STV BULLETIN 205,18 MARCH 2016
Compiled by David Owen
Campaigning for the future of public libraries, Part 2
STV Bulletin 204 reported on CILIP’s My Library By Right campaign to defend the public library service and its call for the Leadership for Libraries Taskforce to develop a strategy to assist its preservation in England. The Bulletin also reported the publication of a House of Commons Library Briefing Paper on public libraries in Englandwhich in Chapter six, “Concerns about library services and closures”, cited the response of the Minister for Culture, Ed Vaizey, to a Written Parliamentary Question about how many libraries have closed and opened between 2010 and 2016.
On 1st March CILIP announced that its Chief Executive, Nick Poole, had written to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, John Whittindgale, strongly objecting to Ed Vaizey’s use of flawed figures about library closures in the House of Commons. He points out that the CIPFA Annual Library Statistics indicate that there was a net reduction of 178 libraries between January 2010 and January 2016 whereas Ed Vaizey cited 110 static library closures and 77 new libraries opened, including relocations to new buildings, which implies a net loss of 33 over that period.Nick Poole states, “In quoting these misleading figures, the Minister risks a partial and partisan presentation of the circumstances of public libraries. We note that these figures have also been quoted in a House of Commons Library Briefing Paper and we are in contact with them to request the correction of several inaccuracies. Given the obligation on Ministers to provide ‘truthful and accurate’ responses to Parliamentary Questions, we are extremely concerned that Mr. Vaizey appears to have chosen to use such unsatisfactory evidence in order to present a particular view on the realities of the challenge facing public library services across the UK.”
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The same day, the Libraries Taskforce published a blog by Simon Richardson, “Parliamentary Report on Libraries: a response.” Simon is Head of Libraries at DCMS and its representative on the Libraries Taskforce. He points out that neither DCMS nor the Taskforce were asked to contribute to the report or were aware of it pre-publication. He sets out the reasons why the question was answered in the way it was because the CIPFA data does not provide the information to answer the question fully. He says that “Data about public libraries is complex as context is important” and the Taskforce recognises that this is an issue which needs addressing.
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On 7th March the House of Commons Library published a revised version of Briefing Paper 5875. The revisions relate to Chapter six. With regard to “How many libraries have closed?” it has been amended to cover CILIP’s objections to the figures used and reports its letter to the Secretary of State.
For access to a summary and a link to the full document go to:
Whilst one can sympathise with Simon’s difficulties with regard to the CIPFA statistics, a major problem is that they are already out of date when they are eventually published which provides automatic cover for any Minister. It would seem that CILIP has scored a point this time but whether it will assist its longer term objective is highly doubtful in the current financial situation of local government.
Nevertheless, the Leadership for Libraries Taskforce wishes to paint a more rounded picture of the current situation. At its meeting on 10th March it agreed draft terms of reference for its new Communications Sub-Group and these were published by DCMS the following day. According to the document the objective is “to co-ordinate communications activity across the sector with a view to shifting the narrative on public libraries from one that is primarily focused on cuts, to one that shows a more balanced view, based on evidence and a deeper knowledge of the activities of modern public libraries.”
Membership of the sub-group will comprise the communication leads from the Taskforce; CILIP; SCL; the Reading Agency and Arts Council England together with co-opted volunteers from public library workers who could be developed as future leaders.
An annex sets out a work programme and suggested activities. “It will also plan and implement a series of ‘golden moments’, which will be taken from the (2016) calendar of events that is already planned, but chosen to illustrate the Universal Offers devised by SCL. The aim of these events will be either to consolidate the general view: “Libraries are great at this” or create awareness of unexpected activities: “I didn’t know libraries did that.”
For more details see:
Does any of the above matter?
On 11th March the Guardian reported the findings of research conducted by John Miller, President of Central Connecticut State University, into national literacy. The research was not based simply on reading tests but included a range of features including the number of libraries, newspapers and computers per head of population for the 61 nations for which the relevant data was available. Miller is quoted as saying “the features we examined present a complex and nuanced portrait of a nation’s cultural vitality” and that “what the rankings strongly suggest…is that these kinds of literate behaviours are critical to the success of individuals and nations in the knowledge-based economics that define our global future.”
