Sunday, Sunday...

Today was the end of an era in Devon Libraries as the Exeter Central Library opened its doors on a Sunday for the last time. Eight years ago Sunday opening was launched as a way of widening access and enabling the service of meeting the then Government's criteria of having at least one library open for 55 hours or more a week. The service was initially launched as a six week pilot, but proved popular enough with the limited publicity it gained to warrant a policy of permanent Sunday opening. Admittedly the opening hours were always a compromise between what the staff wanted and what was likely to be popular with the public, which meant the library was open from 11am to 2.30pm, but the footfall through the door told staff that even with the slightly odd opening hours the service was appreciated. Many of the people who came in used the Sunday service every week, with the Children's library in particular proving very popular. Equally, a good number of Sunday customers told staff that it was the only time they could get to the library and have time to browse properly.
In July, the second phase of restructuring was announced to staff, along with the revised opening hours for libraries across the service. It came as no surprise to the staff that the consultation document contained the axing of Sunday opening as part of the service revision for Exeter Central. The staffs has suspected that this was a likely move as it was well known that the Sunday service had had relatively high staffing costs compared to the level of footfall through the building. At first the staff sighed and said in a resigned way 'oh well, it was inevitable really', then stopped and thought again. Yes, staffing costs at the outset had been high, but since then the amount of staffing in the building had been reduced owing to the process of reviewing every post as it became vacant and the recent freeze of vacancies. The library was running on Sundays with around half the staff which had originally been thought necessary for the day and was managing to provide a decent service. At busy times borrowers may have to wait slightly longer than usual and the level of use in the Children's library meant it was an extremely busy few hours for the member of staff manning the department, but it could be done. With the addition of self-issue machines later in the year, it would have been perfectly possible to continue to run the Sunday service with the reduced level of staff. As such the Sunday staff mounted a campaign to senior management to try and save the Sunday service. The library also offered the only public computer and internet access in the city centre as there are no longer any internet cafes which open on a Sunday (in fact, I believe there is only one place still acting as an internet cafe in the whole city regardless). Considering how many people came in to use the computer service, the Sunday closure was obviously going to have a big impact. Sunday opening also generated a significant amount of income through the hire of DVDs and other hire charges as these items were often the most borrowed.

The response of senior management was that the public consultation on opening hours had shown that Sunday opening was the least popular and that footfall on Sunday's was lower than other days. The staff responded by saying that although fewer people used the Sunday opening than Saturday's, they knew how valued it was by those who used it, and with the reduction in evening opening hours which was coming they felt that the option of using the library on a Sunday would become even more important. It was also noted that the reduced opening hours for St Thomas, Pinhoe and Topsham libraries was likely to impact on the usage of Exeter Central Library and as a result Sunday usage might both increase and help to offset the loss of hours at these other libraries. A comparison by Sunday staff of the footfall through the building during the opening hours with the footfall on other days during the same time period revealed that the footfall was easily as high, and in some cases higher, than other days of the week. The staff also spoke up for Exeter Central Library being only one of a handful of libraries in the entire country that opened on a Sunday, and the only service below Bristol that offered Sunday opening. It was felt that this should be a cachet for the service and should be promoted and celebrated rather than closed down. In addition, it was pointed out that Sunday opening had never been promoted and advertised particularly well. The pilot scheme had been launched on a soft opening, but there had not been a big push of advertising once the service became permanent. The staff knew from talking to borrowers over the counter than many regular users still hadn't fully appreciated that the library was open on Sunday's at all. As a result the Sunday staff suggested a stay of execution for the service until Christmas. The service could be promoted in a 'use it or lose it' kind of way with a big push on awareness of Sunday opening and the level of usage monitored. In the meantime the staffing could be recalculated to see if costs could be brought down, and most of the staff was willing to work on a reduced weekend enhancement in order to help preserve the service. The staff could also conduct a more targeted consultation with Sunday users to see how many were using the library on that day because they could not reach the library on any other day.

Sadly it was all to no avail, and the decision to close Exeter Central Library on Sunday's was announced as part of the final Phase 2 plan in August. Rather frustratingly, staffs were not allowed to make this fact known to the public as they were not allowed to discuss the proposed new opening hours until the end of August with their borrowers. As a result, the Sunday users of the library have only had a months’ notice that the service was being withdrawn. I suspect that many people will arrive outside the doors next Sunday to be disappointed on finding the doors shut and the building in silence and darkness.

