DIVIDENDS:
THE VALUE OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES
TO VICTORIAN COMMUNITIES,
THEIR STATE GOVERNMENT,
AND THEIR COUNCILS
Public libraries have taken on new roles…It was widely thought by all
Libraries/Building/Communities participants that (Victorian) public library funding should be
completely reviewed in the light of the information society and the demands this is placing on
them.
LBC executive summary 2006
…The Library must be fostered and seen by decision makers as an important and effective
investment in building and innovative state with caring communities.
Victorian Ministerial Advisory Council on Public Libraries 2007
Dr Alan Bundy AM
Auslib Library Consulting
September 2008
An independent information and issues paper commissioned by the
Municipal Association of Victoria. It may be disseminated, used,
copied and adapted at the discretion of the Association..
Contents
Introduction
1
Overview
2
Recommendations
5
Issues
6
Public libraries in Victoria
7
Public libraries in Australia
10
Public libraries internationally
12
Modern libraries and their funders
14
Joint use and shared facility partnerships
17
Return on investment in public libraries
21
Libraries build communities
24
Issues for Victoria’s public library system
26
The bottom line
27
Appendix 1 Victorian public library background
29
Appendix 2 Recurrent state government public library funding 1975-2008
31
Appendix 3 Characteristics of good public libraries
32
Introduction
Dividends: the value of public libraries to Victorian communities, their state government, and
their councils has been commissioned by the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) as an
independent paper to assist the state government of Victoria and Victorian councils
to
identify
the return on investment in the state’s public library system
what is required to enable the state’s public libraries to build on their unique ‘cradle to
grave’ educational, capacity building and wellbeing contribution to all Victorian
communities
other reasons for the strengthening of the state and local government partnership and
investment in the Victorian public library system.
The paper takes forward the findings of the Victorian Libraries/Building/Communities (LBC)
project reports 2005-2008 by focusing on the
mission, characteristics and return on investment of modern public libraries
international, Australian and Victorian context for investing in public libraries
partnership, investment and other issues for Victoria’s public library system.
It draws attention to the adverse findings of the 2006 Strategic asset audit of Victorian public
libraries about the collections of the state’s public library system.
It also complements and extends the 2007 paper of the Victorian Ministerial Council on
Public Libraries The Library – the key to growing knowledge and skills of the Victorian
community. This emphasises the connectedness of the Victorian public library system (‘The
Library’) to support national and Victorian reform agendas, and that it ‘must be fostered and
seen by decision makers as an important and effective investment in building an innovative
state with caring communities’.
Dividends: the value of public libraries to Victorian communities, their state government and
their councils substantiates the return on that investment, and why increased investment will
provide an even greater return for them. In doing so it raises issues for consideration by the
state government, local government and the other public library stakeholders representing the
interests of the many Victorians already using their public libraries – and the other 13% who
the LBC research indicates would do so if those libraries were more known and accessible to
them.
The contribution of Clare Hargreaves and Trevor Koops of the MAV in the development of
the paper is gratefully acknowledged.
Dr Alan Bundy AM
September 2008
1
Overview
Informed by the UNESCO Public Library Manifesto, worldwide there is increasing interest
and investment in public libraries. This recognises that, as unique multidimensional lifecycle
services, they cost effectively provide answers to many of the issues of knowledge based but
increasingly disconnected communities.
Australia, at only about 9c per Australian per day, still invests sparingly and unevenly in its
public libraries. Leading educational countries such as Denmark invest three times as much
per capita in their public libraries. The low funding of public libraries in Australia persists
despite their high existence valuation; their use and high valuation by 60% of people of all
ages; and their demonstrably high return on investment in meeting a wide range of
governmental community capacity building, wellbeing, educational, literacy, cultural, and
social agendas.
Using conservative methodologies, numerous international studies have identified a public
library return on investment of at least $4 per dollar invested. This has been confirmed in
2008 by a large Australian council as producing for its community a return on investment of
$5.45 for every dollar invested.
Australia, unlike a number of other countries, also still does not have a national strategic
policy framework for its public library system. There is no sustained interest yet in that
system, and its funding and infrastructure issues, from the national government. To gain that
interest requires coordinated advocacy from state/territory and local governments which are
confident that they are already investing in Australia’s public library system to the best of
their financial ability.
The constraints of the Victorian public library system
Victoria has no formal longterm strategic policy framework, action plan and partnership
agreement between its state and local government to progress its public library system. It also
invests sparingly and very unevenly in that system, at the lowest annual per capita level in
Australia. That investment is now too reliant on the capacity of local government to continue
funding its improvement. As a consequence there are major inequities in access to the system,
and in the buildings, resources, services, technology, programs and staffing it provides. For
every 22,000 Victorians there is only one static public library access point, compared with
one school for every 345 public school students. The size, age and condition of the statewide
collection is, by international and other benchmarks, poor. The average population
membership is low at 45.6%, with a local government authority range from 27.4% to 75.6%.
This average compares unfavourably with, for example, 56% in South Australia, and 80% in
Finland. The continuing underinvestment in its public library system is at odds with Victoria’s
claim to have Australia’s best public education system; its strong focus on community
capacity building, families and social inclusion; and the status of its capital as a UNESCO
City of Literature.
From national benchmarking the Victorian public library system is a cost effective provider,
as indicated by its lower per capita floorspace and staffing ratios, as well as its leading
positions on performance measures such as loans per hour open and collection turnover.
These indicators themselves, however, confirm the state’s underinvestment in its public
library system.
2
The performance of Victorian local government
Many of Victoria’s library services appear to receive less than 5% of council rate revenue,
This is a small percentage for what is invariably a council’s most used and valued community
provision. That funding also appears to be historically based rather than on a strategic
assessment of need, return on investment, and relevance to council strategic aims for their
communities. There is limited recognition by councils that the libraries are their windows to
their communities – iconic indicators of progressive local government, by which councils are
known and assessed by many in the community. There is an extremely wide variation across
councils in their annual per capita investment in public libraries, from $60.76 to $16.19.
However local government is now, perforce, providing more than 83% (c$130 million) of the
operating costs of the Victorian public library system, compared with 50% in 1975.
The performance of the Victorian state government
The Victorian state government in turn is now providing only about 17% of public library
operational funding. This is 0.09% of the state’s 2008/9 operating budget, compared with
0.112% in 2000, and 0.26% in 1979. This is very far from the 1975 dollar for dollar
partnership with local government which underpinned the local government commitment to
facilitating the development of Victoria’s public library system. The insidious decline from
the 44% contribution in 1982 makes the state government of Victoria the third lowest
Australian funder of its public library system. It also contributes to the state having, at $29 per
capita in 2006/7, the lowest overall public library per capita expenditure in Australia – about
half that of New Zealand and less than one third that of Denmark, both of which have
comparable populations to Victoria. That funding compares unfavourably with the state’s
increasing investment in the public education system, of which a public library system is
regarded elsewhere as an essential complement. Those countries with the best public
education systems, for example Denmark and Finland, also have the best public library
systems. However the state government’s funding of the public library system in 2008/9 is
equivalent to only 0.42% of its funding of the public education system. Its Department of
Education and Early Childhood Development projects an operating surplus for 2008/9 of
$125 million. This surplus alone is three times the annual funding currently afforded
Victoria’s public library system by the state government.
The landmark Libraries/Building/Communities (LBC) research reports 2005-2008
commisioned by the Library Council of Victoria, show the innovation of parts of the
Victorian public library system in meeting a very wide range of educational and community
capacity building policies and needs with limited funding. Those reports provide the critical
pieces of the library return on investment jigsaw for the state government and local
government. They show what is possible and what should be available to all Victorians; and
the great potential of the state’s public library system to lead in community capacity building
and wellbeing. They also convey well the dividends for Victorian communities and their
decision makers which are guaranteed from better investment in public libraries.
Those dividends are
for Victorian communities, shown convincingly in the Libraries/Building/Communities
project reports, and the return on investment, from international studies, of $5-$6 for
every dollar of their taxes invested in the Victorian public library system. Victorians
place a high value on their public library system. LBC survey respondents valued a
small library with 20,000 registered users at $20 million a year, and up to $730 million
a year for a larger library with 150,000 registered users.
3
for the Victorian state government, shown by the high relevance of the performance of
the state’s public library system to the state government’s developmental, educational,
community capacity building and social inclusion agendas across most of its ministerial
portfolios, including
early childhood development
education
health
regional and rural development
community development
small business
tourism
the Arts
the environment
multicultural affairs
youth affairs
community services
senior Victorians
information technology
local government
Aboriginal affairs
The Victorian government aspires to have ‘the best schools, and hospitals, and the safest
streets in Australia’ and ‘to meet the demands of a growing population’.1 For a small
additional investment relative to the state’s annual operating budget, it could also lead
Australia in its public library system, where at present it manifestly lags. It has not capitalised
on, or invested well in, the potential of the existing public library infrastructure to meet its
2003 Growing Victoria together framework focus on nurturing more resilient, active and
confident communities. Nor has it capitalized on the state’s public library system as a critical
partner with the state’s public education system in meeting its aspirations for the best possible
start in life for all Victorian children, from early childhood on. For example, unlike most of
the other states, it has not invested in a statewide BookStart program through public libraries
to ensure that parents and caregivers are encouraged and enabled to read to their babies, from
birth onwards.
for Victorian councils, shown by the fact that the public libraries they facilitate and fund
are by far their most used, valued and iconic community service – a council’s most
visible window to its community, and which invested in well have major outcomes for
community capacity building, wellbeing, social capital development, and for
community perspectives of the role,
importance and image of progressive local
government.
