Library & Information Service key facts

Key Messages

  1. Book issues in a number of our libraries, including Winchester Discovery Centre, and visits have dramatically risen across Hampshire this year

  1. Our libraries are tailored to meet the needs of the local community, according to what they have asked for - not a one size fits all approach. The future of our libraries lie in the hands of their local communities

  1. We are listening to our residents and providing a facility that people want to use – whether it be to borrow a book, use a computer or take part in an activity – Hampshire libraries are moving forward with evolving trends and needs

  1. Books are still at the heart of our libraries and Discovery Centres. This year (2008/9) we have invested £350,000 on top of the £2.2million we already invest in library stock. Our book stock has even been rated as excellent by a survey commissioned by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport

  1. The latest independent survey of our users showed that over 93% of Hampshire library users said their local library was either very good or good and Hampshire has been in the top quartile of County Councils for satisfaction of all residents with the library service since 2000

  1. A place to stimulate the senses, to inspire creativity – more books, more music, more films, more for everyone – Hampshire people are getting more out of their libraries than ever before

Key data

  • With 51 libraries, two Discovery Centres, 19 mobile libraries and 2 local studies centres, residents in Hampshire are able to get their hands on a wealth of free information

  • No library closures, unlike other authorities  e.g. Devon has closed 6 libraries and Lancashire 8 libraries in the last 2 years. 86% of Hampshire households live within 2 miles of a library building and many others have access to a range of mobile library services

  • 5 Hampshire libraries are now open on a Sunday

  • Total number of opening hours for branch libraries has increased by 14% over the last 6 years – an additional 237 hours per week. (1,688.5 per week in 2003/4 to 1,925 per week at year end 2008/09 )

  • Visits to Hampshire’s libraries have increased more than 4.92% in the 9 months of 2008/09 to over 4.5 million. If this trend continues for the whole of 2008/09 library visits will increase on the 6.7 million visits to our libraries in 2007/08, bucking national trends

  • 613 computers are available throughout Hampshire libraries, completely free to use and extremely popular. In 2007/08 they were in use for over 960,000 sessions.

  • In the last 2 years an additional 33 public network computers have been made available and since 2002/3 the number of Peoples’ Network computers has more than doubled through additional investment and increased provision in the Discovery Centres and larger libraries

  • Just a taste of what you can find in your local library: computer lessons for the visually impaired, silver surfer IT classes, writing workshops, language classes, activity and craft classes such as drumming workshops, puppet making and knitter-natter clubs, baby rhyme time, advice surgeries, family history clinics, vocational qualification classes and lots of reading related activities including story time, reading clubs, poetry groups and author talks

Driving down costs and achieving efficiency

·       We aim to provide a high quality service at a low cost to the residents of Hampshire with a good quality of book stock and to achieve the most efficient use of the library stock

·         The cost per library visit for Hampshire has remained consistent over the last 3 years (average £2.55) and less than the average of our peer group. As the number of library visits continue to increase the cost per visit will be reduced. Discovery Centres combine services under one roof and help to reduce the overall costs of cultural provision in a local community

What do we spend on books?

·         Hampshire does spend a smaller amount per 1000 population on books than most other counties but the total amount we spend on books is still high (£1,290,406 in 2007/08, an increase of 8.1% over the previous year), coming in the top third of English County expenditure on books

·         Book spend last year (2007/8) was 12.1% higher than 5 years ago and total materials spend 9.6% higher than 2003/4.  The total number of new book acquisitions in 2007/8 was 1.3% higher than the previous year

·         In addition to nearly £1.3 million spend on books in 2007/8, an additional spend provides books for the School Library Service taking the total spend on books in 2007/8 to just over £1.6 million

·         The predicted spend on books in 2008/9 (including the School Library Service) is anticipated to approach £2 million.The proportion of the total Materials Fund spent on books fluctuates year on year, but a total fund of £2.9 million for 2008/9, includes inflation and £350,000 growth - most of that growth will be for books rather than other media

·         Over the last 4 years Hampshire's cost per book has remained one of the 5 lowest for English Counties as efficient procurement contracts enable us to get the best price for new stock. In 2007/8 our average cost per book increased slightly to £6.08 but is still the fifth lowest of all counties

How well used is our stock? 

