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How libraries became administrative reception points

Published on 11 June 2019
Update on 26 September 2022
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Summary

One may remember the character of Daniel Blake, in Ken Loach's film I, Daniel Blake, a 59 year old English carpenter who is forced to register for welfare after suffering from heart problems. When he fails to complete the online job search process at a job center, he is directed to a public library where he finds support and advice on how to open an account and fill out his application.

This episode of the film illustrates one of the daily realities of municipal libraries, confronted with people lost in the face of the dematerialization of public services.

While many procedures are going digital, due to the lack of alternative or sufficient support offered by the administrations concerned, vulnerable people and more generally people who are not at ease with digital technology, tend to turn to local actors (town halls, social centers, CCAS, etc.) or solidarity actors such as Emmaus, the Red Cross, Secours Populaire or Secours Catholique) in order to find the expected help.

These people, having difficulty with their administrative procedures, sometimes turn to libraries and media libraries. Present throughout the country (there are 17,000 libraries and "reading points" in France and 38,000 librarians), equipped (nine out of ten libraries even had at least one public computer station in 2015), having largely initiated their digital transformation (30% of municipal libraries offered digital resources in 2016), libraries also enjoy an excellent image with the public.

Références :

Media libraries clearly identified by the public as places of digital mediation

A series of questions introduced by the Digital Agency in the 2018 edition of the Digital Barometer provides a better understanding of the public's expectations for digital training and support.

While 8% of respondents do not experience any difficulties and 31% say they can manage on their own, 36% seek help from family and friends.

One question was about the places that offer " near you" support in online procedures and digital learning. Among the five possible places (Maison de service au public, Espace public numérique, Médiathèque, Cyberbase, other place such as a fablab or a ressourcerie), the médiathèques come clearly in the lead:

63% of respondents cited media libraries (and know of one near their home), This high response rate was also found in all population groups

Référence :

A typology of services to support administrative procedures in libraries

For several years, many libraries have been offering support to users in their administrative procedures. In a more or less formalized way. More or less punctual. More or less professionalized. By relying on their own teams, by calling on third parties, by relying on institutions.

In her dissertation for the diploma of library curator, Mathilde Herrero undertook to specify the contours of the accompaniment to administrative procedures in libraries. She distinguishes several types of support services.

Everyday reception: the library as a referral center

Reception refers to all interactions between users and library staff. "One of the main challenges is to respond to an immediate request when there is no mechanism in place, especially since users' requests are often urgent in nature.

In the Plaine-Commune public reading network, for example, files have been drawn up and shared throughout the inter-municipal network in order to organize the reception of the public in difficulty with their procedures: users can benefit from a first level of support for administrative procedures when they feel the need, and not only in the time slots of a specific permanence or a mediation workshop. "Depending on the nature of the user's request, the response can also take the form of additional guidance, by offering the user mediation activities proposed by the library or by giving him/her the contacts of competent people to help him/her with his/her procedures.

The Citizen's Life area of the Champs Libres library in Rennes plays this role of referral. " It is common for users consulting a computer workstation to ask the staff for help in solving a problem that they often present first as a technical problem.

The permanences

On registration or free of charge, these sessions correspond to regular or occasional time slots during which professionals are specifically available to the public to respond to requests on a predefined theme.

There are several types of permanence.

  • Public writer" offices: some local authorities call upon a professional "public writer" who provides this function within the framework of office hours, a few hours a week. (See on this subject: Digital public writer: a service, a function and a profession that is still in search). The Vaclav-Havel library, in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, has drawn up a memo for public writers who come to work there: "The aim is to offer readers of the library a one-time writing and information service, in particular to: read and understand a letter; write, shape and correct a document; transcribe requests, thoughts and needs; compile administrative files and/or letters. When making an appointment, the user is asked for his or her first and last name and the nature of the request, in order to redirect the user if his or her request cannot be handled by the writer. The library has established a list of requests that can be treated (exchanges with the administrations, in the broadest sense); help in filling out applications for benefits, claims or termination of contracts, help in filing and organizing papers, cover letters, housing, personal correspondence) and those more specific (legal, over-indebtedness files, applications for residence permits, tax returns) which require redirection to associations or institutions.
  • Computer services: some libraries offer, in addition to digital workshops, a digital service on certain days of the week or month. This service (called "Déclics informatiques" at the BPI of the Centre Pompidou) allows users to ask librarians about technical points related to online administrative procedures.
  • Help with tax filing: since 2017, users of the Plaine-Commune network of media libraries have been able to benefit from a service to help them file their tax returns

The workshops

Through the workshops, users can access a group learning and mediation service, usually with prior registration. The training sessions are most often led by library staff members and take place during a predefined time slot.

