William Salt Library Stafford becifflc Mdj*¢rr 'tbrew ¢e[ ¥hAm> a Annual Report 2020-2021
Agenda Item No 15 (a)
WILLIAM SALT LIBRARY
ANNUAL REPORT APRIL 2020- MARCH 2021
AN OVERVIEW
This year has been dominated by the closure of the Library, in line with other public services, from 23 March 2020. It has impacted on all areas of work, staff and volunteers, and changed the way we have worked. Despite this the Library has made progress on a number of projects.
During this year the Library has continued to work on developing proposals to relocate the Library collection in partnership with the County Council. The Trust has continued to be represented on the Project Board and Project Team and has worked with Staffordshire County Council to develop a round two application for £3.9m to support the Staffordshire History Centre with total project costs of £7.1m (including volunteer time) with £3.1m partnership funding. The application will be considered in June.
Despite restrictions to accessing the building and collection Library staff worked to extend information about our holdings through online cataloguing. Some work was completed at home inputting information from existing paper catalogues. Work has been prioritised to support the relocation of the collection. Progress has been helped significantly by the support Mr Knight as the remaining volunteer. Statistics for use of the Staffordshire Views online has increased compared to last year’s results. Social media has continued to grow. The Library collection continues to generate a number of enquiries about its use for publication and there have been 13 requests to publish for use in print and online documents. Public use of the collection was continued through access from Staffordshire Record Office, enquiries and remote copies. New accessions to the collection were still received though at a lower rate compared to last year and the Library continued to benefit from the generosity of many donors.
I would like to record my thanks to the Library staff, Dominic Farr, Assistant Librarian. Much support has been provided regularly and willingly by members of the Archive Service staff, in particular Catherine Nichols, Julie O’Neill and Tim Groom. Other Archive Service staff have supported the Librarian in the development of the relocation proposals including Matthew Blake, Chris Copp Tim Groom, Richard Nichols, and Liz Street.
The ongoing interest and support of the Trustees has been very welcome and as valued as ever.
THE TRUST
Trustee meetings were held electronically on Zoom due to COVID-19 restrictions. At the Trust’s Annual General Meeting on 18 May 2020, Mrs Mithra Tonking was elected as Chair and Mr David Marriott elected as Vice Chair. Mr Charles Hawley was appointed Honorary Treasurer and Mr John Thorneycroft was re- appointed Honorary Advisor. David Marriott, John Giffard and Nigel Tringham were re2
appointed as trustees for a further three years. Staffordshire County Council appointed Carolyn Trowbridge as its representative on the Trust. Dean’s Accountants were appointed as Honorary Auditors of the Trust. One further meeting took place during the year for the Trust.
STAFFING AND VOLUNTEERS
Establishment
There was significant change to staffing for the Library due to a long-delayed review of the Archive and Heritage Service structure from October 2020 to March 2021. Prior to the review Archivist, Catherine Nichols and Senior Conservator, Richard Nichols retired in July 2020. These posts were held vacant pending the review. During the review Senior Archivist, Tim Groom resigned to retire at the end of April 2021.
As a result of the review the post of Assistant Librarian has been removed from the structure. The new structure brings together staffing from across Staffordshire Record Office, County Museum and the William Salt Library. There are three new teams led as follows:
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Collections team led by Chris Copp, Collections Manager
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Engagement and access team led by Matthew Blake, Engagement and Access Manager
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History Centre onsite services team led by Julie O’Neill, History Centre Supervisor
The new role of Collection Officer has been created reporting to the Collections Manager. 1.8fte roles have been shared between three staff: Dominic Farr, Liz Street and Rebecca Jackson. This team will work across all of the collections however their specialist knowledge will continue to be used which means Dominic Farr will still be the main contact for advice on the William Salt Library collections. There has been a significant reduction in the number of roles across the service to deliver agreed savings for Staffordshire County Council.
The Archive and Heritage Service is recruiting to a new role of Conservator to be confirmed during May subject to successful interviews.
