Section 11 Funding. Its Changes and Implications for Library Provision for Ethnic Minority Communities
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435129410055451 |
| Published date | 01 May 1994 |
| Pages | 5-13 |
| Date | 01 May 1994 |
| Author | Nicola Matthews,Vincent Roper |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Britain should be a fair and just society where
everyone, irrespective of ethnic origin, is able to
participate freely and fully in the economic, social
and public life of the nation, while having the
freedom to maintain their own religious and cultural
identity.
The Government’s fundamental objective for race
relations in Britain
The debate on Section 11 funding and services to
ethnic minorities is one which has raged for some
time and has not diminished with the introduction
of new criteria. For this article, special study was
undertaken in several areas, e.g. ethnic minority
library users, books, research studies and policy
statements from the Library Association. These
provided information on the practical ways in
which the public library services should be
aiming to serve fully the needs of the cultural
minority groups. More up-to-date information
was gleaned from periodicals on the current
position in libraries vis-à-vis both provision for
these groups and the question of funding and the
Section 11 issues. Contact was made with
LARRIE (Local Authority Race Relations
Information Exchange) and also with the
Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) which
provided detailed information on Section 11 and
on who would be eligible to receive money under
the new criteria. Following communication with
the Home Office, information was received giving
details on the history of Section 11, on the reasons
for assessment, on the new criteria and
applications procedure, as well as a Section 11
booklet, produced by the Home Office, which
supplied information on policy criteria.
The new criteria, introduced in October 1990,
followed a series of Home Office circulars: in
1982 and 1983, emphasis shifted towards the need
of the ethnic minority communities themselves; in
1986, the criteria which had to be met before a
post would be considered for funding were further
defined; and 1988’s Scrutiny Review aimed to
ensure that Section 11 resources were directed to
meeting the needs of all Commonwealth
communities. (The published results and
recommendations of the Scrutiny Review are
mentioned later in the article.) The new
arrangements for the administration of the grant
were announced in October 1990 and brought into
effect on 1 April 1992. According to the Home
Office, the general aim of the Section 11 grant
now is that “it should remove barriers to equality
of opportunity where normal [public] library and
information provision alone is unable to do so,
and to facilitate and accelerate progress to a
position where all the [public] library and
information needs of the ethnic minorities are
provided through mainstream funding”[1].
The changed criteria and the new aims have left
the library profession in a state of limbo, and
those particularly affected are the people
employed under the old arrangements of Section
11 funding. It will be interesting to see the
changes occurring at all levels; if ethnic minority
specialist posts are integrated into the
mainstream, then library services must seek to
finance services to cultural minorities from the
normal library budget, which possibly will not be
increased to meet this challenge. Alternatively,
public library services may plead poverty, delete
the specialist posts or redeploy the staff members
in areas where their skills and knowledge of
ethnic needs may not be required. This would
prove a damaging move to the library world – a
lack of, or a declining standard of, service will
lead to ethnic minority populations justifiably
believing they have no place within the public
library. By minority groups staying away, the
public library will suffer the loss of a large client
base and, therefore, one of its reasons for being
there. In a climate in which libraries must justify
their existence on the grounds of popular appeal
and their useful purpose in society, this could
prove self-destructive.
VOLUME 15 NUMBER 3
1994
5
Library Management, Vol. 15 No. 3, 1994, pp. 5-13
© MCB University Press, 0143-5124
Section 11 Funding
Its Changes and Implications for Library
Provision for Ethnic Minority Communities
Nicola Matthews and Vincent Roper
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