In a bid to bridge-the-gap and build a service ‘fit for the future’, Leicester City Council launched an ambitious new strategy plan, with Leicester Libraries and Information Services delivering for its complex multi-cultural society by rethinking its reliance on traditional librarian posts and removing library regulations.
“The previous approach was becoming out of touch with the needs of modern public libraries and their work in local communities,” explained Leicester’s Head of Libraries and Information Services, Adrian Wills. “The reality is that people feel comfortable if they see people that they recognise. We have service users from ethnic minorities, from the outer estates, and from the suburbs – and we needed to reflect that mix in our libraries.”
“We had a very inspirational Head of Service who came in during 2000 and was given the job of refocusing the service and taking us forward. We developed a new strategy which had 100 recommendations, and a lot of these were to do with service delivery for customers, for example book stocks and the sighting of information desks. But these elements were just one strand of a cultural change across the service” said Adrian.
The second strand was the workforce diversity strategy. The new five year plan will focus on ‘Better Libraries, Better Lives’.
Explained Adrian: “For the workforce diversity strategy to work we needed to break down barriers between library staff and library users. And that meant encouraging staff not to be bound by library rules and regulations, but focus on what helps the customer.
“Some of our staff thought it was great; others were worried that this would undermine our position. What we did was to explain, and inspire staff to understand that what we intended to achieve was a library service that was about improving people’s life chances and not just there to lend books to traditional users.”
Workforce targets and appraisals were put in place to help libraries widen participation, the ways in which jobs were advertised were broadened and targeted at specific communities to help improve and balance recruitment, and work experience placements were encouraged.
While Leicester Libraries and Information Services is now well on the road to achieving what it set out to do, “it hasn’t all been plain sailing,” admitted Adrian.
“However, the staff who have been promoted through the service are some our most creative people because they have had to work hard for their positions. They are the ones taking us forward.”
Ruth Preocanin, who took advantage of the programme when she was a Library Assistant at Leicester’s St Barnabas Library, said: “With the help of Leicester libraries study and development programme, I was supported and helped throughout my NVQ studies, which gave me the expertise, knowledge and self assurance I needed to put my new skills into practice.’
The impact Leicester’s workforce diversity programme has had on the service has been outstanding. According to a recent survey, 40 per cent of the service’s staff now come from black, ethnic and minority sections of the community, with many others from disadvantaged communities. Libraries, especially Leicester’s Central Library, have also seen a greater mix of users. The improvements achieved by Leicester’s workforce diversity programme should continue through a new five-year strategy agreement which runs until 2013.
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