
• Some services were ahead of others in terms of
  planning and provision
• Liverpool and Sunderland emerged as excellent

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Further references

• Spacey, R. A. Goulding, 2004. Learner Support
  in UK Public Libraries, Aslib Proceedings
  (forthcoming)
• Spacey, R. A. Goulding, 2004. Supporting
  lifelong learning researching the
  Biblio.for.mEDA Project, Public Library Journal
  (forthcoming)
• http//www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ls/disresearch/
  bibliomeda.html