Next phase; staff? What staff?

Phase two of the Devon Libraries restructuring is now almost fully implemented with the introduction of new opening hours across the county over the next fortnight and the new staffing levels now virtually in place.

Phase two was the turn of the frontline staff to be 'restructured' and despite reassurances that frontline staffing would be protecting, it became clear that this was not going to be the case. Staff had fought hard for years to bring staffing levels up to a level which allowed all libraries to function effectively and have the staff time and resources to offer more than just a basic service. Single-manning in the smallest branches had also been phased out in order to ensure consistency of service and the safety of staff. In 2004 a process of job evaluation had been undertaken in the library service to review the jobs done by all staff and to ensure they were paid accordingly in regard to the skills and qualifications needed to undertake the jobs. All of this has been slowly undone in the process of restructuring, making a mockery of the time and money spent in the job evaluation process and undermining the work done in terms of bolstering staff levels.
In 2004 Exeter Central library finally had staffing levels that allowed the library to function comfortably and allow not only the front of house services to be properly administered, but also the backroom functions necessary to the running of a library of its size. Additional events and activities could be offered as there were enough staff to cover them and staff sickness and holiday could be covered without loss of service. This was achieved not only through a good level of permanent staffing but through a large pool of temporary staff, or 'casuals' as they were known. The temporary staff were often ex-Saturday Assistants looking for holiday work, students looking for flexible term-time work and individuals who had other jobs which were not entirely regular - for example there have been a number of music teachers and musicians pass through the service. As far as I am aware, most of the branches found themselves in similar positions, although some of the smallest libraries have always struggled at least slightly in terms of staff. However, within a couple of years the landscape was changing and the squeeze on staff began. Initially the problems came in the form of changes to the employment laws which meant the basis on which temporary staff could be employed could not remain the same. Casuals found that the previous easy-going terms, which on the whole had worked for the majority of casual staff, could no longer remain and instead they had to enter into new contracts which were badly thought out and made earning a living via library work very difficult. As a result the pool of available temporary staff began to dwindle, although the real difficulties with temporary staff were still to come. Many instead tried to secure small part-time contracts which still allowed them to work 'additional hours' to provide cover for sickness and leave. These hours were paid at the same rate as any contracted hours and were claimed at the end of each month. Then came the recruitment freezes. Initially these were due to overspends in Devon County Council and all recruitment of new staff was frozen on several occasions while the budgets were balanced. The problem was the vacancies which arose as a result were never filled. Temporary contracts were issued for many vacancies, but permanent contracts were never forthcoming. Only a small number of vacancies were properly advertised and filled, usually in the more senior positions. Vacancies at library assistant level were often only filled by temporary contracts. By 2008 the service found itself in the position where every vacancy which came up was scrutinised to see if it was really necessary to the service to fill it. This in some ways is good management as it means a constant review of staffing is being undertaken, but the net result for the service was a gradual and continued loss of staff. Positions were cut or disposed of altogether and by 2010 many vacancies were not being filled at all. Within Exeter Central Library posts were divided down to provide hours across several departments and in some cases hours were 'given back' by moving existing members of staff into other departments for a set  number of hours per week. Staffing began to be stretched and cracks started to appear. However, the willingness of part-time staff to provide cover and the hard work of all staff meant the difficulties could be overcome and the quality of service maintained.
