The 10 Public Library Service Standards (PLSSs) that the 149 library authorities in England are assessed against are:
Percentage household within: Authority type 1 mile 2 miles Sparse authorities— 2 miles Inner London 100 — — Outer London 99 — — Metropolitan 95 100 — Unitary 88 100 72 County — 85 72
PLSS 2—Aggregate scheduled opening hours per 1,000 population for all libraries—128 hours
PLSS 3—Percentage of static libraries (as defined by CIPFA) providing access to electronic information resources connected to the internet—100 per cent.
PLSS 4—Total number of electronic workstations with access to the internet and the libraries catalogue (available for public use through both static and mobile libraries, and other service outlets (as defined in PLSS1)) available to users per 10,000 population—6
PLSS 5—Requests
i. Percentage of requests for books met within 7 days
ii. Percentage of requests for books met within 15 days
iii. Percentage of requests for books met within 30 days
Targets:
50 per cent. within 7 days; 70 per cent. within 15 days; 85 per cent. within 30 days
PLSS 6—Number of library visits per 1,000 population
Targets:
7,650 in inner London boroughs (or 6,800 enhanced population) 8,600 in outer London boroughs
6,000 in metropolitan districts
6,300 in unitary authorities
6,600 in county councils
PLSS 7—percentage of library users 16 and over who view their library service as:
i. very good
ii. good
iii. adequate
iv. poor
v. very poor
94 per cent. of respondents rate the library service as ‘very good’ or ‘good’.
PLSS 8—percentage of library users under 16 who view their library service as:
i. good
ii. adequate
iii. bad
90 per cent. of respondents rate the library service as ‘good’.
PLSS 9—Annual items added through purchase per 1,000 population—216 additions per 1,000 population.
PLSS 10—Time taken to replenish the lending stock on open access or available on loan—6.7 years.
The PLSSs form part of the library indicator suite within the Comprehensive Performance Assessment’s (CPA’s) Culture Block. For the purposes of CPA, thresholds have been set for each of the standards based on the overall performance of the 149 authorities against them.