About Perkins
May 9, 2008
The MLA
There can hardly be sadder stories more illustrative of the waste of opportunity of the last ten years of government than that of the MLA.
We hear that the library staff of the MLA are all about to leave, which is news at the hearing of which the public should not weep. The record of grim uselesness, waste of money, failed and unthought out initiatives, horrible arrogance, deceit and incomprehensible mutilation of language and grammar has been exhausting.
The organisation now also has no chairman, no purpose, no sense of direction and is doing nothing. Its Ministers and their civil servants appear to have abandoned it with embarrassment and that shines no virtuous light upon them either. The whole lot of them should all go and roll in wet and dirty mud- and then stand and apologise to the public whom they have so let down.
Posted by Perkins at 2:09 PM | Comments (0)
The Conservative Party
The Tories had a meeting yesterday to talk about public library policy. Let's hope that there is some useful and sensible outcome.
In a democracy we do depend on politicians to take a lead and to take sensible action. Politics is not just about getting elected.
The Tories, of course, are already responsible for the majority of public libraries in England because of the number of local councils they control..
Let us hope....
Posted by Perkins at 2:02 PM | Comments (0)
May 7, 2008
Sleep walking to disaster
'Sleep walking' was the expression used in a Demos report a few years ago to describe the state of the public library service.
Amanda Field makes the point that seems to be eluding all those (many) public librarians who are currently in debate about how to provide TV programmes for library users.
'Words fail me in regard to plans to show TV programmes at a Nottingham library. Perhaps you could also install a bar and re-name it Wetherspoons? This is a noisy world with very few places to go for quiet reading and study: a library used to be one of these places. Now they are filled with the sounds of people in the cafe, mobile phone ringtones, talking staff....even talking lifts, all of which (if Gosport is anything to go by) permeate every corner of the building because silence has been deemed to be politically incorrect.
I suppose the rationale for TV is that no-one goes into a library to read any more, because of the noise levels and because the book-stock is usually so dire.....so why not 'attract' some non-readers by having televisions (thus emitting even more noise). In what way, exactly, does MTV have any connection with literacy and reading......which is surely the sole reason for libraries' existence?'
The questions that both Amanda and I would ask are 'Why are you spending your time worrying about providing television programmes? and 'Who has decided that this is right thing to do? and 'Who is in Charge?"
Posted by Perkins at 11:24 AM | Comments (0)
May 6, 2008
Televisions in Nottingham libraries
Not comprehensive attention to the book collections-- but state of the art screenery in Nottingham
'We are planning to put plasma screens in a library that is being refurbished. We want to put 4 screens in the library and to be to able to show freeview television and PowerPoint displays/adverts on each one. We also want to be able to show different freeview channels on different screens at the same time i.e. cbeebies in the children's library, mtv in the teenage section and news 24 in the adult library.
We have seen systems that allow you to show rolling PowerPoint sequences but does anybody operate a multi channel service that combines freeview and powerpoint and allows the flexibility we require (I've had details regarding Swansea's service). Any information about service providers, how it operates, rough costings etc. would help.
I will post a summary of the responses
Steve Baker
Peoples Network Development Officer
Libraries, Archives and Information
Communities
Nottinghamshire County Council
01777 706973 Direct Line
01777 708813 Retford Library Admin Line
07870 213009 Mobile
steve.baker@nottscc.gov.uk
Our vision is to make Nottinghamshire a better place.
Find out how Nottinghamshire County Council employees are making a difference at www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/youmakethedifference"
Posted by Perkins at 6:34 PM | Comments (3)
Comments
Posted by: Paige Turner at May 7, 2008 8:46 AM
Congratulations to Swansea -- who spent seven hundred thousand pounds on new books for their new library. As Mx Paige Turner says, that was a judicious mixture of new copies of backlist and some frontlist titles.
You won't believe it but there have been many new library buildings in which millions of pounds have been spent on the building, but next to nothing at all has been spent on replenishment of book stock. Ask the people of Brighton, Peterborough, Gosport, Winchester, Newcastle, Peckham, Tower Hamlets .... etc.
How much is being spent in this library in Nottingham on the book collections?
Posted by: perkins at May 7, 2008 10:11 AM
Words fail me in regard to plans to show TV programmes at a Nottingham library. Perhaps you could also install a bar and re-name it Wetherspoons? This is a noisy world with very few places to go for quiet reading and study: a library used to be one of these places. Now they are filled with the sounds of people in the cafe, mobile phone ringtones, talking staff....even talking lifts, all of which (if Gosport is anything to go by) permeate every corner of the building because silence has been deemed to be politically incorrect. I suppose the rationale for TV is that no-one goes into a library to read any more, because of the noise levels and because the book-stock is usually so dire.....so why not 'attract' some non-readers by having televisions (thus emitting even more noise). In what way, exactly, does MTV have any connection with literacy and reading......which is surely the sole reason for libraries' existence?
Posted by: Amanda Field at May 7, 2008 10:52 AM
May 4, 2008
Too many conferences, not enough work
5 years ago in a letter to The Bookseller I listed the waste of public money that goes on in the public library service. One of the items was the number of conferences and committee meetings attended by managers that take them away from their job. You would think it was trivial to say such things- except that it is true. Officers in the public library sections of local government have long paid holidays, they do take a lot of time off work for other reasons and in addition they do attend, at public expense, an awful lot of conferences. It means that their time spent actually opening libraries for the public to visit, which is what we pay them for, is probably only half the year.
This morning another one pops up ungrammatically on the radar:
"**Apologies for cross-posting**
Learning Our Future Today - Joint BMLG and PLG Conference
13-15 June 2008, Wyboston Lakes, Bedfordshire
A forward look for librarianship and libraries.
The theme of the conference is to stand back today and project into the future - the future for public libraries, the future for librarians and for all those who work in public libraries.