At the end of 2010 the final blow came and the disintegration of the frontline staffing began in earnest. Devon County Council, like all local authorities, was under the shadow of massive budget cuts from central Government. Yet another freeze on recruitment was put in place, but in addition to this all temporary contracts were terminated and overtime cut. Suddenly the library service stood to lose a significant portion of its staffing. Some individuals had been working under temporary contracts for years, which had been renewed and renewed but despite appeals from managers and the staff themselves, had never been made more permanent. In one swoop their contracts were removed altogether, some with only a few weeks’ notice to find new employment. The impact on the frontline was felt keenly as gaps appeared across the service. In addition to this was the loss of overtime. Initially overtime was removed for those earning more than £21,000 per year. As no member of library staff apart from those at management level earns this much, it seemed that the service was outside the scope of this. Then it was said that no-one working 37hrs per week could do overtime; still no problem for the library service as none of those providing additional hours worked full time. But then came the blow; no-one earning £21,000 or working 37 hrs per week or working in the library service, except those with relief contracts, were eligible for overtime. All of those part-time staff, who provided additional hours to their contracts to cover sickness, leave and events were no longer able to do so. As the terms of the original temporary, or 'relief', contracts had been exceedingly unfavourable (in terms of what you were paid for when - you were contracted for so many hours per year and paid a monthly salary against those hours which often amounted to very little - £40 or £50 a month. You couldn't earn more than the monthly salary until you'd fulfilled your annual hours, which meant you could work full time for three weeks and still receive just your £40 or £50 at the end of it as you hadn't yet 'used up' the annual amount of hours you were contracted for) there were very few working under those contracts. Suddenly there was no-one to cover anything.
Why is all of this important? Because with the second phase of restructuring we find ourselves in an even worse position. A minimum number of staff hours for each branch was worked out which would deliver the basic service. An 'element' of backroom time was put into this formula and it was then up to each individual library to sort out the staffing. In many of the branches this mostly resulted in reduced hours for most staff, which often reflected the reduced opening hours that most were facing. In Exeter Central the story was rather more urgent as it looked like around half of the frontline staff would find themselves redundant. As it stands, the majority of staff has come out with a job of some sort, but mostly owing to several full time staff choosing to leave altogether and all staff accepting a reduction in hours. The problem of relief staff remains with only around 4 relief staff available for the whole of Exeter Central and seemingly no plans to recruit more. It is becoming noticeable to the public that the service is not functioning well as desks are often single-manned and the staff behind them often do not work regularly enough in that department to answer questions. The lending library is frequently closing the front issue desk and running all functions from the enquiry desk which results in longer wait times for customers - particularly frustrating if you just want to return an item during your lunch break. The overstretched staffing means keeping up with basic tasks such as the reshelving of returned items is becoming increasingly difficult and the processing requests from other libraries is constantly running at a backlog, which ultimately means that customers at those branches are waiting longer for their items. Events and additional activities can only be staffed with great difficulty as only relief staff can be paid to cover the gaps they create on the frontline. With relief staff already working virtually full time to cover the gaps which already exist with the reduced staffing and trying to cover leave and sickness, which even so can't always be covered, there is little scope for running anything other than the basic service.
Single manning has been re-introduced in the smallest branches and a new post of 'Library assistant - unsupervised' has been created. This essentially means that there is one person responsible for the provision of all services in the library but is not paid to reflect the level of responsibility they have to take. Single-manning has always been contentious as there has always been the feeling that the lone member of staff in the single-manned library is rather vulnerable, particularly as a number of the small libraries are rather tucked away, and that it results in inconsistent staffing and service when the lone member of staff wants to take holiday or is off sick. Never the less, single-manning is back for many of the smallest branches.
Self issue is being implemented in a number of libraries, including Exeter Central, which may well help to alleviate the immediate problem of staffing levels. However, self issue at Exeter Central is not expected to be in place until Christmas at the very earliest and the new staffing structure is in place now. Expect longer queues, longer waiting times for requests and a reduction in the quality of service in the meantime. IT help will be at a minimum, as will staff support for those using meeting rooms and specialist services are essentially dead and gone. Apparently this is delivering a 'sustainable service for the future'.

