Carillion’s Curse – part 2

Keeping track of the situation, some two and a half months on…

It is fair to say that modest progress has been made since the previous post reporting the state of Croydon Central Library back at the end of May.

You ARE now welcome to Croydon Central Library

Gone is the unwelcoming closed entrance shutter that was in place for so many months, 

even if somewhat reluctantly opened….

thanks to the efforts of the lead for Libraries, Cllr Timothy Godfrey.

Sadly though, library users are still so conditioned to going in the exit, the exit is the main entrance for most, even months later.

Lighting, surroundings and outlook

The lighting was dim on all floors months ago, and still is.

Previously some of the seating was in a poor state and, at times, oddly placed.

Now the issue of oddly placed furniture appears to have been remedied but the furniture remains in a poor state with threadbare seating still apparent.

Months ago there was a partly dismantled shelving unit, complete with metal shelving protruding beyond wooden side of unit. 

 

The metal jutting out at child eye level was not even masked until weeks later.

Months on though, the piece of metal has been removed, perhaps as a result of a library user pointing this out to the person doing a health and safety inspection.

Quite what purpose the remaining structure serves nobody knows. It’s still there.

Signage

Previously there were signs everywhere, advising of the systems in place, not to move chairs and tables, where to go when stations on different floors were unstaffed and that staff were no longer able to help on matters such as booking PCs.  There was odd signage too, referring to not plugging in lap tops at points where no sockets existed and not moving chairs from an area with no chairs.

Signs are inconsistently formatted – different colours, fonts and styles – giving an unloved and unprofessional feel to the place.

Other than the removal of some of the notices and colour coding that had been put in place by hastily and poorly applied thick coloured tape across corners of tables to denote study and non study tables, little has changed.

Before

And after

Some signs on tables still remain. Where removed, the cleaning contractors have not even managed to clean the sellotape marks off the tables, leaving grubby marks on surfaces.

Nice!

Promoting what’s on offer

Sadly there is little change here. Shelves are often untidy and trolleys are stacked with unprocessed returns.

Displays are still dismal and the same as those on show months before.

The leaflet racks are often virtually empty.

The Twitter account @CroydonLibs still fails to engage with library users or to promote events.

And notable changes

for the better….

New IT and access to floors is now in working order

At least most, if not all, of the PCs are now in working order, which is a welcome change. Gone are the out of order signs on PCs, on the lifts and the escalator.

Magazines and papers are now readily available on shelves that lay bare before.

Uncertain future, sustainability or effect
Maps are also readily available.

Whether or not they are still available in branch libraries has not been explored though.

Staffing was increased, on occasion, after the previous post went up late May, but quickly dropped to previous levels.

At no time in the past few months have we seen, or anyone we’ve spoken to seen, staff on level 2 or on the ground floor in the children’s library. Signs to direct library users are permanently in place and regular library users know the system well.

Staff are tied to work stations (presumably due to shortage of staffing), rarely on the floor engaging with library users or dealing with stock on shelves and trolleys. Queues at desks are often evident.

Negative
Ever reducing stock
It is of concern that the stock is reducing even further. The proliferation of hazard-taped spots, empty shelving and bare unworn flooring where shelving once stood is ever more apparent.

So what exactly is Croydon getting for their money from Carillion?

 Not a great deal.

Let’s hope the damage can be reversed by the new Labour administration.

Croydon Labour continue to promise a public meeting.

To be fair to Croydon Labour it is early days for the new administration. Nevertheless it is clear that Croydon libraries need urgent action and support.

Liaison with the lead on libraries, Cllr Timothy Godfrey and hid deputy Cllr Oliver Lewis has been sought, with an offer of support. A meeting with the Leader. Cllr Tony Newman, has been held, with promise of more engagement with the campaign.

The new administration is making positive noises about keeping their election pledge to bring Croydon Libraries back in house.

Let’s hope this aim is realised.  It is the only point that has raised serious spontaneous applause at two public meetings in Croydon recently. 

A fresh chapter for libraries, but have we gained?

Many view the Council magazine, Your Croydon, as a waste of time but it comes in handy to remind us what messages and promises were promoted.  Here’s the text from August/September issue, 2013.

“A fresh chapter is about to begin in the history book of the borough’s library
service – and residents stand to gain. 

Increased flexibility and innovation are two of the improvements that library users will notice following changes to be introduced later this year. 

In October, John Laing Integrated Services (JLIS) takes over the management of the libraries from the council, and, although the changes might not be immediately obvious, behind the scenes lots will be happening. 

Most importantly, the new contract guarantees value for money that, in addition to substantial cost savings, will see none of the borough’s libraries facing closure. 

