We mentioned in earlier blogs that Arts Council England (the national development agency for libraries) is now taking on a number of the activities supporting the Taskforce’s work that was previously undertaken by a dedicated team within DCMS.
Arts Council England’s role in conjunction with the Taskforce partners covers:
- helping to make the case to local and national government for continued investment in public libraries and promoting libraries to potential funders
- supporting the development of the public library offer, and strengthening the library sector by brokering partnerships and developing skills
- exploring the potential for new governance and delivery approaches to ensure a quality public library service for all
- sharing good practice, case studies and other information with the library sector
More details about Arts Council England’s role can be found on its website. Arts Council England will also be handling future communications for the Taskforce. This means that you will see some changes in future.
Stay up to date with Taskforce work
For news about the Taskforce’s work on Twitter follow @ace_national and its area specific accounts (@ace_thenorth; @ace_midlands; @ace_southwest; @ace_southeast and @ace_london) or search using #LibrariesTaskforce. The @LibTaskforce account is being retired.
- if you’re interested in the wider work of the Taskforce, you can follow these recommended accounts: @DCMSLibraries, @LibsConnected, @CILIPInfo, @LGAculturesport and @cCLOAssociation
- for information on more general current good practice across the sector look at the Libraries Connected website, and the Arts Council website
- if you work in public libraries, subscribe to Libraries Connected and CILIP’s newsletters
- Taskforce governance papers (such as minutes, progress reports, and toolkits) will continue to be maintained and stored on the Taskforce’s GOV.UK pages
DCMS will continue to provide support for the Taskforce, especially by advocating to central government on behalf of libraries and leading on data work. This is in addition to other policy work it undertakes on public libraries; for example, supporting the Secretary of State on superintendence duties relating to public libraries, handling public library byelaws, working on Public Lending Right, and sponsorship of the British Library.
Meanwhile this blog will continue as the DCMS Libraries blog, covering the sort of topics listed above; and you will still be able to use it to read previous Taskforce blogs already on the site.
If you subscribed to the Libraries Taskforce already you don’t have to do anything; if not you can subscribe by signing up for updates (on the right hand side of the page).
Find out more
You can find out more by reading the Taskforce’s publications, progress reports and toolkits to date on GOV.UK or having a look at Arts Council research and publications.
1 comment
Comment by Raul Ganteng posted on
very great explanation, and easy to understand