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'.