INTRODUCTION

  1.  Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council's Library and Information Service is a part of the Libraries Museums and Arts Service within an Education Culture and Leisure Programme area. The borough has a population of 249,000, about 100,000 of whom live in Rotherham itself, with the rest dispersed across the rural parts of the borough. The Service runs 14 community libraries, a central library in Rotherham town centre and three mobile libraries.

  2.  The Library and Information Service in Rotherham has made significant improvements in all aspects of its service delivery over the last three years. The Public Library standards provided the impetus required for the Authority to prioritise the Service in its medium term financial strategy and subsequently "Framework for the Future" offered a vision to work towards. With the introduction of the People's Network during the same period there has been a turn around in both usage and the satisfaction of users with the Service.

  3.  A Charter Mark has been awarded to the Service this year, highlighting the level of customer care now demonstrated in all the libraries.

  4.  The Service is also building partnerships, within the Council and externally, using the range of services we provide, the broad based audience we attract and the community value of our buildings to offer partners opportunities to use us to their benefit.

  5.  As part of a Libraries, Museums and Arts Service, there is also a drive to demonstrate a joined up provision of cultural services with "inspiring learning" as the link between the different teams.

  6.  But there is much more to do locally—mirroring the needs nationally. The Service requires sustained investment to maintain the improvements of the last three years and build upon them. Significant capital funds are required to deal with inadequate or wrongly located buildings and the sustainability of the People's Network has to be considered. Marketing of the Service needs to be a priority as the satisfaction rates of the general population (including non-users) has fallen. Fundamentally the Service needs to demonstrate real impact so that the links to corporate and Community Strategy priorities and the "Shared Priorities" are clear and evidence based.

ACCESSIBILITY

  7.  Rotherham MBC has prioritised its libraries for DDA compliant building works and alterations to be carried out. This follows consultation with the Rotherham Disability Association who identified libraries as the most important Council buildings to the majority of people with disabilities. Work has been undertaken at seven of the 15 buildings this year with the rest programmed for work in 2005-06.

  8.  The location of our libraries is not appropriate to the population distribution of today. However, significant investment is required to build new libraries. Where opportunities arise to create new or enhanced facilities these are taken, for example a partnership with the PCT to rebuild Brinsworth Library as a shared library/health centre. Longer term strategic planning of new libraries is subject to availability of capital funds. This needs to be considered at a national level. Regional needs, cross boundary and mobile provision are all part of this debate.

  9.  Over 1,000 additional opening hours have been added to Rotherham's libraries over the last three years. This has largely been done within existing resources. Consultation with the public has determined the most appropriate hours for each particular library.

  10.  Rotherham's Library and Information Service has responded dynamically to meet the needs of the ethnic minority and asylum seeker/refugee communities in the borough. Services provided include:

A multicultural home delivery service which encourages use of mainstream provision through supported familiarisation visits to increase knowledge and confidence;

A telephone interpretation service;

Stock in various languages and formats as well as newspapers. The Central Library now holds stock in eight languages;

"Home from Home" sessions providing familiarisation with Rotherham and support with language skills through books and reading;

Skills for life sessions for women, in partnership with the local college;

An asylum seeker outreach worker to promote and co-ordinate library services to asylum seekers and refugees and act as a link between them and other services and agencies.

  11.  A Children's Champion post was created two years ago to engage children with books, reading and libraries.

  12.  User satisfaction rate for libraries in Rotherham in 2003-04 was 93.9%—suggesting that the Service is providing the vast majority of users with what they require.

INCREASING USAGE

  13.  Rotherham's usage has increased by 20% in the last year. This is due to a combination of improved stock, increased opening hours, better trained staff, the availability of the People's Network, and the efforts of staff to build new audiences for the Service. However, there are many more potential users than users currently. A significant marketing campaign is required to convey the message that the Service has changed. There is also a need to demonstrate absolute clarity in terms of customer expectation of service provision. What are we doing to tell customers about the standards of service they can expect from us?

FUNDING

  14.  Rotherham MBC has invested significantly in books and other materials in the last three years (because of the need to meet Public Library Standards). In 2000-01 the materials fund was £68,000. Today it stands at £650,000. Over the same period the NOF investment in the People's Network has offered free access to the information resources of the internet to our users. The sustainability of the Network is, however, an issue that needs to be considered at a national level.

MODELS OF PROVISION/POLICY DEMANDS

  15.  It is important to develop models of provision that provide a flexibility to meet the changing needs of the communities libraries serve, the organisations they are part of and the expectations of Government. Many Authorities are still struggling to get colleagues in the LEA to acknowledge libraries contribution to children's learning and attainment. Government needs to press LEAs to recognise the potential of libraries and reflect it accordingly in the EDP. The DfES and DCMS could provide a more effective lead to demonstrate the importance of libraries role in helping children in their learning. Programmes such as Book Start are beginning to show clearly the advantages that an early introduction to books can bring as children move into school. Similarly it is important that libraries role in providing learning and inspiration for children is not overlooked with the "Every Child Matters" focus on social services and formal education issues.

  16.  In Rotherham we have developed partnerships to contribute to the skills for life agenda and to run innovative programmes for looked after children. Libraries can be flexible to these changing policy demands and there should be greater recognition of their important role.

EFFECTIVENESS OF LEGISLATIVE, STRATEGIC AND ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORK

  17.  There is a lack of clarity regarding the relationships between ODPM and DCMS in particular in their ambitions for and expectations of libraries. DCMS expect improvement, but ODPM are unwilling to see any increased expenditure. Library buildings will not become the places they need to be without significant investment and this must be recognised by Government. The role of MLA also needs to be reviewed to ensure a clarity of role and responsibility.

RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING OF STAFF

  18.  In Rotherham we have identified core competencies for all staff, linked to the priorities in Framework for the Future. All staff have or are working towards their ECDL. NVQs at level II and III have been introduced. We recognise that it is essential to have a well trained, motivated, customer focused staff to provide the Service the public expect.

  19. We welcome the management and leadership training now being offered to library managers, recognising that the Service can only evolve and respond to change with the right leaders in place.

PERFORMANCE OF THE PEOPLE'S NETWORK

  20.  The "People's Network" has been a phenomenal success in Rotherham with over 120,000 session bookings in the first year of it being available. It has offered people of all ages the chance to make use of ICT to help them in their day-to-day lives, accessing the internet, having e-mail accounts, developing their ICT skills. All staff have gained their ECDL to allow them to assist users of the network. There is significant potential for RMBC in helping achieve IEG targets, but the sustainability of the network now needs to be addressed at a national level. If the costs of maintaining the infrastructure and replacing the hardware fall upon individual library services, the network will begin to fall apart.

CONCLUSION

  21.  Rotherham MBC welcomes the opportunity the Inquiry has provided to comment on the issues raised above. Public libraries have improved their performance over the last five years or so as a result of Standards and a clear direction from DCMS. However, the potential of the Public Library Service across the country remains untapped. The key role that they could play at the heart of a local authority's cross cutting agendas is still to be recognised by too many authorities. At a national level there appears to be a confusion of roles and responsibilities between DCMS and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. Funding improvements in buildings, ICT and book stock will always be a challenge and managing change to respond to the changing demands of the public or to better match national policies will be an ongoing requirement for managers and staff. In Rotherham we are committed to building on the improvements achieved to date and hope that the outcomes of the Inquiry provide support to move us further forward.

16 November 2004