This article is from the July 2002 Issue of Update.

Get ready for a unique public library learnathon, starting in July. Eight outstanding library services have funding for a year-long programme to share the secrets of their success. The eight services are a complete mixture — urban and rural, top- performing or just starting to shake off a dismal past. They have bright ideas to suit everyone.

This is the roll-out phase of the Beacon Awards. A New Labour wheeze to highlight — and disseminate — good practice by local authorities, the Beacons are run by the DTLR (Department for Transport, Local Government & the Regions). Each year, different themes are targeted. The 2001-02 round, for the first time, specifically mentioned libraries — as a ‘community resource’.

Each year’s themes are chosen after wide consultation among councils. So clearly some councils had already noticed the community value of libraries.

This in itself is a sign of progress, says CILIP Chief Executive Bob McKee. Public libraries are everywhere, and serve everyone. That, he argues, is their strength. But it is also their fundamental weakness — they have no single, clear identity. Often, they are invisible.

That is why Bob agreed to be the expert adviser to the Beacon judging panel. He could see ‘value in terms of profile. Librarians spend time telling other librarians about what they’re doing — but nobody else.’

The Library Association (as it was then) saw a chance to make a difference. Professional Development Manager Penny Simmonds ran an executive briefing to give chief officers some advice on applying. Many came, 18 entered, 11 were shortlisted, eight won. All these figures were the highest in the whole Beacon scheme. Bob says: ‘That made the panel sit up and take notice — and the DTLR officials, and the local government minister, Nick Raynsford. These are people we don’t normally reach.’

But the important part, he adds, starts now with the roll-out. It will be aimed at all sections of local government, so ‘senior people will be saying — "Hey, public libraries do this stuff across a wide range of our objectives". Connections are starting to be made — social, economic, demographic… We have a tremendous body of evidence — and now we have a platform.’

Sunderland and Gateshead library services helped to build this platform. Last year both contributed to the presentations that won their councils Beacons for ‘stimulating economic and social regeneration through culture, sport and tourism’. The message started to get through.

Beacon library services 2002

• London Borough of Barnet
• Blackburn with Darwen Council
• Leeds City Council
• Liverpool City Council
• Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
• Suffolk County Council
• Sunderland City Council
• London Borough of Sutton
• Shortlisted: Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Nottingham

Not rocket science

So what is special about this year’s eight winners? You can find on the DTLR website the 10 criteria the judges used. They are familiar government stuff — partnerships, learning culture, user involvement, etc.

But the really striking thing is — none of it is rocket science. Even the worst, no-star, service does at least some of what the magnificent eight do. They just do much, much more. Why? Their managers’ energy and passion is obvious — and infectious.

And why is that? They know what they want to do, and so do their political bosses — there’s a big difference between a clear, coherent vision and the ritual trotting-out of the usual buzzwords. And they know — and can convey to others — why libraries matter. Hence the enthusiasm…

This virtuous circle creates the ideal conditions for bright ideas, partnerships and maximum input from both staff and public. As a result, all these eight services can punch well above their financial weight.

Each service can list dozens of initiatives, and several distinct areas of development. This account can only pick a few points at random.

Liverpool shows that it’s never too late to start. ‘We are coming from a low base — we’ve had lots of cuts and the public hasn’t been using the service,’ says service head Joyce Little. ‘If you compare things like visits or issues, they are still very low. But we can demonstrate how we have improved.’

The Beacons are the biggest awards in local government, and they give the main glory to councils themselves. A quarter of the application form concerns the council’s underpinning aims and structures. When a service wins, it is the council that benefits from being able to use the high-prestige title of ‘Beacon Council’.

Liverpool had never won a Beacon before. The city, says Joyce, above all wants to show the world it means more than ‘industrial disputes, poverty and stealing cars’. So the kudos is really valued — ‘We’re getting Liverpool on the map. We’re changing the image.’

The libraries’ major aim is entirely relevant — ‘working in partnership with the community to deliver the regeneration agenda’. For instance, daunting old buildings are being replaced by new multi-activity centres — funded by numerous partnerships. The Beacons are already boosting this networking, according to Joyce: ‘People are saying: "A Beacon — what have you done?… I didn’t know you did THAT!" And we might have been banging on their door for years!’

