Cllr Maggie Mansell speaks out on Croydon libraries

The following was printed in the Croydon Advertiser letters page on 15th July and is reproduced here with kind thanks to Cllr Maggie Mansell.

Since the Croydon Advertiser broke the news that the Libraries may be privatised (Croydon Advertiser 3 June, and subsequent reports) the Labour shadow cabinet has heard from an expert on Libraries, and community representatives. The Cabinet meeting received a paper reporting that the community was against closure of any Libraries.

The new proposal is “market testing” of the Library service, including the Central Library and all the district libraries, which could result in a decision to privatise or outsource to another council or voluntary organisation. My concern was that the paper did not define the service to be provided, and the paper was full of “maybe”, no firm guarantees. Labour councillors’ questions elicited some important assurances that I would like put on record.

Cllr Fisher says that the buildings will remain the property of the Council. The council will allow and facilitate an in-house staff bid.

Our concerns are that the overheads are high including an IT system, renegotiated by the Tories; there is no service specification, no business model, no option appraisal; there are efficiency savings to be made but we want Croydon to have the benefit, not another council or a private company.

The Library already gives good service. There are savings to be made with service improvements, decision making could be devolved to local level and local people should be involved. We expect a proper option appraisal would rule out privatisation very quickly, because it will be more expensive by comparison with other models.

Labour offered to work with the council in a proper commission, and we asked for a pre-decision Scrutiny. The Tories have opted for the Scrutiny process. This will be an opportunity to examine different service developments and management options. I would be glad to receive any suggestions from staff or users.

Maggie Mansell

Labour Spokesperson on Libraries, Culture and Sport

Setting the record straight...

The possible fate of Croydon's network of 13 libraries was revealed in a Sunday Express article a month ago, naming Croydon as the latest council considering a deal with the US firm LSSI. We have already made initial comments on this article in our previous post.

The following week the Leader of Croydon Council admitted in the local press that Croydon's CEO, Jon Rouse and Wandsworth's CEO had indeed met with LSSI.  Although it seems Wandsworth is not keen to be associated with this meeting, denying their involvement.  Further details here. 

The Sunday Express article sets out that, despite concerns, some believe the firm LSSI should be given a chance. They then went on to quote the views of a sole library campaigner in Croydon.

Despite library campaign groups in Croydon working together no one knew of this latest 'development', nor could anyone understand the basis of the comments made. The article, and the quotes in particular, sparked concern from library campaigners from within and beyond Croydon who made contact immediately to try to remedy the situation. The paper has been contacted to be made aware of the inaccuracies. Four weeks on with no further clarification we set out to do just that as this misinformation should not remain unchallenged. 

The following are quotes from the article, followed by comments reflecting the more representative view of library campaigners in Croydon.

“The alternative is libraries closing so we have to consider what they are offering”

Sara Bashford, the lead Cabinet member on Libraries, has already made very clear that no library will close; Croydon Council say that they are committed to not closing any library. This was also clearly announced at the Labour Shadow Cabinet meeting on Monday 6^th June.

The threat of closure was a ploy used by some councillors and MPs throughout the consultation process to encourage people to step up to volunteer or accept a lesser service and, in the absence of any clear formal council announcement, it is unhelpful to perpetuate the view that the treat of closure still hangs over Croydon libraries.

“It is a very divisive subject and feelings run high but our position is if we can keep the library open and meet standards on staffing and service, let’s see what it brings.” 

Croydon Library Campaigners have spoken out on behalf of Croydon residents.  They have tried to spread the word of the decision to ‘market-test’ and are well aware of the grave concerns held in regard to the work of companies such as LSSI.  This is well documented in a series of posts here.  These concerns have been aired at meetings also. 

“We have fantastic library staff who know most people by name and they may not stay. That is a big concern because their presence makes the library what it is, just as much as the books and the building do.”

Anyone in Croydon will be will be aware of the difficulties in libraries. The internal reshuffle has meant a greatly reduced workforce in libraries, often with a constant stream of library staff from all across the borough working in different libraries.  The inevitable result of this is that libraries have staff, many of whom do not know the library, the community it serves, let alone most of its users by name!  

  

This begs the question could it be that some Croydon libraries are not being subjected to the tangible loss of service and problems experienced elsewhere due to this greatly reduced workforce in libraries?

“We want to protect them (the staff) but, ultimately, we are fighting to keep the library open. If we were in one of the nearby London boroughs, the library would have been closed and everything would have gone.”

This overlooks that other London boroughs have saved their library service without closure, including the neighbouring London borough of Merton, and other boroughs such as Hackney, Hillingdon and Tower Hamlets.

Part of the concern of library campaigners and residents has been the vital need to maintain a level of qualified and highly experienced staff.  There has also been a genuine outpouring of concern for the staff themselves. The level of stress staff have been subjected to has been immense and cracks have already started to show in this respect. Library users watch staff struggle to cope with the reduced staffing levels already in place, which has resulted in longer queues, difficulty coping with the workload shared between so few, incorrectly processed loans and the such like. It is distressing to watch committed library staff suffer under such conditions with the threat of further job losses still looming.

Residents and councillors also spoke out at the Labour Shadow Cabinet meeting about concern over this as well as the need to maintain the pay and conditions of staff.

This statement does not represent the views of the residents or other campaign groups in this respect either.

“Croydon agreed this week to market-test the library system..... despite all the philosophical and political arguments, libraries are still closing.”

And goes on to add:

“It seems LSSI has something to offer. We have to be realistic and do what we can to keep libraries open.”

