Council shelves cost-cutting bid for pupils to run libraries

Plans to make secondary-school librarians part-time is scrapped

A PLAN to use pupils to help run on-site libraries at Scotland’s top-performing secondary schools has been scrapped following protests.

East Renfrewshire Council proposed the idea of involving senior-year pupils in certain duties, while aiming to make all librarians in its seven secondary schools parttime to save £131,000.

Now it has emerged that the move to involve pupils has been dumped, although the council is still considering plans to reduce cover at the schools.

The council has confirmed it is still going to move from having seven full-time school librarians to four, and that part-time posts are still in the equation.

Councillors suggested the initial plan as they sought to bridge a budget shortfall of £20 million over the next three years.

Three of the seven schools affected by the move, St Ninian’s High School, Williamwood High School and Mearns Castle High School, came first, second and third in a nationwide league table based on state school Higher exam results published last year.

Other schools that would be hit by the proposals were Eastwood High, Woodfarm High, St Luke’s High and Barrhead High.

The pupil-involvement plan was opposed by the Scottish arm of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), the leading body representing the sector which described it as “the most extreme suggestion heard yet” for cost-cutting in school libraries.

The suggestion had been made in the council’s 2015 to 2018 budget book.

The document stated: “By identifying options to introduce self-service or to involve our senior year pupils on a voluntary basis in supporting the running of their school’s library, we believe we are able to reduce the full-time dedicated librarian resource within each of our secondary schools and replace this with a part-time resource, without reducing the level of service.”

Louisa Mahon, of East Renfrews- hire Council, said the authority had now ruled out the option of involving pupils. She said: “There are no proposals to have senior pupils involved in the running of the school library as volunteers or in any other capacity.

“We will be providing a reduced service in all seven schools. This will mean that the number of librarians will reduce – it could be that we will have fewer full-time librarians who will work across different locations, rather than making all full-time posts, part time.

“The saving will mean that there will not be a librarian in each school full time and one idea, of many put forward, was that senior pupils may want to volunteer in their library outwith the times a librarian was present. We do not intend to take this any further whatsoever. Pupils are off the table.”

Ms Mahon said how the cuts to staff would be made still needs to be worked out and that “is part of the ongoing discussions with staff”.

An option to introduce self-service when librarians are not on site is still being considered.

CILIP in Scotland who were concerned about the initial plans said that only full-time, professionally qualified school librarians allow children and young people to develop the skills needed to be successful and participate fully in an information society. The initial plans also raised a protest from the Society of Authors.

‘‘ We will be providing a reduced service. This will mean that number of librarians will reduce