But everthing is on the internet....

I always enjoy the daft comments made by people who think that libraries are outdated and should all be closed anyway. The cry is always 'but everthing is on the internet anyway and you can get loads of books for free via download', usually closely followed by 'books are outdated, everyone will be using downloads soon'. I beg to differ. Firstly, no everything is NOT on the internet. There are vast amounts of information and any number of books available in digital format via the internet, but this is only a tiny, tiny fraction of all the books and all the records available out there. I also wonder how people think information gets onto the internet in the first place. Do they imagine that its all somehow magically absorbed into the vast ether that is the web? Someone has to sit there and scan every page in every item and load it up to the web. This takes time, and people. Yes, there are book scanners that will turn the pages for you and scan a book automatically, but they're generally beyond the financial reach of most libraries and other organisations. The British Library has one, but then it adds around 3 million titles, or 11km of shelving, to its stock each year. Even all the troglodytes in the basement all scanning all of the time are not going to be able to make much of a dent in that (no, I'm not being rude, that really is the pet name for the staff who work in the stacks!). And no, digital versions of each thing published are not automatically made at the same time. Many specialist books or those on small print runs will only ever be in hard copy.
There are many advantages to the digital versions of course, and I would be stupid to suggest that libraries should ingore the progress being made and to ignore the e versions of books altogether. For many the digital version is far more flexible and user friendly and of course rather lighter to carry than the lastest hardback bestseller.  But we're not just talking about fiction or textbooks, which is what the arguments tend to be about, there are dozens of types of book that the e-book wouldn't work too well for. Cookbooks for example. I don't know about you, but the idea of having my kindle or iphone next to the cooker while I attempt the latest Nigella or Jamie Oliver receipe is just asking for trouble! Plus, with this type of book half the pleasure of them is leafing thorough the book and browsing. Equally, sheet music doesn't translate that well to a screen, neither do children's picture books or for that matter any 'coffee table' book. Books also have a tactile quality that most of us still value, particularly when we already spend so much time reading off a screen. There is something refreshing about reading text in a hard copy format when you spend all day in front of a computer, whether its in book form or as a newspaper or magazine. Books of course are also good as gifts, somehow being given the download of a favourite novel or non-fiction book isn't quite the same as receiving a hard copy of it with a personal note in. It suggests that the giver has thought carefully about the gift, rather than the feeling that it might have been hastily done at the last minute as digital gifts or cards can. A first or early edition of a book would be even more prized. For these reasons I don't think everyone will be using downloads soon. Plus, at least at the moment, they don't suit everyone. I can't imagine that the older library users I encounter are likely to swap their paperbacks for a Kindle any time soon, despite useful features like being able to change to font size. There are many who just don't want to read off another screen, as outlined already and a book will never have a flat battery, get corrupted or become an outdated model. Neither survive being dropped in the bath very well though.
A final note, this is a quote from a head of libraries in Surrey
"The book is a very outdated way of transmitting information" - some people will no doubt be thinking that this head of libraries sounds like he or she is looking toward the future in a practical way, noting how old fashioned and soon to be obsolete the book it. The comment was made in 1981, and 30 years later libraries are still alive and well and so is the book. Incidentally, Surrey libraries experimented at this time with introducing arcade machines and getting rid of the reference and childrens sections of its libraries. The arcade machines lasted 6 months, and I believe the reference and childrens sections are still in place.

There will be a short intermission

I stepped away from this blog for a while, mostly as my all consuming rage at the way in which library services were being broken down, disregarded and generally tarnished by the uninformed vitrol being spouted in the media threated to completely overcome me! But now, with new developments afoot, it is time to pick it up again.

The first stage of the 'restructuring' is now complete, and it seems that little the staff said about the proposals was taken into account. The almost illterate email we received from the acting head of service once the 'consultation' process was closed said it all. The reaction given was that yes, knowlege and expertise would be lost and that was regrettable "but if you always do what you always did you get what you always got". I think the fact that the acting head of service didn't even read the email thoroughly enough to pick up the clanger of a mistake at the beginning in addressing us all by 'God Morning' says everything about the level of care and courtesy extended to staff!
The senior staff have now gone through the process of applying for jobs and redundancy and those who survived are now in post. Performing Arts has been left without a 'Library supervisor', as has Ilfracombe and we don't know what will happen to fill those posts. There are many leaving the service, either through retirement or redunancy and with them go many years of experience and vast swathes of local knowledge and subject expertise. As expected, the gaps left in frontline staffing have not been filled, and nor will they be. This is where the decimation of the service begins.

'Surely the branches can take the local history material?'

Having read on Voices for the Library the excellent, if saddening, comments of Roger Taylor, the outgoing Performing Arts Librarian, on the loss of specialisms in Somerset libraries, it seems timely to tackle the issue of specialisms in Devon Libraries. Sadly, specialisms in Devon are going the same way as Somerset as in the new structure all the specialist librarian roles were, to use a wonderful piece of management-speak 'deleted', regarded as outdated and too expensive to maintain. As many of the specialisms were housed within the Exeter Central library, the directorate management appears to have misunderstood the 'Head of Department' tag given to each of the specialist librarians and decided that this was just departmentalism and created 'silos' within the building. This manages to ignore the fact that the Performing Arts Library and Westcountry Studies are both entirely separate libraries with county roles which happen to be within the same building as the main lending library. It also ignores the county nature of much of the work done by the Lending, Reference and Childrens libraries. The specialist staff in many of the larger branch libraries such as Barnstaple and Exmouth were also 'deleted' and deed superfluous to modern library needs. 

