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Apple Store, one of the places consultants visited |
Flick’s tick: chief backs library change
CONTROVERSIAL plans to make a £2million cut to the library budget by reducing staff and introducing self-service machines were finally signed off at the Town Hall last night (Wednesday).
Liberal Democrat culture chief Councillor Flick Rea resisted pressure for a rethink and agreed to proposals mapped out in the council’s library reform programme, known as Growing Your Library and developed by council officials and consultants over several months.
Cllr Rea said the only way libraries would survive for future generations in difficult financial times would be by cutting the cost of running the service from its current £8.2million budget. “Otherwise the service will not survive in the tooth and claw climate of modern local government finance,” she said.
The cuts will be made over four years.
Before making her decision, Cllr Rea heard deputations from library users who criticised the programme, including one from John Richardson of the Camden History Society who accused her of allowing it to be “pushed through without democratic process”.
Calling his comment “unfair,” she said she had listened to the comments of staff and taken on board objections from the public – in particular about the proposed axing of the archivist post at the Local Studies and Archives centre at Holborn Library in Theobalds road, which she claimed was a mistake.
She added: “It’s very difficult to separate out staff restructuring with the service as whole, but it is a staff restructure and therefore Camden is not expected to consult the public.”
Council workers union Unison also attacked the changes at meeting, as did Holborn Library Users’ Group chairwoman Shaku Woodrow.
She said the time saved by putting in self-issuing machines – and thus “freeing up” librarians to help readers – would be cancelled out by the staffing cuts.
“There is no evidence that the library service will improve as a result of the changes,” she added.
In addition to the 15 posts that have already been axed, more cuts, including some compulsory redundancies, are expected.
Library consultants’ £2,000-a-day bill
Findings remain secret after study that took in visits to Apple Store and Jamie Oliver shop
CONSULTANTS hired to help redesign Camden’s library service were paid more than £2,000 a day over the summer.
American firm IDEO was paid £47,000 for 23 days work on the Growing Your Library (GYL) project, according to information released following a request by the New Journal under the Freedom of Information Act.
The work was part of a major overhaul of the library service in Camden, which will see some staff jobs cut and machines introduced.
Reports suggested consultants visited a series of businesses, including the glamorous Apple Store in Regent Street, to see what ideas could be transferred to council-run libraries.
On its website IDEO describes itself as an “innovation and design” company. It lists some of its better known clients, a roll call of American multi-billion-pound organisations, including the Bank of America, food giant Nestlé and the charity set up by billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft owner Bill Gates, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Freedom of Information officers at the Town Hall refused to reveal what the council got out of the deal and a request to see a draft of the ideas supplied to the leisure department was refused on the grounds that they have not been introduced yet.
Although officers accepted it was in the public interest to reveal what the money was spent on for “accountability and transparency” reasons, they ruled that to “prematurely” disclose the findings would result in “partial or inaccurate information being released” and would not allow Camden time to discuss with staff how the plans might affect them.
Officials insisted it was in the “public interest” not to release any more information.
Discussions held during a five-day workshop involving IDEO and library staff – described as a “deep-dive” brainstorming event – have been posted on the internal Camden intranet.
Details of some of the suggestions put forward by IDEO consultants have been criticised by staff, who contacted the New Journal to say the public would be “horrified” and “amused” at the “absurdity” of the week-long session and “the way their council tax money has been spent”.
The firm visited six businesses in London, including City Farm in Islington, the Apple Store in Regent Street and Jamie Oliver’s cook shop Recipease in Clapham.
Consultants spent time at three Camden libraries – Regent’s Park, Kentish Town and Swiss Cottage – where they held meetings with library users and observed staff “to find out how they actually provided and used services”, but staff have queried their decision not to visit any celebrated libraries outside the borough.
The firm’s main specification was to come up with innovative ideas about what libraries and librarians could offer in the future, when Camden launches the second phase of its library reform programme next year.
A council spokeswoman said: “The council approached a number of specialists to bid for work on the Growing Your Library project. IDEO, an international company whose UK headquarters are in Camden, was chosen in competition with a number of other agencies, as they offered the best combination of experience, capacity and proven track record in the field.” |
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Your comments:
RE your report about the absurd amount of money paid to the American firm of GYL Library Consultants, £47,000 just to go around looking at a few libraries and come up with "Ideas", and then the Council's refusal to disclose the outcomes of this operation on the grounds that they have not yet decided how to act on it, one word immediately comes to mind: "PRIVATISATION". In the absence of any clear information from the Council, it would be reasonable to assume that their secrecy is due to the fact that they are planning to privatise Camden's libraries and that GYL is a contender in that process. Were they to attempt to privatise in public, there would be an outcry - so they're doing it behind closed doors.
T. Muirhead
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