Update 2026-01-08-plans-for-2026.md

Author: DaveBathnes

_posts/2026-01-08-plans-for-2026.md

@@ -19,19 +19,19 @@ How can this be done in 2026?
 
 ## Open Data
 
-Open data is data that anyone can access, use, and share. Public libraries have huge amounts of data locked away, while not having the resources or time to do much with it. More should be invested in service skills and time, but it would be a huge benefit to make data as widely available as possible. It is also fair to say that despite how brilliant and loved libraries are, a lack of data-informed policy and decisions is evident, and it would be a disservice to users not to address this.
+Open data is data that anyone can access, use, and share. Public libraries have huge amounts of data locked away, while not having the resources or time to do much with it. More should be invested in service skills and time, but it would be a huge benefit to make data as widely available as possible. It is also fair to say that despite how brilliant and loved libraries are, a lack of data-informed policy and decisions is consistently evident, and it would be a disservice to users not to address this urgently.
 
-Unfortunately times are tough and even engaging in open data is out of the reach of many services. The heads of those services don't have the time or inclination, while fighting declining budgets and trying to keep staff employed and branches open. Where data analysis is being done it's largely in advocacy and social value analysis that doesn't deliver any insight or improvement, driven through a need to convince funders that libraries are worthwhile. 
+Unfortunately times are tough and even engaging in open data is out of the reach of many services. The heads of those services don't have the time or inclination, while fighting declining budgets and trying to keep staff employed and branches open. Where data analysis *is* being done, it's largely in advocacy and social value analysis that doesn't deliver either insight or improvement, driven through a need to convince funders that libraries are worthwhile. 
 
 Everyone would love a culture of open working to improve services. Good data standards and open schemas for sharing data. Excellent data management and stewardship, and policies of open by default (aside from personal data). The data would be available through public APIs (application programming interfaces) or data downloads depending on situation. But we don't have those things, and getting close to that level of data maturity is a long task.
 
 So, what to focus on in 2026? There have always been a few 'low hanging fruit' wins for public libraries. The British Library Public Lending Right team are in the process of collecting comprehensive loans data from all public library services on what titles have been loaned, and we'll [continue to push for this to be open](https://blog.librarydata.uk/plr-consultation-2025/).
 
-There are other library organisations working on library data. The Arts Council and Libraries Connected have hugely increased data projects in recent years. However, while sympathetic and even supportive of open data, the remit of their projects is to serve the sector.
+There are other library organisations working on library data. The Arts Council and Libraries Connected have significantly increased data projects in recent years. However, while sympathetic and even supportive of open data, the remit of their projects is to serve the sector.
 
 A recent [Libraries Connected commissioned report, conducted by Independent Mind](https://www.librariesconnected.org.uk/news/libraries-connected-publishes-new-report-library-loan-trends) gathered loans data from 34 library services and analysed it. However, the outputs from that project were 2 PDF files and an internal webinar for library services. In a culture of working in the open, the default would be to ensure the data was repeatable and open, release analysis as accessible web content, and then an open webinar.
 
-This isn't an individual criticism, but we do need to recognise the huge task in changing that culture. 
+This isn't an individual criticism, this is the way things are done in the sector. But we do need to recognise the huge task in changing that culture. 
 
 Anyway, it's good to have a different focus to other organisations, and open data advocacy and pressure needs to come from outside the sector and its leadership. Libraries Hacked will also collect data from library services [using Freedom of Information requests](https://blog.librarydata.uk/requesting-data-with-foi/). These will remain genuine requests for data, there's no point spamming services for no reason - but it is currently the only public mechanism for obtaining data and keeps public data on the radar.