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Background

Open to All? examines an important public institution - the public library - and its capacity to tackle exclusion in modern society. It aims to suggest how public libraries might contribute towards developing a more inclusive society in the UK. It assesses what public libraries are doing now, and perhaps more importantly, it explores how public libraries might focus their services more effectively in the future on excluded social groups and communities.

The study is the product of  an 18 month research project based at Leeds Metropolitan University and conducted in partnership with the London Borough of Merton (Libraries), Sheffield City Libraries and John Vincent, an independent consultant. The research was conducted between October 1998 and April 2000, with financial support from, successively, the British Library Research and Innovation Centre, the Library and Information Commission, and Re:source. It forms part of the “Value and Impact of Libraries” Research Programme” developed by these organisations.

The Research Process

The research was organised to include the following elements:

• working papers which explored the issues around social exclusion itself, and public library responses to it;
• a survey of all UK public library authorities, which assessed the nature and extent of current UK public library activity and initiatives relevant to social exclusion;
• detailed case studies of eight UK public library authorities and their social exclusion strategies and initiatives;
• the development of a Social Exclusion Action Planning Network  which has organised workshops, conferences and other events facilitating dissemination and feedback;
• conclusions and recommendations which suggest how public library exclusion strategies might be strengthened both through practical innovations at local level and new policy developments.

The complete findings of the study  will be published  in three Volumes as follows:

• Volume 1:  Overview and Conclusions : containing summaries of key issues and findings and the project recommendations;
• Volume II:  Survey, Case Studies and Methods contains the detailed empirical findings of the research;
• Volume III:  Working Papers gathers together the  working papers produced during the course of the project.

Study Findings

Reassessing the Record of the Public Library

It is commonly supposed that the public library has a long history of provision for “disadvantaged” or “excluded” individuals, social groups and social classes. The Library and Information Commission claimed  in a recent policy document that libraries were the “essence of inclusion”.

However, the 150 year history of the public library reveals that UK libraries have  adopted only weak, voluntary and “take it or leave it approaches” to social inclusion. The core rationale of the public library movement continues to be based on  the idea of developing universal access to a service which essentially reflects mainstream middle class, white and English values. Attempts to break out of this mould, such as the “community librarianship” of the 1970s and 1980s, have, we conclude, been incorporated back into this  mainstream. Attempts to target services towards excluded people remain patchy, uneven and are often time-limited.   

Some key consequences of this approach to service provision have been:

• a continuing underutilisation of public libraries by working class people and other excluded social groups;
• a lack of knowledge in the public library world about the needs and views of excluded “non users”;
• the development in many public libraries of organisational, cultural, and environmental barriers which effectively excludes many disadvantaged people.

A small minority of authorities and librarians have in the past adopted strategies and initiatives which have taken the needs of excluded people as their starting point. We conclude, however, that these are exceptions and  that public libraries can be said to have been inclusive institutions in a limited sense only.

Public Libraries Today: Survey Findings            

In spite of this, there is now a clear imperative for the public library,  like other public services , to seriously address social exclusion. This impetus is signalled by the publication of the DCMS guidelines Libraries for All;  the advice of the recent House of  Commons Select Committee;  and the general policy framework provided by the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal. The project survey examined  the extent to which this policy impetus was being  reflected in activity in public library authorities (PLAs).

Overall, survey findings  suggest that there are wide differentials between UK public library authorities  in terms of  activity relevant to social inclusion:

• the survey estimates that only one-sixth of PLAs approximate to a comprehensive model of good practice for social inclusion. Most PLAs (60%), although having developed some initiatives, have no comprehensive strategy and uneven and intermittent activity. A final group of one-quarter of PLAs are those with little apparent strategy and service development;
• targeting of disadvantaged neighbourhoods and social groups is used comprehensively by only approximately one-third of PLAs . Recent service developments in libraries, such as the development of ICT networks and literacy initiatives, tend to be targeted at socially excluded people in only a small minority of cases;
• most PLAs report fairly high levels of community involvement by their staff but this tends to be at a general level, rather than focussed on disadvantage or exclusion;
• most PLAs have no consistent resource focus on exclusion, and this is sometimes very marginal indeed . A minority of  PLAs are very active in developing partnership projects but this is not a dominant factor in most PLA social exclusion strategies;
• many of the UK’s most marginal and excluded people are not considered to be a priority in PLA strategy, service delivery and staffing. This applies especially to a number of social groups who commonly face stigma and discrimination: eg. Refugees; Homeless People; Travellers.

