Living Libraries

Issues about libraries raised by the AHRC-funded project, 'Memories of Fiction: An Oral History of Readers' Life Stories' (2014-2018), are central to this follow-on project, 'Living Libraries'. For 'Memories of Fiction' the project team interviewed members of library-based reading groups in the London borough of Wandsworth, and the PhD researcher interviewed LGBTQ readers. These interviews provide a wealth of material about the role of reading in peoples' lives. An unanticipated and significant project impact was uncovering the diverse ways in which libraries improve people's lives, which were explored in many of the project's blog posts (on its own website and for the Libraries Taskforce); in a public talk 'Our Lives in Libraries'; in The Big Issue; and the production at London's Omnibus Theatre, 'The Living Library'. 'Living Libraries' will maximise and take these impacts in new directions.

'Living Libraries' will inform public and professional discourse about changes in library provision and their effects. It will acknowledge the complex, diverse ways in which libraries are changing across England and Wales. It will thereby resist any singular, dominant narrative about what is happening to public libraries, situating public concern about library cuts and closures in a broad historical and geographical perspective. Within the national context, the project will focus on five libraries, to allow in-depth engagement with specific cases, ensuring that the original research is informed by and impacts on regions beyond London. First, we will work with five libraries that have radically changed over the past decade, looking at some of the most innovative as well as challenging aspects of these changes, and we will carry out interviews and talks at those libraries. The project will thereby provide a detailed view of challenges and opportunities for library provision, while documenting an important period of transition.

The project's public engagement and impacts will stretch from the immediate to the long-term. Oral history will provide an immediate form of engagement: we will talk to a diverse range of people who have worked/are working in or otherwise involved with the selected libraries (8-10 people at each library, including librarians, cleaners, volunteers, and library users). For oversight of the broader context we will conduct interviews with five national figures, including Nick Poole (CEO of the Chartered Institute of Librarians and Information Professionals). The researchers will also invite project participants to contribute to public talks at the libraries, incorporating information from interviews (from both projects). By documenting memories of public libraries before and during recent and ongoing transitions, 'Living Libraries' will have the potential for long-lasting impact. It will contribute, for example, to understandings of what changes have had positive and/or negative effects, with the potential to inform how libraries are best funded and developed in future.

To maximise the project's potential for informing public and professional discourse about changes in library provision, interviews will be openly available online (through partnership with the British Library), and will provide a basis for installations and performances in libraries (taking Memories of Fiction's production at Omnibus Theatre in new directions). Along with the interviews and talks, the artworks and performances will in turn feed into a short audio documentary, and a longer programme/series pitched to BBC Radio. These activities will be publicised through local, national and social media, to contribute to public awareness of the value of libraries. Finally, the project's findings will be presented as a policy pack which will be available online and will be sent directly to stakeholder organisations, many of whom have expressed interest in such a resource.

The most direct beneficiaries of this research will be library professionals and library users, including potential library users.

By gathering a collection of interviews through which people can articulate their remembered experiences of changing libraries, and also their sense of what is lost and/or gained when library provision changes, this project intends to capture a period of substantive transition while also informing public and professional discourse. By incorporating voices across England, the project will help to articulate why libraries matter in a diverse range of ways, and will also examine the effects of a variety of changes. It will seek to support pro-library campaigns, while avoiding any single dominant narrative about the impact of library cuts and closures. Many libraries have closed and are threatened with closure, while libraries have also changed positively in response to users' changing needs (such as for digital connectivity, and community spaces). By interviewing users as well as library workers, this project will provide a strong indication of what changes have positive and/or negative effects. Our consultations with organisations including the Chartered Institute of Librarians and Information Professionals make clear that it will be beneficial to explore users' experiences and perspectives on the effects of such changes through the oral histories. The knowledge gained through this project can help to inform directions taken by libraries in future.

In addition, the process of collecting the oral histories will itself be a form of public engagement that benefits people we conduct the interviews with. Interviewees on the Memories of Fiction project reported in the final stages of interviews that they found the process of interviewing interesting, enjoyable, and enlightening. Further, by updating participants with news of outputs such as publications, talks, and the theatre production, they benefitted from knowledge exchange and increased social connections. Participants expressed interest in these developments and were especially enthusiastic about the theatre production; 14 took up the invitation to attend its launch, along with other invitees including representatives from the Arts Council (Director for Libraries Sue Williamson), the Society for Chief Librarians (President Elect Mark Freeman), and the British Library's Living Knowledge Network (Manager Ella Snell). These latter attendees also help evidence how 'Living Libraries' aligns with objectives of library organisations (e.g. LKN's mission to promote 'the enduring values of libraries'). Responses from such professionals and the wider public were overwhelmingly positive, and on feedback forms attendees reported feeling much more inclined to use libraries.

The range of outputs are suited to the range of beneficiaries. As well as the oral history conversations, the talks, blog posts, artworks and performances, documentary, and publicity will be aimed at both public audiences and library professionals. In these ways the project will ensure that messages about the value of libraries reach diverse audiences, and will challenge any singular narrative that libraries are in decline. It aims to increase library use, helping to break out of the cycle whereby under-use of libraries is used to justify cuts to libraries which are therefore increasingly under-used (being perceived as in decline rather than as vibrant, open spaces). We will also produce a policy pack, focusing on the effects of recent changes in library provision, and making concrete recommendations for future policy and interventions, which will be targeted at relevant policy-makers and related library organisations.