Volunteers
During COVID-19 the onsite volunteer programme was suspended. The Archive and Heritage Service launched a Learning Room blog to engage volunteers remotely to learn new skills: Staffordshire Archives and Heritage – Learning Room (wordpress.com)
Randle Knight worked remotely on sixty-six volumes of the Transactions of the North Staffordshire Field Club to add details to the catalogue. As a result 1257 CALM records were added to the collection which is a fantastic achievement.
COVID-19
On 23 March 2020 the public service from the Library was suspended in line with national lockdown restrictions. All staff were asked to work from home with everyone
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supplied with a laptop to do so. Essential building and collection checks continued throughout the year supported by Julie O’Neill and Dominic Farr. Enquiries were responded to where they did not require access to the collection.
From 15 June staff were able to return to buildings including the William Salt Library which has a COVID-19 secure certificate. This means appropriate risk assessments, and processes are in place for safe working. From 14 July 2020 Staffordshire Record Office reopened to visitors on an advance bookings basis only, with visitors limited to four per day, and social distancing measures in place.
It was not possible to implement social distancing measures at the Library to enable visitors to return safely. Instead provision was made to access the Library collections at the Record Office. Items from the collection were ordered in advance and consulted in the Reading Room. Collections are quarantined in the Trustees Room before being returned to their usual location. The enquiry and copying services were also resumed managed by the Assistant Librarian liaising with the Record Office team and Digitisation Officer. Access was suspended and reopened during subsequent lockdowns with 13[th] April 2021 the most recent reopening for Staffordshire Record Office. The statistics at the end of the report show the collection was still used and there were no complaints or comments about the Library not reopening.
The completion of the staffing structure review impacts on the ability to reopen the Library building to the public. There are insufficient resources to run two separate public service points. Support will still be given to access the collections at the Record Office, acquire new items and catalogue them and preservation and conservation advice once a new conservator is appointed.
THE LIBRARY BUILDING
The garden continued to be maintained along with servicing of alarm systems in the Library. Staffordshire County Council covers the costs of the maintenance and monitoring. Thanks, are expressed to Julie O’Neill who liaises with Property Services to ensure work is completed. Julie also completes health and safety risk assessments for the Library.
STAFFORDSHIRE HISTORY CENTRE PROJECT
During 2020 significant progress was made on the second development phase for the Staffordshire History Centre project. This included work to prepare the Library’s collection for relocation. A volunteer group led by Senior Conservator (Richard Nichols) worked on repackaging printed books up until March 2020. The Assistant Librarian, Archivist (Catherine Nichols) Collections Assistant (Mel Williamson) all worked on the collections to improve catalogues and preservation by re-boxing new accessions. A more detailed report has also been completed for the annual meeting.
The previous development phase work was reviewed and audience research was completed by the Audience Agency. This included analysis of data about visitors, websites and social media. It was supplemented by an online survey and focus groups on the plans for the project. A learning consultant was able to do some initial work prior to lockdown but the remaining work was completed online. This included a
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survey of teachers, pilot learning sessions on PowerPoints drawing material from across the collection, and discussions with other heritage learning providers.
The business case for storage was reviewed by Staffordshire County Council with additional funding committed to support the project. The William Salt Library Trust has also increased its funding for the project up to £20,0000. Discussions with Stafford Borough Council strengthened the Business Plan demonstrating the importance of the project for both authorities in terms of economic recovery after COVID-19.
The project passed its mid-stage review in December and the final application was submitted on 1 March 2021. A virtual site visit meeting will be held with the Heritage Fund on 28 May with the project being considered by the Midlands and East Committee on 16 June. The outcome will be known shortly after this date.
The Trust has been represented by Mithra Tonking on the Core Project Team and David Marriott on the Project Board. The William Salt Library Trust and Joint Archives Committee have approved key decisions at their meetings throughout the year.