The conference will have much to offer anyone working in public libraries at every level. The programme includes the speakers - Roy Clare, Chief Executive, MLA, Tom Forrest who is well known to many librarians for his work on leadership and James Dearnley from Loughborough University.
If you haven't already booked a place make sure you do it now! It really will be a weekend well spent - for more information go to: www.cilip.org.uk/plg2008
Posted by Angie Weatherhead PLG website co-ordinator"
I don't know what BMLG stands for but PLG stands for the public library group of CILIP, the Chartered Institute of Library Information Professionals.
Roy Clare spoke to librarians three weeks ago at the Library and Information Show, in March at the meeting of the Society of Chief Librarians, last November at the Talis conference, last September at the Librarians' annual conference, and will doubtless be talking to them again if and when the MLA decides what its latest action plan is likely to be. Running public libraries is not a democratic forum- it is a management job that requires clear pupose and effective communication.
The MLA is a long overrun joke that cannot even do the one job with which it was tasked which is to close itself down. Previously it failed to move to Birmingham, which is what Tony Blair asked it to do. It is a year since Roy Clare was appointed and he has done nothing so far. As for CILIP...well - honestly who would pay a membership fee for CILIP?
(Perkins has not been invited to the jolly in Bedfordshire)
Posted by Perkins at 9:51 AM | Comments (3)
Comments
It all sounds like the shehanigans familiar from David Lodge novels.
Posted by: Christopher Hawtree at May 4, 2008 11:25 AM
I rarely disagree with my favourite feline, but on this one occasion I feel I must put you right!
Firstly, BMLG means the Branch and Mobile Libraries Group of CILIP - so CILIP ARE saving money, by apparently amalgating 2 conferences...
Also, according to the snail mail info I have received, Roy Clare will be giving 'a view of public libraries and where they are heading over the next ten years or so'. This info is vital to the future of library professionals: if I were a librarian, I'd willing require my employers to pay at least 10 times the nominal cost of this conference, to attend - indeed, so important is this information, I would even consider making a nominal personal contribution, so desperate are we all to hear something new!!
Retrack your claws on this one, Perkins!
Posted by: Charlie Main at May 5, 2008 11:49 AM
Charlie, you old dog, I am sorry to report that not one council in the whole country has expressed an interest in what was done in Hillingdon. You were very kind about it, but it has sparked no inquiries. I suppose they all think that they are already doing what was done there. It's surprising, then, that no one produces the same kind of results.
Posted by: perkins at May 5, 2008 10:15 PM
May 3, 2008
The MLA are ambitious
Here in a Saturday morning press release from the MLA
'Our ambition is that our sector’s engagement with the Cultural Olympiad through Setting the Pace will lead to a transformation in the way people experience the inspiration, learning and creativity museum, library and archive collections generate. Increasing participation by non-traditional audiences – particularly young people, black and minority ethnic communities and people with disabilities – is a core target for this programme.'
When you compare that with the shear common sense of the entry below that I have called "A clear focus" -- you see how unbelievably stupid and arrogant the people at the MLA are.
Posted by Perkins at 3:44 PM | Comments (0)
Elections make no difference
Somewhere in the local government election results we should find the clue to the way that the public library service will improve. We entrust our local politicians with the service. We say frequently that ministers do not have the sway or power to effect change in local councils.
But there is nothing in the elections of this week that can bring change. The public library service is not operated under the management of local councillors, it is driven by a shared view of local government officers and senior librarians. They decide the drift and the priorities. They decide whether the focus is on books or not on books, they set the balance of expenditure between overhead and public service.
They are not accountable to any effective management or body. They are not under any control in the name of the people or even local communities. They have no leaders who will explain what they do or intend to do.
It doesn't have to be like that-- and it is not in a healthy state because of it-- but it is. For all the ten years I have watched the service operate they have effectively ignored or sidelined any political attempt at improvement, whether it be of purpose or of efficiency. The service takes money from the public without making a case for its need.
Who will tell the library service what to do? Who will speak for the public? Who will make these 'officers of the state' listen?
Posted by Perkins at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)
May 2, 2008
A clear focus
From James Christie:
I'm probably going to get lynched by a rampaging mob of library bloggers for saying this, but Roy Clare may have the right idea. I came out two years ago and said that libraries should be about books and reading. Not that IT should be thrown out completely, but that books and reading were our core values and let's stop hemming and hawing about it. Roy Clare says "the future for libraries lies in integrating with local services around reading and books" and he intends to "brave controversy". Well, please do so, Roy. PLEASE. Cut out the big words, get back to basics and give us good well-stocked libraries.
On a personal note, though, I'm sick to death of hearing about databases, cross-connected or otherwise. Time and again, IT projects driven by people obsessed with the "white heat" of technology waste time and money which would be better spent elsewhere. Trim down those conservatives, Roy, read my blog "The Gordian Knot", make some unpopular decisions and apply some hard common sense.
Posted by Perkins at 3:52 PM | Comments (1)
Comments
How I agree! Now talk to headteachers in many schools who are closing down their libraries, sacking their librarians and creating more and more IT spaces for the students. Has anyone actually proved that more ICT raises achievement? Can we prove that reading from real books does?
Many of us know of teachers who discourage students from using books in this kind of way:
"If you don't behave, you will have to use the books, not the computers".
If we don't support school librarians, there will be very few adults capable of reading a whole book in a few years!
Posted by: Anne Robinson at May 2, 2008 9:34 PM
We do indeed use plasma screens in Swansea - we find them particulalry useful for community information. Rather than having yards of noticeboards, we scan posters and leaflets and have them playing in a loop (backed up with themed information folders in our reference section).
What's the benefit? Well, lots of wall space has been freed up for ... BOOKS!