At the BPI of the Centre Pompidou, for example, the workshops "Accompanying administrative procedures" are mainly attended by people who want to create online accounts. The workshop leaders also show them how to find their way around the administration's websites so that they can find their way back to complete their procedures.

The Saint-Denis Centre-Ville media library offers such workshops every two weeks. Users make an appointment at the library; the staff at the reception desk ask them for some information about their needs. This allows them to specify whether their request can be met.

Dedicated or shared spaces

Support for administrative procedures must be provided in a space that meets confidentiality requirements and has an Internet access point.

According to Mathilde Herrero, the support actions for administrative procedures take place in two types of spaces: dedicated or shared.

  • Permanent or ephemeral installation or modular space, the dedicated spaces aim at guaranteeing the confidentiality of the exchanges between the accompanied and the accompanying person. Some libraries guarantee this confidentiality by organizing digital workshops to support online procedures outside of public opening hours.
  • Support can also be provided in the reception areas of the building (counters, information points), as well as in the computer areas, where many users wish to carry out administrative procedures online. The mediation intervenes when the users question the staff in public service
Often, people tell us themselves that they were referred to us by social services, CAF advisors or Pôle Emploi. I often say that we are like Care Bears in the library. We don't have an administrative relationship with people and it's often in this breach that they rush in. We're victims of our own success because we have ten free computers and we're pretty friendly.
We have tried to set up partnerships with Pôle Emploi or the CAF, but it is very complicated. We have the impression that the counselors are overwhelmed, they rarely give us news. This is not a problem of individual responsibility, but rather a structural one. They have portfolios of job seekers that are too full. CAF just offered to train ten librarians to apply on their site. I don't think we should accept. Laurène Pain-Prado. Interview in Libération

Références :

How far should we go? How to guarantee a quality service?

Librarians, when accompanying users, may be required to fill out forms, create logins on behalf of the user. This accompaniment relationship involves being privy to confidential information, requires skills and raises questions of responsibility. This type of relationship is not self-evident for librarians. As is already the case for professionals in social action, the accompanying posture tends to be transformed into taking steps "in place of" the person. Martine Herrero reports, in her dissertation, on the debates that this type of evolution is causing among librarians: " If the problems of confidentiality with regard to other users can be solved by a new arrangement of spaces, the problem of discretion with regard to personal information generated by the procedures raises the question of the definition of the role of librarians in this matter and of the ethics of the profession.

How far to go: this was the theme of the annual study day of the ADBGV (Association of Directors of Municipal Libraries and Intercommunal Groups of French Cities) on October 9, 2018.

I'm creating passwords for people's email addresses, which I write down on a small piece of paper so that they remember them. Also, my email box is the backup address for a lot of people. I've already made online appointments at the prefecture on my own time, because the library is closed on Mondays, but the slots open up early in the week. For taxes, people come to the library with their paystubs and do their taxes there. They have no problem with that! At a digital training workshop, I once found myself doing simulations of the tax site on a video projector with my own tax number. Laurène Pain-Prado (Interview in Libération)

Digital inclusion in libraries: "differentiated responses are needed

For Malik DialloMalik Diallo, president of the ADBGV, "this debate raises another question: should a library do everything alone? Libraries can very well act as a sort of "hub" directing users to the appropriate services. In this case, it is a matter of putting people in touch with each other. On this point, there is no debate in the profession.Some libraries go further by setting up partnerships with competent public services or associations. For example, the library may consider bringing in tax agents for online tax returns, or representatives from the French Employment Service. This kind of service is also useful for users who are digitally literate. In this case, librarians are coordinators. Here again, the profession is willing to play this role.We have also seen that some libraries have started to go into the field of accompanying users for online procedures. This raises the question of the legal responsibility of librarians who "do it for". Some professionals believe that this is not our responsibility. However, in some territories, this choice may be necessary. For example, when there is no public service nearby offering this assistance. In this case, librarians feel that offering it in their facilities makes sense. For each intervention method, we must therefore always take into account the territorial context.