In the short term, people will see improvements to the public computers, and the introduction of wi-fi networks and new self service systems, enabling staff to do more productive work. 

Over time, the changes will allow Croydon’s libraries to become more flexible and innovative – opening times could change to improve access for customers, and some branches might provide a wider range of services to appeal to a larger audience. 

This approach was adopted following cuts in government funding that could have left the council unable to run the current number of branches. Residents, however, made it plain that they valued their libraries too much to let any go. 

The solution to the problem was to use a model that has worked for other formerly council-run services. 

From bin collections to leisure centres, experience has shown that residents can enjoy continued levels of service while, at the same time, the council saves substantial sums of taxpayers’ money. And, although JLIS will be handling the day-to-day management of the service, the council will remain in control, ensuring that planned changes are real improvements that will benefit residents.

And, where are we in May of 2014?

Promised:  

“increased flexibility and innovation”

” improvements to the public computers, and the introduction of wi-fi networks and new self service systems, enabling staff to do more productive work.”

“the council will remain in control, ensuring that planned changes are real improvements that will benefit residents.”

“value for money”

And the reality

• Laing passing the contract to Carillion at a very early stage. In addition to the depleted book stock and the loss of the purpose build library in New Addington, we have:

• far fewer staff, including a further reduction in staffing after Laing & then Carillion took over

• less access to information about the service

• more temporary staff to plug the gaps, often ill-equipped to carry out the job as unaware of information requested

• a major reshuffle of staff, moving staff to areas they are unfamiliar with, and breaking up working teams.

• no increase in self-serve, and none in Central Library where self-serve might help alleviate the long queues due to far fewer staff now man a tiny section of the extensive counter area which was fully manned in previous years.

• loss of phone access to branch libraries, only just reinstated but poorly advertised so most are unaware
•  time-intensive and prescriptive study pass system in Central Library, where students must register each day for a pass, seek a pass for breaks (half-hour max), and queue for access to colour-coded tables. ‘Yellow tables’ are out of bounds for studying, ‘blue tables’ are for studying and ‘red tables’ are the most prized of all – giving access to a plug socket!
• faltering IT. The new PCs installed are often out of service. The library loans system even broke down for a week at one stage, leaving branch libraries piled high with books awaiting scanning back in and leaving staff to manual record loans. The system often freezes. Paid late fees do not clear, and so on. Wi-fi access installed but little advertised, leaving some unaware.

It is hard to see any improvements other than access to Wi-fi so far but easy to see the further deterioration in the library service.

From this:

To this

And from this

To scenes like these

A lot was promised and assurances were given that the contract would be monitored stringently.

When Croydon Labour gain access to the books next Wednesday it will be interesting to see what they find and what steps they will put in place to correct the situation.

Watch this space!

Carillion’s Curse…part 1

Having visited Croydon Central Library three weeks ago with a fellow Croydon library campaigner and leaving truly shocked by what we saw, I visited again the following week with an experienced library worker, Alan Wylie, of Stop the privatisation of Public Libraries to take another look, and made a repeat visit last week.

On the first visit things were truly dire.

On the revisits some hasty changes have taken place, but not sufficient to cover up the mess. Some things were the same or worse.

The most striking difference last week was the number of staff present, far outnumbering anything I’d seen before. It is assumed that after the letter in the Croydon Guardian, and the expanded version of letter posted on the Croydon Guardian website, as well as the tweets and comments about the situation prompted Carillion into damage-limitation overdrive.

But on returning last week, numbers of staff had dwindled again.

It’s hard to describe the mess we found on all three occasions, and I bet some would just not believe what we saw. Take a look and judge for yourself.

You are NOT welcome to Croydon Central Library

Shutter down, and has been for at least three months, according to library users.

A week on….. ‘Please use the other entrance’ sign now displayed.  Still there last week and no move to get it opened.

That “other entrance” referred to is what locals know as “the exit”! I now know that I’ve turned away from the library on several occasions in the past few month’s thinking it had already closed. How many others have been affected?

Lighting, surroundings and outlook

The lighting is dim on all floors. I was struck by the cruel irony of library users, huddled by windows on shabby and sparse seating, seeking natural light in order to read, and in so doing, looking straight out on the shiny new council HQ opposite, which we are told was built at nil cost – thanks to Laing, and which was furnished at a cost of a mere £3.1 mill.

There is money in Croydon.

 It seems it’s just a case of priorities.

And, perhaps, what your builder mates want to fund….?

Some of the seating was in a poor state and, at times, oddly placed.

