Headington Library performance figures and running costs

Headington Library performance figures and running costs


Issues 2009-10
Adults 62,759
Children 67,828
AV 6,217
Total 136,804
Visits 2009-10 153,350

The costs below are expenditure and income figures for the financial year 2009-10. Assumptions arising from them in relation to the potential cost of running the library in future should be made with extreme caution.

The cost profile of running Headington Library may change very significantly under alternative management arrangements. To give an example; the cost to the library service of energy (gas, electricity) is determined by contractual arrangements which secure significant discounts. If alternative proposals included different procurement arrangements for energy supplies, the basis of the associated costs would differ from those noted below.

Please also note the following:

Books: The figure given for books and other material is an estimate. Books are acquired for the county, not for specific libraries and costs are therefore recorded by category of material and not by library (eg. Children’s picture books, adult non fiction). On acquisition, stock will be allocated to a particular library but it will not necessarily remain in that library. In order to make the best use of stock, materials are managed and circulated on a county-wide basis. In addition stock in every library is available for loan to every library member and stock is therefore moving constantly between libraries to meet customer demand. This approach is much more efficient than acquiring and managing stock on a library by library basis. Above all, it means that the resources of the whole library service are available to everyone, unconstrained by the limits of a particular building or service point.

Librarians: The cost of providing librarian support to Headington Library is not included in these in the staffing figure as these costs are not assigned to specific libraries. Each library is supported by a small peripatetic team of librarians operating on a county-wide basis. They manage stock selection and acquisition, advise on stock management, display and promotion. They provide virtual and telephone information services for both library users and staff, advise on and support services for children, young people and families. They provide and support wider reading and learning activities such as reading groups, reading challenges for adults and IT familiarisation courses. These activities are core to the provision of library services in each building but are managed on a county wide basis as this is much more efficient than deploying librarians in each library.

Management: The cost of providing management support to Headington Library is not included in these in these figures as these costs are not assigned to specific libraries Each library is part of a wider geographical group led by a member of the Senior Management Team. These officers support individual libraries on matters of corporate policy and priorities, library policy, priorities and practice, recruitment, training and staff development, health and safety in public buildings, personnel issues, finance, IT facilities and services, service planning and performance, marketing and promotion.

Expenditure 2009/10 for Headington Library

Expenditure Library Service Expenditure £ Property Services expenditure £
On-site staffing 127,284.79 Not applicable
Transport costs 39.20 Not applicable
Electricity 2,039.39 Not applicable
Gas 2,259.14 Not applicable
Water Not applicable Not applicable
Security 860.73 Not applicable
Rent Not applicable Not applicable
Rates Not applicable 6,728.00
Service Charge Not applicable 29,478.00
Other Premises Costs 216.71 Not applicable
Supplies costs (including Stationery, copier rental, telephones) 3,972.92
Not applicable
Books and other materials for loan and reference 30,811.00
Not applicable
Cleaning Not applicable Not applicable

Income (from fees and charges) -17,474.83 Not applicable

Note: does not include Head Office costs

Source: figures obtained from the County Librarian - 7 January 2011

Peter Hitchens visits Headington Library

LIBRARIES: Writer joins battle to save reading
By Chris Walker » in the Oxford Mail Saturday *8 January 2011

AWARD-winning journalist Peter Hitchens said county council plans to abolish funding for almost half of the county’s libraries would see hard-up families barred from the benefits of reading.
to read more
Source of image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Peterhitchens.jpg

Public meeting at St. Andrews School Headington

Notice: Public meeting at St. Andrews School Headington about the proposed closure of Headington Library on the 11 January 2011 at 8pm.


The agenda will include debate about the decision to close Headington Library and also about possible futures of Headington Library.

Representatives from other interested groups will also be invited.



This meeting will be open to all residents of Greater Headington and users of Headington Library

Hundreds sign library petition

As of today, 8th January, 341 people have already signed the online petition to save Headington Library at Bury Knowle Park, and 428 people have signed the sister petition to save all the twenty threatened libraries.
More people are signing every day.
That gives this campaign a strong democratic case for facing the council and demanding that no hasty decisions are taken without sufficient time to consider and pursue some alternatives to closure.
I like the letter written by the Kennington campaigners to Mr Vaizey and I suggest that a group of campaigners in Headington write a similar collective letter to him and try to get him involved in this issue.
I note that Ms Nicola Blackwood seems unsympathetic to the cause and hope that this will be remembered next time she is up for election.
It is just not realistic to say that Headington residents can use the Westgate Library. Even if you live very close to a bus stop, the journey can easily take half an hour in each direction, or more for those who live outside the ring road. If you don't live close to a bus stop, you would have to put aside well over one and half hours for a library visit. Busy people cannot find that extra time, those with prams would have to struggle to get them on and off the bus and young children could not go to the library without their parents.
Libraries should not only exist for the city's university students, numerous and welcome though they are. They should be there for the whole population including the less advantaged.
Both of my own children made good use of Bury Knowle Library. I want that amenity to be available for future generations.

A letter to Ed Vaizey MP, Minister for Culture & Sport

Dear Mr Vaizey,
I am writing to you in your position as an Oxfordshire MP and Minister of Culture. The Friends of Kennington Library are aware of your previous support for libraries and your description of the proposed closure of libraries in the Wirral as cultural vandalism.

Grove, in your constituency, is one of the libraries threatened with closure. I have written to Nicola Blackwood, my MP re. the proposed closure of our popular library in Kennington. The Parish Council and Friends of Kennington Library held a public meeting with Councillor Heathcoat and John Jackson who sadly did not answer one direct question. Each time the answer was ‘We haven’t that information’ or ‘At this stage in the consultation process we don’t know.’