·       Hampshire had the third highest book issues of any English county authority in 2007/08  and the fourth highest children’s book issues in both years

·       In the first 9 months of the current year issues have begun to increase (1.77%), most notably in Winchester, Andover and Stubbington  - all libraries which were refurbished during 2007/8 (after a drop of 5.5% in 2007/8)

·         Hampshire has the fourth largest total book stock and fourth largest lending stock of English counties (but smaller than our peer group of Essex, Kent and Lancashire).

Quality and satisfaction

·         The 2007 Stock Quality Health Check, funded by the Audit Commission, DCMS and the Arts Council, gave Hampshire’s book stock an excellent rating, based on the range of titles, format, quality and quantity

·         In the 2007 customer survey 92% of customers who came into the library intending to borrow a book actually found one to borrow.  In 2006 the result was 90.4%

Future of Libraries – Innovation & investment

·         As part of the successful £1.2 million Big Lottery Fund bid - the Community Libraries Project -  the libraries involved (Aldershot, Waterlooville, Havant, Leigh Park, Haying Island) will be upgraded, starting in 2009, to improve community learning facilities in these areas

·         The existing library management system, Galaxy, is being replaced with a new system, Spydus.  All libraries will be using Spydus by the end of November 2008. We are also working on the business case for introducing new technology (RFID) which will allow customers to self-issue and self-return items - this will change working practices and revolutionise stock management

·         In Hampshire Libraries and Discovery Centres have a fresh and inviting brand image helping to project the image of a modern service and widen the appeal to both young and old. The Discovery Centre brand has seen a quick return by delivering a huge increase in visits at both sites immediately after reopening

·         Hampshire Library and Information Service is continuing to expand its mailing list database of over 115,000 customers. More than 30,000 subscribers have now signed up to receive email marketing. This is put to use to great effect when promoting either the core product or special events held at libraries and Discovery Centres

·         Two new high tech mobile vehicles are part of an upgrade programme to ensure people who cannot visit their local library have access to a comprehensive, higher quality and easily accessible service. This includes around 3,000 books, audio cassettes, a selection of DVDs and CDs and internet access.

Discovery Centres

·       Cultural Pathfinder – In 2005-7 Hampshire’s Discovery Centre model of provision was part of a 2 year national Cultural Pathfinder programme led by the DCMS, focussing on the impact of access to a range of cultural activities on people and communities. The report said:

  “Discovery Centres are a model for an improved, more effective and more efficient way of delivering services by co-locating them in one building. The Cultural Pathfinder has helped to successfully showcase a more joined-up approach to service delivery rather than just raising the profile of culture”

Winchester Discovery Centre

Key facts about Winchester Discovery Centre : -

§         More books, more visits, more issues, more opening hours, more satisfied customers….

§         has attracted over 620,000 visitors since opening in November 2007

§         57% increase in visitors (Dec 07 – Jan 09 vs Dec 04 – Jan 06)

§         book borrowing has increased by a huge 22% (Sept 08 vs Sept 05)

§         10,500 new library members since opening

§         39,000 new items of stock so far and in total over 100,000 items in stock, 28 public computers, two galleries, a performance and a café bar, quite room for reading. Stock levels have not just been maintained but surpassed

Gosport Discovery Centre

Key facts about Gosport Discovery Centre : -

§         More visits, more activities, more computers, more satisfied customers, awards and national recognition…

§         Visits in the year after opening as a Discovery Centre (2005/06) were 49% higher than in 2003/04, and visits continue to increase with a 3% increase in 2007/08

§         The profile of the visitors to Gosport Discovery Centre now more closely matches the profile of the local community

§         Satisfaction with the new Discovery Centre increased by 13% after one year open and in 2007 satisfaction of users was 91.4%

§         There are many more younger and middle-aged people now using the Gosport Discovery Centre

§         Since it opened Gosport Discovery Centre has received national acclaim from the Government Department of Culture Media and Sport, who watched as the centre was developed and drew in more visitors.

§         In 2005 GosportDC won two awards from the Public Library Buildings Award for interior design and accessibility. More recently in 2008 it was shortlisted under the Community Contribution section of The News Annual Business Excellence Awards and alsoreceived 'Highly Commended' for 'Contribution to Tourism' in the Gosport Business Awards 2008.

§          

Virtual Use

  • People are increasingly accessing library services in different ways from their home, office or while travelling and using our growing range of online services that are available 24/7. Our online services help to provide better access to stock for people across Hampshire and beyond, especially for information and reference resources.

·         We are actively exploring the potential of new technology such as e-books. With the recent introduction of the e-audio book to the market, Hampshire has embraced this new concept and is currently purchasing devices to trial in two of its leading libraries and get customer views to see if this is something we should invest in.

