Image: "Children's Section", Flickr/Jason, Creative Commons.
Back in 2016, when I addressed a “Speak up for Libraries” lobby of parliament, there was already a crisis in public libraries. I highlighted how 8,000 library workers had lost their jobs. But it’s getting worse, the Library and Information Association (CILIP) and campaigners put the figure at nearer 10,000 library workers lost since 2010. According to data published by CIPFA (the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy) there are 650 fewer libraries in the UK than in 2009/10. We also have over 500 volunteer-led ‘libraries’. In fact, we now have more volunteers ‘working’ in public libraries than paid staff. Even by 2013, there were 33,808 volunteers working in libraries, an increase of 44.5% in 2 years.
Children’s library services have been particularly badly hit. Forthcoming research by Robertson and McMenemy from Strathclyde University shortly to be published by the Journal of Librarianship and Information Science also shows that “there has been a significant downward trend in staff, spending, and opening hours across children’s public library services in England between 2010 and 2016. The research found that there has indeed been hollowing out of children’s library services. On average, specialist staff have been cut by 40%, children’s book budgets by 23%, and opening hours by 11%. The literature suggests that this is coupled with a rise in closures, community run and outsourced libraries, and volunteering.”