The quote which heads this post sums up the attitude of the directorate management as this is what was said when the county role of Westcountry Studies was put forward during one meeting regarding the restructuring. The manager in question, whom we shall call Mr Suit, seemed genuinely to believe that the material held in this exceedingly specialist library was in a small enough quantity to be able to be split up and moved out to the branches. He was also taken aback when one member of the Westcountry staff pointed out that much of the material was also rare and valuable! Where exactly Mr Suit thought Napoleon's death mask, the 100,000 or so illustrations, the endless newspapers or the enormous Burnet Morris index (a huge card index to a vast variety of local history references put together between the two world wars and bequeathed to the library service) should go one cannot imagine, and this is only the tip of the iceberg. But then one can also imagine that Mr Suit doesn't know of the existence of any of those items. It also had to be pointed out that many of the branch libraries just don't have the space to house local history collections as the pressure on storage and shelf space in every library is great, particularly as most do not have the luxury of a stack. The branches as it is frequently have to weed out the lesser used stock, which is often the more specialist material, in order to make space for new items. As it is Westcountry takes a huge amount of this material and adds it to its own collections in order that it is still available for the public to use. The Performing Arts library would also be well aware of this situation as it fulfils a similar role in taking ex-branch stock that the branches no longer have the space to keep. The branch librarians reinforced this view by telling Mr Suit in a further meeting that they needed specialist libraries to field the enquiries that they were not equipped to deal with and to ensure that the depth of stock and knowledge which the public expects is available. 

If you've never visited either the Performing Arts Library or the Westcountry Studies Library you may not be aware of exactly what they do, although you may have benefited indirectly from their services. If you've ever attended a family history workshop in a branch library, or if you've attended a concert or play performed by a local choir, dramatic society or orchestra, then you've benefited from their expertise. 

Performing Arts provides a county-wide service for sheet music, playscripts and specialist books about all aspects of the performing arts  - film, theatre, dance, television, radio, music of all kinds - and also provides this service to the entire country via the inter-library loans system. Performing Arts offers a hire service for sets of playscripts for performance and sheet music for both orchestras and choirs and therefore is often instrumental in the performances given around the county by countless local community organisations. The hire terms are pretty good, particularly when contrasted with the fees charged for hire by most publishers, and I suspect that if groups only had the option of hiring from the publishers, many performances would not be able to go ahead. As Performing Arts is part of a network of libraries similar to itself around the country, if they don't have what you want in stock the likelihood is they can find it for you. The only thing which stops them is a lack of availability which is usually resultant from conditions applied by the publisher. For example, you cannot get librettos - that's the script for a musical or opera - of Linonel Bart's 'Oliver' as the publisher still holds the rights on them. Likewise trying to find an orchestral set of Vaughan Williams 'Fantasia on Greensleeves' is virtually impossible as the composer was subject to a change in copyright law about 12 years ago which saw a number of composers works end up back in copyright. Incidently Performing Arts has about the only complete set of this work available for loan in the country. If you need 300 copies of the Faure Requiem, Ratcliff Novello edition, for a choral workshop, they'll find them for you from all over the country. This part of the service is free, all you do is pay for the hire of them for the period you need them. Oh, and they'll even send them out to your local library for collection if you want (quite often to the branch library's horror as 18 boxes turn up and they've no-where to put them...). They also offer advice and expertise as the staff know their stock well and know a thing or two about the subject matter. The staff across the years have been musician, actors, film-makers and enthusiasts and dancers, they often have a particular interest or love for a particular aspect of the performing arts and they know the stock inside out. They understand the importance of the right translation of a play or the right edition of a piece of music. They know what a BWV number is (its a number assigned to the works of J.S Bach which makes finding them rather easier), that there are several composers named Bach and that Haydn had an annoying tendency to write all his masses in Bb and name them three times... If you go and say 'I'm looking for a piece of music but I don't know what its called or who its by but it goes like this' and hum it to them or quote the lyrics, they'll have a damn good go at finding out what it is for you (and quite often manage it). Or perhaps you want some plays for your reading group to read through but you're not sure what sort of thing you want. They have a playset guide put together by the staff which lists plays by type, and more importantly, by the number and make-up of the cast. Looking for a comedy for 6 women and 2 men? There's probably one in the guide for you. You wouldn't get this service without the staff who know and understand the subjects in question and their stock. 