·         Reservations made via the web has nearly doubled in 2007/08 and now accounts for nearly half of all reservations

·         Renewals over the web increased by 42% between 2006/07 and 2007/08 and now more than 20% of all renewals take place over the web

·         Use of online resources, such as Encyclopaedia Britannica and Which, has trebled in the last 12 months. Usage figures have increased by 227% between 2006/07 and 2007/08 (based on number of times subscription based e-resource content is accessed)

A wider role and a place in the local community

·         Home to two flagship Discovery Centres in Gosport and Winchester, we have also invested in refurbishing our libraries to become modern places that people actually want to visit. In a 2007 survey 81.6% of customers were happy with the attractiveness of the inside of their library.  There have been 25 new build and refurbishments over the last 5 years and a further ten libraries have planned further improvements over the next 3 years

·         Over the last five years, £2.7 million has been invested in three new developments at Alton, Whitchurch and a significant extension to Romsey library, £2.12 million invested in library refurbishments  and £9.5 million in Discovery Centre developments. A further £1.3 million has been invested to make physical access improvements at a number of sites, including lifts, parking, ramps and toilet facilities. This investment has improved the quality of our libraries, provided better access, attracted more people and increased visit numbers and satisfaction

·         Hampshire also has the highest number of mobile libraries taking services out to communities through 2 high tech multi-purpose mobiles, 9 Rural Library Links, 4 Community Library Link visiting care homes, 3 Home Library Link and 1 Family Library Link

·         Hampshire has the most VIP reading groups (14) and the most IT training for VIPs (classes held at 4 libraries) in the south east (which includes Oxfordshire and Bucks). No other authority in the south east other than Portsmouth is doing as much for visually impaired customers

·         Events held at libraries are well supported and in demand.  Since June 2007 there have been more than 1600 baby rhyme time sessions and 1169 Reading Group sessions.

·         Hampshire has supported the National Year of Reading with activities such as the Hampshire Big Read which included leaving copies of the Big Read book (Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo) on trains and buses for the public to read and return to libraries.  Other NYR activities included the Wessex Children’s book Festival, Walk and Words poetry competitions, in conjunction with the Countryside Service and a six word story competition.

Case study evidence - a wider role in local communities

Full case studies are available on the following:

  • IT4VIPs – IT training for visually impaired people

  • Local Help Point at Andover Library

  • Books on Prescription

  • All Together Now – celebrating diversity

  • Thorney Hill Travellers – access to libraries and reading

  • Gosport Discovery Centre – benefiting the whole community

  • Winchester Discovery Centre activity programme

Children & young people

·       In October 2008 97% of Hampshire schools are signed up to the School Library Service making it one of the highest subscribed in the country

·       86% of those aged under 16 using our libraries rate them as very good or good Children’s Public Library User Survey (October 2007)

·       The 12th Wessex Children’s Book Festival took place in November 2008.  Since the first festival over 108,000 children have met almost 230 authors

Summer Reading Challenge

§         21,893 children started the 2008 Summer Reading Challenge (Team Read) - an increase of 4.6% over 2007

§         14,565 children completed the challenge, a completion rate of 66.5% and an increase of 6.4% over the previous year

  • Over 23% of 4 - 11 year olds in Hampshire took part  (according to the County Primary Inspector, this is a very high rate of participation)

  • Fareham and Gosport area had a 29% increase in the number of children taking part

  • In 2007 the average completion rate for south east libraries was 53.8% and Hampshire’s completion rate was 65.3%

Key messages to respond to the specific issues  

The above information and following specific responses are key messages to counter the following accusations in relation to Hampshire Libraries performance.

1.  “Hampshire invested the lowest amount in book stocks per head of population of any English county”

HCC response: Hampshire’s investment in book stock is almost but not quite the lowest. Hampshire does spend a smaller amount per 1000 population on books than most other counties but the total amount we spend on books is still high (£1,290,406 in 2007/08, an increase of 8.1% over the previous year), coming in the top third of English County expenditure on books.   Books are an essential part of the library service, but of course we have also been spending money on the library transformation programme, to ensure that our libraries are bright welcoming places that people want to visit, and that they move forwards to meet changes in customer requirements (the Discovery Centre programme).

