Presentation to the 2017 CILIP Public & Mobile Libraries Group and Community, Diversity and Equalities Group conference in Yarnfield Park, near Stafford

1. The Library Dividend
Standing up for the role of public libraries in digital, social and economic
inclusion
Nick Poole, CEO, CILIP

2. What does ‘excluded’ look like...?

3. Case study: single pensioner
Rosaleen is 75, single and lives in south
Belfast where she is active in the local
community. Having worked all her life, she
had thought that her state pension and a
small occupational pension would be
sufficient in her retirement. But,
increasingly, she finds paying the bills
difficult.
“The choices that I would have to do
without – I couldn’t go to the pictures
because I’d be worrying about my money, in
case I need it tomorrow. It’s scrimping, the
whole of your life.”
http://www.poverty.ac.uk/living-poverty/personal-experiences/rosaleen-single-pensioner

4. Case study: young jobseeker
Marc is 19 and lives in Redcar - a town
where there are twelve times as many
people claiming job seeker’s allowance as
there are job vacancies.
Despite having passed a number of GCSEs
and A-levels and having applied for
hundreds of jobs over the last two years,
Marc is still unemployed.
“I want in my life to be steady enough to
feed myself and my kids. I grew up on
benefits and my sisters did. Because my
mum couldn’t feed herself when she was
feeding us. When she fed us, she would
starve herself for two days.”
http://www.poverty.ac.uk/living-poverty/personal-experiences/marcs-story-north-east-england

5. Case study: low-paid worker
Renée is 40 and works long hours for low
pay to try to provide for her four children,
aged 3 to 14, and her 80-year-old mother.
The three generations of the family share a
damp and overcrowded three-bedroom
council flat in Hackney, in inner London.
“No-one sleeps in the back room because of
the damp. If we did sleep in there, we’d get
sick. We’ve no room, so me, my mum and
my sister top and tail.”
http://www.poverty.ac.uk/living-poverty/personal-experiences/renee-low-paid-worker

6. Key facts
 In 2014/15, there were 13.5 million people living in low-income households,
21% of the UK population
 The number of private renters in poverty has doubled over the last decade
 The number of households accepted as homeless has increased for five years in
a row. Evictions by landlords are near a ten-year high
 The proportion of working-age adults in employment is at a record high. Full-
time employees account for 62% of the growth in jobs since 2010
 The number of people in poverty in a working family is 55% – a record high
 1.4 million children are in long-term workless households, down 280,000 in four
years. Excluding lone parent families with a child under five, 55% of these
children have a disabled adult in their household.
Source: Joseph Rowntree Foundation Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion Report 2016

7. New Government policy on ‘Social Integration’

8. New Government policy on ‘Social Integration’

9. New Government policy on ‘Social Integration’

10. Everyone is equal when they walk into (or
log onto) a public library

11. “Social exclusion is a complex and multi-dimensional process.
It involves the lack or denial of resources, rights, goods and services, and the
inability to participate in the normal relationships and activities, available to the
majority of people in a society, whether in economic, social, cultural or political
arenas.
It affects both the quality of life of individuals and the equity and cohesion of
society as a whole.”
The Multi-dimensional analysis of social exclusion (Levitas et al. 2007)

12. ‘Bristol Social Exclusion Matrix’
Source: Poverty & Social Exclusion in the UK Project, funded by the ESRC
Resources Material/economic resources
Access to public and private services
Social resources
Participation Economic participation
Social participation
Culture, education and skills
Political and civic participation
Quality of life Health and wellbeing
Living environment
Crime, harm and criminalisation

13. Source: UK Society of Chief Librarians

14. Public libraries are ideally placed to meet a wide
spectrum of needs which combat exclusion & help
people feel happy, safe, connected and free

15. Experience
of
exclusion
Digital
SocialEconomic
Technology presents
both the risk of making
it much worse and an
opportunity to target
social inclusion in highly
effective ways

16. Source: Cabinet Office GOV.UK Digital Inclusion Charter (2014)

17. Digital inclusion
 Digital inclusion is increasingly important to enable all citizens to participate
and to access digital services, products and networks.
 Those who are digitally excluded are often at risk of social exclusion too. By
encouraging digital inclusion, this can lead to better economic, health and social
outcomes for people.
 Organisations are already delivering digital inclusion services to meet local
needs. However, activities are often measured by volume, rather than value
and there is a need to measure digital inclusion in a consistent way
Source: Government Digital Inclusion Outcomes Framework

18. Source: Go-ON Local Digital Inclusion Outcomes Framework

19. “Lots of public services are looking to deliver these
kinds of support. What is it that makes a public
library so special?”
A. Councillor

20. Strong foundation
Ethos Staff Stock Space
Services which adapt to meet the changing needs of our communities
Empowerment Universality Trust
Added-value services where these are compatible with our ethos
What makes public libraries so special is that they combine the flexibility to
adapt to the changing needs of their community with a strong foundation,
rooted in the ethics & values of librarianship...
Article 19 “Freedom of expression & freedom of access to information”

23. So if we are doing all of this already, why do
we need to ‘stand up’ for it?

25. How do we stand up for this vital role of public
libraries?
1. Visibility
2. Influence
3. Evidence

29. The Library Dividend
The Library Dividend is a way of measuring
the social, economic, cultural and creative
impact of engaging with a library and
articulating it as a dollar value.
Developed by the State Library of
Queensland, it provides a standards,
sector-wide way of advocating for the value
of libraries.
Do we need something like this?
http://plconnect.slq.qld.gov.au/

30. http://plconnect.slq.qld.gov.au/

31. http://plconnect.slq.qld.gov.au/
Benefits
Use
Direct use
Indirect use
Non-use
Option
Legacy
Existence
• Access to library resources/services
• Social interaction
• Sense of place and local amenity
• Environmental savings
• Contribution to literacy
• Contribution to education, career and health
• For future use
• For current and future generations

32. http://plconnect.slq.qld.gov.au/
Benefits
Use
Direct use Travel costs
Financial
savings
Contingent
valuation -
users
Indirect use
Non-use
Option
Legacy
Existence
Contingent
valuation –
non-users

33. Results
 The ‘library dividend’ in Queensland accounted for between $270-640m per
annum in direct benefit to the authorities
 Accounting directly for the creation of 3,135 FTE jobs in the state
 Directly and indirectly, library services generated $614m in income
 $295m in GVA for the state per annum
 Written by economists for economists!
Source: Joseph Rowntree Foundation Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion Report 2016

34. In my view, public and mobile libraries are the single
most trusted & adaptable platform for social,
economic and digital inclusion and professional
public librarians ideally-placed to drive it.
Without a means of quantifying this – without
visibility, relationships with key decision-makers
and evidence to support our case, it will continue
to be taken for granted.

35. Can CILIP and PMLG collaborate to create a campaign
which secures recognition of and investment in this
vital work?

36. Thankyou!
Nick Poole, Chief Executive, CILIP
nick.poole@cilip.org.uk
@NickPoole1
@CILIPinfo