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9 A summary of
recommendations & costs

Summary of recommendations

9.1

That government signals its commitment to an information policy with a strong emphasis on a central role for public libraries by:

1. establishing a central coordinating mechanism which brings together appropriate government departments and regulatory authorities;
   
   
2. establishing a development agency - the Public Library Networking Agency - to energise and coordinate UK-wide networking developments;
   
   
3. developing appropriate partnerships between the public and private sectors to implement the public library networking plan;
   
   
4. making a funding commitment which will encourage others to contribute to the investment in the public library networking plan.
   
   

(Chapter 8)

9.2

That the Public Library Networking Agency be charged with developing the public library network through:

1. the creation of a UK 'backbone' infrastructure to link individual public library networks;
   
   
2. negotiation with library authorities to upgrade local library networks to a common UK standard on a shared-funding basis.
   
   

(Chapter 4)

9.3

That the Public Library Networking Agency undertakes to procure and/or develop content and services to enable 'access to knowledge, imagination and learning', and that content development be given priority in the following areas:

1. enhancing education and lifelong learning opportunities for children and adults;
   
   
2. supporting training, employment and business to foster economic prosperity;
   
   
3. nurturing social cohesion through fostering a politically and culturally informed society.
   
   

(Chapter 1)

9.4

That this content to be delivered via the UK Public Library Network should include:

1. commercial publications;
   
   
2. government/public information and the facility to undertake electronic transactions with central government as part of the government.direct initiative;
   
   
3. library-generated new resources, or resources developed by libraries with partners in the public and/or private sectors;
   
   
4. a programme to digitise rare/special collections in public libraries and the delivery of other digitised collections from the national libraries, museums and galleries, and other partners;
   
   
5. access to Internet resources - both 'free' and commercial;
   
   
6. support for the common information framework proposed, initially, by the British Library and the Joint Information Systems Committee of the Higher Education Funding Council.
   
   

(Chapter 1)

9.5

That the Public Library Networking Agency develops a training strategy for the 27,000 employees in the public library sector, through:

1. the development of new training resources to be delivered over the UK Public Library Network;
   
   
2. the organisation of face-to-face training events;
   
   
3. a part-funded programme of staff release in order to realise the substantial training and development needs at strategic, managerial and operational levels in all library authorities;
   
   
4. the allocation of a local training incentive fund to facilitate training at local and regional levels.
   
   

(Chapter 3)

Summary of costs

9.6

The indicative costs given in the various parts of the report are brought together below. However, costs have here been staggered, since expenditure in each area will not begin at the same level at the same time.

9.7

For each element of cost, the recommended source - a 'central' fund for UK-wide investment, funding from the library authority, or contribution by partners - was indicated in paragraph 5.9. There will be an initial period during which the funding source is confirmed. The first step of implementation will be to establish the Public Library Networking Agency, which will address this task in partnership with the Library and Information Commission, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and other appropriate government offices and departments.

9.8

All the elements of the plan should be funded up to and including Year 6. In Year 7 the Public Library Networking Agency, in consultation with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, other government offices and departments and any other relevent body, should undertake a review in order to redefine the strategy for the ensuing period.

Addendum - November 1997

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