The Libraries/Building/Communities research found that all of the participants in it
considered that because of the widening roles of public libraries, their ‘funding should be
completely reviewed in the light of the information society and the demands this is placing on
them’. With the lowest per capita investment in Australia in its inadequate and inequitable
public library system, the need for this review in Victoria is pressing.
In the interests of the Victorian communities they both serve, the requirement is for the state
government and local government to sit at the one table and openly review and formalise their
policy and funding partnership to achieve a better, more accessible, public library system for
Victorians – of all ages, circumstances and backgrounds.
1
Premier of Victoria, Australia –Building Victoria www.premier.vic.gov.au/building-victoria/building-victoria.html
4
Recommendations
1
The Municipal Association of Victoria initiate a Victorian Public Libraries Summit in
2009 and include a commitment to the development of a Victorian Public Library
Strategic Framework and Action Plan 2010-2020 as a major aim of that summit.
2
The Victorian state government review
the Libraries/Building/Communities and the Strategic asset audit of Victorian
public libraries findings
the present and potential contribution of the state’s public library system to all of
its ministerial portfolios, and to its educational, community capacity building,
social inclusion and wellbeing aspirations for all Victorians.
the adequacy of its funding of the Victorian public library system.
3
Victorian councils review
the Libraries/Building/Communities and the Strategic asset audit of Victorian
public library findings
the use of those findings in council and library strategic planning
the adequacy of their funding of libraries.
4
The Victorian state government and local government develop a transparent formal
program partnership process and agreement to share the governance, policy
development, funding and improvement of Victoria’s public library system.
5
Issues
Issues to be considered by the state government, local government and the public library
system, include
Victorian public library standards.
options for more public library access points to achieve greater equity in access to the
public library system across the state.
completion of an audit of public library buildings.
guidelines and processes for joint use partnerships and other collaboration between
public libraries, schools and TAFE institutes.
review of the quantitative and qualitative data and evaluation required to inform
funders of the return on investment in the state’s public library system.
accelerated collaboration and integration
library system.
across the whole of the Victorian public
greater visibility of public libraries in the digital domain.
public library leadership in partnerships between them and other community service
providers.
public libraries as the focus for council customer relationship management systems
(CRMs).
6
Public libraries in Victoria
In considering the value of the Victorian public library system to the state’s communities, the
state government and local government, it is salutary to be aware of its origins(appendix 1)
and how much has been achieved in a relatively short time from the partnership between state
and local government.
The progress that Victoria has made since the 1950s is indicated by the fact that at the time of
the creation of the Library Council of Victoria in 1965, 66% of the state’s population had
public libraries; in 1971 91% had libraries; and in 1978 99.73%.
During that time and more recently its public library system has experienced numerous
reviews and changes to funding arrangements.2 Apart from changes to subsidy conditions and
how state government funding has been focused and distributed, the major outcome has been
an annual percentage decrease of about 1% in the state government funding ratio since 1982,
when it met 44% of the total operational cost of the Victorian public library system.
This decrease has been a predictable consequence of the change in 1975 from a dollar for
dollar public library partnership between the state and local government, to two dollars from
the state government for every one dollar from local government, but up to a specified
maximum determined unilaterally by the state government.
The state government library funding withdrawal trend was reinforced by the 1987 Geddes
review.3 This responded to a state government requirement to reduce public library funding
by $2 million, presumably again with no consultation with local government. The reviewer,
from the Management Improvement Division of the Public Service Board, tendentiously
asserted that public libraries were the prime responsibility of councils, and that therefore the
state government should just ‘support the existence of an adequate number of public libraries
to provide a viable Victorian information network’ and assist them with meeting special needs
and specific disadvantages. That ill-defined narrow position appears to have informed the
state government’s bureaucratic and political thinking ever since, by both Labor and Liberal
administrations. It is arguably the most significant reason for the impoverishment of the
Victorian public library system. In asserting it, Geddes ignored the longheld position of the
Australian government that the nation’s public library system is the responsibility of state and
local governments, and that its role is only to support those national institutions such as the
National Library which may contribute indirectly to Australia’s public library system.
The outcome was that by 2006/7 Victorian government funding for the state’s public library
system – by far the most heavily used and valued of the state’s community services and of
high relevance to many state government policy agendas in literacy, education, skills
development, health, community capacity building, social inclusion and life quality – was
only $28,878,872 or 17.3% of the operational funding for the system – a very long way
from the 50:50 funding partnership and understanding which was the basis for
investment in the state’s public library system by many individual councils. Annual
dollar increases in recent years have not, or barely, accommodated CPI – and certainly
not reflected that the inflation factor for books and related materials is typically about
twice that of the CPI.
2
3
Biskup, P Libraries in Australia Wagga Wagga, Centre for Information Studies 1994 pp94-100
Geddes, S Libraries review. First report to the Minister for the Arts. Options for state government funding of municipal
libraries in Victoria 1987
7
only 0.09% of the state government’s annual operating expenditure, compared with
0.112% in 2000, and 0.26% in 1979 (see appendix 2). The state government’s support
for the Living Libraries program and collaborative developments such as LibraryLink
Victoria and the Swift library management system are commendable but no substitute
for its proper investment in the operating costs of Victoria’s public library system.If the
percentage of state government operating expenditure in 2006/7 had been the 0.26%
which applied in 1979, the state government contribution to its public library
partnership with local government would have been $90 million, still significantly less
than the local government contribution of about $130 million.
Other outcomes have been
extraordinary variations across Victoria in the annual per capita expenditure on public
libraries, ranging from $60.76 to $16.19.
an average per capita expenditure on public libraries in Victoria of $29.09, the lowest
in Australia.
expenditure on library materials per capita ranging from $10.80 to $2.80.
populations serviced per staff member ranging from 5,919 to 1,961.
population serviced per qualified librarian ranging from 41,722(probably the highest in
Australia) to 5,042.
number of items acquired annually per capita ranging from 0.39 to 0.10.
collection items per capita ranging from 4.44 to 1.11.
serial subscriptions per 10,000 population ranging from 50.17 to 10.20.
an average membership of only 45.6%, and ranging from 27.4% to 75.6%.
loans per capita ranging from 15.3 to 4.6.
loans per library member ranging from 30.1 to 11.3.
loans per staff member ranging from 45,066 to 14,467.
a major investment need in public library access, collections and services as evidenced
by the 2006 Strategic asset audit of Victorian public libraries4 and the
Libraries/Building/Communities reports 2005-2008,5
the former undertaken as a
priority within the 2005 Framework for collaborative action between the Library Board
and public libraries. The Strategic asset audit identified the need for the state
government to spend $77.1million on revitalising public library collections over three
years to compensate for underinvestment in those collections over many years. This
need has apparently yet to be responded to by the state government, despite the audit
identifying that
It is apparent that the statewide collection is in generally poor condition. The collection is
undersized; excessively aged; has a significant proportion of obsolete material; and there is
considerable inequity across library services.(p iv)
The Strategic asset audit also usefully benchmarked nationally the performance of the
Victorian public library system. It found that it was performing relatively well, ‘as
indicated by its lower per capita floorspace and staffing ratios, as well as loans per hour
open and collection turnover’.Although making a positive statement about the
4
5
J L Management Services Strategic asset audit of Victorian public libraries: an independent report for the Library Board
of Victoria and the Victorian public library network 2006 www.slv.vic.gov.au
Libraries/Building/Communities op cit
8
performance of the public library system and its staff, those indicators are in themselves
further confirmation of the underinvestment in them.
an undermining of that partnership and trust between the state government and local
government, without which the public library system of Victoria will never achieve its
potential for Victorian communities, and any equity for them. One partner, local
government, perforce now contributes significantly more to a system of real and
potential benefit to all Victorian communities. There are manifestly very large inequities
between those communities in the quality, accessibility and use of public libraries.
Those inequities are much greater than the inequities in, for example, the state’s public
education system. That this is so, should concern a state government which prides itself
on leading Australia in building better communities and families, and investing in them
and social inclusion.
That said, it is likely that few Victorians are aware of the decline and weakness of the state
government/local government partnership which provides their public libraries, or of how
little in total is spent on them by both the state government and some councils. Although it
may appear in rate notices, councils appear to give it little real publicity or recognition. No
Victorian libraries have conspicuous signs at their entrances conveying this information and
recognizing the involvement of the state government in their ongoing partnership and
funding. If councils are to convince the state government to revitalise its policy and funding
partnership with them in the state’s public library system, they will need to ensure full local
and political recognition of what the state government is – or is not – contributing.
In addition to the numerous reviews and reports on Victoria’s public library system, in 1994 it
experienced the consequences of the major restructuring of Victorian local government which
set a lead for restructuring in South Australia, the NT and in Queensland – and likely in due
course in NSW and WA – to ensure the sustainability of local government in regional and
rural areas in particular.
Unlike in Victoria and the other mainland states and territories, in the UK public libraries are
required of local government which, like its schools and other community critical services, are
centrally audited. In the 1990s restructuring of local government in the UK it was decided,
following a consultancy report, that compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) was
unworkable for public libraries. Victoria, however, required that all council services should be
exposed to CCT including, for the first and only time in the world, public libraries. This
resulted in considerable collateral damage and unpredictable outcomes for library services,
their users and their staff. It proved to be a blunt and sometimes farcical instrument to achieve
change which could probably have been achieved by good performance management.6
Nonetheless this radical reengineering of the Victorian council and public library landscape
ultimately provided positive outcomes
an opportunity and requirement for an intensive review, questioning and analysis of
public library missions, policies and directions.
a renewed focus by councils on community satisfaction as a driver in framing the
delivery of services confirmed the high regard held by communities for their libraries.