FINANCE
The Annual Accounts have been prepared by Mr Hawley and the Librarian in preparation for audit by Dean’s Accountants. The Library’s general expenditure was £5,710.88 well within the allocated working budget for 2020-2021. Income was £32,555.30 and significantly exceeded the estimated targets mainly due to receiving a COVID-19 grant for £25,000 to support the Library during national restrictions. The accounts include income from January – March 2020 which could not banked at the end of the previous financial year due to Covid-19. The Library also received a donation of £500 from the Draper’s Company. The Library received its annual grant of £3,000 from Staffordshire County Council. Funding of £1,032 was received from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for legal work in connection with the Staffordshire History Centre project.
Key sources of income continued to be reproduction fees and Staffordshire Views images, and digital images. There was no spend on the conservation of printed books or the main conservation programme.
COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT
Conservation of Printed Book Collections
Due to COVID-19 and the retirement of the Senior Conservator no conservation or printed book programmes of work have taken place. Some preservation work was completed through the Staffordshire History Centre project (see above).
COLLECTIONS DEVELOPMENT
Accessions
A total of 142 accessions were received during the year. The range of subjects covered by the year’s accessions has been very wide and details have been reported to the Trust meetings in the regular lists of accessions.
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A total of 60 printed books were added to the Library’s collections of which 5 were donated and 55 purchased. The generosity of local authors, societies and other donors has continued to help us to expand and maintain the currency of the printed book, pamphlet and sale catalogue collections.
Cataloguing
Not all new accessions received during the year have been catalogued as the priority has been preparation for the relocation of the collection. The cataloguing backlog from has slightly improved from 108.36 to 106.04 linear metres. A total of 4,981 (compared to 1,437 for 2019-20) individual catalogue descriptions for new items were added to the online catalogue during the course of the year.
Considerable progress was made on the expansion of the online catalogue by the addition of legacy data on our holdings. In total 844 (compared to 3,868 for 2019-20) retrospective catalogue descriptions were added to the online database during the year.
A key component of online cataloguing for Library items is the preparation of biographical information about authors and personal subjects associated with a particular work. These are called name authority records and, during the year, an additional 1,667 of these have been created.
PUBLIC SERVICES
Personal Use
The Library building was closed to visitors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The collection was made available through Staffordshire Record Office to 49 people.
Reprographic Services
Photocopying orders were supplied through Staffordshire Record Office. The number of Staffordshire Views images increased this year but the number of digital images supplied decreased.
Online Use of the Library
The County Council reorganised the layout of its website bringing the William Salt Library content under the Archives and Heritage channel. A breakdown of individual pages is no longer available so the data for the Library pages is unavailable. Visits to the Staffordshire Views pages on the Past Track website have increased by 30%. Resource views increased by 19%
The reach of Facebook posts increased by 4% over the year. In both cases the Assistant Librarian contributes to a combined Archives and Heritage accounts, which pull together the Archive Service, William Salt Library and County Museum for maximum impact.
Public Service Statistics
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| 2020/21 2019/20 |
|
|---|---|
| Personal Use via Staffordshire Record Office | |
| Number of individual visits | 49 850 |
| Number of documents/restricted access items producedfor readers |
169 824 |
| Distance Use | |
| Number of postal enquiries | 1 7 |
| Numberofemailenquiries | 440 443 |
| Number of telephone enquiries | 0 250 |
| Total | 441 700 |
| Reprographics Services | |
| Numberofphotocopies supplied | 26 309 |
| Numberofphotocopy orders | 6 24 |
| NumberofStaffordshireViews prints sold | 36 27 |
| Number of digital images other than Staffs Views supplied |
19 126 |
| Online Use | |
| Numberofpageviews on Libraryweb site | ** 7,020 |
| Numberof visitorsessions on Libraryweb site | ** 1,718 |
| Number of resources viewed Staffs Views web site |
8,225 6,878 |
| Numberof visitorsessions onStaffsViewsweb site | 1,803 1,382 |
| Facebook reach(Archives andHeritage) | 335,641 321,371 |
** Separate website figures for the Library webpages on the Archive and Heritage site are no longer available.
Permissions to Publish
Permissions to publish or exhibit items from the Library’s collections were granted to: Dr N J Tringham, 11 Staffordshire Views of Tamworth area, for The Victoria County History of Staffordshire volume XII.
