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Effective participation in the competitive bidding arena is one of the main vehicles for securing the necessary additional funds to maintain and develop UK public library services. This paper documents the extent and scale of bidding by public libraries and presents areas of good practice emerging from research into the effects that the bidding culture has had on the development of English local government archive, library and museum services. Key findings suggest that approaches to external funding should be strategy‐driven taking place within a framework of purpose and rationale; that success is often highly dependent on the leadership and networking skills of library managers; and that partnership working should be encouraged and adopted. Successful proposals should demonstrate the benefits and credibility of proposers to deliver; provide evidence of properly resourced project management including methods of monitoring and evaluation; explicitly address the relevant funding criteria and be well‐researched and carefully planned.

Presents the findings of the LOGOPLUS project. The aim of this project was to ascertain to what extent the move to unitary authorities during the 1995‐1998 re‐organisation of local government was seamless for public library users and staff. Case studies were undertaken in nine local authorities. Representatives formed the Steering Group which identified the following significant areas of change to be investigated: politics, finance, integration, co‐operation, staff, communication and users. Research findings have indicated a number of success factors which contributed to seamlessness: councillors and managers who were committed to the provision of excellent services; transitional finance sufficient to cover the process of the change; effective leadership; clear definition of mission and goals; multi‐skilling where appropriate and supportive users. However, some libraries have suffered because councillors or managers did not have a clear vision; there was insufficient finance; managers were not good communicators and there was little or no training for staff.