This brought about a greater profile for public libraries within both councils and
communities.
6
Carson, G Compulsory competitive tendering in Victoria’s public libraries: beatific vision or blunder? Australasian
public libraries and information services 11(2) June 1998 pp90-95
9
as a consequence of service review processes, a greater awareness of asset infrastructure
responsibilities by councils, resulting in accelerated library refurbishment programs and
spending on IT and collections.
greatly improved library planning processes, including targeting of services, emphasis
on output targets and performance measures, and more awareness of external
environmental issues and strategic response options.
enhanced planning, business management, IT, negotiating skills and teamwork by staff
at all levels.
organisational restructuring facilitated the introduction of sophisticated management
systems, and as a byproduct enabled the redundancy of nonperforming staff.
a central focus on the user.
increased accountability and information flow developed a keener understanding by
council management and elected members about the role and challenges facing public
libraries.
Victoria’s public library system, and the councils which facilitate that system, are thus in
2008 in a relatively sound policy and organisational state to capitalize for Victorian
communities on the needed increased investment in it.
The one caveat relates to the workforce and leadership constraints of the Victorian public
library system. As the March 2008 Victorian public libraries Workforce sustainability and
leadership research report7 concludes, there are considerable concerns about succession
planning and the need for differentiated strategies for the recruitment and development of
library staff. A particular concern is understaffing in areas requiring general and specialist
professionals, in part because of lack of funding but also because of problems in attracting
qualified staff.
Public libraries in Australia
Australia, unlike a number of other countries, still lacks a national strategic policy framework
for its public library system. One is needed, to spell out – to the nation at large, and to the
national, state/territory and local governments responsible for that system and its availability
to all in Australia – just why more and better public libraries are needed and the governmental
partnerships required to ensure their development and improvement.
Although Australia lacks a national public library strategic policy and was later than many
developed countries in developing a comprehensive public library system it did achieve, by
default, universal public library provision on 15 March 2008. The last council in Australia to
not support a public library for its community, the Shire of Fitzroy outside of Rockhampton,
was dissolved as a consequence of council amalgamations in Queensland.
This achievement, largely of only the last 30 years, is due mainly to partnerships between
state and local governments, with local government now being, except in the ACT, NT and
Tasmania, the major funding partner. This is especially the case in NSW, Queensland and
7
Considine, G and others Workforce sustainability and leadership: survey, analysis and planning for Victorian public
libraries Sydney, Workplace Research Centre University of Sydney 2008
10
Victoria, where their state governments are supporting public libraries at a much lower level
relative to their annual expenditures and to the local government contribution compared with
only 20 years ago. This is sometimes excused by those states with the sophistry that they have
not reduced their actual dollar contribution, and that local government has chosen to increase
its contribution. The reality is that to meet growing community expectations and the changing
roles and sophistication of public libraries, local government has had little alternative. That
local government response has, for capacity or policy reasons, been uneven. This has resulted,
particularly in Victoria, in some communities having more and much better libraries than
others.
This means in NSW, Queensland and Victoria in particular that, at a time when local
government is assuming more community and human services responsibilities, councils are
also needing to find more funds to continue the development of public library services. It is
estimated that 3% of total local government expenditure across Australia is now on public
libraries, with rate expenditure percentages commonly between 3-6%. That in Australia, the
overall local government investment in public libraries has generally increased far beyond
that of state governments is testimony to the usage and existence valuation that communities
in Australia place on their libraries. It can also be viewed as a manifestation of that
responsibility and cost shifting by the national and state/territory governments, of which local
government is at the end of the line. In the case of the nation’s public library system it is
inevitably greatly constraining its capacity to be the best that it can be for all communities,
and keeping it a long way from world best practice and funding. Victoria is a major example
of this.
More positively, public library performance, improvement and valuation has been
underpinned by increasing investment in research. This includes the 2005-2008
Libraries/Building/ Communities: the vital contribution of Victoria’s public libraries(LBC),8
commissioned by the Library Board of Victoria.
This world class research project involved interviews with 10,000 Victorians. It informs local
and state governments Australia wide, and the national government, about the changing roles
of public libraries; why they produce such a high community return on investment; and why
that investment throughout a still wealthy country like Australia should be much higher. The
findings
present clear new data on the contribution libraries make to their communities
provide case studies that show how public libraries lead in innovation
identify groups that are not currently well served by their libraries, and offer solutions
build awareness of the critical community capacity building and social capital role of
public libraries.
The research also found that public libraries are often not able to realise their full potential in
community capacity building, and that people want more to be spent on them, whether they
currently use them or not. The existence and contingent valuation of public libraries is very
high. The LBC project findings and their implications for the future and funding of the
Victorian public library system are considered in later in this paper.
8
Library Board of Victoria Libraries/Building/Communities: the vital contribution of Victoria’s public libraries
Melbourne, State Library of Victoria 2005-2008
www.slv.vic.gov.au/about/information/publications/policies/
_reports/plu_lbc.html
11
Similar points are made in the 2005 second edition of People places: a guide for public
library buildings in NSW. This is the de facto Australian guide to public library buildings and
standards for them, and provides excellent contextual information on the changed and
changing role of public libraries in Australia and internationally. As its introduction asserts
Libraries can be fully effective for their communities only if they have the right combination of proficient
staff, up to date information resources, reliable equipment and telecommunications, and well planned
buildings.9
Many Victorian public libraries lack that ‘right combination’.
Public libraries internationally
The most significant international statement about public libraries is the UNESCO Public
Library Manifesto.10 This states
The public library, the local gateway to knowledge, provides a basic condition for lifelong learning,
independent decision making and cultural development of the individual and social groups.
This Manifesto proclaims UNESCO’s belief in the public library as a living force for education, culture
and information…UNESCO therefore encourages national and local governments to support and actively
engage in the development of public libraries.
In response, worldwide there is increasing investment in public libraries by countries as far
apart as Finland and Singapore, both countries reliant for their future as ‘smart’ countries on
their people rather than their natural resources. There is recognition that public libraries
provide answers to many of the issues of knowledge based but increasingly disconnected
communities. Investment initiatives range from the AUD$500 million investment by the UK
government in the People’s Network, to AUD$1.6 billion being spent by Singapore to build a
comprehensive and innovative public library system. Denmark, for example, invested in 2006
about AUD$106 per capita in its public libraries, nearly three times the current Australian per
capita amount of about $35, or 9c per Australian per day. This is about half of the per capita
daily funding of the ABC, which has a large complementarity of mission with Australia’s
public library system, but which is used by 20% of the population compared with the 60% of
the population who use their public libraries.
New Zealand has usually led Australia in recognition of the return on investment in public
libraries. It released in 2006 its Public libraries of New Zealand: a strategic framework 2006
to 2016.11 This framework is the outcome of collaboration between Local Government New
Zealand and national agencies. In its introduction the president of Local Government New
Zealand notes that ‘As far back as 150 years ago, libraries were one of the flagship services
that local councils provided to their communities’. Allowing for a few distinctive New
Zealand issues, the framework informs public library strategic planning in Australia at the
national, state and local government levels.
9
10
11
Library Council of NSW People places: a guide for public library buildings in NSW second edition Sydney, State
Library of NSW 2005 www.sl.nsw.gov.au/pls/publications/pdf/peopleplaces_2ndedition.pdf
www.unesco.org/webworld/libraries/manifestos/libraman.html
www.lianza.org.nz/library/files/store_011/StrategicFramework2006.pdf
12
The New Zealand framework observes that
There is a remarkable consistency in the approaches being taken by public libraries around the world to
meeting the present and future needs of their customers. These include
providing high quality, rapid and free access to information
emphasising equity and meeting the needs of their ethnic communities with appropriate content
and information
preparing themselves, their staff members and their customers to take full advantage of the digital
revolution and the power of ICT developments
paying particular attention to the learning and recreational needs of children and young adults
building new facilities and renovating old libraries to create an exciting, innovative and welcoming
environment
locating libraries in places that encourage use and meet customer requirements
upgrading staff qualifications, training and recruitment.
Not included in the above list but referred to in the framework document is that public
libraries in developed countries are also now starting to address more systematically the
implications, and life quality needs and expectations, of the retiring baby boomers and of
ageing populations. This is a special issue for coastal and other retirement destinations, as it is
for the number of tree change and sea change destinations in Victoria.
A benchmark for public library investment in New Zealand has been Christchurch, which
invests over 10% of its rates in its libraries. This has been driven by the Christchurch City
Council’s Chief Executive Dr L McTurk who asserts that
In Christchurch City we believe libraries are about more than books and buildings. Libraries are at the
hub of our communities…The benefits to our communities are well worth the ongoing significant
investment. In the future, we anticipate even more innovation in the way libraries help create inclusive
communities, and are centres for lifelong learning, fun and creativity.12
Several other countries have produced strategic framework statements on the futures of their
public library systems, including the UK with Better public libraries.13 This is focused on the
renaissance and repositioning of public libraries as destinations at the heart of connected
communities. It identifies the following trends in that process
future libraries will be developed in partnership with other services
adaptability of internal design, circulation, access and hours of services will be key factors in
building layout and design
reading development and literacy are likely to become even more central to what libraries offer
communities
libraries will become key communications centres for mobile populations
long stay use of libraries for study purposes requires friendly and efficient support services such as
catering, toilets and quiet zones
electronic links between homes and libraries will increase
children’s services will grow in importance as the library becomes an electronic safe haven in the
city
the role of librarians will change from resource and cultural custodians to knowledge navigators.
