An industrial action ballot of library staff is underway over fears that the introduction of ‘staffless’ library services will lead to poorer services and job losses. IMPACT believes management plans for a large-scale pilot of staffless services during evenings and weekends could ultimately lead to completely staffless libraries with sharply limited services to the public.
The union says library staffing is already at an all-time low and that local authorities, which treat libraries as a ‘Cinderella service,’ will inevitably seek further savings by extending unstaffed services into core opening times.
Staff fear that the extension of staffless arrangements will leave library users unable to get assistance from trained and qualified staff or benefit from cultural and educational events. IMPACT says this would hit less advantaged communities and individuals hardest, because wealthier and better educated groups generally need less help and can afford to pay for more cultural and educational experiences.
Last week the union outlined its campaign of opposition to management plans to pilot staffless libraries in 23 locations across the state. It says a previous pilot in three locations demonstrated that the vast majority of users continued to visit libraries during core, staffed hours.
IMPACT national secretary Peter Nolan said: “This initiative is a sinister plan to cut costs and services under the guise of extending opening hours. Our libraries remain critically underfunded and nobody seriously believes local authorities will resist the temptation to save more cash by replacing staffed hours with the much more limited range of services available on a staffless basis.
“This will short-change communities. There’ll be no school visits, no storytelling, no help to find what you want, no security presence, and none of the hundreds of educational and artistic events that libraries provide throughout the year. Everyone will lose out, especially the elderly, students and people from disadvantaged communities and backgrounds. Meanwhile, management’s own data from the initial three pilots clearly demonstrates that the vast majority of us prefer to visit our local library during core hours when expert staff are there to help.”
Mr Nolan said the union was also concerned about the possible erosion of staff terms and conditions and health and safety protections for library users and workers.