I was not surprised to read that Finland comes in first place followed by Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Sweden. For the record, the UK ranks 17th which was not helped by a 29th equal placing for libraries!
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Accessible books
STV Bulletin 203 reported the launch of a series of Braille books for children from DK, a division of Penguin Random House, which it had developed in partnership with RNIB. On 10th March the Accessible Books Consortium announced the shortlist for its 2016 International Excellence Award which will be made at the London Book Fair on 12th April. DK has been shortlisted in the publisher category along with Elsevier and Sage Publications. DK and the DK Braille Concept Delivery Team have also been shortlisted along with three others in the project initiatives category.
For more details see:
Bulletin 203 also reported a blog in the Bookseller on 11th February in which Claire Maxwell of RNIB set out details of her involvement in the project and why it is important that other publishers follow DK’s lead. On 10th March the Booktrust published a matching blog from Fleur Star, Senior Editor at DK. “Why making these Braille books is the best thing I’ve ever done” sets out how the new series came about and why these books are so important.
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E-Books
On 15th February the European Parliamentary Research Service published a briefing paper on “E-books: Evolving markets and new challenges.” The 12 page paper provides a useful, concise but comprehensive account of the current position covering:
- Background
- Global perspectives in book publishing
- The EU book market
- From letters to pixels: the evolving book markets
- Taxation issues and e-book market strategies
- Copyright and e-books: basic features and issues (including the impact of copyright provisions on libraries and e-lending).
The paper’s summary states:
“With an estimated value of US$151billion, book publishing gradually evolved into a truly global business early in the 21st century. As yet, however, e-books are nevertheless significant only in a relatively small number of markets. These are led by the United States (13% of the book market) and the United Kingdom (11.5%), with Germany (5%) developing more recently. The e-book market in the EU has taken off only in recent years, and in 2014 it still represented only 1.6% of the total book market in the leading EU markets.
The advent of e-books transformed the usual linear supply chain into a global network, with competing distribution channels and retail outlets, pushing publishers and booksellers to establish a digital strategy. Indeed, e-books face specific challenges with regard to protection from piracy, lending and copyright issues. More importantly, multinational digital companies choose to set up European headquarters in specific Member States due to their favourable tax regimes and/or lower value added tax (VAT) rates. To partly offset this phenomenon, the EU introduced new rules from 1 January 2015, according to which VAT on electronic services is levied where the customer is based, rather than where the supplier is located.
In contrast to print books, e-books cannot enjoy reduced VAT rates, since they are classified as ‘electronically supplied services’. While the average VAT rate for print books across the EU is 7.6%, the corresponding rate for e-books stands at 19.9%, thus placing them at a disadvantage. The European Commission has already begun a reflection on the VAT regime, including considering the application of reduced VAT rates and is to announce its conclusions by the end of 2016.”
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Unfortunately for users of the Nook e-reader the Barnes and Noble owned company announced on 3rd March that it would cease trading in the UK on 15th March. It is transferring its customers to Sainsburys so that customers can continue to access “the vast majority” of already purchased e-books but the process is not automatic.
For more details see:
With regard to the usability of e-books, it was interesting to read an article on “The lost art of the index in e-books”. The author asks “When was the last time you used an index in an e-book? Maybe the better question is this: Have you ever used an index in an e-book? One of the challenges here is that most e-books don’t have indexes, the result of the misguided notion that text search is a better solution.” The article goes on to address the faults of text search when using reference e-books compared with indexes in printed books.
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Audio books
On 8th March the Bookseller published a blog on the growing audio book sales in the UK and US by Ali Muirden, Director of a digital publishing company, Creative Content Ltd, and an audio book publisher for 16 years.As she says, it is difficult to state accurate statistics for the UKaudio book market as the latest full data was published in 2007 by the now defunct Spoken Word Publishing Association which estimated the market then to be worth £75 million.The problem is that the Amazon owned Audible has never released any of its figures and the company has such a large proportion of the market.The best estimate is that the market was worth around £91 million in 2015 and statistics compiled by the Publishers Association indicated that audio downloads grew by nearly 30% between 2014 and 2015.