Mr P Modiano, Portrait of Rev’d John Lewis Petit, for an information panel at St Michael’s Church Lichfield.
Dr J Oram, ‘A sight of the Banging Bout at Litchfield’ etchinh 1747, for Shugbrough newsletter.
A. Wright, Portrait of Robert James, in a PhD thesis ‘Robert James’s Medicinal Dictionary for University of Birmingham.
M. Lloyd Morris, 4 Staffordshire Views of Stafford Castle, for a heritage impact statement of development to the west of Stallbrook Hall, Derrington.
N. Miller, Letter from George Flowers, Lichfield to Robert Baxter 1823, for short print run of publication on the Flowers Family.
C Lorigan, 2 Staffordshire Views of Fisherwick Hall, for an article ‘Queen Elizabeth’s Virginals’ published in Harpsichord and Fortepiano, vol 5 no 2, Spring 2021.
S. Basu, Portrait of Captain George Augustus Anson, for ‘The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer’, Bloomsbury, 2021.
C. Hodgman, Portrait of Captain George Augustus Anson, for use by S Ho in an article ‘Arthur Conan Doyle and the case of George Edalji’ in BBC History Revealed.
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D.P Wynne, multiple extracts from William Jones Scrapbook, Sidney Horne Scrapbook, photograph of Greengate Street Stafford, Stafford Borough Poll Book 1820, Staffordshire Advertiser Feb 1872, for use in ‘The Wynne Family History’, selfpublished.
A. Lelliott (English Heritage), 3 Staffordshire Views of Boscobel House, for use in exhibition panels and a guide to a walk from Boscobel House to White Ladies. S.A. Wardle (Chebsey Parish Local History Society), Norton Bridge Estate sale catalogue photograph, for ‘World War One and Beyond Local History Project part one: WW1’.
M. Groll, 3 Staffordshire Views of Lichfield Cathedral, for an article ‘The Stained Glass of Herkenrode Abbey’ published by The British Academy.
Talks and Visits
Due to COVID-19 there were no talks or visits.
Events, Exhibitions and Social Media
The Assistant Librarian is the social media champion for the Library as part of a group across Archives and Heritage. There are combined twitter and facebook accounts for the Archive, Museum and William Salt Library which a number of staff post items about the collections and work of all three services. Twitter: @ArchandHeritage Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/StaffordshireArchivesandHeritage
In addition to the usual content Mel Williamson shared information and images from the collections she repackaged for the History Centre project on Instagram.
The social media work has been well received and is monitored overall for all the component services.
Friends of the William Salt Library
Due to COVID-19 no meetings were held at the Library.
Joanna Terry William Salt Librarian, May 2021
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Charity registration number.. 1173509 THE WILLIAM SALT LIBRARY TRUST ACCOUNTS for the year ended 31 March 2021
The William Salt Library Trust General Purpose Account Year ended 31 M*th 2021 P•ge Contents Report of the Independent Examiner Income and expenditure account Balan sheet IncornÈ and expenditure account- Con5eNation account Balance sheet- Conservation account
The William Salt brary TN5t General Purpose Account Yearended 31 March 2021 Independeni e¥amlnEr'5 repartto the trustpes ofTho Wllllam Salt brary Tntst I report to the charity trustees on my ex3min3tion of the accounts ofthe Charity forthe year ended 31 March 2021. Respon51b116tle5 ahd bas15 of report As the charity's trustee5. yw are responsible for th? prep3ratlon of the accounts In accordance 1th the re4ulrements of the Charities Aet 2011 Ilhe Act'l. I report in respeLt of my examinatmjn of your charity's account5 carried out under5ection 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination. I