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ITEM BV10

BEST VALUE COMMITTEE – 10 DECEMBER 2003

LIBRARY SERVICE BEST VALUE REVIEW – SECOND IMPLEMENTATION UPDATE

Report by the Head of Cultural Services

1. The review reported on 27 March 2002 and its recommendations were endorsed at meetings of the Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee on 7 May and the Executive on 14 May. In the context of a national decline in usage and issues, the review established the reasons for this within Oxfordshire. These included problems with stock selection and procurement (including under-buying of the more popular titles), inconsistent customer service, unappealing libraries, inadequate and inappropriate opening hours, a lack of effective marketing and promotion, and an inadequate ICT system leading to inefficiencies in service. Under-investment over many years had been damaging and, while benchmarking data showed that we spent our money well, performance was usually in the lower quartiles.
2. The review produced a five-year strategy to arrest the decline in the Service and to make it a top quartile performer in all areas. Many of the improvements identified would be met from efficiency savings, but it was acknowledged that significant increases to opening hours would require additional funding by the Council.

The review identified 6 Key Service Improvement Areas:

• ICT
• Stock of Books
• Access and Social Inclusion
• Information Service
• Customer Service
• Performance Management

3. An Implementation Plan was drawn up as required by the end of June 2002 and this was subsumed within the Action Plan of the 2002 Annual Library Plan. In November 2002 the latter was assessed by the Department of Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) as being a "good planning tool" that demonstrated a "good and realistic approach to meeting Public Library Standards" and was "good in demonstrating that the authority was improving its library service".
4. The Audit Commission Inspection took place during 2002 and in November of that year the Service was judged as "fair" with "promising prospects for improvement".
5. In the summer of this year, the Library Service was heavily involved with the Audit Commission’s Whole Service Inspection of Cultural Services in Oxfordshire, one of four national pilots that tested an innovative way of assessing the quality of cultural provision and the likelihood of improvement, with the expectation that this methodology would in future be applied in the evaluation required of all local authorities’ cultural services, feeding into Comprehensive Performance Assessments (CPAs). In October the Inspection concluded that "Oxfordshire County Council provides good cultural services which have promising prospects for improvement" and that "the Council is making good progress in delivering improvements in libraries".
6. The Best Value review of Oxfordshire’s Library Service is included in the recently published report to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Changing to Improve – 10 Case Studies from the Evaluation of the Best Value Regime, prepared by the Centre for Local and Regional Government Research at Cardiff University. Drawing on qualitative research conducted as part of the long-term evaluation of organisational change, the ten reviews were chosen because they were "not just paper proposals but real programmes of reform" that "do appear to have changed things".
7. In 2003, DCMS required each library authority to submit a Position Statement by the end of September. This replaced the more detailed Annual Library Plan and was to be assessed against the priorities outlined in the DCMS report Framework for the Future – Libraries, Learning and Information in the Next Decade (F4F), published last February (and deposited in the Members’ Resource Room). In mid-November, the assessors provided each authority with two scores for the Position Statement, one covering the quality of the evidence that the authority is providing excellent policies and practice to implement F4F, with the second covering the approach to meeting Public Library Standards (PLS). Scores ranged from 1 (weak) to 4 (excellent). For Oxfordshire, "the evidence of policies and practice, and the policies and practice themselves" were assessed as "good" (score 3) for the former and "fair" (score 2) for the latter. The Standards score was based heavily on actual performance at March 2003 with the result that 17% of all authorities received score 1 and a further 63% score 2. "Excellent" scores in each area were only achieved by 7% and 2% of authorities respectively.

Current Status

8. The objectives and service improvement targets for each of the six Service Improvement Areas in the original report are reproduced below, together with an indication of progress against the relevant target dates and other information.

Service improvement 1		Information and Communications Technology
Objective		Have a fully computerised book issue system in all libraries, providing excellent management information on usage and allowing the public access to the library catalogue via the internet to browse, reserve and renew items on loan. Provide free access to the latest information technology, together with help and guidance in its use.
	Proposed service improvement targets		Completed by
1	Meet DCMS standard of 100% of libraries having access to an on-line catalogue (PLS5)		March 2003 - available from 15.12.03
2	Free high-speed internet access available to the public in all libraries		March 2003 - completed
3	Total number of workstations available to the public to reach 0.5 per 1000 population (PLS6)		March 2003 - 0.4 achieved, 0.5 will be achieved in 2003/04
4	All relevant staff to have completed NOF funded ICT training programme		March 2004 - now Sept 2004
5	New library management system (LMS) operational in all libraries		April 2004 - by Sept 2004 : see below

