Looking through the wrong end of the telescope: Libraries and government policy making

 

Nicholas Poole (@NickPoole1) posted the following thread on Twitter on 30 November 2022, which may chime with the experiences of some of our readers. So, with Nick’s kind permission, we are reproducing the thread here.  How many of us find ourselves looking at the opposing end of the telescope in these sorts of conversions?

 “Interesting/thought-provoking conversation recently with a retired professional who had spent 30-35 years as national policy lead for several Government departments incl. Home Office & DWP. Naturally, our conversation fell to where #libraries stand in the world of policymaking. My first observation was that as soon as you say "library", two things happen:

1) people instantly default to *public* libraries and

2) the fog of nostalgia descends.

 It took a good five minutes to explain the scope of the library and information sector - people are aware of school libraries and possibly University libraries if they went, but after that it always becomes hazy. That there were LKS [Library & Knowledge Services) in Health came as a surprise to this person. From there, it became clear that he was looking through a totally different end of the telescope from me. I was starting with #libraries and working outwards to explore the many impacts our sector has. He wanted me to explain the problem to which libraries were the answer. He told me he always asks four questions of any policy:

1) are you sure there's a problem to be solved?

2) are you sure what you are proposing is the best solution?

3) have you looked at what has been tried before?

4) how have other countries solved this problem

 He freely admitted that Governments struggled hugely to retrofit new purpose to policy agendas that had previously been engineered to solve a different problem. "it's not how policymakers work". Drilling into his view on (public) libraries, it was that they were engineered as a solution to two problems that are no longer as pressing:

1) universal access to basic education & literacy - now served through schools (his words!)

2) unequal ability to purchase books

 The latter, while not solved, is no longer acute enough to justify the investment (again, his words!). His proposal was essentially to re-cast libraries as a flexible platform capable of responding to new policy priorities as they emerged - a sort of local Swiss Army knife.

 This explained so much for me about why #libraries seem endlessly to be re-casting their offer (particularly public libraries), as raised by @wylie_alan and others - because absent [of] a fresh and unique policy remit, we are left in a responsive mode.

 I proposed that there are large-scale policy challenges to which #libraries and #librarians (in all sectors) hold the key - the main one of which is that the UK is going to be an ideas-based economy (as opposed to services or industry) for the next 50 years. And that an ideas-based economy needs:

1) To maximise the ability of its citizens to access, share and create knowledge and;

2) To ensure that we reach every part of the country, since talent is equally distributed.

 This framing of #libraries as learning infrastructure supporting economic growth is anathema to some in our profession, but my interlocutor agreed it has appeal as a policy framework. It is also, as an aside, the core idea at the heart of the @BLPolicy concept of "Living Knowledge" .

 And finally, his key challenge was - of course - evidence. The UK is genuinely invested in evidence-based policymaking and so if we are to re-cast all libraries, and particularly public libraries as an investment opportunity, we must be able to evidence the likely impact.

 It was an enlightening conversation. We are heading into a General Election period in which Manifesto commitments are being forged. It seems most likely whomever wins will still 

(a) have no money and

(b) double down on #localism. 

So, we have to be ready. @CILIPinfo  is preparing our "policy slate" across all the sectors in which our members work. Where we can we will be assembling the evidence that a future "smart" economy must have the skills and values of #librarians and #infopros at its heart."