The unique ‘cradle to grave’ roles and responsibilities of public libraries, have resulted in over
170 descriptors being applied to them.14 Many of those descriptors are focused on public
libraries as lifelong learning and information providers and as community hubs, connectors
and anchors. A descriptor from the UK also identifies them as council shop windows, the
12
13
14
ibid p21
www.cabe.org.uk
list at www.fola.org.au
13
contention being that public libraries are the most visible, accessible, used and valued
indicator of progressive local government. This is an issue for consideration by Victorian
councils in assessing where their investments on behalf of their communities should be made.
Libraries are the public face of councils because they very visibly give something back to the
community, and on which people are generally happier to have their rates spent than on good
council administration buildings, regardless of the need for them. This has proven to be the
case in Christchurch where the city council is very highly regarded by the community for its
investment in its public libraries.
As a senior librarian from Christchurch has observed
In Christchurch people have done that complete flip from distrusting what the council is doing to
appreciating what council has done for them. They are proud of their library service…They really value
the service, and really appreciate the money being spent in their community. 15
Public libraries can never be overused, although a number of factors may limit their use, such
as poor locations, buildings, hours, staffing, resources and marketing. They are increasingly
reaching out to all parts of their communities through market segmentation, different media
formats, the digital domain, and recognition that barriers to their use may be locational,
educational, socioeconomic, linguistic and cultural. However it is anticipated that they will
continue to be major providers and lenders of books and other paper based and electronic
resources because paper and electronic publishing continues to increase. As the LBC research
and the Strategic asset audit of Victorian public libraries identify, public library collections
continue to be their major asset. For example, 87.2% of LBC respondents nominated the
borrowing of books and other items as their main use of the library. Following trends in the
UK and US in particular, there is an increasing commitment to the contribution their public
libraries make to early childhood preschool literacy awareness and development, support of
school and other students, improved health through bibliotherapy, and to reader development
across all ages.
Their return on investment (ROI), from recent US, Australian and other research using
conservative methodologies, is between $4-$6 for every dollar spent on them, a higher return
than other government community services.16 A 2008 Australian study has shown that that the
ROI for the Sunshine Coast Regional Council Libraries is $5.45 for every dollar invested by
the council.17 This study may to be the first of its type in Australia. It follows numerous US
state and individual library service precedents.
Investment in public libraries, as ‘the greatest recyclers and sharers’ is also consonant with
minimizing environmental impacts.
Modern public libraries and their funders
As the LBC executive summary observes, the modern public library is a profoundly important
multidimensional educational, cultural, economic and social agency and institution. It is a
destination and community meeting place – a place to visit, remain in and enjoy, as well as a
15
16
17
Moen, N New libraries and new spaces for community outcomes: Christchurch City Libraries’ strategy, in Bundy, A ed
Places and spaces: public libraries for the 21st century in Australia and New Zealand. Conference proceedings Adelaide,
Auslib Press 2006 p59
for example Taxpayer return on investment in Florida public libraries 2004 dlis.dos.state.fl.us/bld/roi/publications.cfm
Duncan, R Best bang for the buck: the economic benefits of Sunshine Coast Libraries, Queensland Australasian public
libraries and information services 21(4) December 2008 (in press)
14
place from which to borrow. This overall projection of what modern public libraries are about
is conveyed well in the LBC reports, as it is in the extensive 2005 strategic directions paper of
the Victorian Ministerial Advisory Council on Public Libraries. Their characteristics are
delineated in appendix 3.
The use of public libraries
Inlibrary, as well as online and web enabling, use of public libraries is tending to increase,
with new attractive library buildings typically resulting in at least 25% greater use. The new
Clayton Library in Victoria, for example, reports a 33.7% increase in users during 2008.
Similarly, the very recently renovated Geelong West Library is experiencing increased use.
This trend is recognised by the Victorian government’s September 2008 announcement of a
small increase in its funding of the state’s public library system for 2008/9 because ‘More
than 650,000 visits are made each week to libraries in Victoria, with over 50 million items
borrowed each year’ and ‘The way that people use libraries is changing too – we are seeing
record numbers of people making ‘virtual’ visits….’
Internationally and in Australia public libraries are also now reporting greater use with the
downturn in economies worldwide. From the Great Depression of the 1930s onwards, the
evidence is that in times of economic and social difficulties people turn to their libraries.
There is evidence, too, that fuel costs are resulting in more people choosing to use smaller
branch libraries rather than larger more distant libraries.
This has implications for the
planning of public library service locations, for which the determinant used to be that they
should be within pram pushing or cycling distance. Even a transport rich city like London
plans to have a public library within 1.6kms of every Londoner, and a 2008 public library
research report from The Netherlands commences its foreword with
It is as natural as the baker’s, the local supermarket or the corner store: a public library within walking or cycling
distance.18
Many Victorians, especially children, do not have a public library within walking distance.
Lending by libraries is also continuing to increase, particularly where there is sufficient
investment in reader development and attractive, relevant and up to date books and other
resources. The Strategic asset audit of Victorian public libraries found, however, a slight
overall drop in critical loan statistics between 1999/2000 and 2003/2004, another indicator of
lack of investment in collections.
Many new buildings or rebuilds are being constructed – about 300 between 2000-2008 in
Australia. There are good examples in Victoria, such as the new, redeveloped or planned
libraries in Altona Meadows, Altona North(2009), Caroline Springs, Churchill, Clayton,
Echuca(2009), Geelong West, Kerang, Melbourne, Sydenham, Wangaratta, West Footscray
and Wheelers Hill. However much of the library building stock in Victoria, as elsewhere in
Australia, is ageing and incapable of responding to the space, visibility, technological and
other requirements of modern public libraries and their communities. The state government’s
Living Libraries funding program to support renovated and new libraries has been useful, but
does not yet justify the Minister for Local Government’s September 2008 press release spin
that the program ‘has been hugely successful in giving communities bigger, better, brighter
libraries…’. There are, relatively, no more renovated or new public libraries in Victoria than
in other parts of Australia. Nor, as suggested earlier, are there in numerous communities
enough libraries to ensure reasonable access to their resources and spaces by all people,
especially children and older adults and as at anything like the local accessibility of public
18
Huysmans, F and Hillebrink, C The future of the Dutch public library: ten years on The Hague, Netherlands Institute for
Social Research 2008 p7 www.scp.nl
15
schools. Victoria has no public library access standard. Indeed it has no current overall
standards or guidelines for its public library system and collections, something which is being
addressed in NSW with its Living learning libraries: standards and guidelines for NSW
public libraries.19 These are in draft form, and draw on recent work on standards and
guidelines from Australia, the US and the UK. They aim to help councils and public libraries
evaluate current services
set targets for improvement
develop best practice in library service delivery
plan for future needs.
Some, perhaps many, Victorian children will therefore never, or rarely, see the inside of a
public library or even a mobile library during their critical formative years. It is likely that
more children and adults in the fourth socioeconomic quartile in particular lack ready access
to, and encouragement to use, good public libraries. How true this is throughout Victoria has
probably never been assessed, but it is a fundamental equity and social inclusion issue to be
considered and researched by the state government and councils. It also needs to be
considered in the context of the Department of Education and Early Childhood
Development’s December 2007 guide to shared facility partnerships, which is examined later
in this paper.
Lessons from the mechanics’ institutes
It is noteworthy that in the late 19th and early 20th century Victoria had, with a much smaller
population, probably more mechanics’ institute libraries than the 257 public library branches
it has today. Some of those institutes remain to this day, as halls and community facilities, and
as libraries, for example in Footscray and Prahran.20
The Victorian state government has commendably treated the heritage of its mechanics’
institutes well, and better than any other state. This is appropriate. Those institutes were the
ancestors of adult and TAFE education, and of public libraries. There are lessons to be learned
from them, and in particular why they were ultimately little used and not sustainable. Modern
public libraries are unique places of community connection, self directed learning, personal
and social capital development. They emulate the sense of 19th century communities of a need
for a place of community engagement and improvement which led to so many small and large
communities throughout Victoria investing, often handsomely, in mechanics’ institutes. The
impulses behind that investment varied but those institutes served both practical and symbolic
ends, and provided the focal point for a great range of local activities and initiatives – as good
public libraries do today. One ardent institute supporter in 1861 even asserted
I am so firmly convinced that the habit of meeting is itself a priceless good, that it would be worthwhile to
come to the Institute if only to shake hands and go home again.
It is arguably a not dissimilar focus on community connection, capacity building and
wellbeing which is the distinctive contribution which public libraries can, and do, make
within Victorian communities – and could and should be allowed to do much better.
19
20
Libraries Alive! Pty Ltd Living learning libraries: standards and guidelines for NSW public libraries. Draft version 1.3
June 2008 Sydney, State Library of NSW www.sl.nsw.gov.au
Candy, P and Laurent, J Pioneering culture: mechanics’ institutes and schools of arts in Australia Adelaide, Auslib Press
1994
16
The funders
The multidimensional modern public library still tends to be not well understood by today’s
state and local government political and bureaucratic decision makers. They may have distant
or even negative memories of the public libraries of their childhood, or no memory at all
because they had no local library available to them during their formative years. It is
estimated that only 2 in every 5 public library funding decision makers in Victoria today had
access to a good public library during their childhood (see appendix 1). Whilst this is slowly
changing it is recognised as an inhibitor of public library awareness and funding, as is the fact
that many library funding decision makers are middle aged or older males, the very cohorts
which make the least direct use of public libraries. Experience and anecdotal evidence suggest
that men and women use, or do not use, public libraries in different ways and amounts, and
that public library strategies do not usually recognise this. Recent US research21 indicates that
male usage of public libraries is distinct enough to warrant special attention from library
planners. This is an issue to be considered by Victorian councils in library strategic planning.
