The bidding culture in the UK public library – a case study approach
| Date | 01 December 2001 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120110406345 |
| Pages | 404-410 |
| Published date | 01 December 2001 |
| Author | Sandra Parker,Kathryn Ray,Ken Harrop |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
The bidding culture in
the UK public library ±
a case study approach
Sandra Parker
Kathryn Ray
Graham Coulson and
Ken Harrop
Introduction
From 1979 through to 1997 under the
Conservative government public services in
the UK were reduced, externalised, starved of
resources and put out to ``competitive tender''
in a crusade to reduce public expenditure
(Hendry, 2000). One increasingly important
option available to managers was to look
outside conventional sources of funding and
to bid for money to develop their services.
This has resulted in public sector services
actively vying with each other in order to
secure additional capital and revenue monies.
In the case of urban policy alone, for example,
a number of initiatives were introduced
between 1991 and 1996 (Edwards, 1997;
Parkinson, 1996) including City Challenge
(1991), Single Regeneration Budget (1994),
The National Lottery (1994) and Capital
Challenge (1996). The dangers of this process
have been well rehearsed; money being
allocated, not on the basis of need but more as
a beauty contest; managers who know how to
play the game attract more resources with the
rich authorities continuing to get richer while
the poor authorities get poorer.
Public libraries have been hard hit by the
erosion of traditional forms of funding and
bidding for additional funds has become a
mainstay of many libraries' activities. Funding
opportunities for public libraries are diverse in
both range and purpose. UK based funding
opportunities include the British Library
Co-operation and Partnership Programme
(service improvement); DCMS/Wolfson
Public Library Challenge Fund (ICT and
reading initiatives); and the New
Opportunities Fund (ICT and social
inclusion). On a wider scale a number of
European initiatives encourage partnership
working between libraries across the
European Union, significant examples being
Culture 2000 (knowledge and dissemination
of cultures of EU countries); European
Structural Funds (regeneration and social
inclusion) and the Fourth and Fifth
Framework Programmes (ICT).
Within this diverse and highly competitive
arena some organisations have been active
and successful in bidding for such funds and
thus their services and communities have
benefited financially. Others have not been so
successful and some have found it difficult to
enter this competitive arena. Benefits
proclaimed on its behalf include better value
The authors
Sandra Parker (e-mail: sandra.parker@unn.ac.uk) is Senior
Lecturer, Kathryn Ray (e-mail: kathryn.ray@unn.ac.uk) is
Senior Research Assistant and Graham Coulson is Research
Assistant, all based at the School of Information Studies,
University of Northumbria, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Ken Harrop is Principal Lecturer, School of Social,
Political and Economic Sciences, University of
Northumbria, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. E-mail:
ken.harrop@unn.ac.uk
Keywords
Public Libraries, Local government services, Funding,
Tendering
Abstract
Effective participation in the competitive bidding arena is
one of the main vehicles for securing the necessary
additional funds to maintain and develop UK public library
services. This paper documents the extent and scale of
bidding by public libraries and presents areas of good
practice emerging from research into the effects that the
bidding culture has had on the development of English
local government archive, library and museum services.
Key findings suggest that approaches to external funding
should be strategy-driven taking place within a
framework of purpose and rationale; that success is often
highly dependent on the leadership and networking skills
of library managers; and that partnership working should
be encouraged and adopted. Successful proposals should
demonstrate the benefits and credibility of proposers to
deliver; provide evidence of properly resourced project
management including methods of monitoring and
evaluation; explicitly address the relevant funding criteria
and be well-researched and carefully planned.
Electronic access
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404
Library Management
Volume 22 .Number 8/9 .2001 .pp. 404±410
#MCB University Press .ISSN 0143-5124
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