Edinburgh City Libraries
are woefully understaffed. In the last five years this service has lost over 50
members of staff who have never been replaced. With such a huge staffing
shortfall, the Library Service cannot be expected to adequately and safely
staff all library locations and continue to provide high quality services to
the people of Edinburgh . Despite this, Library Management want to
extend Saturday opening which will further stretch an already depleted
workforce.
This problem is only
going to get worse. Several colleagues are going to have their temporary
contracts terminated and the 50 vacant posts are due to be deleted from the
staffing structure by the start of the next financial year.
The decision to cut
these jobs comes as a result of the Service Prioritisation packages designed to
make £550,000 savings from the budget. There was a recent £300,000 payment
which was hoped would be used to remedy the staffing crisis. This money is
being diverted to maintain Sunday opening hours. We feel this situation is unacceptable and
unsustainable.
WHY WEREN’T YOU TOLD ABOUT THIS?
City
of Edinburgh Council
claim you were. They state that their decision was made
as a result of one of the biggest public consultations in their history. 10,000
respondents is an impressive figure but it pales into insignificance when you
consider that there are 180,000 registered
library users in Edinburgh . Only 5.5% of library users were consulted.
That's 170,000 people who did not have a say in their library service – enough
to simultaneously fill both Easter Road and Tynecastle Stadia 4.5 times over.
This cannot be described as proper consultation.
WHAT SERVICES WILL BE
LOST?
BookBug/Books for Babies/Rhymetimes
These
awarding winning programmes which are set up, run and led by frontline staff
have been proven to help in the mental and physical development of babies and
toddlers. It has been shown to improve literacy levels, the ability to
interact with others in a positive manner and also assists new mothers in
developing their parenting skills. These are extremely valuable programmes yet,
last year, two designated BookBug workers were lost to cuts.
Homework Clubs
These
after-school workshops were set up to advise and assist young people in their education
and are also run by frontline staff. Evidence shows that the
Homework Clubs increases the potential for increased academic achievement amongst participants and it cannot
be doubted that this increases their future employment prospects.
Adult literacy/Computer classes
These
are other valuable services run and led by frontline staff. The positive outcomes
are immediately noticeable. People become more confident as a direct result of
these classes and are more prepared to interact with others. Participants are also more prepared to pursue
further self improvement and, as a result, their employment prospects
rise.
Library Link
Library
Link is yet another service provided by frontline staff. It provides a regular opportunity for the
elderly and infirm to visit their local library on a weekly basis. As well as
being able to access the library services whilst having a cup of
tea, in many cases this service is the only chance many of these people
get the chance to leave their homes, meet friends or new people and generally
interact.
Housebound Runs
There
are some who, through no fault of their own, are unable to visit their local
library. As a result staff deliver library services to them. Each customer has their
own designated member of staff who forms a relationship with them and develops
a working knowledge of their reading preferences. Staff can tailor the service
specifically to that individual customer. This ensures that the most vulnerable
people are not denied the services that you and I enjoy from our library
service.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
These
services, along with many others, will disappear. Staff numbers are being
decimated and the working week for the remaining staff is getting longer. The quality and provision of the service will
suffer irrecoverably. We cannot
allow this to happen.
In these tough economic times we need a strong, healthy and viable library service to help support vulnerable service users. One quarter of the population of
UNISON are due to make a delegation to the meeting of the Full Council on Thursday 15 March to put forward our concerns.
We will continue to make the case and fight for our Library service but we NEED your help!
WHAT YOU CAN DO
You know the facts - now contact your
councillor. Raise your concerns directly with them and insist that Libraries
need adequate staffing levels to continue to provide an excellent service to you, your
family and the people of Edinburgh .
You can also join the library. To value this
service we've got to use it. All you need is photo ID and you're up and
running. There's a world of knowledge just waiting for you in your
local library.
PLEASE
SUPPORT YOUR LIBRARY SERVICE
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