However the gender and age of local and state government decision makers may not be the
only factors behind why such an evident public and individual cost effective good as public
libraries are generally sparingly funded by local and state governments throughout Australia.
As Harold Perkin in his 1989 magnum opus on the rise of professional society observed, it is
the tension between public and private sector professionals which is manifested in the contest
for society’s resources, a contest
…between those who benefit directly from government expenditure and those who see themselves as the
source of that expenditure…the struggle between the public and private sector professions is the master
conflict of professional society.22
The challenge of having public library funders recognise the dividends and opportunities from
investing in public libraries is not unique to Victoria, or indeed Australia.
For example, a major 2006 US study Long overdue: a fresh look at public attitudes about
libraries in the 21st century23 supported by the Gates Foundation, observed that
The American people expect and prize public library service in the internet age….But the research
suggests a troubling ‘perception’ gap, with many elected leaders reluctant to consider libraries a funding
priority and community residents…unaware that libraries face stiff competition for funds.
This spells a missed opportunity for elected leaders, who could build upon libraries’ currency in the
community to address a host of contemporary problems…
Joint use and shared facility partnerships
With the exception of the Melbourne City Library in Flinders Lane – which is a partnership
between the City of Melbourne, the CAE and effectively the state government – no joint use
public/educational libraries are profiled in the LBC ‘Showcasing the best’ volumes.
21
22
23
Applegate, R Gender differences in the use of a public library Public library quarterly 27(1) 2008 pp19-31
Perkin, H The rise of professional society: England since 1880 London, Routledge 1989
Long overdue: a fresh look at public attitudes about libraries in the 21 st century www.publicagenda.org
17
This reflects that over the last 35 years Victoria has generally failed to develop good joint use
libraries, particularly school/public libraries. Numerous attempts at the concept have been
dissolved, and several of those remaining are poor examples. In the main those dissolutions
derived from poor Education Department corporate and school understandings and planning,
resulting in a lack of shared mission, vision, integrated staffing and practice, performance
management and evaluation – and facilities usually valued more by schools than by the
general public.
In 2003/2004 there were only 11 joint use libraries in Victoria. There were even fewer, 9, in
2006/7. With the impending dissolution of the Churchill school/public library and
prospectively that at Neerim South, there will be only 7. However to that number should now
be added the new library at Caroline Springs, a planned library at Colac, and a possible library
at Warragul. By comparison South Australia has 56 joint use libraries including several large
urban libraries, WA has 18, and across Australia 9% of public library branches are joint use.
With considerable justification – given the inadequacies of joint use library motivations,
planning, locations, arrangements and funding in the past – there is strong equivocation
among Victorian public library managers about joint use libraries. A hesitation about them is
also likely among Victorian teacher librarians in public schools. There is a received wisdom
within much of the library profession in Victoria that joint use libraries do not work.
That equivocation must now be set against, however, the worldwide and Australian increase
in joint use library numbers and types, and also the attempts to achieve other more effective
cooperation between schools and public libraries. This cooperation between schools and
public libraries is something which is required in Denmark, but not so in Victoria where it is
highly variable and largely dependent on public library initiatives. If every public school and
public library in Victoria were required by the state government to cooperate, both would be
stimulated to undertake a voyage of discovery of which the major beneficiary would be many
young Victorians and their teachers.
At the same time as joint use libraries in Australia and in other developed countries are
increasing and usually succeeding, the number of large mobile libraries continues to slowly
decrease – as in Victoria – partly because of high replacement, fuel, maintenance and staffing
costs. This is despite the technological sophistication of modern mobile libraries. The
experience is also that, given a choice of a mobile library which visits occasionally, and a
joint use library in a school accessible for most of the week, that communities usually opt for
the latter. The Victorian community at Murrayville near the border with South Australia, for
example, is visited by a mobile library from the Mildura Regional Library Service. However
members of that community often choose to use and borrow from the school/public library at
Pinnaroo in South Australia. This is open on each week day for a total of 37 hours per week;
is managed by a professional teacher librarian; and has had since its opening in 1977 rapid
interlibrary loan access to the 2.5 million items in the South Australian public library system.
The increasing interest in joint use libraries is reflected in the convening in the UK in 2007 of
the first international conference on joint use libraries;24 the growing favourable outcomes of
them due to greater knowledge of their critical success factors; and the growing professional
literature about them. In 2008 this literature now includes the first comprehensive book about
joint use libraries Joint use libraries: libraries for the future.25
24
25
Bundy, A ed Joint use libraries: an international conference 19-21 June 2007 Manchester UK. Proceedings Adelaide,
Auslib Press 2007
McNicol, S Joint use libraries: libraries for the future Oxford, Chandos 2008
18
In it, McNicol contends that joint use libraries ‘are finally coming into their own’; ‘are ideally
suited to the current political climate and drivers for change in society’; and are ‘pioneering
libraries which point to the way in which all libraries should be looking to develop in the 21st
century’.
She defines joint use library services as ‘outcomes of formal agreements between two or more
separate authorities which provide two or more groups of users with equitable access to
resources, services and facilities’. This definitional breadth hints at the increasing variations
on the joint use and colocated library theme, of which until the early 1980s the rural school
and public library was by far the largest manifestation. That combination remains the most
common, but the last two decades has seen many more and urban and rural joint use libraries
involving universities, TAFE colleges and schools.
There are two imperatives for a professional and local government rethink about joint use
libraries in Victoria, particularly in regional and rural parts of the state.
One imperative is substantially an internally driven one for councils and public libraries. This
is the need to identify and grasp all opportunities to improve the accessibility, awareness and
profile of their councils and public libraries for many Victorian communities.
In 1904 Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist, in justifying
his commitment to funding free public library buildings stated
If it is right that schools should be maintained by the whole community for the wellbeing of the whole, it
is right also that libraries should be so maintained.
Similarly in 1996 Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago asserted that
Libraries and schools are on a par with each other in terms of what we are trying to accomplish, which is
to better educate society. But the library scope extends even further than that of schools….A library is an
innovator and should play an integral and active role in that effort in every community.
In 2007 Victoria had 1592 public schools, but only 257 static public libraries of which less
than 30% opened on Sundays. These were complemented by 27 mobile libraries. For every
22,000 Victorians, there is only one static library. For every 345 public school students there
is one school. The state government’s 2008/2009 commitment to Education and Early
Childhood Development is $8999.4 million, which will allow that department an operating
surplus of $125 million. That surplus alone is more than three times the revised $38.2 million
afforded the state’s public library system by the state government in 2008/9, which is now
funding that system at the equivalent of 0.42% of the public education system.
This is a very large accessibility and funding mismatch for two Victorian statewide systems
which have a high level of mission and user complementarity, and in which the number of
public library users exceeds the number of school students by 5:1. Prima facie, the state
government has yet to recognise that those countries such as Denmark and Finland which
have the world’s best school systems also have the world’s best public library systems.
Some of those schools in rural areas of Victoria possibly already lend books and other
resources to parents from their libraries, and certainly to teachers. All are potentially an access
point for the resources, technology and services of public libraries. To exploit that potential
19
requires time, work and school cooperation, formally or informally, as some libraries in
Victoria such as Kilmore will have experienced already.
There are several other agencies which can be considered as public library access points,
depots or colocations, ranging from the general store in small communities, to visitor and
government agency centres and other service providers. Queensland has been particularly
active in this approach, to help sustain rural communities experiencing population growth or
loss issues.26
The second imperative is political and external. It is ‘joined up government’, the term used to
describe the increasing emphasis in Australia and other countries on working across
organisational boundaries to deliver shared services and address shared issues – something in
which libraries of all types have more experience and achievement than any other public and
private sector agencies. As the first LBC report ‘Setting the scene’ states
Currently many of the services people receive from councils and state and commonwealth government
departments and agencies are fragmented. An important aim of joined up government is to integrate these
government services, with the primary focus being on the needs of the recipient…(it) is also about
providing individuals and communities with the opportunity to be more involved in setting priorities
about what governments fund and how services are delivered.27
Joint use libraries have tended to be seen by governments and their bureaucrats worldwide as
straightforward manifestations of the joined up government approach. In reality, from
painfully won experience, they are definitely not.
In Victoria there are still not the corporate understandings, processes and mechanisms within
the State’s Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD),
Department of Community Development, and Department of Local Government to ensure
that any libraries developed because of joined up government imperatives or funding
incentives meet the critical success factors for joint use libraries.
There is little value in the Victorian government promoting, suggesting or requiring joint use
libraries unless its own Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and
TAFE are fully engaged and supportive, and also formally recognise the state’s public library
system as their partner in educating literate young and other Victorians.
The state government is clearly committed to greater community access to school facilities, as
indicated by Premier Brumby at the Future of schooling in Australia conference 25
September 2007
Schools are a great community asset but too many are underutilized outside normal school hours. We
need to encourage greater sharing of infrastructure between schools and other community institutions …
One of the nine Victorian super school projects is in Colac. This will incorporate a joint use
library. The process used to investigate and arrive at that joint use library part of the
development has met with community resistance, and may qualify the best possible long term
outcome from it. It lends emphasis to the need for joint use library proposals to proceed very
carefully, and to the importance of early community awareness and ownership of the process
and outcome.