Ripped seat cushion by a partly dismantled shelving unit, complete with metal shelving protruding beyond wooden side of unit.

This was an improvement on the previous week though, when this metal jutting out at child eye level was not even masked up. See below.

Another chair placed below low level book displays, making it impossible to use as a seat.  There were notices everywhere saying that seats should not be moved.

There were signs everywhere, advising of the systems in place, not to move chairs and tables, where to go when stations on different floors were unstaffed and that staff were no longer able to help on matters such as booking PCs.  There was odd signage too, referring to not plugging in lap tops at points where no sockets existed.

‘Do not move these chairs’ sign, by a pillar with no chairs.

This sign, on an upper level,  is a significant addition. Previously a new system had been instigated. It was up to the library staff to provide the code for the public toilets to anyone who wanted to access them.  This includes library users as well as anyone else using the Clocktower building.

At least people using the library on this floor did not need to join the queue to request the code, as was the case previously.

Both the men’s and the women’s toilets were in a complete state on the second week we visited. Stocked with toilet tissue but sanitary bins in the women’s facilities were overflowing, toilet paper strewn on the floor, the stench in both was overpowering. There is also a sign in both to advise that perfume and deodorant is not to be sprayed to avoid affecting people’s allergies. Never mind the stench and unsanitary state they were in!

Study pass system still in place, but now with an explanatory note added underneath.  

This sign further restricts access to the library.

  

By the second and third week someone had been let loose with the black and yellow striped masking tape. It was everywhere, on both floor, fixings and on walls. 

 Here are just two examples.




















The escalator had been repaired on the second visit but the lift was still out of order last week. 

New, long overdue IT, out of order

With a complete refresh of PCs promised as part of the deal struck with Laing, now Carillion, it seems hard to justify so many machines out of order….

Promoting what’s on offer

Displays were poor.  Shelves were untidy.  On the first visit, books on all floors were piled high, less so on subsequent visits, but nothing like how the library had been run prior to it being de-staffed and hand over to the builder’s, Laing and now Carillion.

Take a look.

New books display

Very odd end of unit displays were created. Can you spot the theme? Harmonica DVD with the Bumper Book of Pub Favourites. The book ‘Keeping Canaries’ teamed with Paul Potts DVD, replaced with ‘Idiot’s Guide to Online Geneology’ in subsequent weeks.

So what exactly are Croydon getting for their money?

And the big question now is will Croydon Council, now in Labour control, be able to reverse some of this damage?

Elizabeth

Contract with JLIS is signed for Croydon libraries

A press release has appeared on the council website today, as follows:

“The future of the borough’s libraries is assured with the signing of an eight-year contract by Croydon Council and John Laing Integrated Services (JLIS).

The new arrangements start on 1 October, when JLIS will take over the running of the service. It represents good value for taxpayers as it will save the authority significant amounts of money at the same time as ensuring all of the council’s 13 libraries remain open and face no reductions in opening hours. 

The contract will see the service undergo a major modernisation programme, involving the introduction of new technology for the benefit of both staff and customers. This will include self-service, wi-fi and the very latest innovations in online resources and e-books. 

JLIS will work closely with local communities to improve the way library services are delivered. There will also be new local business opportunities and good prospects for employment, volunteering and apprenticeships. 

Councillor Tim Pollard, cabinet member for children, families and learning, said: “Signing this contract means that Croydon’s libraries are now safe for the foreseeable future. At a time when all council services are coming under financial scrutiny, it’s great to have negotiated an arrangement that not only keeps all our branches open, but will also see modernisation through the investment that is now planned.” 

Tim Grier, JLIS managing director, said: “I’m delighted that JLIS has secured its second London library contract. This is a fantastic milestone in developing our presence in the library services market and brings the number of library sites managed by JLIS to 24. We look forward to working with the council and local organisations to provide an excellent library service for the benefit of the Croydon community.”“

This decision was taken without a mandate, against the wishes of Croydon residents who responded in huge numbers.

The question now is:

Will JLIS reinstate the service that Croydon Council has systematically eroded over the past two years? For example,

• Will the book stock be replenished and restored to at least the level of two years ago? 

• Will staffing levels be restored, including employing sufficient professional librarians and experienced library staff to see the service on offer back to what it was?  This question is in no way a criticism of the current staff, but made in support of them. Many have struggled to cope with so few colleagues on hand to run the service.

• Will events be promoted?  Only today the council is sending out incorrect posts about the delayed launch of Summer Reading Challenge, totally misleading residents.
  
  This implies the schemes is for children only when the leaflet some have seen makes clear it is for 4 to 19 year olds. And it is not just run on three Mondays in August in Central Library, as per this listing, but every day a library is open and it started today, 29th July, 2013.  For full details please see the full details listed here:

#Croydon gets reading with the Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Challenge!