But the Council has already given assurances to keep ALL its libraries open.

At the Shadow Cabinet meeting, councillors, library campaigners and residents voiced concerns about outsourcing, privatisation and the involvement of companies such as LSSI, who have a poor track record, and Laings, who are already heavily involved with Croydon Council. Any involvement with these or other such companies was denied.

What exactly LSSI seems to have to offer is not clear.  If details are available they have certainly not been shared with any other campaign group or resident to anyone's knowledge.

In conclusion, the misinformation in the statements reported is clearly unhelpful. The statements are not reflective of the real situation, nor reflective of the stance of the various libraries campaign groups in Croydon.  Comments such as these just add further to the scaremongering tactics and misinformation that have been employed throughout this consultation process; a process that has been extremely divisive throughout. They need correcting and we hope we have done so here.

It is important now, more than ever, that all Library campaign groups and communities across the borough continue to work together for the best outcome for our libraries and for the remaining staff who man them. 

Media coverage of Croydon Libraries

We are thankful to the local papers who have given the Libraries Consultation coverage, but we note a reluctance to cover the Libraries issue in any great depth and what has occurred in Sanderstead in particular. We've tried to link to the stories and letters printed wherever possible on our website, but this has not always been possible as much of this is not available on line.

We are also very thankful to Inside Croydon who have not only brought the Libraries consultation issue to the fore with their excellent coverage but who have tackled some of the thornier issues. Anyone who has not yet visited Inside Croydon may like to take a look.  They are covering the important issues relevant to Croydon.  The latest article on Croydon Libraries is here.

But why, we wonder, has Croydon gone so very quiet on libraries?

Public Libraries News is keeping a close eye on the situation and has uncovered details that many residents have been unable to find.  In one of their recent posts they comment,

"Croydon also appear to be going down the privatisation route but doesn't appear to be proud about it.  Their "market sounding exercise" document is almost impossible to find on their website and, also, there is only a fortnight for private companies to register an interest."

You can read the full Public Libraries News post here.

All 13 libraries are subject of this 'market testing' exercise and Croydon claim that they are working with Wandsworth in order to do this.

If you spot any announcement of this in any Croydon library or anywhere else please let us know so we can link to it.  As this decision was taken at Cabinet on 13th June it seems Public Libraries News are right in that Croydon is anything but proud of the decision.

Public Libraries News: Croydon mention again

Public Libraries News: Book burning in the USA: "Comment As of this moment, it is unclear if the 'Book Burning Party' to be held if Troy Public Library (USA) closes is a joke or not. It ..."

Here Public Libraries News picks up the story again on the Croydon situation via two blogs on the situation in the absence of any official announcement to date.

"Croydon - Under-threat libraries: a timeline of council deceit? - Inside Croydon. LSSI given far longer time to express an interest in running libraries than others, Wandsworth will be "market testing" in September suggesting that their partnership with Croydon is not a strong one. "After all, the council has already chiselled more than £300,000 out of the libraries annual budget this year, while laying off half the borough’s qualified librarians. Anyone might think that they are deliberately trying to reduce the operation’s costs in advance of a commercial takeover of key libraries by a company given a head-start in what is supposed to be a competitive public tender process."

Another post on the same subject is Tall tales and strange silences on libraries - That Woman's Blog."

Four weeks on from a decision taken at Cabinet to go out to market test all 13 libraries, and not just the six that were subject of the original consultation, not one official notice has been spotted. Not even a simple A4 notice in any one of Croydon's libraries.

Public Libraries News: Croydon mention

Croydon get picked up again, noted here. Public Libraries News note that,

"Croydon also appear to be going down the privatisation route but doesn't appear to be proud about it."

There is a link to the market sounding exercise that is buried on the website.

Read the full post here:

Public Libraries News: The hand that rocks the cradle: "Comment 'There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, ..."

Kept in dark over Croydon libraries

Another letter from a local resident, printed in the local Croydon Guardian:  

At the Cabinet meeting on 13th June, it was agreed to go forward to market test interest in the provision of a borough Library service with the London Borough of Wandsworth and to report back the outcome to Cabinet in September.

Cllr Bashford (Customer Services, Culture and Sport) explained that this could result in a different management of services and that a future provider could be community, volunteer, private or council-led (even a council from outside of Croydon).

She stated the Council had tried to remain “honest and open” throughout the Libraries Network consultation.

I would like to know how the Sunday Express on the 19th June (only 6 days later) was able to report that an American company, Library Systems Services Inc (LSSI) had held meetings with five councils during that previous week “with Croydon becoming the latest borough to consider a deal.”  Not a word of this was mentioned as being in the pipe-line at the Cabinet meeting.

Honest and open? Listening to residents who have voiced time and time again that they want publicly-owned and professionally-run library services?

I am fed up finding out about what is potentially going on for my local library via the media rather than from the Council itself. A Council which purports to be not only listening to us but serving us.

Given the bad press that LSSI has acquired, I do hope for the sake of all Croydon residents and library staff that the Council considers every option and nuance in detail before being blinded by the promise of pound signs for their much depleted coffers at any given opportunity.

Moreover, would it really have done any harm to have put their suggestion of market-testing to one side and instead considered a cross-party commission into libraries offering the chance of further deliberation of viable options for our libraries?

Unsurprisingly, at the time of writing, (20th June) there has still not been an official announcement of the agreement to market-test provision of Croydon’s library services. Anybody might think the Council is trying to keep residents in the dark.

Further, it should be noted that at the time of posting this on 12th July there has still been no official announcement.