26
27
Monley, B Colocated rural public libraries: partnerships for progress, in Bundy, A ed Places and spaces: public libraries
for the 21st century in Australia and New Zealand. Adelaide31 March-1 April 2006. Conference proceedings Adelaide,
Auslib Press 2006 pp53-59
Libraries/Building/Communities. Setting the scene p13 op cit
20
If more joint use libraries are to be considered in Victoria great care therefore needs to be
taken that they are not being set up for dysfunction or failure, which invariably will have more
impact on the general community and its council than on the school community. This requires
investment in knowledgeable personnel and sound formal mechanisms within DEECD and
the Department of Local Government to evaluate, approve, facilitate and monitor all joint use
library proposals and developments within the state. In smaller rural contexts in particular it
may also require, as in South Australia, the state government to effectively subsidise joint use
library operating costs through DEECD.
There is a strengthening policy imperative within Victoria for shared school based facilities.
This is reflected in the December 2007 Shared facility partnerships: a guide to good
governance for schools and the community, a 52 page guide which is the best in Australia,
and covers well the critical success factors and cautions in shared ventures. It contains a
quote from Rob Spence, the MAV chief executive officer, which emphasises a primary
requirement for successful joint use libraries in particular. This is that ‘Shared ventures work
best when a sense of ownership of the facility is fostered throughout the community’. The
Colac experience validates that observation.
However there is little reference to joint use school/public libraries in the guide, although
potentially they are the most common form of school/community partnerships in Victoria. No
library professionals appear to have contributed to the guide, and its substantial list of
references has nothing about joint use libraries and their issues, despite their now wide
literature. This suggests that the MAV, councils and the Victorian public library system
should develop a position response to the Shared facility partnerships guide if they have not
already done so.
It also suggests – if more joint use libraries are to be proposed in Victoria – the value of an
independent review of the existing libraries to identify issues, guidelines and processes to
optimise the success of any new libraries. Such an audit and review of its 18 joint use
libraries, and development of guidelines for new libraries, was commissioned by the state
government of Western Australia in late 2007 to help inform its restructuring of that state’s
public library system.
Return on investment in public libraries
The international and Australian research evidence of the high return on investment in public
libraries continues to grow.
This research has been in part response to recognition that the conventional detailed measures
of public library activity, such as the 91 pages of data collected annually on the Victorian
public library system, are largely meaningless to funders, and are – apart from rankings of
selected indicators – of limited benchmarking and advocacy value to public libraries
themselves. They also do not attempt, except in South Australia, to benchmark the
expenditure on public libraries by individual councils as a percentage of their rate revenues.
What information is available on these percentages in Victoria suggests that those percentages
are generally modest, and in the nonmetropolitan regional library corporations, low – at a
21
level which would probably concern many ratepayers and Friends of Libraries groups if they
knew just how small a proportion of their rates are spent on their libraries.
There is a tendency for libraries and their agencies to spend so much time in measuring what
is measurable in library services, that what is important about those services is missed.
Library performance should be measured by purpose, not activity.28 There is increasing
questioning of large computer generated public library data sets, their costs but more critically
their value. A limited review of the Victorian public library data set is in progress.
However there is a case for a full review of the cost to libraries and to the state government of
the Victorian public library data set; of the use to which it is put; and whether it is practicable
to include rates percentages using a standard approach to their measurement by all councils.
What is needed is a focus on impacts rather than outputs, taking forward annually elements
from the LBC findings. For example, the national UK public library impact measures for
2005/6 were
promoting the economic vitality of localities
promoting healthier communities and narrowing health inequalities
improving the quality of life for children, young people, families at risk and older
people
raising standards across our schools
safer and stronger communities.29
The approach to measuring the many benefits public libraries provide is increasingly based on
reference to prices of comparable goods and services, and to the economic multiplier effect.
Where no method exists to quantify the value of services, narrative descriptions of library
activities document the many ways in which libraries add value to their communities.
Library valuation is an evolving field, comprehensively reviewed in the 2007 Worth their
weight: an assessment of the evolving field of library valuation produced by the Americans
for Libraries Council and funded by the Gates Foundation.30 This approaches the subject of
the economic valuation of public libraries through
a discussion of recent library valuation studies that illustrate important quantitative
analysis techniques
a discussion of alternative social return on investment(SROI) methods
a set of detailed recommendations for growth in the field of library evaluation and its
advocacy use.
28
29
30
Seddon, J Systems thinking in the public sector: the failure of the reform regime and a manifesto for a better way
Axminster UK, Triarchy Press 2008
www.mla.gov.uk/website/programmes/framework/framework_programmes/impact
Imholz,S and Arns, J Worth their weight: an assessment of the evolving field of library valuation
www.americansforlibraries.org
22
Other resources for identifying public library return on investment include
the 1998 Canadian The library’s contribution to your community: a resource manual
for libraries to document their social and economic contribution to the local
community31
To develop the manual researchers interviewed elected members and administrators,
reviewed the literature and sought input from manager of different sized public libraries.
It identifies the hard data that funding decision makers want to evaluate the value of the
library services they fund.
the 1997 Canadian Dividends: the value of public libraries in Canada32
The public library benefits valuation study33 led from the late 1990s by Dr Glen Holt
from the St Louis Public Library in the US. The purpose of the study has been to
develop a practical, transportable, conservative methodology to calculate the direct
return from taxpayer investment in public libraries, commencing with large urban
libraries. It has involved asking people how much money as cash payment or reduced
taxes they would accept to vote to close their public library. Over 80% refused to
answer the question, and many gave very strong responses as to why they would not
accept money to close the library, including
they are a community resource
extremely important for students
needed for education
people can’t afford books
not everyone can afford computers
provides information unavailable otherwise
I wouldn’t be in business if it closed
essential to democracy
because I’m civilized.
a major UK research project The economic value of public libraries, completed in
200034
many US return on investment studies by individual states and individual libraries,
including South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Southwestern Ohio and Wisconsin35
the 2005 review Investing in the community: South Australian public libraries adding
value – an overview of the social capital public libraries add to South Australian
communities.36 This study, of Australia’s most heavily used public library system,
identified the contribution the public library system is making to SA communities, but
also to the South Australia government’s whole of state strategic plan, particularly in
the areas of building communities, improving wellbeing, fostering creativity, increasing
school retention, and expanding opportunities. A community services manager
interviewed for the study commented that
31
32
33
34
35
36
The library’s contribution to your community: a resource manual for libraries to document their social and economic
contribution to the local community Gloucester, Ontario, Southern Ontario Library Service 1998 (reprinted Adelaide,
Auslib Press 2000)
Dividends: the value of public libraries in Canada Toronto, Book and Periodical Council 1997(reprinted in Australasian
public libraries and information services 12(1) March 1999 pp4-24)
Holt, G and others The public library benefits valuation study 2001 www.slpl.lib.mo.us/using/valuationtoc.htm
Hawkins, M and others The economic value of public libraries Australasian public libraries and information services
14(3) September 2001 pp90-96
for example Taxpayer return on investment in Florida public libraries 2004 dlis.dos.state.fl.us/bld/roi/publications.cfm
For a list of articles and other studies on library value see www.ala.org/ors/reports/roi.cfm ; www.lrs.org/public/roi/ ;
www.georgialibraries.org/lib/collections/econ_value_bib.php; Worth their weight www.americansforlibraries.org
Practico Pty Ltd Investing in the community: South Australian public libraries adding value. An overview of the social
capital public libraries add to South Australian communities Hindmarsh SA, Public Library Services 2005
23
Other council officers ask why libraries are such a popular service with the community – it is
because libraries give people what they are seeking.
the 2007 study from the US Urban Institute Making cities stronger: public library
contributions to local economic development. This shows the ways that local
governments, agencies and libraries are working together, and how public libraries are
stable and powerful tools for cities seeking to attract and build new businesses.37
the 2008 study The economic benefits of Sunshine Coast Libraries (Qld) which used the
methodology of the Southwestern Ohio study.38 It identified that a $5.45 economic
benefit for every dollar of investment is derived by the Sunshine Coast community, and
that this ‘can be seen as conservative, as these figures do not take into account all of the
benefits derived by residents through the use of the libraries, such as electronic
databases, programming, meeting rooms and outreach services’.
As far as is known, no Victorian council or its library service has yet undertaken a similar
study, although there are several library value calculators available electronically to them, for
example that of the Maine State Library.39
The Library Board of Victoria has committed to a research project on the economic benefits
of public libraries, the outcomes of which should encourage and facilitate such studies. The
working title of the project is Building knowledge for library advocacy. Its scoping study has
commenced, with its final report due in April 2010. It is another Victorian initiative which
will have Australia wide utility.
Libraries build communities
Because of the Library Board of Victoria’s major investment in the Libraries/Building/
Communities (LBC) project Victoria has made a landmark Australian and international
contribution to identifying what public libraries do; the community’s return on investment in
them; and the reasons why they should be invested in at higher levels than typically they are.
Since its first reports appeared in February 2005, LBC has been increasingly referenced in the
Australian literature and reports. This is because there is little in its findings and conclusions
which do not apply to Australia’s public library system as a whole.
Most of those findings and conclusions also have international relevance. No other recent
research on public library use and value anywhere in the world has sought the views of 10,000
people about them. If every state and local government public library funding decision maker
in Victoria and Australia read the LBC reports or just its executive summary with an open
mind, the value of investment in public libraries and the current underinvestment in Victoria’s
public library system would be better understood.
Most of those funders will not read all, or any, of the reports. The challenge therefore for the
MAV and the total Victorian library community and public library advocates throughout the
state is to elicit and convey the critical messages of the LBC reports, which have concluded in
37
38
39
Urban Institute Making cities stronger: public library contributions to local economic development 2007
www.urbanlibraries.org/jan1006makingcitiesstronger.html
Duncan, R op cit
www.maine.gov/msl/services/calculator.htm
24
2008 with its ‘Connecting the community’ and the second of its ‘Showcasing the best’
volumes.