However, in the US the Audio Publishers Association provides detailed annual statistics.Their figures for 2014 revealed that their market was worth £1.47 billion with a 13.5% increase on 2013. Latest figures from the American Association of Publishers show that sales of audio downloads grew by 38% in January to October 2015.She then looks at the trends which have created this growth and points to more younger people using audio with the average age of audio buyers being 24-35 years in the US.She goes on to address where people use audio books; the types of books they buy and the importance of narrators.
For more details see:
Website accessibility
The long running saga of the inadequacies of the long promised European Directive on the Accessibility of Public Sector Websites continues to rumble on. On 10th March the European Blind Union, European Dyslexia Association and 18 other European disability NGO’s sent an open letter to the Ministers in charge of Digital Affairs in all Member States; the Chairs of National Parliamentary Committees in charge of Digital Affairs and the Permanent Representatives of all EU Member states. With regard to the ongoing negotiations on the directive, they object to the far-reaching exemptions proposed by the European Council and the letter calls upon them to ensure that 80million disabled Europeans are not excluded.
For access to the letter and the accompanying press release see:
Digital Inclusion
The Tinder Foundation has published “Library Digital Inclusion Action Research Project Evaluation. Interim Findings Report, February 2016” (20 pages). It outlines some of the unique approaches adopted by and the challenges facing the 16 partner library authorities involved in the six month project which is scheduled to finish at the end of March. A final evaluation report is promised.
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On 15th March the Tinder Foundation announced that it has become a registered charity, “while still retaining the staff-owned mutual principles.” For more details go to:
Welcome news.
On 11th March the Carnegie UK Trust announced its continued support for CILIP’s Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children’s Book Awards by committing to provide £60,000 sponsorship over the next five years. These are the UK’s oldest and most prestigious such awards dating back to 1936 and 1955 respectively. Uniquely, they are judged by librarians but each year around 100,000 children shadow the judging process, including visually impaired children.
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RNIB’s Welsh Language Scheme
Colleagues in Wales should note that on 2nd March RNIB launched its renewed Welsh Language Scheme (40 pages) which “sets out to staff, volunteers and customers how RNIB will work to further embed the Welsh language within its culture, services and working practices.” Launching the scheme, RNIB Chief Executive, Lesley-Anne Alexander, said “Our Welsh Language scheme embodies RNIB’s commitment to be ambitious and customer-focused, will help us to be there for more blind and partially sighted people as we aim to triple our reach over the next three years.For many in Wales, Welsh is the first language spoken. Having the option to use services through the medium of Welsh is not just about a preference. We know that many Welsh speakers feel more comfortable expressing themselves in Welsh, feel more confident communicating their needs in Welsh, think and live their lives in Welsh. Feeling able to express yourself and being comfortable and confident in communicating is vital to tackling isolation and critical at the point of diagnosis when you have sight loss.”
For more details and a link to the scheme go to:
Dyslexia Action’s book blog
Alison Keeley’s book blog for March is “From A to Z- 10 books featuring the alphabet.” She provides details of 10 books “which can help make learning the alphabet more enjoyable and memorable” for dyslexic children ranging from age 3 to 9 plus.
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Technical guidance
On 3rdMarch Dyslexia Action published the fourth and final part of Dominik Luke’s series on structured documents. This covers structured documents in other word processors and on web pages including Open Office; Libre Office; Google docs; Apple pages; web pages; plain text with Markdown and converting MindMaps into structured documents.
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The following week he published advice on how somebody with dyslexia can benefit from outlines software making it easier for them to write in small chunks; take notes; plan projects; and make checklists or to do lists.
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On 8th March Robin Christopherson of AbilityNet published a blog about Microsoft’s efforts to “make the web user-experience for people with disabilities far smoother and more sophisticated.” It covers accessibility developments in their new Windows 10 browser, Microsoft Edge, not just for those using Microsoft’s built-in assistive technologies but also for people using other commercial assistive technology.
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Share The Vision is a partnership of UK libraries and library organisations that work together to improve the accessibility of library services for blind and other print disabled people. More information is available from the Coordinator, Mark Freeman, at or 01642 526481.
Contributions for the Bulletin can be sent to David Owen at