Case Study Findings

Although the project case studies illustrated some innovative initiatives and service developments, overall they suggest that such activity is patchy and uneven.  Case studies also highlighted barriers and problems which hinder PLA attempts to tackle exclusion. Some of these are a result of external factors, like lack of money and equipment, but others are linked to the internal procedures, cultures and traditions of library services themselves.

The studies highlight:

• some successes in addressing social exclusion, most frequently linked  to targeted initiatives employing community development,  partnerships, and other proactive ways of working;
• problems in developing an overall, PLA wide, policy framework with exclusion issues “mainstreamed” only exceptionally;
• a reluctance to adopt resourcing models that consistently prioritise excluded communities or social  groups;
• limits on the ability of library staff to work with excluded people because of lack of skills and training and sometimes negative attitudes;
• a tendency to suggest that any “community” activity automatically addresses exclusion and a tendency to consult with communities and excluded groups only sporadically;
• a preoccupation  with libraries as a  “passive” service which prioritises “access” rather than with proactive and interventionist ways of working;
• an ongoing concern with the ICT led “modernisation” of the library service which is only exceptionally linked to exclusion issues.

Transforming Public Libraries for Social Inclusion

In the penultimate section of  Open to All?, we suggest that much more than modernisation is needed. We argue that if public libraries are to seriously address social exclusion, they need to become much more proactive, interventionist and educative institutions. with a concern for social justice at their core. Specially, on the basis of the fieldwork studies, we point to the following strategies for such a transformation:

• the mainstreaming of provision for socially excluded groups and communities and the establishment of standards of service and their monitoring;
• the adoption of resourcing strategies which prioritise the needs of excluded people and communities;
• a recasting of the role of library staff to encompass a more socially responsive and educative approach;
• staffing policies and practices which address exclusion, discrimination and prejudice;
• targeting of excluded social groups and communities;
• the development of community-based approaches to library provision, which incorporate consultation with and partnership with local communities;
• ICT and networking developments which actively focus on the needs of excluded people;
• a recasting of the image and identity of the public library to link it more closely with the cultures of excluded communities and social groups.

Project  Recommendations

Achieving such change will not be easy, but Open to All? concludes with a series of  recommendations and suggestions designed to initiate and support change. At the project conference, these will be distributed as a separate handout.  In addition, authors of some of the project working papers have detailed specific recommendations focussing upon particular categories of excluded  people and social groups. These are reproduced in the working papers in Volume 3 and an Appendix of Volume 1 of the report.

Our recommendations have implications for a wide range of stakeholders in the public library community:

• Public Library Authorities themselves are obviously the most important of these. They are urged to adopt long term strategies for tackling social exclusion involving reviews of resourcing, staffing; community development; ICT;  materials provision; partnership and joint provision and monitoring. They are urged to mainstream social exclusion throughout all their activities.
• Those parts  of central government concerned with the public library and social exclusion (such as DCMS, Re:source, DFEE,  SEU) are urged to assist PLAs by developing a co-ordinated policy framework . In particular, we recommend national service standards for public library activities relevant to social exclusion, and arrangements for monitoring library authority performance.   
• Professional organisations, especially the Library Association, are urged to improve access to the profession for socially excluded people and to establish committees and mechanisms which represent the interests of disadvantaged groups.
• Research institutions and research funding bodies are urged to funded detailed research into   library related needs of excluded groups and to undertake detailed statistical monitoring of the use of libraries by categories of excluded people
• Training organisations, especially Schools of Information and Library Studies, are urged to ensure that their courses and programmes are relevant to public library work for social inclusion. 

Open to All?

Libraries are, at present, only superficially open to all. They provide mainly passive “access” to materials and resources and they have service priorities and resourcing strategies which work in favour of existing library users rather than excluded or disadvantaged communities or groups. An ICT led “modernisation” of the library service is doing  little to change this pattern: our research concludes that this will simply replicate existing inequities of use in an “information age”.

In the end, therefore the core conclusion of the  study is  that  public libraries have the potential to play a key role in tackling social exclusion, but in order to make a real difference they  will need to undergo rapid transformation and change.

Project Contacts: Dave Muddiman School of Information Management, Leeds Metropolitan University, Beckett Park, Leeds LS6 3QS.
E Mail d.muddimam@lmu.ac.uk;
Tel. 0113 2832600 x 3661.

Other project team members: Shiraz Durrani/John Pateman (London Borough of Merton); Martin Dutch (Sheffield City Libraries); John Vincent (Independent Consultant)

Last updated: Tuesday, 28 August, 2001