have followed the applicable Dlrections given by the Charity Comrnion under SÈLtion 145151 Ibl ol the Act. Indendent eXa0e$ statement I have completed my eKarnination. I confirm that no matters have eome to my attentlon In connecuon wlth the exarNnation gvin8 me Eause to believe that in any niarerial re5pett'. accounting record5 were not kept in respect of the thatfjty as requiredbysettion 130 of Act., or the accounts do not accord With those records., or the accountsdo not comply With the accounting reguirennts concerning the form and content of attounts Set out In the thaTrties (Accounts and Reportsl Regulations 2008 otherihan any requirement that the iccounts glvo a'truè and fair whlch i% not a matterconsidered as partof an independent exatninatiun. I have no concerns and have come across no other matter5 in connection wth the exarnin4tlon to whith #ttÈnt*)n should be drawn in this report in order to eTratrAe a proper uDderstandin8 of the accounts to be reathed. Jeremy Hodgkns Deans Chartered kcovntsrts Gibson House Hurrlcane Court Hurricane a05e Stafford ST16 IGZ Date.. Page I
The William Salt brary Trnst General Purpose Account Year ended 31 March 20ZI 20ZI 2020 Income Stafford5hire County Council Grant other grants Interest 3.000 26,032 847 569 io. 500 3.000 COIF M & G Fixed interest Bank and Building Society Donations and grants Publication sales Reproduction lees Bridgernan royalties Photographic permits Staffordshire views General income 760 531 53 641 112 32 187 261 193 207 383 32,555 5,768 Less EK nditure Librarians salarv Printing. posta8e and stationery Conservation work Insurance Accountancv Subscriptions to societies Books and manuscript5 350 49 530 1,231 391 341 289 464 1,017 2.100 68 2,040 li 412 1.123 2,100 55 1,041 Bank charge5 Relocation projett 6,718 6,894 Net deficit for the year 25,837 11,1261 Page 2
The William Salt LibraryTru General Purpose Account 8alancp sheet Year ended 31 March 2021 2021 20ZO Investments COIF- Charities Fixed Interest Date purchased 0610712007 28108D007 0310412W8 0310712CQ8 3110312019 3110312020 3110312021 Unlts 7.(N)4.53 2,654.52 1.83&46 2,07&07 3.54Q86 1.97L73 347.00 18.737.17 Cwt 8.500 3,302 2,309 2.500 4,808 2.687 465 23.641 Market value at 31 Mèrth 2021 E25,180 M&G- Charitie5 Flxed Interest Date purchased 06107/Z007 1910711007 2110412008 0210712008 1010512010 2Y0312011 Units 2.214.846 2.566 1,951.488 2.189.142 5.733.006 4.084.958 18,974.016 C05t 2.589 3,302 Z.309 2,500 7,0 5,orM) 21700 46.341 46,806 Market value at 31 Mard) 2021 E23,437 Total market value ar 31 Mareh 2021 e48.617 Bank accourrt5 CAF . Gold account - Cash account Manuscript 16,5 265 Lloyd5 Debtor 4.404 3.341 Credlioi 11.6071 16111 75,639 49.802 Reserve account Balance broughtforward 49.802 50.928 DefKit From income account 15,837 11,1261 75.639 49.2 Approveil on behalf of the board of tfustees C Ha2V Page 3
The Williarn Salt LtbraryTru5t ConseThation Account Year erwjed 31 March 2021 2021 2020 Income M & G Inte$1 458 428 COIF interest 95 465 523 Less ex nditure Bindin81restoration 3.210 3,210 Net deficit for the yeai 465 12,6871 Page 4
The William Salt Library Trust ConseNation Account 8alance sheet Yearended 31 Marth ZOZI 2020 Irwestments COIF- Charitles Flxed Interest DatÈ purchased l June 29 Transferred 31 Marth 2019 31 March 2010 31 March 2021 Unlts 5,671 C05t 7.089 13.5411 11,9721 346 504 14.4271 12.4641 433 631 Market value at 31 March 2021 678 M&G- Charities Flxed Inter 04te purchased Jun-09 Units 15,280 17.8?8 18,509 18.076 Market value at 31 March 2021 18.874 Total marketvalue at 31 March 2021 19.552 Credltor 18,5D9 18.076 Reserve accotjnt Deficit for year Capital gain on units transferied 18,076 465 20.540 12,6871 223 18.076 18,509 Approved OA behallvf the board of trustees C Haw1ev Page 5