Book spend in the last financial year was 12.1% higher than 5 years ago and total materials spend 9.6% higher than 2003/4. We continually make improvement to achieve better use of the stock through on-line reservations and ordering systems. Our book stock has been rated as excellent by the DCMS

2. “Hampshire libraries have been downgraded from a two star service to a one star service”.

HCC response: This is factually incorrect as it refers to the points system (1-4) for Best Value Performance Indicator 220 for meeting the 10 Public Library Service Standards, and is not a ‘star’ award.

In 2001 Hampshire Libraries external inspection judged the service “a ‘good’ 2 star service that is unlikely to improve”.  In 2007 we achieved four star rating for the CPA Culture block -  “performing strongly, well above minimum requirements” with none of the performance indicators below the lower thresholds set by the audit commission. The four stars will be retained in CPA 2008.  (CPA – Comprehensive Performance Assessment)

The Public Library Service Standards are widely seen in the library world as not properly reflecting the performance of modern public library services. They are now redundant and have been dropped from the list of performance indicators against which local authorities are assessed by central government and the Audit Commission - 2007/08 is the last year they were required to be reported. The library standards do not capture the outreach and community activities of libraries, use of the People's Computer Network, web based transactions or the increasing use of online reference material. For these reasons Hampshire County Council has not pursued a policy of trying to achieve the national targets (these are not local Hampshire targets), preferring to concentrate on attracting a wider range of people in Hampshire to make use of their local library services. This has included the very successful introduction of Discovery Centres, major refurbishment of many library buildings, new mobile libraries and spending an additional £350,000 in 2008/09 on books and other library resources.

3.  “The service failed to meet targets for library opening hours, visits per 1,000 population, number of computers and new book buying”.

See comments above on the Public Library Service Standards

HCC response: We never considered library closures as a way of saving money, we are committed to that, and there are no plans to reduce opening hours; indeed we want to increase opening hours wherever we can. In fact, five of our libraries are now open on Sundays.  We have reviewed and extended the total number of library opening hours over the past 5 years. The total hours per week our libraries are open for access has increased by 218 hours, an increase of 13% since 2003/4.

Only 8 counties achieved an increase in visits in 2007/8 while 19 experienced a bigger fall in visits than Hampshire. The total number of visits to Hampshire libraries are the fourth highest of English counties.

     

4.   “ reduced the professional library staff by a quarter”.

HCC response: We have created a new structure that we believe is in line with new service delivery and with customer needs.  We consider all our staff to be professional and this is clearly demonstrated in their enthusiasm and dedication, and in our customers satisfaction with our staff and the customer service they experience. In the 2007 PLUS customer survey which took place very soon after the second service restructure 98% of customers expressed  satisfaction with our staff.

We value the professional skills of our Librarians and having reduced numbers from an unsustainable high level in Hampshire, professional staff still represent 17% of our workforce. This compares favourably to the English counties average 19.2%. In addition,  now more than ever in the past all our staff have the opportunity to develop

and progress and to use their skills in a more flexible way to provide customers with the service they need and expect.

Hampshire’s number of staff per 1,000 population remains the seventh highest of county authorities and mid range of our peer group ( Essex no longer make a distinction between professional and non-professional posts)

The number of staff in post (FTE) decreased by 7% between 2006/7 and 2007/8. 

The number of professional posts (FTE) was reduced by 21% (one fifth) in the 2007 service restructure (Kent decreased professional posts by 36% in the same period).

Hampshire has been in the top quartile of English counties for the last 4 years for staff in post per thousand population and remained in that quartile after the reduction in staff numbers in 2007.  This is partly because many other authorities have also had to reduce their library staff numbers, including Essex and Kent. 

5.   “ experienced the largest decline in book lending (last year?)”.

      HCC response: Book issues and lending have traditionally been the key driver for    customers making repeat (frequent) visits to libraries, but there are so many alternative ways to spend leisure time or ways to access information now. Customers are borrowing less per visit as they find less time to read. Our response has been to provide more reasons to visit a library, to broaden the appeal to all ages and to put the library back at the heart of the local community.

Inevitably book lending may have suffered during a period when a number of our largest libraries were closed for development (including Winchester and Andover) but this year Hampshire’s libraries are now seeing borrowing starting to increase across the county. Despite the reduction in issues Hampshire came within the top four English counties in both 2007/08 and 2006/07 for numbers of adult book issues and children’s book issues. 

     

6. “ people have recognised how under funded this service is becoming”.

The above statement is categorically incorrect. A 93% customer satisfaction rating, an increased number of visits and a book stock independently rated as excellent tell a very different story.