Ideas for blog posts come from many sources. While I was travelling back from a recent meeting I happened to listen to the lunchtime current affairs programme which had a discussion on the plans of the Manchester Central Library to use the £60m refurbishment programme as an opportunity to review its collection of about 1m books. Depending on which side of the debate you sat it seemed that the review would probably result in a reduction of between 20 and 50% of the books. Emotions were evidently running high on the issue in certain quarters and it was good to hear debate on the issue, however, it got me thinking about the business model of a traditional ‘central library’.
When most of us think of a library we think of our local library where people go largely to borrow books for pleasure or education and we expect to be able to borrow from a reasonably current selection of material. The role of a central library is different, in that it is more of a research facility where people expect to be able to call on a much deeper and wider selection of material.
We are lucky in the UK that we have a world leading asset in the British Library, however, the argument given was that to get a seat at the British Library you have to spend £200+ on a train ticket to get there in time. A valid point I thought. I found myself swaying from siding with one side of the debate to the other. Both had valid strands to their arguments, however, neither really brought out the potential impact of new technology which may over time help bridge the gap.
As we have moved towards a more digital age, the British Library has been following a digitisation strategy that is at the leading edge of the area. They have been cutting deals with a wide spectrum of partners such as Google, Microsoft, and brightsolid. To date it has digitised less than 1% of their collection, however, as we continue to move forward this will likely increase. If we can then get the access model right this could allow for central libraries as we know them today to move towards being access points to a much wider and deeper selection of digital material. There will always be the need or desire for a minority of research to need a physical cost which would likely require a trip to the British Library, however, for the majority it would enhance the access.
For this to become reality then in parallel with the physical work to digitise content there needs to be a continuing work on the business models that will facilitate access to a wider population.
Being a Manchester University graduate (or UMIST as it was at the
time to be precise) I am familiar with the library and saw the proposed
changes to the building being discussed recently in Private Eye. The
focus of this debate was around the significant change to the
external appearance of what is a striking building with a rich history.
I support the view that the library as an institution has to remain
relevant, must move with the times and that this is a proactive
process rather than one that just happens. Digitisation of material to
improve availability would be a huge step forward, particularly if
resource material and centres of research could be linked. However,
too often we have been guilty of reaching for the new at the cost of
losing the link with history or in this case the original architectural
design. Surely the two can coexist?
It’s great to see that change at Manchester Central Library has perhaps rekindled active debate around libraries even if at a local/national level in terms of architecture and content. Once upon a time to have a library was a mark of a city’s status and hence they were built in a style to give out kudos. In the developed world we seem often to take for granted the significance of institutions such as libraries and the indirect wealth that they have generated in the past and can do in the future if we get it right. As with most large public facilities they only get a major investment for upgrade probably once every few decades which makes for a shock in terms of evolution. As always it’s about balance as you say both in terms of the building and the contents. Interestingly there aren’t too many details of the changes to the architecture available on line. Maybe what is needed is for a smoother curve in terms of investment to keep up with the opportunities that are out there in terms of technologies and business models. It’s in this area that the British Library’s digitisation programme is progressive by developing a spectrum of business models with partners to digitise packages of content as low cost to the library and which over time will give the nation a great digitised catalogue to marry up with the physical copies, hopefully widening access.