A report from the LISU, this text is not easy to digest. However, it is a valuable resource to those who work in libraries providing a specific service to children and young people. Covering the service provision of public libraries and the schools library service across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland the scope of this report is both vast and incredibly useful. In particular, there is a considerable amount of valuable information concerning funding levels and staffing provision, and some interesting comparisons between authorities can be made with this data. Additionally, a list of authorities who have not responded – not only to this survey but also to surveys since 1991 – is provided in the final appendix. Librarians in these services who feel that participation would be relevant in future could use this information very effectively to argue the case for participation.
This is the 13th report of its kind. Approaching nearly 300 pages, it opens with a list of tables, a list of summary tables and figures and the acknowledgements. It is then divided into four sections beginning, of course, with the introduction. This first section gives the main findings of the report and provides an executive summary, a summary of some of the trends that have been picked up (which includes important factual information about the trends across the participating authorities) and also a consideration of materials funds. Further discussion is included as to future developments and their likely impact, after which the methodology and layout of the report are considered.
Section 2 considers the issue of staffing, and combines the information on both services in order to give an effective overview of the provision of services for children. Tables indicating the results from the survey for each of the authorities that took part supplement the text in this section.
Section 3 covers the services provided by public library services for young people, looking at service provision, resources, expenditure and users. There is more text included in this section, supplemented by graphs and then tables of information from the questionnaires.
Section 4 covers schools library services with an introduction to this sector, stock levels and use as well as service quality, expenditure and income. It again begins with text explaining the results, though the majority of this section comprises tables and information from the questionnaires.
Six appendices follow, which provide: the population figures for each of the authorities questioned, the comments on staffing structures for each of the library services, a copy of the questionnaire given to children at both public library and school library services, the list of all those who did not respond and finally details of local government reorganisation since 1995.
I would strongly recommend that any librarian working with children or young people look at this report. Such an array of statistics may not make easy reading, but these are very rich sources for librarians seeking (for example) benchmarking data or needing comparative information to promote change in their own services.