"Just because we file a tax return doesn't mean we're social workers"

Thomas Fourmeux, on the blog Biblio Numericus, wonders about the contribution of librarians to digital inclusion."The misery and digital insecurity in which users find themselves (...) indirectly push us to provide a service that goes beyond the professional framework (giving one's number, filling out forms with personal data because the user does not speak French or speaks it poorly...).If we sometimes act in this way, it is because we are guided by the desire to fulfill our public service mission and we want to help the people who use our services. But if we look at it carefully, we are often neither ready nor trained to fulfill this mission. This service generally relies on the good will of some librarians with a digital hat to take the time to accompany the users (...) "It is not because we fill out a tax return that we are social workers. We must be aware of our limits and have a precise vision of our missions. We can train users to use word processing software so that they are able to write a CV. In my opinion, we are not Pole Emploi counselors and do not have the skills to help people return to work. Although in fact, we have to help the users to write their CV or their cover letter. ( ...)We must communicate on our capacity to help individuals learn to use a tool if we do not want to become annexes of other services present on the territories and lose the specificities that characterize us ".
"We are faced with demands that are completely beyond us: writing CVs, registering with the family allowance fund (CAF), updating on the Pôle Emploi website. And this is accelerating with the dematerialization of procedures. For example, two years ago, when the pension funds went digital, about fifty elderly people visited us in the weeks that followed. They were not at all familiar with computers, and we had to open e-mail addresses for them. And since they didn't have a mobile number either, I gave them mine. We really feel like the last link in the chain. If we weren't there, a lot of people wouldn't take the steps to access the benefits they are entitled to. We also often see 10 or 12 year old children doing the paperwork for their parents' universal health coverage (CMU) or RSA, it's quite incredible.

Laurène Pain-Prado is a librarian, responsible for digital technology at the Elsa-Triolet library in Bobigny.

Interview in Libération

Sources

How libraries became administrative reception points

One may remember the character of Daniel Blake, in Ken Loach's film I, Daniel Blake, a 59 year old English carpenter who is forced to register for welfare after suffering from heart problems. When he fails to complete the online job search process at a job center, he is directed to a public library where he finds support and advice on how to open an account and fill out his application.

This episode of the film illustrates one of the daily realities of municipal libraries, confronted with people lost in the face of the dematerialization of public services.

While many procedures are going digital, due to the lack of alternative or sufficient support offered by the administrations concerned, vulnerable people and more generally people who are not at ease with digital technology, tend to turn to local actors (town halls, social centers, CCAS, etc.) or solidarity actors such as Emmaus, the Red Cross, Secours Populaire or Secours Catholique) in order to find the expected help.

These people, having difficulty with their administrative procedures, sometimes turn to libraries and media libraries. Present throughout the country (there are 17,000 libraries and "reading points" in France and 38,000 librarians), equipped (nine out of ten libraries even had at least one public computer station in 2015), having largely initiated their digital transformation (30% of municipal libraries offered digital resources in 2016), libraries also enjoy an excellent image with the public.

Références :

Media libraries clearly identified by the public as places of digital mediation

A series of questions introduced by the Digital Agency in the 2018 edition of the Digital Barometer provides a better understanding of the public's expectations for digital training and support.

While 8% of respondents do not experience any difficulties and 31% say they can manage on their own, 36% seek help from family and friends.

One question was about the places that offer " near you" support in online procedures and digital learning. Among the five possible places (Maison de service au public, Espace public numérique, Médiathèque, Cyberbase, other place such as a fablab or a ressourcerie), the médiathèques come clearly in the lead:

63% of respondents cited media libraries (and know of one near their home), This high response rate was also found in all population groups

Référence :

A typology of services to support administrative procedures in libraries

For several years, many libraries have been offering support to users in their administrative procedures. In a more or less formalized way. More or less punctual. More or less professionalized. By relying on their own teams, by calling on third parties, by relying on institutions.

In her dissertation for the diploma of library curator, Mathilde Herrero undertook to specify the contours of the accompaniment to administrative procedures in libraries. She distinguishes several types of support services.

