Within Government, DCMS holds policy responsibility for public libraries in England, while individual services are delivered by the 149 library authorities across the country. The Libraries Team supports Ministers on a range of statutory and other library issues and works closely with the Museums Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). The Advisory Council on Libraries, a statutory advisory body established under the Public Libraries and Museums Act (1964), provides independent advice to DCMS Ministers.
In 2003 the department published Framework for the Future, the first ever national public libraries strategy for the improvement and modernisation of England's public library services. Framework described three areas of activity which should be at the heart of libraries' modern mission:
DCMS sponsors the British Library. Since 2006/07, the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills (DIUS) have been co-signatories on the BL Funding Agreement. The Agreement sets out the Library’s mission, strategic priorities and delivery partners. It describes the contribution the organisation will make towards the delivery of Government objectives and shows how delivery will be measured.
The Public Lending Right makes payments to authors for the free lending of their books by public libraries and is also sponsored by DCMS. The PLR Funding Agreement sets out their strategic priorities and the contribution that they will make towards the delivery of DCMS objectives.
The Legal Deposit Advisory Panel (LDAP) is an advisory NDPB, established in September 2005 to advise DCMS Ministers on the implementation of the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003. The Act gives Ministers powers to establish secondary legislation in the area of the legal deposit of publications, with the intention of extending the national published archive to digital material.
