Transcript Greater Manchester Libraries

Sharing Services
libraries – archives – museums
learning together
Neil MacInnes
Greater Manchester
• 10 local authorities – 2.6 million population –
providing:
– The statutory ‘comprehensive and efficient’ library service
– Museum and heritage services
– Archives and local studies
• Greater Manchester Combined Authority and LEP
• A coherent city region
Library and information services
Track record of partnership work
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Decades of library co-operation – ILL
Stock purchasing consortium (NW and Y&H)
Ask About Business
Time to Read
Stock management
E-books and e-resources
Try Reading (NW and Y&H)
We set ourselves a challenge
• Can the library services of Greater Manchester
work together even more than they do now to
achieve service transformation that will
deliver significant cost savings and ensure a
sustainable quality customer service offer for
the future?
Our journey
• Looked at three main options
– More collaboration
– Merge management/some services
– Single service
• Future Libraries Programme focused on the
single service option
• Looked attractive but fraught with difficulties
Key lessons
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Not necessarily big bang
Localism & sovereignty
Timing
Not just about the money - questions around
the level of real savings – and who gets them!
• More about sustainability
The changing landscape
• At the point of considering the findings of the
FLP study many services required to produce
their own strategy and budget (savings) plans
• The baseline for the FLP calculations no longer
valid
• Nationally – a time of unprecedented change
and examination of statutory basis and
definition of the future library service
GM Museums & Archives
• Learned from the library experiences
• Did not rule out the single service option but
focused on achievable, tangible benefits for
users rather than major organisational change
Museums
• Refreshed the partnership
• Began with three focused areas for
collaboration
– Touring exhibitions
– Education (schools offer)
– Retail
• Collective identity and brand
GM Museums
• New identity helped to attract external
funding
• Using this to consolidate the partnership
– 3 year development plan
– Open source talent – maximising staff knowledge,
experience & skills
– Digital portal to showcase the best of the
collections and promote the Connected History
Archives & Local Studies
• Very strong local identity
• Demonstrating how they contribute to council
priorities
• Future focused – doing things together from
now on rather than struggle with long and
complicated history
• Focus on customer benefits & sustainability
• Return on investment – not just savings
GM Archives & Local Studies
• A new Partnership – focused on development
for the future
• Quick wins to demonstrate value
• Light touch on governance
• Focus on things that have benefits for
everyone
• Involves the practitioners – maximise the key
assets (staff talent)
GM Archives & Local Studies
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Volunteering
World War 1
GM Histories – on-line portal – one catalogue
Digital and content
One set of fees for customers
Income generation
Cataloguing of Business Records
Library & information services
• Putting too much focus on the single service
solution distracted us from more easily
achievable things that are possible
• And that have greater benefits for customers
• We’re now focusing on a few specific areas
– LMS
– Making national offers work locally
– Specific local collaboration
Shared Systems
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Library Management System
Procurement - Framework contract
6 library authorities live 2013/14
In time:
– One catalogue
– One Library card
– One streamlined customer journey
Library & Information Services
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Cross boundary alignment – opening hours
Signposting
Procurement – Library App
Community language collections
Information Services
Partnerships
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The British Library Business and IP Centres
National offers and initiatives
Funding applications incl Arts Council
Cross sector working – Manchester Histories
Manchester Library Strategy
Central Libraries
Core Cities – Benchmarking
Sharing dividend
• Working together when there are tangible and
mutual benefits
• Enables new development even in a time of
austerity
• Retains local identity but also economies of
scale
• Doesn’t redesign the past but focuses on the
future
Ask About Business
Engagement Objectives
To offer a sub-regional business information service that supports:
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Start up & microbusinesses
Jobseekers
Consumers
Business students
Inventors
Social enterprises
Existing businesses
Ask About Business
Benefits to Customers
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A reliable and comprehensive business service
available at a local level
Better access to information to empower and
support personal aspirations including
jobseeking, business start up and consumer
issues
Additional resources delivered online
Meets expectations of a modern information
service, including professional branding and
marketing
Ask About Business
Benefits to partner authorities
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High quality service with better access to a wider range of resources
Improved value for money by joint marketing & purchasing of resources
Increased staff knowledge, leading to better customer service
Increased visibility with other agencies and a higher profile within the
authority and region
Demonstrates contribution to economic viability at a local level
Access to a wide range of resources for those authorities currently
unable to offer such provision
Budget savings on resources
Ask About Business
Why libraries?
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Enhances our role in a larger business support network
Unique in the sub-region given the number of libraries, opening hours,
& size of membership.
Instant network across the sub-region: over 150 libraries
Community libraries are shop fronts of the service
Allows delivery at local level
Encourages take up by new business customers
Ask About Business
Service Delivery Model
Hub and spoke approach
Manchester Central Library is the hub co-ordinating and delivering:
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Business enquiry support
IP support
Dedicated website (www.askaboutbusiness.org)
Online resources, such as COBRA
Training
Marketing and branding
Ask About Business
Business enquiry support
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By phone & email
Dedicated business team in Central Library
Some access to industry-standard info resources
e.g. market research, company info, etc.
Delivers specialist information at local level
e.g. intellectual property
Local staff & customers can confidently expect quality response
askaboutbusiness.org
• Links to COBRA & other business resources inc free business plan
• Authorities can include local content on their own pages
• Events listings for members
The Hub: Manchester Central Library
• A Transformed Venue
• £50 million refurbishment
• Commitment to the city’s business &
enterprise sectors
• Commercial Library since 1919
• A Patlib (patent library)
• One of the largest collections of
business & IP information available to
the public in the UK
• Now featuring a Business & IP Centre
Central Library Demonstrator
• Exciting addition to business
services
• Demonstrating the benefits of
superfast broadband to SMEs &
start ups
• Funded by BDUK
• High profile project for MCC:
recognition of libraries role in
reaching and supporting SMEs
across the city
Central Library Demonstrator
Advice sessions and workshops including:
• Cloud computing
• Social media for business
• Using online tools to improve efficiency
& communication
Also offers the chance to get hands on with the
latest communications technology including:
• State of the art videoconferencing
• 4K video camera and TVs
• Google Glass
• 3D printing
AAB & Start Up Engines
• One of ten national Enterprising Libraries awards
funded by DCLG & Arts Council England
• Greater Manchester based, but all members of AAB
benefit
• Taps into the established Ask About Business network
and builds on existing relationships
3 elements:
• Access to information - “Flatpack”
• Access to experts - Events
• Access to peer-to-peer support - Online communities
Sharing dividend
• Working together when there are tangible and
mutual benefits
• Enables new development even in a time of
austerity
• Retains local identity but also economies of
scale
• Doesn’t redesign the past but focuses on the
future
Journey’s end?
• Maybe the end of the beginning!
• Partnership/sharing is not a moment it’s a
process – a long process
• It doesn’t progress step by step – it loops back
on itself
• Sometimes big ideas have to be parked to
achieve some concrete progress
Thank you
Neil MacInnes
[email protected]
Manchester Library and Information Service
http://www.manchester.gov.uk/libraries/