Sutton, on the other hand, is no stranger to awards. But they are always useful. This one will help the council in its assessments by DTLR. Service head Trevor Knight values the ‘sense of pride’ and being paid to swap notes with other services.

Sutton’s council has long been supportive. When it took power in 1986 its mandate was public participation, and it values the obvious relevance of libraries — delivering information, learning and e-government. The library service consults endlessly — with users, non-users and an imaginative range of special groups, from travellers to primary schools, teens to disabled people, carers of special needs children to local colleges. Friends groups are actively encouraged.

Another strength is fun. ‘That’s one key to why our members are so engaged,’ says Trevor, ‘because it’s fun to be involved. For a lot of our users, going to the library is a fun day out. That’s the atmosphere we create. What we do is very important, but there’s no reason why we shouldn’t all enjoy it.’

Consult, then concentrate

Rural Suffolk is quite different. It has a scattered, often socially-excluded, population. One answer was for the service to restructure, to work right down at locality level. There are ‘mini community plans’ in partnership with all relevant bodies, from parish councils onwards.

Another was to consult extensively, and then to concentrate resources on key specialist services — such as ICT, local history (to build up local identity), Learndirect learning centres and access points, county council information centres.

There is outstanding creativity and innovation: mini-libraries with small collections and a networked PC (mainly in small village shops or post offices); a collection for sports coaches (with Ipswich council and the Sports Council); a county-wide central buying consortium; a website of job and training information; a partnership with the local paper; links with the local employment service; a Virtual Crown Court site to give support to witnesses; trained volunteers to help disabled people to use the adapted PCs; and much more. To keep all this activity coherent — and presumably to save the staff’s energy — management has worked out policies on everything from publicity to sustainability.

In Leeds the focus, identified through public consultation, is ‘access and choice… this has enabled simplification of the service’, says head of service Catherine Blanshard. She understands that services — even new ones — won’t take off unless people are tempted in.

So, for instance, new or renovated library buildings are introduced long before they open. Their future users help design them and keep tabs on progress through press coverage, activities ‘behind the scenes’, virtual tours and creative visual arts to get them thinking about what will be on offer and how they will use it.

Similarly, e-government is being introduced via a special community website — the initial content was built with local people in the libraries. All libraries are being re-styled with ‘accesspoints’, a heavily promoted brand that groups together a relaxing drop-in space, a local noticeboard, free ICT and special quick-find book collections.

Reader development work ranges from a partnership with Leeds FC to a blind Asian readers group. Sometimes a successful outside-funded pilot is mainstreamed. Sometimes the service develops an idea that then attracts outside funding. There has been particular success with alienated young people, who have helped set up their own facilities and created a newspaper and a spectacular multimedia event.

Catherine stresses: ‘We have very little money. We have levered in quite large sums to focus development — £1m last year. And we are very inclusive of staff.’

One of Barnet’s strong points is its partnerships for learning. This underpins the service’s focus on access, inclusion and ‘learning for life’. Barnet College sponsors Sunday opening at one library, and co-sponsors multimedia learning centres at four others. Other agencies that sponsor or share resources include the local Learning & Skills Council, a careers advice company, Middlesex University, supermarkets and other council services such as education (which pays for on-site tutors).

Specialist posts lead on key themes

Barnet invests in training staff, including sponsoring them to gain chartership. There are specialist posts to lead on the key ‘themes’: ICT, reader development, community development/outreach, lifelong learning, quality and performance. Libraries are pushed as ‘ideal venues’ for local activities that range from council advice services and education classes to exhibiting professional artists’ work for sale. Specialist collections for loan include parenting, music, play sets, art, sociology and dementia (this one chosen with the local Alzheimer’s Society).

At Stockton on Tees, service head Andrea Barker thinks the Beacon process recognised ‘our passion and enthusiasm for what we do and the amount we have achieved since 1996 when we became a unitary authority — sometimes with few resources but always with a pioneering "can do" attitude. It is brilliant recognition for all the hard work by the staff — not only the hard work associated with putting in bids for awards but the hard work that goes on every day in every community library.’