• The web-based on-line catalogue will be available from 15^th December, following complicated data conversion and migration to the new system. Anyone, anywhere in the world, with access to the Internet, will be able to access Oxfordshire’s catalogue of books and other materials.
• On the same date, the 13 libraries currently on the Genesis network will ‘go live’ on the new DS Galaxy LMS.
• In addition, early in the New Year, users supplied with PIN numbers will have access to further interactive services, including checking their borrower records, renewing books and making reservations on-line.
• Existing resources have been reallocated in both 2002/03 and 2003/04 to fund the accelerated programme’s completion in 2004.
• In partnership with Lifelong Learning and following on from the opening of the new Learning Centre in the Central Library a year ago, the Blackbird Leys Library and Learning Centre opened in April 2003 as an integrated learning centre.
• The OCN fast broadband network and over 200 new PCs with associated printers and scanners installed as part of the People’s Network have resulted in many more people making use of libraries, especially young adults, one of our key target groups. This is reflected in the improved visitor figures highlighted in Service Improvement 3 below.
• The NOF funded ICT training for all staff (covering general ICT skills, electronic information sources, etc.) has coincided with the need to train almost 500 staff (including casual reliefs) on the new Galaxy LMS systems. The vast majority of staff are providing front line services and their release for training needs to be carefully planned. This joint pressure has meant that it will not be possible to complete the NOF training programme until September 2004.
• It is not likely that the new LMS will be available in all 50 libraries before September 2004. Significant time will need to be invested to research and test the technical solutions to achieve the preferred option for the mobile libraries of having a similar live ‘real time’ system to that in the static libraries.

Service improvement 2		Stock of books
Objective		Improve the lending stock of books, including the purchase of more books each year, more copies of the most popular titles, and an enhanced range of titles overall. Significantly increase the level of book issues
	Proposed service improvement targets		Completed by
1	Allocation of local funding to library managers to enable library-specific purchasing		May 2002 - completed
2	All libraries to have at least one copy of top 15 bestselling adult paperbacks within one week of entry into list		May 2002 - completed
3	Number of adult books purchased for lending per month to increase by 25%		May 2002 - see below
4	Annual items added through purchase to exceed DCMS standard of 216 items (PLS17)		March 2005 - on target, 215 @ Mar 03
5	Meet DCMS standard of 65% of adult users reporting success in finding a specific book (PLS12(i))		March 2004 - see below
6	Annual book purchases per 1000 population to exceed top quartile performance of 202		March 2005 - on target
7	Books on loan per 1000 population to increase by 28%		March 2006
8	Book issues per head of population to reach top quartile performance of 9.1 (N.B. top quartile 2001-02 = 8.4)		March 2007 - on target : 6.3 in 2002/03

• The ‘Top 15’ bestseller service introduced in June 2002 is still proving very popular with readers and staff and helping to increase library issues. As far as can be ascertained, Oxfordshire is the only authority with ‘Top 15’ coverage – other authorities with such a service only provide ‘Top 10’. The Service is now more responsive to such initiatives as the current BBC Big Read promotion.
• The range of titles bought for children and young people continues to be widened, including the provision of more graphic novel collections. The latest Harry Potter is a good example of recent changes – three times as many copies ordered pre-publication and HQ staff worked on Saturday of publication in order to get copies out to libraries the same day or the following Monday.
• Only 10% more books purchased in 2002/03 due to £60,000 underspend (due to planned OCC budget holdback and late delivery by some suppliers). If included, estimated increase would have been c18%. It is anticipated that the target of 25% will be achieved in 2004/05.
• The Cipfa PLUS survey taking place in all libraries at the end of November 2003 will provide data for PLS12i above (% of users finding a specific book).
• Even allowing for the closure of the Central Library for 3 months for major essential repairs in 2001/02, book issues increased year-on in 2002/03 for the first time in several years, thus bucking national trends. A comparison of the figures for the last quarter of both years (January to March), when Central Library closure is not a factor, shows book issues up by 3% (7% in Central) and AV issues up by 5%. Indications are that this overall trend has continued in the first half of 2003/04.
• Local stock plans are now being used in each library. These are informing the way library managers are spending their newly devolved budgets and are feeding into the service planning processes.