‘Connecting the community’ covers hard to reach Horn of Africa communities, vulnerable
learners, disadvantaged young people, Indigenous Australians, and low income families.
These are representative of the 13% of Victorians, or 650,000 socially excluded and
vulnerable people of all ages and circumstances, who would have much to gain from using
public libraries but are not doing so because too few public library services provide the
locations, spaces, staffing, encouragement and other resources needed to engage and assist
them in a systematic and profound way.
The initiators and executors of the LBC project have, with the conclusion in 2008 of its series
of reports, provided the Victorian state government and Victorian councils with the reasons
and the information about why the state’s public library system is such an outstanding
investment in meeting their policy agendas for education, community capacity building and
wellbeing. They are also provided with the evidence that many Victorians would welcome
greater investment of their taxes in their libraries.
There are indications of the LBC findings starting to make a difference to council attitudes
and funding. A model is in the strategic plan 2008-2013 of the Geelong Regional Library
Corporation, like most of the nonmetropolitan Victorian regional library corporations long
sparingly funded by its member councils. This provides for a 15% increase in member council
contributions, as an outcome of a comprehensive planning process using the LBC findings,
including those of the ‘Connecting with the community’ report, and 3049 responses from
across the region to the LBC survey tool.
A similar initial 15% real funding increase across all Victorian councils and by the state
government would go a small way to removing from Victoria the stain of the lowest
Australian per capita funding of its public library system. This sits at odds with Melbourne’s
status as the second UNESCO City of Literature, a status irrelevant to many Victorians unless
it provides the incentive and basis for Victoria, through better public libraries, to also become
Victoria – the State of Reading.
It also sits at odds with the state’s claim to have Australia’s best public education system; to
be ‘at the forefront of the education revolution’; that ‘Education is our government’s numberone priority’; and that ‘We are also committed to giving children the best possible start in
life’.40
If the state government is indeed committed to education and giving children the best possible
start in life, it can ill afford to ignore the well researched importance of public libraries to the
life prospects of children and young people. Much of that recent research has come from the
UK and is reviewed by Goulding in her 2006 book Public libraries in the 21st century:
defining services and debating the future.41
She quotes leading educationalist Professor K Sylva who, when asked by the UK’s
Parliamentary Select Committee on Preschool Education what single most important thing
parents and carers should do for their children’s learning replied ‘Take them to the library’.
40
41
www.premier.vic.gov.au/newsroom/blueprint-makes-victoria-education-revolution
Goulding, A Public libraries in the 21st century: defining services and debating the future Aldershot UK, Ashgate 2008
25
The challenge which Victorian families face in doing so is that Victoria’s public library
system has too few locations, with limited hours, limited resources, and few children’s
librarians, to facilitate many its children being taken regularly to a public library.
Similarly, the Victorian public library system itself is almost certainly challenged by the
finding of one major UK research report that
…although many of the parents, children, librarians and teachers interviewed endorsed the important role
of libraries, decision makers responsible for educational and literacy initiatives often ignored the role of
the public library or did not fully understand its potential. 42
Issues for Victoria’s public library system
The issues for the Victorian public library system are similar to those elsewhere in Australia
and internationally. They are covered well in the LBC reports, the Strategic asset audit of
Victorian public libraries, The Library – the key to growing the knowledge and skills of the
Victorian community, and its 2005 foundation document Libraries strategic direction.
The responses to those issues should be determined from systematic consideration of what
councils and the state government – and the Australian government – are trying to achieve for
communities.
This requires identification and analysis of those aspirations as the basis of library strategic
planning. It also requires flexibility and innovation in those responses, which should
emphasise the removal of barriers to public library awareness, access and use. Symbolically
and practically the proposed single Victorian library card should assist with this. Public
libraries need to be as pervasive and user friendly as possible, physically and electronically, if
they are to reinforce their position as the community’s Third Place, after work or school, and
home. This implies
an accelerated focus on public library visibility in the digital domain
systematically reaching out to the excluded
accelerated collaboration in reader development, resource sharing, innovation, systems,
technology and marketing across the whole of Victorian public library system. For
example, there is a long way to go before all of Victoria’s public library system
optimises that collaboration in outsourced acquisition and processing which public
libraries in some other states take for granted, and which enables them to focus on user
services.
libraries which cluster and aggregate with a range of other ‘joined up government’
community services
libraries which lead their councils in citizen-centric philosophies and person-centric
council web spaces
libraries which work across, and link, council departments to deliver strategic programs
libraries which are at the centre of council information and customer relationship
management systems(CRMs)
42
ibid p271
26
libraries which are a proactive information resource for council officers
a greater staff skills mix, including the employment of nonlibrary professionals such as
youth workers
more specialist staffing positions and staff development and training
greater community and commercial partnerships
libraries which are usually open, and always on
attractive, visible and flexible buildings with flexible spaces
more joint use libraries with educational institutions
greater engagement between the Victorian public school and public library systems
taking the library outside the library walls
fostering volunteers
fostering Friends of Libraries groups
up to date and attractive collections which reflect communities
demonstrating to their communities and decision makers their dollar and other returns
on investment.
The bottom line
Victoria has, overall, an inadequate and inequitable public library system. More words, more
reports, and more data, are not needed to pinpoint the primary reasons for its limitations.
These are
poor and relatively declining investment over many years in the state’s public library
system by state governments, of both political persuasions.
better investment in it by some parts of local government than others.
no strategic framework and action plan for the system.
no policy and funding agreement between the state and local government.
The responses proposed are
a Victorian Public Libraries Summit in 2009, leading to the development of a Victorian
Public Library Strategic Framework and Action Plan 2010-2020 endorsed by the two
Victorian levels of government and other stakeholders.
the state government and the MAV(for local government) to develop a transparent
program partnership agreement to share the governance, policy development and
funding of the state’s public library system. This would be consistent with the April
2006 national intergovernmental agreement on local government, and the May 2008
Victorian state/local government agreement.
state and local government political and bureaucratic decision makers to acknowledge
that investment in the Victorian public system returns high dividends for them and all
Victorian communities
– and that public libraries are
community critical, not
community optional.
27
Victoria has claim to lead Australia in its investment in early childhood and school education,
literacy and reading, giving children the best start in life, community capacity building,
supporting families, social inclusion and innovation.
Victoria’s public library system already contributes to all of those areas, and beyond.
Resourced well it could contribute so much more.
_______________________
28
Appendix 1
Victorian public library background
The first Australian public libraries conference, Trading in futures, was held in Melbourne in
February 1994. Immediate past president of the Australian Local Government Association
and former mayor of Glen Waverley, Graeme Frecker, in his paper ‘Local government and
libraries’ observed
We have changed enormously in the last half century. At best only one in six of Australian born residents
over 50 would have had ready access to public library services in the formative years if childhood. In
Victoria only 14.9 per cent of the population, about one in seven, lived in municipalities receiving library
grants in 1947-48….It has largely been, then, in the last 25-30 years that the progress of public libraries
has occurred. Today they are an entrenched and essential element of local communities throughout
Australia…now we are beginning to see a sense of purpose about libraries and not just them being a
source of information which all may use as they see fit. 43
Frecker also referred to the 1935 Munn-Pitt report on Australian libraries.44 In the year of
Frecker’s birth, this watershed report castigated Australia’s overall lack of, and very poor,
public libraries. However in its ten pages on the condition of Victoria’s libraries, the
surveyors – one the Director of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the other the Chief
Librarian of the then Public Library of Victoria – had positive and negative observations,
including
The Public (ie State) Library is the only one of the strictly state libraries which maintains a lending
service for the use of residents of the city. This lending branch has a stock of only 67,000 volumes and
occupies quarters which are most inconvenient and unattractive. They have been considered ‘temporary’
sine 1908. In spite of these handicaps the branch loaned 228,000 volumes to city and suburban residents
during 1933, sixty per cent of which were books of nonfiction. Country borrowers are already making
heavy demands upon the library…The trustees and administration should be congratulated upon the
liberality with which they have sent expert staff members to small Victorian cities to give advice and
instruction in the operation of the local library. This library, more than any other, has served as a training
agency.
The libraries of the suburban cities vary greatly, but their general average of accomplishment is far above
that of the Sydney suburbs. Many of the suburban municipalities have at least recognised the principle of
giving financial support from rates…Unfortunately, the situation is not uniformly favourable. The adult
population of Footscray is served by a mechanics’ institute…The children of the community are cared for
by a separate rate-supported library maintained by the municipal council.
…Ballarat is the third biggest city of Victoria…yet there is no movement to establish a real municipal
library. Its city council apparently believes in free libraries only to the extent of 170 pounds per year.
…The Geelong Public Library is one of the poorest in Victoria…it is a progressive city and should work
towards a rate-supported free library. It is a centre from which service might be given to the surrounding
region.
…Judged by overseas standards the Prahran Public Library is a poor one, due to lack of adequate
financial backing from the city council. It should be remembered, however, that 2,300 pounds is exactly
2,300 pounds more than is spent by the adjoining city of Melbourne, with its hugh amount of rateable
business property. Prahran deserves the highest praise for maintaining a rate-supported library in a
country in which they are not generally accepted…it rightfully takes great prid e in its work with children.
One assistant devotes her entire time to operating the children’s room and sending books to several of the
more distant schools.
