Libraries For All: Social Inclusion in Public Libraries

Section 6:
The Challenges that Libraries Face

6.1 Implementing social inclusion policies brings challenges for library authorities if they are to provide a sustainable, long term service to socially excluded people. The main challenges are:

• Sustainability and long-term resource issues
  Adequate resources will be necessary to sustain the service, and particular consideration needs to be given to funding issues relating to the provision of ICT and to extending opening hours. Many authorities will be able to adopt short-term measures that may provide some quick gains. However, a more significant contribution lies in the development of a long-term social inclusion strategy and measures which are sustainable. The challenge for libraries is to use their resources more imaginatively in order to support new strategies.
   
• Need for a cultural change within libraries
  Mainstreaming and adopting positive measures for social inclusion means adapting and extending the range of services provided by libraries, forming new links and partnerships with the community, and challenging some of the more traditional values and practices of libraries. This cannot successfully be achieved without the active support of library staff. At present, the majority of libraries offer a ‘shop-front’ model of provision, in which people use facilities for self-defined purposes. The transition to community-oriented provision of a full-range of facilities, many of them addressing social exclusion on a partnership basis, implies significant cultural change for the library service.
   
• Responding to the new ICT environment
  The arrival of the Information Age, and its impact on people’s lives, means that libraries have an important role in developing a socially inclusive information society. They are an important conduit for information and communication at local level. A cornerstone of this is providing an affordable local access to ICT.
   
• Community ownership/community partnership
  If social inclusion policies are to be fully effective, it is vital that individuals and representatives from excluded and community groups are involved in developing, introducing and monitoring the service. Establishing and maintaining these links is time consuming, but every opportunity should be taken for fostering community consultation and partnership.
   
• Integrating the library’s role within a wider geographical framework
  It is essential that the social inclusion activities of library services are not considered in isolation. They must be integrated within the local authority’s wider strategy for improving social inclusion, and the library services must connect effectively with other local authority services.
   
• Demonstrating benefits and outcomes
  Through annual library plans and other monitoring, library authorities will be required to demonstrate the benefits and outcomes of their social inclusion plans and activities. It is therefore important that objectives, criteria for success and performance indicators are set at the outset, and regularly reviewed and evaluated.

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Foreword by Chris Smith

Executive Summary of Key Policy Objectives

1 Why a Social Inclusion Policy for Public Libraries?

2 The Social Inclusion Context

3 Identifying the Barriers that Keep People Away

4The Social Inclusion Policy

5 Means of Achieving those Objectives

6 The Challenges that Libraries Face

7 The Consultation Process

Appendix A - Bibliography

Appendix B - Terms of Reference and List of Policy Group Members