The Good Library Blog

“One figure has flourished as the modernising four-star general in this fight. Tim Coates, former Waterstone's chief and now consultant on public-library policy, remains the key strategist to watch.” –Boyd Tonkin, The Independent

January 2, 2012

Despair about public libraries in England

I was brought up, educated, as a scientist. At the time I was at school children were encouraged to declare a preference for either science or arts at the age of about fourteen- and being able at that age at mathematics and physics - I easily chose science because those were the subjects in which I got my best marks.

I only really discovered reading for myself when I left school early and went to work as an apprentice in a northern city. To be honest I was lonely and too young to have been sent to work in what was a tough environment. I hid in the evenings, because I was unable to be social.

I went to the library and brought home piles of hardback books, most of which I had no idea at all what they would be. That started a life long compulsion. Even though I then took two degrees in scientific subjects and initially worked in telecomnmunications, my solace and my comfort were then and are now reading. I am also obsessive about music. i don't know why these two pleasures came to matter so much, but they have

I went to bookselling because, curiously, at that time, it presented the opporunity to do both two things I enjoy - reading and being analytical.

My interest in libraries came the same way- I have always believed they could be so much better - if they are thought about properly and operated correctly

But they aren't- and after a decade of trying to say how easily they could be improved, I have more or less given up. I understand why they aren't improved, but the reasons are now untacklable. I don't think anything can save them. The problems aren't really about money - they are actually much easier than an absence of funding. They are, as Philip Pullman recently said, about stupidity.

The real failure I believe, and have said many times, is to understand what libraries are for. And if those responsible for them don't have a clear and correct view of that ,there is no chance of rescue or redemption.

I can't see anything more that can be done, The library service in England will collapse, slowly and painfully. Some people will be able to have ready access to an abundance of literature that they do not know about, as I did; and many people won't.

We won't be a happier or better society- we won't. And I hate to leave behind a problem unsolved - especially when I have found the solution - and yet failed to persuade people to listen to it.

There are other things to do now.

Posted by Perkins at 8:23 PM | Comments (2)

Comments

Posted by: Elizabeth at January 3, 2012 10:56 AM

Posted by: Cliff Hope (@cliffjim) at January 3, 2012 11:41 AM

December 17, 2011

Gus O'Donnell and the UK Civil Service

The newspapers today report the departure af Gus O'Donnell as head of the UK civil service with his passing advice that spouses of Prime Ministers should be better rewarded.

That will be Cherie Blair, Samantha Cameron, Denis Thatcher - and the rest.

Never mind them but concentrate instead on the effectiveness of our civil and public service.

Followers of the campaign to rescue public libraries from the menacing hands of all those administrate and run them might observe the level of competence and standard of behaviour of civil servants in Whitehall and public officers in local councils across the country. Almost without exception, over a decade and more, almost every act that has been observed has been self serving, incompetent, idiotic, Kafkaesque in its malicious treatment of the public, and shameful.

Yet somehow, in the minds of the press and our hopeful British optimism, the civil service is a body above criticism and suspicion. They, it is felt, should be allowed to operate anonymously and independent of perspicacious scrutiny.

We blame passing politicians without properly examining the role and influence of career public officials.

Perkins does not agree. An old cat, she may be, but Gus O'Donnell and his cronies are of her generation. They went to the same expensive and privileged Universities that she went to . Upon them depended the administration of our country for the last twenty years. .... and they have been terrible. They have made themselves rich, honouredand aloof and removed themselves from the worth and duty of true public service - and they have presided over the decline and collapse of the prestige of our nation. The national and international mistakes have been appalling. The ability of one generation to pass to the next a climate of cultured respected governance and care has been placed at risk.

The civil service of our country needs total overhaul with urgency - and Gus O'Donnell with his attendance of incompetent permanent secretaries should be damned publicly for the role they have played.

Posted by Perkins at 6:49 PM | Comments (1)

Comments

Posted by: buckslibraryuser at December 18, 2011 11:06 PM

November 20, 2011

Close the Local Government Association down

Not for the first time - in fact it has done it many times- the LGA, the Local Government Association - has tried to make an intervention in the matter of a dispute between local people and their council in the matter of public libraries.