Equally, Westcountry Studies performs the same sort of task but for local history. Tracing your family tree and don't really know where to start? Westcountry Studies offers one to one sessions with a member of staff to get you started or help you out of a rut if an ancestor is proving particularly tricky to trace. Want to know more about your town or village or the street you live in? Westcountry will be able to provide newspaper cuttings, books and maps of the area - although of course for some of the tiny villages there isn't much to go on. The library basically does the other half of the Record Office's job - the Record Office keeps all the surviving documents for Devon, Westcountry keeps all the printed material. The collection is made up of books, maps, periodicals, newspapers, illustrations and photographs, pamphlets, articles and ephemera (all the stuff that doesn't fit neatly into another category - playbills, theatre posters and broadsides for example). The level of expertise on hand is quite extraordinary as the staff have a deep knowledge of the stock, local history and where else one can go for help. If they can't help you, the odds are they know someone who can. The type of enquiries they deal with can vary massively from family history to the origin of place names, the history of holiday camps in the region, earthquakes in the 18th Century, the settings of Jane Austen's novels or  the life of a local artist or writer. The holiday camps and earthquakes are genuine enquiries which the library has had, as was the query over Jane Austen's travels in the Westcountry. In each case the library was able to help, providing guides to sources, help on finding them and in some cases such as the earthquakes question, undertaking the search of 18th Century newspapers for the enquirer. Enquiries are often from abroad, particularly in terms of family history and often the enquirer has no other way of obtaining the information they need. If you look at the Devon libraries web pages, there is a link marked 'factsheets'. On the factsheet page there are a number of article under the heading 'local studies' - all of these were produced in-house by the staff to using library resources and their own knowledge and are a brilliant demonstration of the expertise the library provides. Or have a look at the Devon libraries Flickr page (www.flickr.com/photos/devonlibraries) which showcases some of the images in the Westcountry Studies library collection, as well as some really beautiful books from the Exeter Reference Library special collections. 

With the axing of the specialist librarian posts, some of this knowledge and expertise in the service is going to be lost forever. In terms of the Westcountry Studies library, they are set to lose two of their staff. That's two brains stuffed full of local history knowledge that are just gone. In each case the librarians in question have years of experience and amassed a vast knowledge right across the local history spectrum. In Performing Arts, at least one post will go and again the loss will be huge and impact across the county, particularly as the other service with Performing Arts in particular provides is the full cataloguing of all the song books in the county. The Performing Arts Librarian also has a particular knowledge of classical music and as such spends much time selecting stock for the library in terms of recordings and sheet music that would probably be otherwise missed. However, according to the consultation document for the restructuring "Some staff in frontline roles are undertaking stock selection and this may be preventing them from focusing their work on the delivery of high quality customer services." which totally misses the point of what Performing Arts, Westcountry Studies and staff in the lending, childrens and reference sections of both Exeter Central and the branch libraries are doing. In selecting stock according to their knowledge of both the subjects and the readership in their libraries, they are aiming to provide the best service possible in terms of stock for their readers. This is being dismissed as a waste of time and something which could be done centrally by either an automated system or someone who has no contact with the frontline in this way (I will point out that a lot of stock is centrally ordered, and this in no way detracts from the job the staff administering this do, its just that it is then focussed and supplemented by staff on the frontline). 

Sorry, this has become the longest post ever, but I wanted to ensure that you all understood what is being lost and why it is important. What the loss of specialisms represents is a drain of knowledge and expertise from the service which will ultimately leave the library users the poorer. The management at the directorate level cannot see this and instead see it purely in terms of numbers - that professional and specialist librarians cost more to employ than library assistants and therefore to save money they must be 'deleted'. 

First cut is the deepest

Now that I have your attention, I'll expand further on what is actually happening in Devon libraries.

I spoke previously of a restructuring that amounted to a demolition of the library service from within but didn't elaborate. The demolition takes the form of staffing cuts, not unexpected in itself, but being implemented in such a way that library staff recongnise that its likely to be the prelude to library closures.

The initial announcement on 3rd March saw a cut of a third in senior library staff while the rest of the senior staff take significant paycuts. This may sound sensible, 'cut some overpaid managers' etc, but there are some serious implications to this move.