• Will JLIS put right the poor IT equipment that residents have struggled with for years?

Let’s face it. It couldn’t get much worse!

• And will JLIS reinstate the opening hours reduced in Croydon libraries over the past few years?

The only saving grace is that JLIS say they are keen to work with local communities.  Let’s see if there is any truth in this as the council have so far ignored the Croydon community altogether.

And just what might we expect from JLIS run l.ibraries?  If Hounslow is anything to go by, see this report by a library professional and this report by a library user, the fight for our libraries will go on!

Privatising libraries – What people REALLY think!

A selection of comments made on the 38 degrees petition No to Privatisation of Croydon’s Libraries

Croydon residents were consulted on closure of six libraries.

More than 20,000 responded but their responses were ignored.

Details here: http://soslibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/no-to-privatisation-of-croydons.html

Have you added your voice?

This time we WILL be heard!

Sign the petiton here:
http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/no-to-privatisation-of-croydon-s-libraries

Another example of the book cull in preparation for privatisation

No to Privatisation of Croydon’s Libraries!

A petition has been launched at 38 DEGREES.

You can add your voice by signing and help by sharing this petition:
http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/no-to-privatisation-of-croydon-s-libraries
and feel free to add your comments here.

We are calling on Croydon Council to halt the privatisation of Croydon’s libraries.

A public consultation on these plans has never been held and the decision has been forced through behind closed doors without proper scrutiny or transparency.

When library closures were originally proposed just six libraries were under threat. The people of Croydon rallied together against the plans and more than twenty thousand people spoke out in support of our libraries through a public consultation.

Residents’ views were ignored and the Council forged ahead with plans to privatise, slashing the library service via back door cuts to prepare for this process.  The original divisive consultation made no mention of privatisation or outsourcing the library service. It only consulted on the closure of six rather than the whole network of 13 libraries.  The public have never been consulted on the outsourcing of our library service, which is due to go through imminently.

Serious concerns have been raised about the tendering process and the company which is due to run the libraries. Repeated requests for information have been refused.

We have to let Croydon Council know that they cannot and must not ignore the wishes of the residents that they serve.  If enough of us sign the petition we can force them to hold a debate on this issue so we can expose the truth and foster proper engagement and accountability: something sorely lacking in Croydon.

The Council claims no buildings have or will be closed BUT a library is so much more than just a building.

If we want our voice heard we must act NOW!

Can we take much more of this,

Row upon row of empty shelves across the borough’s libraries

this,

Staffing cuts, meaning some libraries couldn’t even open due to staff shortages or that staff are pushed to cope

this,

PCs, vital for residents to study, for homework, research, to fill in online applications, to seek employment, to keep in touch  laying idle for months, awaiting repair

or this?

Much loved purpose-built New Addington Library now closed.

And did we turn out in number, time and time again,

 only to be defeated at the final hurdle?

The REAL cost of Privatisation

Thanks to library campaigner Alan Wylie for the following link.  It certainly puts the risks of library privatisation in perspective.
http://www.calaborfed.org/userfiles/doc/2011/blog/LibraryPrivatizations.pdf

Is this really a risk worth taking?

With Croydon Labour already threatening to cancel the JLIS deal and with Croydon Conservatives potentially only having a year left in control, the fall out from this deal on the taxpayer is potentially enormous.

This will affect us all – library user, library supporter or not.

Surely it is time to pause for thought or we may all be paying the price for an ill-considered decision for years to come.

Stop the privatisation of Public Libraries: Ealing Gazette readers say no to Library Privatisation

What Ealing residents said about the prospect of their libraries being privatised.

Read Stop the privatisation of Public Libraries: Ealing Gazette readers say no to Library Privatisa…:   According to a quick poll (see below) in the Ealing Gazette the overwhelming majority of people who read the paper have said no to Lib…

What would Croydon residents say, if asked?

Cllr Pollard doubts his own decision on #Croydon libraries

According to a press release that was only uploaded over the bank holiday weekend, Cllr Tim Pollard is calling his own decision in for scrutiny. 

“Yeah but, no but” decisions

The press release reads, 

“Savings and improvements to services will result from a fresh recommendation to appoint John Laing Integrated Services (JLIS) as preferred bidder to run the council’s library service.
The decision to go with the firm is now to be examined by Croydon Council’s scrutiny committee. 

JLIS was originally chosen as the authority’s preferred library-operating partner after its bid was judged to have been the best, based on an assessment of price and quality. However, the company made a request for a last-minute variation to its obligations concerning employer pension contributions. 