Service improvement 3		Access and Social Inclusion
Objective		Be open at times that best suit the public, and deliver improved services to those that do not have easy access to a branch library or are not able to visit any kind of library Significantly increase the number of visits to libraries Provide for the needs of all the people of Oxfordshire, and respond quickly to changes in those needs.
	Proposed service improvement targets		Completed by
1	Meet DCMS standard of 100% of larger libraries open at least 45 hours per week (PLS4)		May 2002 - completed
2	Social Inclusion strategies for Service and for individual target groups completed.		Sept 2002 - detailed work plans for each group drawn up : see below
3	12 largest county libraries to be open all day on Saturdays 8 main town libraries to have no mid-week closures		March 2004 March 2004 - to be implemented from 1st Feb 04 : see below
4	Meet DCMS standard for number of library visits per 1000 population (PLS11)		March 2004 - on target
5	Increase aggregate opening hours per 1000 population to meet DCMS standard of 128 (PLS3(i))		March 2005 - see below
6	Proportion of households living within 2 miles of a static library to increase by 6% to 82% (PLS1(i))		March 2006 - completed : see below

• As part of the Service’s restructuring, new posts with Social Inclusion responsibilities have been in place since the beginning of November 2002. Officers have drawn up detailed work plans for improving services for the following individual target groups: disabled people, people with hearing or visual impairment, older people, housebound people (and their carers), multicultural groups and young people aged 11 – 16. Rural isolation is a theme running throughout all these plans and also the Mobile Library Review. Good progress is being made on improving services, with closer co-operation with other directorates and increased consultation with users and other stakeholders. More detailed evidence was submitted as part of the recent Position Statement to DCMS, but examples include:
• A review of the selection and supply of Asian language books, spoken word and videos/DVDs, together with improved display of such stock in libraries.
• Installation of software to help visually impaired people on all People’s Network PCs.
• Introduction of Childminders tickets (to match service to pre-school playgroups).
• Improved services for Looked after Children.
• Following a successful pilot scheme at Bicester, book trolleys for elderly/disabled readers are being introduced in to many larger libraries.
• The County Librarian and other officers have been heavily involved with the proposed Asylum Seekers Centre at Bicester. Although time consuming this work has had the spin-off benefit of developing knowledge and expertise in the Library Service of sources of materials for ethnic minority groups.
• For the 38 libraries where visits are recorded throughout the year, year-on quarterly comparisons show overall increases ranging from 5% to 7% (with 10% to 15% in the Central Library).
• Opening hours – A report was taken to the Executive in November 2002 recommending a two phased approach to meeting the new Standards. Phase One has been funded by the Council and will see a 97 hours per week increase in opening hours in the larger libraries from 1 February 2004. For various practical reasons, it has been agreed to retain one half day per week closure in 7 main town libraries.
• A further Phase Two paper was taken to the Executive in October 2003 (via the Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee), recommending cost effective solutions to achieving the remaining 131 hours per week required to meet the Standard. This was approved in principle for implementation from 1^st February 2005 and will be considered as part of the budget setting process for 2004/05.
• The implementation of both phases is also aiming to meet the ‘out of office hours’ Standard of 30% (currently 23%). For the large libraries covered by Phase One, the proportion of hours falling outside of weekdays ‘9 to 5’ will increase from 22% to 29%, with some opening to 8.00 on certain evenings and all opening all day on Saturdays.
• The above Phase Two paper also included an interim report on the Mobile Library Review. The recommendations in the latter will result in an extra 79 opening hours per week. These would come from improved hours for a re-designated Community Services vehicle, a new second Community Services vehicle, half day Saturday crewing, some evening crewing and increased administrative support at the mobiles’ base libraries in order to free off the crews for more public service. As well as improved services to homes for older people and day centres, there would be visits to a greater number of rural primary schools.
• Recent figures provided by DCMS as part of the annual Planning Profile indicate that, contrary to earlier estimates, 87% of households live within 2 miles of a static library.

