Libraries Hacked

The proposal on providing an automatic library card for babies has got a lot of attention based on the (correct) view that libraries should be for everyone, and are beneficial. The report calling for it suggests it will bring libraries into the modern age. https://lnkd.in/eH-AE6eJ But the library card view of libraries is a nostalgic one. Membership cards of any kind are less relevant, and could be discarded altogether, certainly not spending money issuing physical cards by default where in many cases they won't be used. Even while we have a card system, which is essentially just a username - being issued that card is not removing the barrier to access to libraries. We know that library usage can vary significantly across an authority. From zero users in some areas to high proportions in others. Understanding and addressing that is necessary. We know, to a limited extent, that library overdue fines are a barrier to access, and that moving away from fines can be both cost effective and user friendly. More needs to be done to explore that data, all of which is available in library services. We know that library membership is high in areas that have a local library. People use the services they have available to them. We need to be looking at ensuring towns and cities have a library service available locally, and also consider opening hours, many of which are currently limited. Issuing babies library cards may generate good feelings from authors and library lovers, but isn't relevant to modern society.

A regular reminder that your PDF report with all that research and great data in is also an engagement black hole. Because it's 2025, not 1995. No one will print it out, they can't read it, they can't reuse it, they can't link to individual bits of it, it's all your money down the drain and your time wasted.

There have been a few Libraries Hacked data research projects, extracting insights from library data. - 'Libraries on the High Street' used library location data and experimental data on High Streets (from Ordnance Survey and the Office for National Statistics) to assess how many libraries were on or near high streets. No spoilers, you can check it out here. https://lnkd.in/ebN_d37Z - 'Missing Libraries' looked again at library locations, this time in relation to populated areas, finding areas with the highest population that didn't have a library. Hopefully where you live isn't one of them. https://lnkd.in/e-fUUtwG - Working alongside Lancashire library service, 'The Membership of Lancashire Libraries' analysed membership across Lancashire in relation to type of usage (PC, Books, eBooks) and the deprivation of areas. Worth a look! https://lnkd.in/e4-zsUvK

The most recent Libraries Hacked project is the Library Activity Dashboard, showing usage data from Public Libraries in England. Like most data dashboards you can explore for yourself, and hopefully get some insight from the underlying data. Currently loaded with data from 2023/2024 - with future years to follow. https://lnkd.in/eVrVg_bg

Over this week we're gonna be sharing some ongoing Libraries Hacked projects, because why have projects and not share them? Fine Free Libraries is a site to highlight those libraries who have gone 'fine free' and show the steady progress of the movement. Removing library fines has been shown to have no adverse impact on circulation but removes barriers for those either afraid of fines, or already put off by historic ones. Check it out and go fine-free! https://lnkd.in/ezWMMe9j

The 'Find a library' widget can be easily embedded into any website to provide a quick lookup for the nearest public library. For an example, you can see it in action on the Library Campaign website (https://lnkd.in/eSGDi5Qy). It's powered by APIs provided by the LibraryOn project. And it had some very small design updates this morning! Full instructions for adding the widget to a website are available at https://lnkd.in/duiqkeGw

The announcement of GDS Local could be a significant opportunity for public libraries, them being a local government service that sees huge amounts of duplication in digital suppliers, and many opportunities for combined work in data and digital. https://lnkd.in/eH9FYmzu Then again, LocalGov Digital offered many such opportunities, yet the funding calls plus work of the Digital Declaration went largely ignored within libraries. So it remains to be seen what will happen here. The sector needs to take any opportunities offered for digital development. Libraries Connected Arts Council England Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Amazing to see Libraries Hacked work recognised by the #GEO100 judges - many thanks to everyone involved. Geospatial intelligence is relevant to so many areas of life, and public libraries are a good example of how essential services can benefit from this expertise. That can be in: - making the routes travelled by our mobile libraries around rural areas as efficient as possible - analysing the membership of libraries across different communities and areas of deprivation - looking at how access to public PCs, devices, and data can benefit those areas at risk of digital exclusion - assessing the branch network in relation to proximity to high streets, new towns, and other access considerations Geospatial innovation has never been about new tech or flashy data. It's about what location insight can bring to core services that people care about. #GEO100 #Libraries #GeoTech #LibraryTech

The methodology here is very interesting. This isn't the first report trying to measure 'social value' of libraries, though there's likely no agency better than Shared Intelligence in the library sector to do this well. Effectively it involves collecting qualitative data and trying to convert it to quantitative - and specifically financial. So for example, the understanding that X activity reduces loneliness is converted to it generating £914k in outcomes. There are plenty of questions as to why we should do that, and in many ways it could lead to absurd results. The span of such activities that go on in society would amount to greater than the total money in the world, and there's a danger of losing site of what money is actually for - it's not in itself an outcome. It can directly reduce public costs elsewhere (e.g. NHS budgets) but in that situation it's hard to then prove that that the library activity is the best way of doing that. If anything it could lead to funding for libraries competing against other activities that are more efficient in achieving such outcomes. There's also a larger question of why we should be putting financial measures on things that we know are essential. The bigger problem for the sector is that this is a path being forced upon them - from the need to prove value and plug funding gaps. The difference in this work is the 'treasury-approved' part, using HM Treasury standards, and that's where previous reports fell down. So, good stuff if this aligns with the minds of people who can provide funding, although they should already know better than to require everything to be financially quantified. But as a sector, the data gaps are primarily from being unable to operate effectively due to a lack of data-informed policy. That needs to take a higher priority than it generally does.

A new phone app idea. Installed on your phone, the app generally does nothing. UNTIL you are near to (maybe 100 metres?) a public library that you have not visited before. And then the alert goes off - you are close to X library and it's warm and open. You can either ignore it or be directed to the library. It then pops up the LibraryOn webpage for that library. Once done it doesn't alert about that library again. Thoughts? Good, bad, evil? And most importantly, what would it be called? LibrariesAlerted? Open to ideas! Tiina Hill Luke Burton Aude Charillon Sheila Bennett. MA, MBA