In line with EU contract tendering rules, the council therefore reopened bidding to other final-stage bidders. 

Two revised bids were subsequently received and carefully assessed. As a result, the council will secure the most economically advantageous terms while, at the same time, protecting the quality of services currently on offer. 

Councillor Tim Pollard, the cabinet member responsible for the service, will be ensuring that there is an examination by the cross-party scrutiny committee of how the council reached this decision. This will enable those with an interest in the project to fully understand how the evaluation team reached its conclusions.

The council undertook the tendering project after a public consultation exercise that came at a time when libraries across the country were coming under increasing threat of closures.
The move continues to be seen as the best means of ensuring there will be no risk of Croydon losing any of its libraries. 

Councillor Pollard said: “I’m very pleased that we’ve reached this point so quickly after the recent delay. My intention now is to ensure that the basis of my decision is examined fully, and that’s why I’ll be ensuring this matter is taken to our scrutiny committee. 

“This will give councillors from both parties the opportunity to understand how we’ve arrived at this point and what the benefits will be of entering into this new contract.” 

Subject to the decision-making process reaching its conclusion, it is anticipated that the new service will start from the beginning of October.”


Having raised questions as to  why Cllr Pollard was so shy to announce his decision, taken late before a bank holiday weekend at the start of Croydon school’s half-term break,  with local residents also raising questions  and Croydon Labour threatening to cancel the contract should they gain power in 2014,  it seems even Cllr Pollard has lost his nerve and called his own decision in for scrutiny.

You really could not make it up! 

Cue yet another Private Eye article.

The scrutiny committee failed to take any notice of the body of evidence from the politically neutral Save Croydon Libraries Campaign last time and are likely to do so now, but if Cllr Cummings (who promised to get in touch, but failed to do so) wishes to take this evidence on board, or any other councillor sitting on scrutiny wishes to, please get in touch.  Email us at savecroydonlibraries@gmail.com

Questions posed on #Croydon libraries decision

The following correspondence from Sean Creighton, a resident from Norbury, has been emailed to all Croydon councillors.  It is reproduced here with his permission. Sean raises a number of issues.

Dear Councillor,

I have read the report on the outcome of the re-tendering of the Library Services and Cllr Pollard’s recommendation that the bid from Laing be accepted. 

Those of you who were at the Overview Committee in December may recall that I was given permission to speak to the Committee.

I have a number of questions which seem to me to justify a further meeting of the Oversight Committee to review the report and recommendation. 

1.   Why are the  overall sums of both bids not included – these cannot be regarded as commercially confidential?

2.   Given the Overview Committee decision on 5 December ‘That future commissioning reports should contain as much information in Part A of the agenda as possible in order to allow Members and the public to know whether the commissioning exercise meets the Council’s commissioning strategy’, why has this not be complied with in the report?

3.   Why is there no discussion on the implications of the Social Value Act on assessing the bids which is now in force and which the Council has a policy on?

4.   Why is there no discussion on the outcome of the pensions issue which caused the re-tendering?

5.   Have the union reps. been consulted on the TUPE process under the terms of the revised bid and on the implications for pensions?

6.   Why is there an option to extend the contract for 8 years beyond the initial 8 years?

7.   Is quarterly monitoring sufficient especially in the first year? Would it not be better to monitor monthly and then review frequency after the first 12 months?

8.   How much did the firm of Sharpe Pritchard cost to advise on the procurement process?

9.   How much has the total procurement process cost to-date?

10.  Should an apology be made to staff re-the use of the word ‘stuff’ in describing them? Obviously a typo but one that suggests a degree of contempt?

11.   Given the opposition of local people to outsourcing the Library Service, given the contract start date is thought to be October, and  given the local elections will be in May next year, what is the justification to proceed to outsource, when both political parties can set out their proposals in their manifestos and ask the voters to choose between the two set of proposals?

If you do decide to convene the Overview Committee in order to explore these and other questions, it would be helpful publicly if both bidders were invited to do short presentations and be questioned by Committee members in open session, and that they be asked before hand to agree to lift ‘commercial confidentiality’. The Library Service will need to be run in an open and transparent manner otherwise there will be continuing suspicion about how the service is being run. Therefore for example the monitoring reports should be seen by a Committee on public agendas. 

JLIS’s views (January 21012) on running libraries to the House of Commons Committee looking at Library closures can be seen on http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmcumeds/writev/library/lib076.htm

Yours sincerely,

Sean Creighton 

Norbury resident

What are your thought on the matter? Please feel free to leave your comments. 

And please spread the word!