About Perkins
June 30, 2009
Nearly thirty reviews and given up counting
Earlier this year this blog counted, without even looking up the history, the number of reviews of public libraries in recent years and, having insufficient paws with which to do the job, gave up.
As July comes upon us the current DCMS review will move silently and seamlessly (not needlessly, we hope) into its second year.
So if we add to our earlier list another set
1.That DCMS review- still going
2.The All Party Parliamentary Review- still going
3.The Wirral Inquiry
4.The Unison Report- reported
5.The ERS review of best practice for the MLA and Swindon council
6. For certain, a CILIP Council review of the Universe
7. Whatever is going on in London
and any others-- that will make nearly 30 separate 'major' reviews in the past ten years, quite apart from the ones that individual local councils make and the rather numerous reviews of complaints which have recently been made to Ombudsmen, Panels, Commissioners and the rest.
It is enough to make a poor pussy go into the room where there is neither Wimbledon on the telly, nor Bach suites on the cello, put her paws over her eyes and go back to sleep. It is very hot for a cat with a fur coat, you know with everyone crying 'evidence!, evidence!'
Posted by Perkins at 3:25 PM | Comments (1)
Comments
Posted by: Exit, Pursued by a Bear at July 1, 2009 10:13 AM
June 28, 2009
Access
I have noticed a sinister element creeping into MLA language recently and that is the idea of providing 'access to a library service'. In Roy Clare's statement in last week's Bookseller he refers to ' a forward post' to one's library. No, the role of local government is to provide a library service which, if you like, provides, access to literature and information. We do not pay for devices that provide 'access to the library service' - we pay for a library service.
Posted by Perkins at 3:57 PM | Comments (1)
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I am just about to use a forward post to access my daughter. It is called a telephone.
Posted by: Shirley Burnham at June 29, 2009 5:52 AM
June 27, 2009
Beggar man, poor man, rich man, thief
Congratulations to Alan Gibbons today for his organisation of a conference in support of his 'campaign for the book' . In the past year he has drawn attention to the issues and the problems of the decline of the use of books in libraries and schools. It has been a tremendous success. He needs us all and we need him very much.
I am sorry that circumstances prevented me from being there, but his conference of those of us who fight for these things made me reflect on the people whom I have met who get called 'campaigners' for libraries. They are not rich people and generally they are not famous or celebrities. Quite often, to be honest, they are rather quiet, private people, many of whom are at a stage where they are caring for relatives and being careful with money. They take an intelligent interest in affairs and are particular about spelling and grammar. They are well informed, polite, articulate, well read and well referenced. In a world which is too often brutal and in which there is no certainty of simple plain respect from officials, they recognise their local community library as a place which holds some dignity and maintains some of the standards upon which they place value. For those reasons they fight to keep the libraries open.
They should have heard the chief civil servant responsible for the current dcms review of public libraries when he told me, in a confiding sort of way, that he couldn't understand why people these days would use a library-- 'I just go to Waterstone's and buy what I want' he said.
It is not only in Parliament that the old nursery rhyme has reversed its order: beggar man, poor man, rich man, thief-- is the order in the whole fortress of our government
Posted by Perkins at 10:01 PM | Comments (1)
Comments
Perkins is right and is good to have written what she did. Perkins should immediately be promoted to run things and, in her spare time, pounce on and exterminate all the little critters that are gnawing away at, and guzzling, what is most dear to us.
Posted by: Shirley Burnham at June 28, 2009 3:26 PM
Is another library in Swindon about to close?
This is from a resident
"I think our library in Liden is earmarked for closure too, (I know something is going on), which would also be a great shame as this is a very busylittle library in its own community. Maybe having books in a Drs. surgery would be a good idea for people who have appointments but not as the only resource, I know I wouldn't want to visit a doctors surgery just to get a book out, why can't they just leave libraries as libraries!"
Posted by Perkins at 12:51 PM | Comments (0)
June 21, 2009
Swindon and the MLA
Following the release of the MLA response to a Freedom of Information question about their working relationship with Swindon Council, it is not hard to predict that officers and senior people in both corners may lose their jobs.
The Borough Solicitor in Swindon might be embarrassed to see in public some of the things that he has written in emails, and others, too.
The impression created by the documents is that the MLA did plenty of 'blacking out' (redaction!) on behalf of themselves, but didn't do the same on behalf of the poor folk in Swindon council..
This saga has plenty more chapters to run.
Posted by Perkins at 1:05 PM | Comments (2)
Comments
Just thought I'd better throw an email in to let my adoring public (all 7 or 8 of them...) know I'm still here and quite willing to foam at the mouth about something. Perhaps my point for today could be that it's about time a few officers and senior people in the library sector lost their jobs as the unpleasant truth is that there is little opportunity in the library sector. This might at least free up some space for a few benighted galley slaves to be unchained from the oars like latter-day Ben-Hurs, and brought up into the light before it's too late. My own field of expertise used to be rare book cataloguing, and Keith Trickey himself has warned that "new graduates [now] look blank at the mention of MARC or AACR2." If people with expertise like myself remain worn-out and disillusioned galley-slaves chained below decks, said well-meaning graduates will surely sail the good ship "Librarius" will straight into a sandbank in the not-too-far distant future and public libraries will degenerate into information points consisting of nothing more than badly-maintained IT terminals.
Posted by: James Christie at June 22, 2009 2:49 PM
Well, I haven't been lynched by a rampaging mob of librarians re my last comment so all I want to say this time is it's about time we all stopped kidding ourselves. There have been few jobs, few vacancies, little hope of career progression (or indeed a career) in librarianship for many years and the situation only seems to be getting worse. East Dunbartonshire Council, for example, is now lumping librarians in with cashiers and the term librarian is now (if I heard correctly) banned in Worcestershire. Some years ago, a source told me verbatim that "Scottish librarianship is dead" and still people say the profession is "thriving." It isn't. I haven't even noticed the credit crunch as the situation for me has always been this dire, and I see no public acknowledgement or respect for the role of librarian. We are always first in the firing line for cuts while the DCMS plays musical chairs. What would I have done differently if I had known this while I was cataloguing that private library in the 1990s? I'd have finished the job, then I'd have sent back the Chartership. I tried to make the best of myself despite a learning disability, and I now feel that all my striving (while nobs in ivory towers wittered on about revalidation, metadata, Web 2.0 and other drivel) was for nothing.
Posted by: James Christie at June 24, 2009 11:04 AM
"seemlessy"????
"Seamlessly".
And this from a cat who works in a library. Tsk tsk.
(Thank you Mr Exit)