Everyday reception: the library as a referral center

Reception refers to all interactions between users and library staff. "One of the main challenges is to respond to an immediate request when there is no mechanism in place, especially since users' requests are often urgent in nature.

In the Plaine-Commune public reading network, for example, files have been drawn up and shared throughout the inter-municipal network in order to organize the reception of the public in difficulty with their procedures: users can benefit from a first level of support for administrative procedures when they feel the need, and not only in the time slots of a specific permanence or a mediation workshop. "Depending on the nature of the user's request, the response can also take the form of additional guidance, by offering the user mediation activities proposed by the library or by giving him/her the contacts of competent people to help him/her with his/her procedures.

The Citizen's Life area of the Champs Libres library in Rennes plays this role of referral. " It is common for users consulting a computer workstation to ask the staff for help in solving a problem that they often present first as a technical problem.

The permanences

On registration or free of charge, these sessions correspond to regular or occasional time slots during which professionals are specifically available to the public to respond to requests on a predefined theme.

There are several types of permanence.

  • Public writer" offices: some local authorities call upon a professional "public writer" who provides this function within the framework of office hours, a few hours a week. (See on this subject: Digital public writer: a service, a function and a profession that is still in search). The Vaclav-Havel library, in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, has drawn up a memo for public writers who come to work there: "The aim is to offer readers of the library a one-time writing and information service, in particular to: read and understand a letter; write, shape and correct a document; transcribe requests, thoughts and needs; compile administrative files and/or letters. When making an appointment, the user is asked for his or her first and last name and the nature of the request, in order to redirect the user if his or her request cannot be handled by the writer. The library has established a list of requests that can be treated (exchanges with the administrations, in the broadest sense); help in filling out applications for benefits, claims or termination of contracts, help in filing and organizing papers, cover letters, housing, personal correspondence) and those more specific (legal, over-indebtedness files, applications for residence permits, tax returns) which require redirection to associations or institutions.
  • Computer services: some libraries offer, in addition to digital workshops, a digital service on certain days of the week or month. This service (called "Déclics informatiques" at the BPI of the Centre Pompidou) allows users to ask librarians about technical points related to online administrative procedures.
  • Help with tax filing: since 2017, users of the Plaine-Commune network of media libraries have been able to benefit from a service to help them file their tax returns

The workshops

Through the workshops, users can access a group learning and mediation service, usually with prior registration. The training sessions are most often led by library staff members and take place during a predefined time slot.

At the BPI of the Centre Pompidou, for example, the workshops "Accompanying administrative procedures" are mainly attended by people who want to create online accounts. The workshop leaders also show them how to find their way around the administration's websites so that they can find their way back to complete their procedures.

The Saint-Denis Centre-Ville media library offers such workshops every two weeks. Users make an appointment at the library; the staff at the reception desk ask them for some information about their needs. This allows them to specify whether their request can be met.

Dedicated or shared spaces

Support for administrative procedures must be provided in a space that meets confidentiality requirements and has an Internet access point.

According to Mathilde Herrero, the support actions for administrative procedures take place in two types of spaces: dedicated or shared.

  • Permanent or ephemeral installation or modular space, the dedicated spaces aim at guaranteeing the confidentiality of the exchanges between the accompanied and the accompanying person. Some libraries guarantee this confidentiality by organizing digital workshops to support online procedures outside of public opening hours.
  • Support can also be provided in the reception areas of the building (counters, information points), as well as in the computer areas, where many users wish to carry out administrative procedures online. The mediation intervenes when the users question the staff in public service
Often, people tell us themselves that they were referred to us by social services, CAF advisors or Pôle Emploi. I often say that we are like Care Bears in the library. We don't have an administrative relationship with people and it's often in this breach that they rush in. We're victims of our own success because we have ten free computers and we're pretty friendly.
We have tried to set up partnerships with Pôle Emploi or the CAF, but it is very complicated. We have the impression that the counselors are overwhelmed, they rarely give us news. This is not a problem of individual responsibility, but rather a structural one. They have portfolios of job seekers that are too full. CAF just offered to train ten librarians to apply on their site. I don't think we should accept. Laurène Pain-Prado. Interview in Libération

Références :

How far should we go? How to guarantee a quality service?