43
44
Frecker, G Local government and libraries, in Bundy, A ed Public libraries: trading in futures. Proceedings of the first
national public library conference Melbourne 1-3 February 1994 Adelaide, Auslib Press 1994 pp55-59
Munn, R and Pitt, E Australian libraries: a survey of conditions and suggestions for their improvement Melbourne,
ACER 1935 pp50-60
29
Bendigo has almost no library facilities…its 30,000 inhabitants cannot be so different from other people
as to fail to respond to good service…An effort should be made to create a library district which will
include the immediate suburbs, at least, and which might well be enlarged to bring in surrounding small
towns and rural areas to form a district system.
… Except in the immediate vicinity of Melbourne, the small towns of Victoria are as poorly provided
with library facilities as those of New South Wales.
Victoria presents natural conditions favourable to the formation of district libraries, based upon the plan
of the English county systems…Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong and several cities along the coast are centres
from which unified district systems could be administered.
The Munn-Pitt report was followed in 1947 by the McColvin report Public libraries in
Australia: present conditions and future possibilities.45 This found that not much had changed
since 1935, and that a multiplicity of councils afflicted Melbourne (29), and nonmetroplitan
areas such as Geelong, thus inhibiting
…the most economical and efficient… Anglo-American system of serving the districts within a greater
city limits by means of branch libraries, administered as part of a properly coordinated service of which
the central library is part.
…in Melbourne – though they do not yet receive any state aid(though very modest and not always wisely
disbursed aid has been available to institutes and other libraries outside the metropolitan area)- a few
authorities are providing public libraries at their own expense, notably Prahran and South Melbourne.
Elsewhere the position is as in Sydney – nothing or institutes.
…The adjoining cities of South Melbourne, Prahran and Port Melbourne were, at the time of my visit,
considering the possibility of arranging for interavailability of tickets and other forms of cooperation.46
Also on a positive note, McColvin, the City Librarian of Westminster in the UK, observed
that there was
…the assurance of the premier, who is keenly resolved to give Victoria the best possible library service,
that the government intends to do its utmost…Victoria should, indeed, go far, as it can benefit from the
lessons of NSW and Tasmania.47
That premier was a Labor premier, John Cain.
45
46
47
McColvin, L Public libraries in Australia: present conditions and future possibilities Melbourne, ACER/MUP 1947
ibid p24
ibid p43
30
Appendix 2
Recurrent state govt public library funding
Year
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
General
Victorian
Govt.
Operating
Expenses
$m
2517.0
3186.0
3739.0
4171.0
4539.0
5134.0
5875.0
6801.0
8063.0
8878.0
10311.0
11302.0
12450.0
13384.0
14579.0
15908.0
16572.0
17555.0
17786.0
17392.0
17167.0
17615.0
17737.0
19259.0
19166.0
20219.0
22721.0
24079.0
25559.0
27547.0
29029.0
30977.0
33473.0
35481.0
36982.0
revised
estimate
Recurrent
State
Govt.
Public
Library
Funding
$m
5.2
7.7
9.6
10.8
11.9
12.0
13.2
14.1
15.6
15.6
17.2
18.4
18.6
17.8
19.1
19.8
20.7
21.3
21.6
21.1
21.6
20.2
21.5
22.1
22.8
24.0
24.1
25.7
24.9
25.6
27.8
29.1
30.7
32.1
% Total
State
Govt.
Operating
Expenses
$m
0.21%
0.24%
0.26%
0.26%
0.26%
0.23%
0.23%
0.21%
0.19%
0.18%
0.17%
0.16%
0.15%
0.13%
0.13%
0.12%
0.13%
0.12%
0.12%
0.12%
0.13%
0.11%
0.12%
0.11%
0.12%
0.12%
0.11%
0.11%
0.10%
0.09%
0.10%
0.09%
0.09%
0.09%
Note The 2008/9 library funding was increased by 5% in September 2008, although mostly
for specified projects, and not as a contribution to library operating costs across the board. It
is assumed that the percentage of the state government’s 2008/2009 operating expenses is
unchanged.
31
Appendix 3
Characteristics of good public libraries
Many of the descriptors (see list at www.fola.org.au) to be found in the literature on public
libraries are centred on their community connection and valuation, such as
A community’s intellectual and cultural identity
Builders of better communities
Civic agents creating civic agency
Community anchors
Community catalysts
Community critical
Community focal points
Community icons
Community oases
Community shapers
Community unifiers
Community’s best investment
Community’s information switchboard
Community’s knowledge centre
Community’s marketplace
Community’s success story
Heartbeat of the community
Promoters of community cohesion
The new village green
The following elements therefore characterise good public library buildings and services.
They are well located community hubs, and
are well signposted
are clearly identified
are very visible
are transparent, with their insides visible outside, and the outsides visible from within
them
are destination places
as ‘living rooms of the city’ are welcoming, attractive, comfortable, and safe places for
people of all ages and circumstances
are increasingly not standalone facilities, but are located in retailing centres as retail
anchors sometimes requested by retail developers, or colocated with other community
services in ‘community hubs’. A recent study from Indiana indicates that 30% of public
library users will use a retail or other community service when using the library, which
they would otherwise not use. Victorian examples of public libraries colocated with
other community services include the Clayton Library for the City of Monash opened
in early 2008 as the key destination in a $20 million community hub comprising the
library, a café, a theatrette, meeting rooms, childcare centre, maternal and child health
centre, a swimming pool, an art precinct, and the community health service. The
Churchill Intergenerational Hub, which opens in November 2008, is also similar to a
number of developments overseas by colocating a public library and a toy library with
services such as a childcare centre, a neighbourhood house, a preschool, maternal and
child health and home and community care
32
are increasingly joint use with schools, TAFE or even universities, as at Caroline
Springs, Wangaratta, prospectively at Colac and possibly at Warragul.
provide generous parking – people stay much longer in good libraries
have reader development, learning development, children’s, young adult, older adults,
local studies and other specialist professional and paraprofessional staff
are spacious and flexible, have well spaced low shelves, shelving units on wheels, and
are able to display at least 15% of their collections face out
provide up to date, attractive and relevant collections in a variety of print and digital
formats
provide rapid access to the resources of other libraries through interlibrary loan
provide professionally led services to the homebound and those in aged care
provide flexible outreach opportunities to people who are time poor
are able to provide space and time zones for different user cohorts
have generous display areas
provide children’s and toy libraries
provide free internet access for information, E-government and email purposes
provide electronic training suites and support
provide interactive websites
provide local studies rooms
provide homework centres and online homework tutoring
work closely with local schools and homeschoolers
provide spaces for creative workshops
provide group and individual study areas
provide meeting and seminar rooms
provide lounge areas, JP consultation rooms, Friends of the Library rooms
provide coffee shops
provide parenting rooms and toilets
provide graphic novels, music, Xboxes, playstations to attract and engage young people
open seven days a week and most evenings
are supported by Friends of the Library groups, and even a Young Friends of the
Library group as indicated by the award winning Junior Friends of the Alexandra
Library in Victoria
have strong volunteer programs and are starting to capitalize on the volunteer interests
and skills of the baby boomers
are strongly marketed and promoted to everyone in their communities.
The 2008 report on the future of the Dutch public library system provides a demographic scan
for The Netherlands, which is not dissimilar to that of Victoria – a growing and ageing
33
population, with relatively high and increasingly diverse migrant populations. It observes that
one of the weaknesses of Dutch libraries – as it is for most Victorian libraries – is their
visibility in the digital domain, and that
… the public library now faces the task of seeking out users and assisting them in organising their own
content, rather than assuming that users will continue to come to the library for that content. Only if the
library enters the field of view of potential users will the conditions be created for bringing them into
contact with both the physical and digital library collection.48
Web 2.0 is changing the traditional relationship libraries have with their clients, from the
librarian as ‘expert’ and the ‘unknowing’ user to an equal partnership where knowledge is
freely exchanged between the librarian and user through tools such as wikis. The LBC
‘Showcasing the best’ volumes show that Victorian libraries, such as the Yarra Plenty
Regional Library, are proactively responding to this need but progress across the Victorian
public library system will be slow without better investment by councils, the state government
and the libraries themselves. That slow progress minimises the real benefits that young adults
in particular can gain from connection with their libraries. It also emphasises that no other
institutions than public libraries have the challenge of connection and relevance with both 15
year olds and 75 year olds.
Similarly, the ‘Showcasing the best’ volumes show that some Victorian libraries are
innovating in reaching out to communities, but if public libraries are to become truly
ubiquitous and universally known and available to everyone in Victoria much more can be
done if the initiative and investment is there. For example the Frankston Library’s Library
Express service at the Frankston Railway Station has now been providing for railway
commuters for over three years, and in its third year had 251 members, many of whom ‘could
not use a library if Library Express did not operate, as they are generally working when the
libraries are open’.
Melbourne’s rail network has 216 stations and increasing patronage of 616,000 passengers on
each weekday, numbers of which will be among the 13% of disadvantaged Victorians which
public libraries do not reach. All of those stations are within a council area which provides a
library service, and their users represent a captive public library audience of residents and
ratepayers. This raises the question of why in Melbourne, Frankston appears to be alone in
offering such a profile raising service for its council and library. Such a service could also be
extended to nonmetropolitan stations such as Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong and Warragul, as it
is from outside of Brisbane. Its provision at Frankston raises, however, the question of why
the Frankston library service is also not able to open for more, worker friendly, hours.
Frankston’s other initiatives in locating resources at the council’s customer service shops
suggest other opportunities for councils and public libraries to become more pervasive, and
with a higher profile and utility in their communities.
There are many other examples of public library initiatives and outreach to be found in the
LBC ‘Showcasing the best’ volumes. They confirm that better investment in Victoria’s public
library system by the state government and local government would be put to very good
community use.
48
Huysmans, F and Hillebrink, C op cit p16
34