In the Summer of 2019 it would have seemed impossible to believe the situation we\u2019ve found ourselves over recent months, with locked down library services, and a pandemic affecting virtually every part of life around the globe.\u00a0 A year ago, we\u2019d never heard of Covid 19 but it has certainly changed our lives in a very short space of time.<\/p>\n
Across the United Kingdom, public library buildings remained closed as they have done around the world at various stages through the pandemic.\u00a0 In the UK re-opening began to appear in early July and services have dealt with the challenges of post Covid lockdown in different ways according to local needs.<\/p>\n
UK public library services were one of the last publicly accessible networks to be closed down and staff were sent to work at home where they could at the end of March.\u00a0 Since then public library staff have been engaged on a wide variety of work, some related to the service and some related to wider duties within their local authorities.<\/p>\n
The situation required a quick change in the nature of the service we offer.\u00a0 Whilst every library service in the country had some form of online library service, we quickly had to develop this at pace.\u00a0 The demand for eBooks and for eAudio materials at least tripled in many areas of the country and our public library services struggled to keep up with the demand.\u00a0 It has required many to find more funding to put into their online content and to increase access titles by purchasing more, as well as multiple licenses for popular materials.\u00a0 Online information databases and resources also became extremely important for our customers and may suppliers have relaxed access rules and provided extra facilities for us.<\/p>\n
We continued to keep in touch with our customers \u2013 especially we knew to be vulnerable.\u00a0 Telephone \u201cbuddying\u201d schemes became an important way of keeping homebound readers in touch with both library and wider services.\u00a0 A limited number of library services managed to maintain some small delivery operations to those most in need in their communities.<\/p>\n
Staff in our public library services got used to delivering storytimes, book groups, activities and craft sessions and a whole host of other innovations online through social media such as Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and Instagram.\u00a0 These have really shown the talent of the\u00a0 people who work in our organisations and although at times they have created ICT challenges, library teams were incredibly innovative in working round these.\u00a0 In many cases, the content created was shared between services across the country to help those who have limited resources or who were asked to supply staff for other duties in their local areas.\u00a0 The wealth of material available for our communities to engage with has been reflected in the collation of sites and activities on a number of websites.<\/p>\n
Through all of this Libraries Connected came into its own as a Sector Support Organisation, particularly in the first instance as a voice of concern over the lack of government guidance on the closure of public spaces.<\/p>\n
As the situation developed, Libraries Connected helped to promote and share the good practice of its members.\u00a0 Working with other library and reading agencies, the organization collated content in one place to show the range of work going on, as well as sharing best practice through its online support network.\u00a0 Our Basecamp networks allowed us to talk to each other about the day to day challenges that we faced, providing solutions, but also just a friendly response from someone in exactly the same situation.<\/p>\n
Now that we have passed the peak in the UK, services have been allowed to re-open but on a much more limited basis.\u00a0 We prepared for this by working together through \u201cThink Ins\u201d and a Recovery Group facilitated by Libraries Connected and Tortoise Media.\u00a0 Working together and taking on board the experiences of our international contacts, we developed our own Libraries Connected toolkit which was endorsed by central government.\u00a0 This has proved an invaluable resource for all of us as we look at the best fit of recovery for our own communities, and of course the possibilities for the future.<\/p>\n
Many library services across the UK have adopted a \u201cring and read\u201d or \u201cclick and collect\u201d approach to recovering their services \u2013 customers can select or have books chosen for them to be collected at a static library.\u00a0 Some services have restored limited browsing straightaway and some have restarted their mobile library services.\u00a0 All this has been achieved through team and partnership working according to the needs of local communities.<\/p>\n
We know we will never be quite the same again, and in some ways, the Covid 19 situation has forced us to develop our digital offers much more quickly than we would have been able to before.\u00a0 We still have many challenges as we start to consider how we maintain some of the best of the services we have developed quickly over the past months, alongside the more traditional place based offer we have always provided.\u00a0 Usage of services in the UK has been slow to recover and we expect this to continue whilst our customers regain their confidence.\u00a0 We also know that we will have to deal with significant financial challenges and challenges on the services we provide and their value.\u00a0 We probably all knew before Covid \u00a0how important physical spaces and resources were, but the last six months has certainly confirmed that libraries provide people with places to meet, to learn and to live.\u00a0 Our challenge now will be to quantify the real need that we know exists for people to meet, share ideas, learn and develop together \u2013 we know the value of the public library offer but we now need to communicate this strongly and be part of the rebirth of society.<\/p>\n
If you would like to see more of the work of the UK\u2019s public library services over the past weeks, you can visit the Libraries From Home web page at Libraries Connected here<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.librariesconnected.org.uk\/page\/librariesfromhome<\/a><\/p>\n The Libraries Connected Toolkit is available here<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.librariesconnected.org.uk\/resource\/service-recovery-toolkit-2020-word<\/a><\/p>\n Libraries Hacked has also brought together a collection of You Tube videos which have been aired during the \u201cLockdown\u201d period\u00a0 here<\/p>\n