Librarians, when accompanying users, may be required to fill out forms, create logins on behalf of the user. This accompaniment relationship involves being privy to confidential information, requires skills and raises questions of responsibility. This type of relationship is not self-evident for librarians. As is already the case for professionals in social action, the accompanying posture tends to be transformed into taking steps "in place of" the person. Martine Herrero reports, in her dissertation, on the debates that this type of evolution is causing among librarians: " If the problems of confidentiality with regard to other users can be solved by a new arrangement of spaces, the problem of discretion with regard to personal information generated by the procedures raises the question of the definition of the role of librarians in this matter and of the ethics of the profession.

How far to go: this was the theme of the annual study day of the ADBGV (Association of Directors of Municipal Libraries and Intercommunal Groups of French Cities) on October 9, 2018.

I'm creating passwords for people's email addresses, which I write down on a small piece of paper so that they remember them. Also, my email box is the backup address for a lot of people. I've already made online appointments at the prefecture on my own time, because the library is closed on Mondays, but the slots open up early in the week. For taxes, people come to the library with their paystubs and do their taxes there. They have no problem with that! At a digital training workshop, I once found myself doing simulations of the tax site on a video projector with my own tax number. Laurène Pain-Prado (Interview in Libération)

Digital inclusion in libraries: "differentiated responses are needed

For Malik DialloMalik Diallo, president of the ADBGV, "this debate raises another question: should a library do everything alone? Libraries can very well act as a sort of "hub" directing users to the appropriate services. In this case, it is a matter of putting people in touch with each other. On this point, there is no debate in the profession.Some libraries go further by setting up partnerships with competent public services or associations. For example, the library may consider bringing in tax agents for online tax returns, or representatives from the French Employment Service. This kind of service is also useful for users who are digitally literate. In this case, librarians are coordinators. Here again, the profession is willing to play this role.We have also seen that some libraries have started to go into the field of accompanying users for online procedures. This raises the question of the legal responsibility of librarians who "do it for". Some professionals believe that this is not our responsibility. However, in some territories, this choice may be necessary. For example, when there is no public service nearby offering this assistance. In this case, librarians feel that offering it in their facilities makes sense. For each intervention method, we must therefore always take into account the territorial context.

"Just because we file a tax return doesn't mean we're social workers"

Thomas Fourmeux, on the blog Biblio Numericus, wonders about the contribution of librarians to digital inclusion."The misery and digital insecurity in which users find themselves (...) indirectly push us to provide a service that goes beyond the professional framework (giving one's number, filling out forms with personal data because the user does not speak French or speaks it poorly...).If we sometimes act in this way, it is because we are guided by the desire to fulfill our public service mission and we want to help the people who use our services. But if we look at it carefully, we are often neither ready nor trained to fulfill this mission. This service generally relies on the good will of some librarians with a digital hat to take the time to accompany the users (...) "It is not because we fill out a tax return that we are social workers. We must be aware of our limits and have a precise vision of our missions. We can train users to use word processing software so that they are able to write a CV. In my opinion, we are not Pole Emploi counselors and do not have the skills to help people return to work. Although in fact, we have to help the users to write their CV or their cover letter. ( ...)We must communicate on our capacity to help individuals learn to use a tool if we do not want to become annexes of other services present on the territories and lose the specificities that characterize us ".
"We are faced with demands that are completely beyond us: writing CVs, registering with the family allowance fund (CAF), updating on the Pôle Emploi website. And this is accelerating with the dematerialization of procedures. For example, two years ago, when the pension funds went digital, about fifty elderly people visited us in the weeks that followed. They were not at all familiar with computers, and we had to open e-mail addresses for them. And since they didn't have a mobile number either, I gave them mine. We really feel like the last link in the chain. If we weren't there, a lot of people wouldn't take the steps to access the benefits they are entitled to. We also often see 10 or 12 year old children doing the paperwork for their parents' universal health coverage (CMU) or RSA, it's quite incredible.

Laurène Pain-Prado is a librarian, responsible for digital technology at the Elsa-Triolet library in Bobigny.

Interview in Libération

Sources

Labo Société Numérique

Labo République Française Agence nationale de cohésion des territoires
How libraries became administrative reception points