What doesn't seem to have been taken into account by the people making the decisions - who I hasten to add aren't library managers but managers for our directorate, Adult and Community Services - is that the staff in question are generally staff who spend at least 50% of their time on the frontline serving the public. It was asked whether the resulting cut in frontline staffing would be made up with more staff hours being provided by library assistants, something which was carefully hedged around by the managers who came to deliver the news of the restructuring. We take this careful avoidence to mean 'no'. The odd thing is that the amount of time spent on the frontline by the staff who are being cut is explicitly referred to in the restructuring document;

"However,this group of managers has tended to find themselves tied into the day-to-day
delivery of frontline services in their base library"

Well, yes of course they get 'tied up' in the day to day running of the service as all libraries have historically been chronically understaffed. The senior staff have to work the on the frontline regardless of what else they need to be doing as there is often no-one else available to do the job! And you're proposing we cut the senior staff down without replacing the time they spend on the frontline?! Actually, scratch that, not 'proposing', you are cutting the staff and not replacing them.

So this is the problem, the staffing at the senior levels is being cut down which actually means that the number of staff serving you over the counter is going down. This is just the beginning as the consultation document we have regarding a second phase of restructuring suggests that staffing at the lower levels, those staff who spend virtually all of their time on frontline work, is also likely to be cut. We have been losing staffing steadily over the last few years, with Exeter Central alone having 16% less staff than the exisiting structure claims we should have. Keeping libraries open is already a struggle with the staff we have, so with even less staff, they won't be able to stay open.

We don't know what will happen next as we're being kept in the dark. It's been insinuated that library opening hours will change - well they're going to have to if we have less staff. We also know that single manned libraries, that is libraries being kept open with only one staff member, are set to become more common again. The problems with both of these 'solutions' is that the service that you, the public, receive will deteriorate. You'll have a library that is open for less time, with less staff in it to serve you, less expertise avaiable (the specialist librarians are being axed as well, there is no longer a Performing Arts or Local Studies librarian and your specialist childrens, reference and lending staff in the bigger libraries also no longer exist) and it is likely to be less reliable. With single manned libraries there is the danger that opening hours will become unreliable as if the staff member is ill or wants to take a holiday, there is no guarantee that there will be a member of staff available from another library to open it instead, particualary with staff being cut back. If a library becomes unrealiable, people stop using it as much. With a drop in usage, the faceless managers beyond the library service have something that they would consider a solid reason to shut the library in question - "people aren't using it".

There may be trouble ahead....

I admit as library staff we all thought this when Devon County Council, who I'm just going to refer to as the council from now on as its less to type, made the 'no libraries will close' announcement. We all felt a sense of disquiet as libraries are traditionally a soft target for spending cuts and we expected that the suggestion of no closures would come with some sort of enormous 'but' attached to it. We were right.

The first sign of the impending storm was the decision over the Devon Record Office staffing. It was announced in January that the Record Office would lose a third of its staffing, something which stirred up anger and apathy in equal measure. Amongst those who knew the service and understood what it provided, anger was widely expressed at the seeming disregard that the council had for the preservation of Devon's historical record. Apathy reigned elsewhere with comments such as 'surely this is something which should be pushed as far into the voluntary sector as possible?' and 'how many of us have ever had cause to contact a record office?' being made. Sadly the latter view is the one which is likely to prevail.
We knew in libraries that this initial insight into the way in which cuts were to be implemented didn't bode well. We waited for the storm to break.

On 3rd March, a month later than initally intended, the new structure for libraries in Devon was announced. It became clear quite quickly that this wasn't a restructuring, it was a demolition.  The worst part was that it was being done in such a way that from the outside it wouldn't seem that bad, that if we complained we could all too easily be branded as 'whining public sector workers who need to get real'. We were also told that we were not allowed to discuss the restructuring with the public. The library service looked like it was being brought down from the inside, and we were being told that the very people who used the service and gave it a reason for being there weren't allowed to know the changes that were to be made and how it might affect them. Why? Because the council remember all too well what happened last time it tryed to shut libraries - the public spoke up and made it such a huge issue that the council was forced to back down and only four of the proposed libraries were shut, with one being forced to close due to condemned building and one due to a site redevelopment which didn't allow for a new library.
We need your strength again to help the service through the lastest threats and the only way we can work together is if you, the public, know exactly what is happening.