Service improvement 4		Information Service
Objective		Be the natural choice for people wanting to find out information of any kind, via any library, with the Central Library regarded as a ‘Centre of Excellence’ for Oxfordshire. Increase the number of enquiries and the public’s success in finding the information they require.
	Proposed service improvement targets		Completed by
1	Meet DCMS standard of 95% of adult users rating the knowledge of staff as "good" or "very good" (PLS14(i))		March 2003 - see below
2	All front line staff to have received training in handling, assessing and, where appropriate, referring information enquiries.		March 2003 – partly achieved: see below
3	Percentage of adults reporting success in gaining information as a result of a search or enquiry to exceed DCMS Standard of 75% by a further 10% (PLS13(i))		March 2006 - awaiting Cipfa PLUS survey
4	Enquiries (in person) per 1000 population to increase by 27% to 900		March 2006 – 15% increase achieved by 2002/03 : see below

• DCMS ‘knowledge of staff’ Standard – In order to achieve more consistent comparisons, it has been decided to move away from the previous practice of holding the survey in a different third of libraries each year, to involving all libraries every three years. This means that the next survey will take place at the end of November 2003. Progress on this and several indicators can then be checked in a consistent way (all libraries were last surveyed in 2000/01, when the outcome for this indicator was 93% for adult users and 100% for children).
• Information training – NOF ICT training is meeting some of the requirements (e.g. improvements to electronic information handling skills), but the pressures (outlined in Service Improvement One above) of ensuring that all members of staff receive the full range of both NOF and LMS ICT training will cause further delay in fully meeting this target.
• Increased support is continuing to be made available to enable the County Reference & Information Librarian to develop and fulfil the strategic e-government agenda more effectively.
• The Central Library Review has now commenced and is addressing the development of the library as a ‘centre of excellence’ for the information service. In order to assess the impact of this change, a pilot is planned for early in the New Year whereby Central will take over from the filter reference libraries and act as the main referral centre for a number of smaller libraries. From the end of 2003, librarians based in Central will be participating in the national ‘Ask a Librarian’ email service. The introduction of Internet PCs to staff enquiry counters has also led to an improvement in the quality of the information service.
• The continuing shift to electronic sources is speeding up considerably now that the People’s Network PCs and OCN broadband network have been installed.
• It is envisaged that in the near future members of the public will be able to make enquiries by email.
• The number of enquiries per thousand population increased from 699 in 2000/01 (there was no count in 2001/02 due to Central’s long closure) to 803 in 2002/03, a rise of 15%.

Service improvement 5		Customer Service
Objective		Provide a more welcoming, comfortable atmosphere where the public are encouraged to stay for long periods Provide higher standards of customer service and attain high levels of public satisfaction.
	Proposed service improvement targets		Completed by
1	All staff to have received customer service training		March 2003 – partly achieved: see below
2	Layout and stock presentation improved in all libraries   Review of Central Library functions (including options for refurbishment) completed. Refurbishment programme plan for other libraries (taking account of the above) completed.		March 2003 – see below October 2002 – see below November 2002 – see below
3	Meet DCMS standards for the percentage of requests for books met within 15 days and 30 days (PLS9(ii) &(iii))		March 2004 – 2% short of target for 15 day Standard (will be achieved in 2004) with 30 day Standard exceeded in both 2001 and 2002 : see below
4	Exceed the DCMS standard for percentage of adult library users rating the helpfulness of staff as "good" or "very good" by 1% to 96%		March 2004 – target met in 2001/02 (96%)
5	Meet DCMS standard for the percentage of requests for books met within 7 days (PLS9(i))		March 2005 - see below
6	100% increase in the number of requests per 1000 population (from 61 to 120)		March 2006 - see below

