From lending to learning: a journey from mass literacy to personalised learning.

• Author: O'Beirne, Ronan
• Position: Report

There is a bright future for the public library if it can focus more resources on learning. In a knowledge intensive world the individual's need for informal learning and support of formal learning becomes paramount. The public library, through its community presence, local resource base and professional staff, can support unique modes of learning which make essential contributions to personal fulfilment and a better society. Edited version of a paper presented at the conference 'Learning for all: public libraries in Australia and New Zealand Melbourne 13-14 September'.

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My intention is to outline my view of how public libraries can move forward in a positive and progressive manner. Not by championing my book but by championing the purpose of the book--the content of the book, the reason behind the book, the chapter, the page the paragraph, the sentence and the word. Public libraries should move forward by championing knowledge and the acquisition of knowledge. By extension, they should support learning in all its many formats.

This paper sets out various arguments and reaches its conclusion by looking at what futures there might be for the public library.

My local library, Keighley in West Yorkshire, was in 1904 the first Carnegie library to be built in England--imagine the excitement! A local champion of adult education, Swire Smith, received the offer from Andrew Carnegie and immediately put pen to paper to urge his mayor to accept the offer. This is what he wrote, on 8 August 1899

Dear Mayor, I cannot express to you the delight which I feel in handing you the enclosed letter from my friend Mr Andrew Carnegie, which he has authorised me to submit to you. No nobler girl has ever been offered to Keighley; for a Free Library is the one great thing needed, and so long desired, to complete the educational equipment of our growing town. And when we consider that this magnificent offer has come unsolicited, and that we have no claims on Mr Carnegie's generosity, I am sure that you and the Town Council, as representing the people of Keighley, will accept it with unbounded enthusiasm, and with gratitude only equalled by the kindness of heart that has prompted Mr Carnegie to confer such a blessing upon our town. Believe me, Dear Mr Mayor, yours sincerely Swire Smith Withdrawing the book from the library

The urgent debate about public libraries should not just concern itself with the cost effectiveness of lending books or of keeping dilapidated buildings open. No, it is of far greater importance. For the people of a democracy it cuts to the core choice--whether they want a society based on individuals as consumers or whether the social glue of community and culture, supported by a network of libraries, offers them a brighter future.

In the eyes of many the book as an object is seen as the elementary or fundamental unit of the library and so it is often the case that in answering questions about the public library one is distracted by the book or tempted into an argument about the future of the book in competition with the rise of technology and other media formats. Of course we all know that there is a wider function to the public library. That has been demonstrated by the many excellent papers that have been presented over the past couple of days and the debates that we have followed during this conference. For a sense of completeness and context readers should refer to these papers to support or to challenge some of my own assertions.

So my first point really is to separate, or if you will excuse the pun, to withdraw the book from the library. This enables the debate to discuss the library as a service rather than a physical collection. My thesis is that one of the many roles of the public library should be around offering strong support for learning. Indeed the assertion comes from the title of my book From lending to learning--the development and extension of public libraries. (1) I do tend to focus my arguments here on informal learning but this in no way is to detract from the work done by public libraries in supporting a wider range of learners--for example school students. Indeed, I often quote the findings of the public enquiry into the proposed closure of libraries in the Wirral in the north west of England where the argument that won the day and ensured the libraries' future, was based on homework clubs and the future educational support of children. My main experience has been working with adult informal learners.

Objectives

I set out to do three things

--to interpret the wider background and issues effecting the public library and education

--to explore ways in which learning can be understood within public libraries

--finally to suggest approaches that might be useful to the public library of the future.

I do this not just from the perspective of someone who, having worked in public libraries for 20 years and who is to his core committed to principles of free and open access to knowledge and literature--but also as someone who has worked on various learning initiatives and who has for the past six years worked in a highly diverse but formal educational setting. In addition to this I bring a perspective of a researcher who from a social justice perspective has evaluated a number of projects. Research and the validity of research is very much at the heart of this discussion.

Setting the sociopolitical and educational scene

I set the scene by...