Arts Council England has published some research on the economic value of libraries. I thought it would be interesting to look at it from a Brent viewpoint. The report argues that libraries have a wider economic value beyond the budget that is spent on them, but states this is hard to measure, which I am sure is true.
Direct Economic Value
The first point considered is the direct value of spend on the library service as a direct contribution to the local economy. This I am sure is a net positive, but it seems to me to be likely to be a small figure even where, as in Brent, we have recent examples of new and refurbished libraries. The reason is that most of the expenditure by the tax payer or local residents would have occurred anyway through some other mechanism.
Placemaking Value
The second point is helping generate activity in a specific place. Here I think there is a more substantial impact. Wembley Library was always intended as part of the development of the wider Wembley area. As an attraction in itself, it should help attract people to the area and aid areas such as the London Designer Outlet. Similarly it should benefit from its own proximity to these facilities to create a wider multiplier effect. Thanks to Brent siting its libraries in shopping centres, this should also hold true for other Brent libraries such as the soon to be opened Willesden Library Centre or the refurbished Kilburn Library. The ACE research seems to back up a tendency towards larger libraries as being greater attractions than smaller ones. This also relates to the number of events which larger libraries are able to hold, and probably the opening hours. Since Brent now has seven day opening at all its libraries, the Brent libraries are probably maximising their impact in this regard.
Business Support Value
The value of Brent libraries in terms of direct support to businesses is harder to evaluate. I have no doubt that experiements such as the Library Lab, the focus on encouraging literacy and general education and specific networking events all have a direct value, but it is hard to put a number on them. The broader "social value" is still harder to estimate. I suppose the only way to do so would be via an opinion survey of some kind.
Personal Improvement Value
What I have called "personal improvement" encompasses education, employability and health value. This undoubtably exists, but again is hard to quantify. The ACE report essentially says more work is needed. This is an area where thanks to the renewed emphasis on books on prescription schemes there is much greater interest than in past years.
Digital Inclusion
A related area to this is digital inclusion. This is becoming a trendy area as society becomes more digitalised and as the government has stumbled across digital inclusion via libraries as a way to patch up the failings of its policies on Universal Credit. Libraries are not the only component of this in Brent. For example the Revs and Bens service at the Civic Centre has its own self service section, and our population benefits from higher than average internet access. However, libraries are important for this, and Brent libraries have seen the quality of IT provision improve under the new strategy.
Social Capital
The "social capital" arguments for libraries are the last area covered in the ACE report, and the area where there has been the most controversy in Brent. Whereas the previous categories are in my view incontestably improved by the Libraries Transformation Project, the role of Brent libraries as community hubs and in improving social mixing is more complicated.
The overall number of people meeting in the Brent libraries, which are now bigger and used by more people, has gone up. However, the pattern of usage has changed and some campaigners have seen what they regard as their own areas as suffering a net loss. I would argue that the fact that, say, Kilburn library has twice as many visitors means that it has more social mixing across a wider area means that Brent Libraries have enhanced their role in this respect.
If we take specific examples such as young people divided by postcode divisions, for instance, the libraries should now being doing a better job in this respect. It would be useful, if more research could be done to see how far outreach to South Kilburn has drawn more people over the railway line to Salusbury Road. However, it is precisely, the fact that Brent librarie' pattern of use is changing that some people find very hard to accept. I would say that getting people from South Kilburn to take that short walk north would be an enormous benefit in social cohesion, but some existing users see it as something to be feared since they regard the Queens Park area and the South Kilburn area to be alien communities with nothing in common.
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