• Customer service training - As with information training in Service Improvement 4 above, the intensive NOF ICT training of all staff is meeting some of the requirements. Although the ICT training priorities outlined above will mean that systematic customer care training for all staff will have to be deferred until later in 2004/05, work has continued on a local basis to improve the standards of customer care. A pilot workshop on ‘Working effectively with service users’ has been held and preliminary discussions have taken place with the new corporate Customer Services Team.
• The original target to have improved stock layout and presentation in all libraries by the end of 2002/03 was over-ambitious. This is being progressed via the development of the library stock plans and the work of the Reader Development Team, the latter charged with disseminating best practice around all libraries. Area Principal and Senior Librarians are carrying out peer review visits to each others’ libraries in order to draw up a plan for improvements in décor, lighting, comfort and other amenities. However, the lack of a capital minor works budget for the first half of 2004/04 has limited the Service’s capacity to carry out improvements. The sum that was allocated in September will be spent on the outstanding access improvements required to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act in 2004 and other outstanding priorities.
• The Library Premises Review continues to examine all the options. Since 1999 work on 21 of the 43 libraries has been completed or is in progress, using varied and imaginative partnerships to refurbish and replace libraries at minimal cost, e.g. Adderbury (2000), Wychwood (2001), Deddington (2002), the Learning Centres at Central and Blackbird Leys (2002/03), Kidlington (2003). Other improvement schemes in various stages of development include Burford, Charlbury, Chipping Norton, Eynsham, Hook Norton and Watlington.
• Central Library Review – preliminary reports were taken to the Cultural Services Management Team during the summer, together with a Design Consultant’s design brief and indicative costs (£800,000 over 2 years). The latter has been included as a 2-year scheme in the Preparation Pool of the Capital Programme. Some improvements that would not compromise future solutions have already been implemented. These include a more attractively laid out Adult Fiction area, with coffee tables, comfortable seating and state of the art paperback display units, and new tables and chairs for older PC workstations.
• The most recent addition to the mobile fleet (West) was awarded an honourable mention in the State of the Art award at this year’s national Mobile Meet. Judges thought that the vehicle was "thoroughly designed" and "had the customer in mind".
• Request performance continues to show improvement with the 30 day Standard of 85% exceeded ahead of target by 1% and an improvement by 16% to 68% in the 15 day Standard, just 2% below the Standard. The 7 day figure has improved by 9% to 30%, but the Standard of 50% will not be achieved until full computerisation of all libraries is completed in 2004.
• To increase the number of requests, a reduction in the Standard book reservation charge (from £1 to 70 pence) was introduced from April 2003. When all the libraries are computerised on the new LMS, a proposal to reduce the charge still further will be taken to the Executive later in 2004 as part of the Review of Charges process for 2005/06. It is anticipated that the number of requests will also increase when the new on-line services become available early in 2004.

Service improvement 6		Performance Management
Objective		Provide a cost-effective and well-managed service, offering excellent value to the people of Oxfordshire.
	Proposed service improvement targets		Completed by
1	Revised Management Team in place		April 2002 - completed
2	Performance management structure in place, with monthly or quarterly reporting (as appropriate) on a selection of targets		July 2002 - completed
3	Preliminary comparative assessment made on the performance of all libraries against targets, with action plans drawn up to address shortfalls		March 2003 - see below

• The revised Library Service staffing structure has been fully in place for just over one year. This restructuring has meant that the Service now has very able members of staff in key positions. In some instances, individuals found themselves in very different roles, sometimes lacking in confidence and/or specialist knowledge. Now, after a period of coaching, learning, talking to others, etc., they are beginning to deliver. The key message that the Library Strategic Management Team wants to empower individuals is now understood and is being acted upon.
• Senior managers and librarians, as well as individual libraries, now receive performance data on a quarterly basis so that targets can be effectively monitored (e.g. issues, visitor numbers, income).
• The first individual performance targets for each library were drawn up early in 2003/04. At the beginning of 2004/05, there will be a full formal assessment of the performance of individual libraries against these targets.
• The Service continues to maximise income, especially from its audiovisual (AV) services. The latest Cipfa Actuals show Oxfordshire as being the second highest performing English County for AV income per head of population.
• Virements from existing budgets and increased income to meet agreed Best Value priorities were actioned in both 2002/03 and 2003/04.

9. To date, all actions and targets remain in the Implementation Plan. Changes to some target dates outlined above reflect realities and, as reported last year, with hindsight some of these were too ambitious. There remains a determination within the Service that all actions will be completed within the planned five-year strategy. The Whole Service Inspection report noted that the regular review of the improvement plan by Library Service senior managers and the resetting of targets "to ensure effective delivery within realistic time scales" demonstrated good practice.
10. 15 out of the 26 Public Library Standards were met by March 2003 and it is anticipated that a further 7 will be achieved by March 2004. This progress, together with the many examples of improved performance outlined throughout this report, indicates that, as a result of the improvements and changes that have been achieved to date, the Library Service’s downward spiral of usage has finally been reversed.

RECOMMENDATION

11. The Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

1. agree if and when there is a need to report back to the Committee on further progress;
2. identify whether there are any matters in the report which should be drawn to the attention of the Executive Member; and
3. ask the Chair of the Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee to consult the Deputy Chair on scrutiny committee consideration.

RICHARD MUNRO
Head of Cultural Services

Background Papers: Nil

Contact Officers:
Rex Harris, Assistant County Librarian (Performance & Development) Tel: 01865 810234
Andrew Coggins, County Librarian Tel: 01865 810212

November 2003

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