Children are one priority. Partners include the education service, publishers and supermarkets. Unusual initiatives include the Stockton Children’s Book of the Year award and a pilot Junior and Young Librarians scheme which teaches LIS skills and possibly attracts future librarians. Events for travellers’ children are run (with the parish council and the specialist education worker) when they arrive for the traditional Yarm horse fair. Pilot work with fathers in the local prison has been adopted by the Reading Agency as a model for national development.

Special collections include specially-written how-to-use-ICT guides, key texts for students (selected with help from Durham University) and open learning for small businesses. A library for patients is run with the hospital and the local voluntary development agency. The service has latched on to two new PFI developments, which will see it sharing ‘gateway’ premises with schools and various council services.

This fizz of ideas is supported by constant consultation and coherent performance management. Planning for sustainability is built in at the start.

Sunderland has developed its approach specifically to counter the ‘catastrophic loss’ of its mining and shipbuilding industries. This created massive needs, both educational and social.

The libraries are gaining a national reputation for kick-starting development projects (hence last year’s Beacon). But they are as keen to foster love of literature and a ‘hard-to-measure nurturing role’ as they are to provide ‘electronic village halls’ for learning and information.

So the service is geared up to grab opportunities (and funding) at all levels — if they are relevant. It is the national pilot for a one-stop e-government multimedia project that starts this year. The council’s new Sunderland Portal will be unique, and will of course include complete e-servicing for library users. LASH unites all the city’s educational institutions and outlets. LIAZe is a mobile ICT centre for isolated villages — it contributed to ‘stunning reductions in crime’ when used as part of a scheme on one troubled estate. Youth Information Points are being installed in both central and remote areas, incorporating a database compiled with youth groups.

Libraries are central to the large new multi-function community projects. Or a small ICT unit may be placed in a supermarket. Small community libraries can double as the place to get your bus pass or pay the rent or get job advice. A visit from the Royal Shakespeare Company was seized on for use in a reader development project.

It helps that the council plans city-wide, uniting all departments into one forum. But it also splits the city into six ‘regeneration areas’, each with its own tailor-made planning framework. Findings from research and user consultation are consciously bolted into the planning cycle.

Blackburn with Darwen, formed only three years ago, has already met all but one of the public library standards (including the famously challenging standard for visits). It has restructured to emphasise reader development, lifelong learning, outreach and social inclusion. It exploits libraries’ status as ‘safe, accessible, non-threatening and non-biased’. Work with 16-24 year-olds is getting extra funding.

It can be demonstrated that widespread consultation has been fed into service changes, including opening hours, stock, services for older people and for ethnic minorities, mobile library routes and ICT policy. Soon users at all libraries will be offered their own email address and a free email course. Currently under review are services for disabled people.

Individual projects in response to demand include crèches, an online sports course run with the local college and football club, and basic skills courses backed by supportive tutors and library staff. A digital learning resource on local history, ‘Cotton Town’, is being created. Improvements are routinely planned for sustainability. Most important of all, perhaps, the service is simply good at conveying the value of what it is doing — why public libraries matter.

This is the important thing now.

Catherine Blanshard says: ‘I do think the Beacons are a real opportunity for libraries to make a mark. It is obvious that DTLR and Idea [the agency tasked with sharing good practice] are amazed at our networks, knowledge about each other and desire to build strategies.’

Bob McKee thinks that proof of public libraries’ value — from academic research on ‘value and impact’ to eye-catching promotions like Libraries Change Lives — has finally reached critical mass. ‘The evidence of the Beacon Councils is tangible, and demonstrates positive results. We’re not talking in the abstract. We’re telling real-life stories, about places and people you can see. That is what attracts the politicians and the media.

‘I’m talking to Tessa Blackstone [DCMS minister] about how we can achieve these standards across the whole library community. She is very interested. And, after all, one thing librarians are good at is communicating. We are a sharing profession — we’re in the business of lending things.’

Laura Swaffield is a freelance journalist.

The ‘roll-out’ starts with a libraries ‘national showcase’ in London on 16 July. To join the mailing list go to www.idea.gov.uk/beacons/. For general information go to www.local-regions.odpm.gov.uk/beacon

Sunderland City Council has a dedicated Beacon website at www.sunderlandbeacon.com.