Tag: Canegie Uk Trust

Making a Difference: Libraries, Lockdown and Looking Ahead

We are delighted to share with you Making a Difference: Libraries, Lockdown and Looking Ahead, a report that explores the role of UK public library services during lockdown and beyond.

The report sets out four key messages:

  1. Public library services had a positive impact on those who engaged with them during lockdown.
  2. Public library staff made a valuable contribution to the Covid-19 response.
  3. Public library services and their staff could have delivered much more – but faced barriers in doing so.
  4. Public library services have huge potential to support individuals and communities as they navigate the short, medium and long-term impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Eight action areas are identified that challenge national and local governments, sector support bodies and the sector itself to go further to ensure that everyone in the UK has an equal opportunity to experience the enabling impact of the best public library services.

The report draws on public polling of 2,196 UK adults carried out by Savanta ComRes on behalf of the Carnegie UK Trust, 1,196 responses to a public library staff survey and depth interviews with 22 Heads of Service.

You can access the Making a Difference report series by clicking on the links below:

You can also access the report Libraries in Lockdown, published today by Libraries Connected here.

Best wishes

Sarah Davidson

Chief Executive, Carnegie UK Trust

Twitter: @CarnegieUKTrust

www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk

Guiding Principles for Recovery

Revisiting the Route Map to an Enabling State

The Carnegie UK Trust has been exploring how the COVID 19 pandemic has affected the relationships between government, public services and citizens.

As attention starts to shift to how we can “Build Back Better”, we have taken the opportunity to update our influential 2014 Routemap to an Enabling State with some guiding principles for recovery.

We began our work to define and describe the Enabling State after the last great economic shock, observing the perfect storm of ageing populations, climate change and austerity policies.

We found that in the face of these challenges, governments across the UK (local, devolved and UK) were engaged in a process of transformation – a slow moving paradigm shift away from a top-down, ‘one size fits all’ approach, to a more agile model that supports people and communities to achieve positive change for themselves, and thereby to improve their own wellbeing.

We have continued to observe this process of transformation over the ensuing years, noting a varied picture in terms of commitment and pace in the different jurisdictions where we work.

However, the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift in many places, with the immediate responses from public services and from communities demonstrating that there is a different way of working together.

We articulate here the seven steps that public services should take as they move into recovery mode. We believe that these steps could ‘bank’ positive changes in relationships where these have occurred, and accelerate progress towards an enabling state model.

I do hope that you find this framing helpful. To let us know your thoughts, please email Hannah@CarnegieUK.org or join the debate online by tagging @CarnegieUKTrust #EnablingState – we would be pleased to hear from you.

Best wishes

Sarah

Sarah Davidson
Chief Executive
Carnegie UK Trust
Twitter: @CarnegieUKTrust
www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk