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Funding and governance of library and information services for visually impaired people: international case studies

Part2:Country studies

UK

Library and user group data

Prevalence of visual/print impairment

There was considerable comment on the reliability of the available statistics.

If all visually impaired people are assumed to be readers, then it can be said that there are 370,000 people registered as blind or partially sighted in the UK who are readers.

The Royal National Institute of the Blind estimates that there are some two million people in the UK unable to read standard print. As the population ages, this will increase to 2.5 million over the next 30 years.

The percentage of blind and partially sighted people who ar members of a local library varies dramatically by local authority area. In some areas only 2% are members, whereas in others it is as high as 55%. This compares with 58% of the population for the whole of the UK. 31% of visually impaired people claim to be recent public library users.

Share the Vision gave the following explanation and example of two neighbouring localities to illustrate that the statistics are unreliable:

in identifying need and acting upon it. The Department of Health which publishes the triennial statistics for England warns about the reliability of the data listing numerous factors which make “it difficult to assign a degree of reliability to either of these registers”. Consequently, because the system is voluntary the statistics understate the incidence of visual impairment as this table extracted from the 2003 (latest) returns graphically illustrates:

“The point is that the local public library has more potential visually impaired customers than the official statistics indicate, and people with sight problems which are non-registrable can benefit considerably if appropriate adjustments are made to enhance accessibility for those who are.”

The respondent from the public library service concurred:

“I would definitely say that there is a discrepancy in the way which numbers of visually impaired people are reported. For whatever reason it is apparent that some Adult Services departments are very good at providing quality statistical returns, it is obvious that others are not.”

Public libraries

According to the LISU Statistics 2006, the 10 year change (to 2006) in the number of public libraries (including mobile libraries) is down by 6.3% in England and 8.7% in the UK as a whole. This decline is mostly accounted for by the closure of small service points which are open less than ten hours per week, with little change in the number of traditional branches. These closures have been accompanied by extended opening hours in larger libraries.

In terms of trends in funding and overall usage, views differed on whether the story for UK public libraries is positive or negative. Respondents from the government emphasised the increased accessibility of library services and the provision of new services such as Internet access.

“In recent years there has been a broadening range of services provided by libraries, through, outreach and community work. There has also been an increasing encouragement from the political centre to persuade local authorities to adopt an innovative and inclusive approach. The accessibility of library services is increasing, through improvements in virtual access to services. The people's Network makes the Internet available in most cases for no charge. This benefits not just visually impaired people. Even where charges to use the People's Network exist there may well be special arrangements for visually impaired people (no charges). There have been considerable improvements in remote access, for example to library catalogues and through use of services such as ‘Enquire' which have the potential to bring services to people in their homes and have the potential to benefit visually impaired people.”

The public library respondent painted a mixed picture:

“The implementation and development of the Public Library Standards from the late 1990s has caused some reinvestment in the services and there has been a marked interest in their contribution since the change of government in 1997. More recently the inclusion of Library Service Standards as Comprehensive Performance Indicators has focused many councils on the need to improve funding for such services. Unfortunately none of the Standards refers to services to disabled people and this area has to compete with all of the other needs which exist within the statutory duties of a library authority for funds. Libraries have suffered in past years in the United Kingdom from a lack of investment which has resulted in redundant or poor building stocks as well as decreases in book and service funds in many cases. Some library services are relatively well funded, some are not. This tends to depend on the political colour, demographics or history of the area.”

Voluntary groups catering to blind and visually impaired people were somewhat more negative:

“They are generally underfunded to achieve their potential and contribution to the government's social inclusion policies. In terms of total public expenditure a tiny amount could make a big difference but government has not realised that libraries can achieve more with an extra £1 than the education world can with £100 or more. A particular problem is the lack of capital funding to renovate existing buildings or to build new libraries. As a statutory service libraries are not eligible for lottery funding, except for certain specific purposes. Hence, we have seen major capital investment in museums, galleries, arts centres, sports centres etc...but the most popular public service is left to look increasingly shabby overall, with some notable exceptions which serve to illustrate the overall problem.”

DCMS as the responsible ministry emphasized that there are capital improvements underway:

“However, the MLA buildings Audit identified and highlighted the need for investment in Public Library buildings in England. This has been added to the MLA work plan.

“The Big Lottery Fund is providing £80 million to improve library buildings through engagement with local communities. This presents libraries with an outstanding opportunity to reinvigorate themselves as centres of wider community learning and development, to create, improve and develop library spaces that meet the needs of the whole community and to be innovative and promote good practice in the ways libraries are designed and run.

“As well as this, £130m Private Finance Initiative funding has been allocated to public library and part library projects in recent years, which has had a significant impact on library programmes and building investment.

“In addition, the MLA funded ‘Designing Libraries' website, http://www.designinglibraries.org.uk/ promotes best practice in the planning and design of library buildings and offers access to information and images to stimulate improvements in design and effective delivery.”

Usage

There was a consensus on usage in terms of the type of resources used and the demographics of users:

“On the whole, book borrowing has declined over the more recent past but visits have increased. Usage of the service is still good but the type of usage is changing from traditional lending services to electronic resources both in the library and through web access. Audio visual services have started to decline with the onset of downloading and this must have an impact on the provision of audio books as new formats begin to develop.”

“User patterns are changing for several reasons Traditionally, use is high by children up to adolescence when they discover other interests and this remains the case. Older people remain heavy users, the middle class make more use than the working class and more women use public libraries than men. However, the availability of free internet use and email has seen patterns of usage change. Poorer people without home PCs are coming to libraries and silver surfers are increasing in numbers. Usage by ethnic minority groups is also increasing. The traditional user patterns are in flux reflecting changes in society and libraries role in society.”

“Usages are changing to reflect changes in society. Hence the dire predictions of the traditionalists and the regrets of the more forward looking who realise so much more is possible from these most communal of local facilities.”

“It is well recognised that the groups in the Community hardest to reach for public libraries lie in the young adult age groups and those in their 30s and 40s. Children's and parents' usage has been helped enormously by the use of the Bookstart and Summer Reading schemes. Older people still naturally gravitate towards the service and social events such as Reader's Groups have helped all age groups. The use of Literature Development promotional techniques is starting to have an effect on the harder to reach members of the community by appealing in a different way and giving more prominence to newer types of writing. Asylum seekers, refugees and people from different ethnic backgrounds are also a significant group who are sometimes hard to reach because of language or cultural barriers. Members of this customer group are however more likely to make use of electronic services through the People's Network to keep in touch with their cultural backgrounds.”