John Jackson made it clear that the decision to close 20 libraries was based on the absolute numbers going through the door, regardless of how few hours a small library is open compared to a large one, with no reference to the size of the population served or the square footage of the library. Asked how they calculated the numbers per hour going through the door of small libraries so that an accurate comparison can be made per hour worked by one librarian, he didn’t reply. Asked by a Conservative District Councillor, ‘If the footfall increased would that change the decision?’ again no answer.

After the open part of the meeting I asked Judith and John personally if, as part of the invited consultation, they would consider other means of making the cuts – no answer! To the voters of Kennington and no doubt of Grove too, it seems patently unfair. 25 % cuts across all the library services, as in Hertfordshire, is understandable but closing a library means 100% cut for our community of readers. Our library only costs approximately £19,000 to run.

Mr Jackson seemed to think all our users, like him, could go into Oxford. Councillor Mitchell obviously thinks we are a nuisance because 82% already use the saved hub libraries. We get the impression that Councillor Mitchell has never struggled to get a buggie and two children on buses from Berinsfield or Blackbird Leys: buses that are not free to parents on a minimum wage(not to mention parking and fuel costs). Certainly in Kennington the 24 under -fives who walk to our library in crocodile every Wednesday will not be able to use the hub libraries nor the disabled and frail. At the meeting with Councillor Heathcoat, I took a letter from the Headmistress of our primary school, a letter from the head of the nursery school, signatures of the parent and toddler group parents with their comments, the signatures of the Festival Group – mostly either disabled or over 75. We have the support of the local businesses, the churches, the Parish Council, the Chairman of Kennington Conservative Party -- indeed all the Big Society of our village! I do believe that if the Council’s attitude remains closed to alternative methods of cutting all libraries, rather that this grossly unfair approach, it will have an effect in the ballot box.

Councillor Mitchell claims that if he doesn’t close twenty libraries the cuts will have to come from other services. We are of the firm opinion that the libraries can take a fair share of the cuts without closing 20 – if the cuts are shared equally. If all Oxfordshire libraries are kept within the Oxfordshire network (Galaxy) then a modern library system can be sustained and indeed volunteers can step in to help ameliorate the cuts. To increase spending on hub libraries and close 20 rural and suburban libraries is discriminatory.

Can you use your influence to ask Oxfordshire County Council to look again at their policy and have genuine discussions with Friends Groups as to how we can save the necessary amount of money without this slash and burn policy?

There also seems to be confused and conflicting messages coming from the Department of Communities claiming just 1.69% cut for Oxfordshire and 2.5 % increase in grant if community tax is frozen and £7,000,000 plus in reserve in Oxfordshire and the message we are getting locally.

Below are some of the questions we have tried to get answers to.
1. We understood from the meeting in the Kennington Village Centre that you are required to cut the total Oxfordshire library costs by 25%. Please let us know if this figure is correct, and if not, let us know the correct figure.
2. Where does this figure come from?
3. What will the council not consider as solutions to cost-saving and why?
4 What made you decide to use footfall per library as a suitable measure for choosing libraries to close? (For example, what made you decide not to measure footfall per unit of served population?)
5 Where can we find the raw data that you used to compile the figures? We would also like to know how the data was collected; the margins of error employed by your statisticians; and are the statistics independently verified?
With regards and best wishes
Sylvia Vetta
On behalf of the Friends of Kennington Library http://savekenningtonlibrary.blogspot.com/
To Contact Ed Vaizey MP
email: vaizeye@parliament.uk
telephone: 020 7219 6350

Let’s help each other to save our libraries

Dear Library Supporters,
I am writing on behalf of The Save Kennington Library Campaign. We are of the opinion that all threatened libraries should work together to persuade the Council to adopt a fairer way of cutting the libraries budget.

If all Oxfordshire libraries are kept within the Oxfordshire network (Galaxy), then a modern library system can be sustained and indeed volunteers can step in to help ameliorate the cuts, and even sponsors, heritage lottery funding etc can be approached to fill the gap. To increase spending on hub libraries and close 20 rural and suburban libraries is discriminatory.

Kennington held a public meeting with Councillor Heathcoat (cabinet member with responsibility for libraries) and John Jackson (administrator- future libraries) neither of them answered any of our questions directly. If you are planning a similar public meeting, do get in touch and we can share information and the questions they failed to answer.

We have a campaign proposal and hope your library supporters may like to join in?
We shall print 15 different letters asking questions of Councillors Mitchell and Heathcoat and will try to get as many individuals in Kennington to sign individual letters. Assuming people are at home when we call, we hope to get 500-1000 signed letters. If every threatened library can do the same, perhaps we can collect 5000-10,000 individual letters that will require a response. (That is the reason for doing it this way rather than a petition.)

A particular time and day needs to be arranged to deliver the signed letters to County Hall with as many supporters as possible in attendance before this is voted through in February. At the campaign meeting to be held in Oxford Town Hall on Thursday 20: 7:30pm, we will ask Philip Pullman if he will spearhead the handover and get the Regional TV news, radio as well as the press to cover it? We think this may be the most visible way to show the strength of feeling on this issue and get maximum publicity. Will your group consider doing a similar thing? We can email copies of letters. But if your group prefers to get up a petition, that can still be delivered at the same time.

What are your plans and ideas? Will you consider coordinating our efforts?
For more info we have a blog spot
http://savekenningtonlibrary.blogspot.com/
To contact us
Paddy Landau- Chairman of the campaign http://www.kenningtonchronicle.org.uk/or me for the Friends of Kennington Library
Regards
Sylvia Vetta vettasylvia@aol.com

Happy New Year & Prosperous New Decade!