Public Libraries in England: A valuable public service or a service in distress?

Abstract

Compares and contrasts the Department of Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Reports of 2000 and 2005. Suggests that an increasing focus on public library matters can mean either that public libraries are moving up the political agenda or that they are a cause for concern. Discusses how the two reports show developments but also failings in public library service policy and provision over the five-year period. Both reports cover the regulatory framework governing public libraries but the 2005 report documents changes to reporting systems which, it is feared, will not improve the standard of below standard library services. Concerns about access to library buildings also featured in both reports. The success of the People's Network was praised in both 2000 and 2005 although the practice in some library authorities of charging for access to ICT was condemned strongly in the latter. The two reports emphasized the problem of the decline in the book lending service caused by a fall in the value of the book fund. It is concluded that although the 2005 report contains many criticisms of the provision and management of public library services in England, these should be viewed as an opportunity by the public library community to lobby local and national politicians for funding and action to rectify the problems identified.