Who pays for the LGA ? What is it for? To whom does it account? Who sees its documents ?

It is a nonsensical idea to have a national body to lobby to central government on behalf of local councillors and officers... and for the public to pay for such lobbying. MP's are local and ought to be able to have a sensible view about the issues of local governnment without this invented- huge and expensive body

What always emerges from what they say is that 'localism means leaving the local council free to do whatever it wants' - but the truth, as library campaigners everywhere have learned, is that nothing is more hidden and evasive than the activity of a local council. They need much more central governnment scrutiny - not less.

Close the LGA and save the money

Before another library is threatened, Mr Pickles, close down the LGA and find a better use for the funds is takes.

Posted by Perkins at 8:52 PM | Comments (1)

Comments

Posted by: James Christie at November 21, 2011 1:07 AM

November 18, 2011

Will public libraries be the downfall of David Cameron?

It seems improbable that the public library service could bring the end of the political career of the Prime Minister, but it seems to me that there is a small but reasonable and increasing possibility that that might happen.

It is astonishing how libraries have become news. Ten years ago the national papers would never have written about them and even The Bookseller- whose subscriptions come more from libraries than anywhere else only ever had two articles a year - on the publication of figures from CIPFA and LISU.

This morning 3 national papers have stories about libraries and 5 out of the 12 top industry stories in The Bookseller are about libraries.

There can hardly be a clearer and more obvious manifestation of the incompetence of Government than its handling of the simple straightforward matter of public libraries. Yet if one were to endeavour to trip over a daisy in the garden one could hardly be more spectacularly idiotic and useless than Jeremy Hunt and Ed Vaizey.

It is unbelievable and comic and goes on and on. One does have to believe that it could indeed bring the downfall of the Government and The Prime Minister. .... and Perkins will have been, again, the first to spot the possibility. She is often right (ask the Admiral!!)

Posted by Perkins at 11:14 PM | Comments (0)

November 13, 2011

If politicians won't pay for libraries, don't assume that publishers will

We see it time and again in the arguments in local councils in which councillors close libraries or reduce book funds- "but it's ok because reading is freely available on the internet in ebooks and on Kindle - or if it isn't now it soon will be"

Librarians - the profession- have ben saying that for years

But it ISN'T TRUE.

Publishers will not make ebooks freely available - why should they? At present 80% of publishers both here and in the US are refusing to supply the public library service through the various models that are currently available

Why should they give away content so that two thirds of reading can be free and authors of the works are not paid ? If polticians don't think free public libraries are a good idea - why should publishers and authors forego their livelihood ?

We know that people want bread to eat, but that doesn't mean we expect bakers to give two thirds of what they make away, for nothing.

There is a deal to do somewhere-- and common sense to be found - but no one at present is even looking for it

If Ministers have their heads buried someone somewhere has to start talking .. because reading is the at the root of our civilisation - and libraries are the potting sheds of integrity.

Posted by Perkins at 2:58 PM | Comments (0)

November 12, 2011

Perkins

The Good Library Guide Blog is very proud to announce that Perkins has a new job

She is to be the library cat of a famous and presitgious library in California. This is very exciting etc and more details will be released at some point in the future.

"Libraries in England" are not dependable for a career - "even for the most experienced library cat" - she said in a statement

Perkins has previously been the library cat of the Carnegie library on the dockside at Bloggington on Sea. She came to prominence seven years ago when a newspaper (now sadly defunct) observed that the public library service in England was so badly run that even a cat could do better - and Perkins proved that to be true

She played a significant role in the downfall of BATT - a cricketing expression, of the Ministry of Libraries and Archives (MLA), the Society for Closing Libraries (SCL), the Department of Common Sense (DCMS) and of SYRUP .

Afficionadoes of this blog will know that she used to sleep in the space vacated by missing titles in the 12 volume set of 'Naval Maneouvres (sic) in Bloggington Bay in the reign of Queen Anne' and has already been made an honorary citizen cat of the United States of America.

Onwards and Upwards -- to Lemon County California, Bilbary Town Library.

(Perkins has a nephew and a niece called Bob and Kitty. Bob is difficult)

Posted by Perkins at 12:30 PM | Comments (1)

Comments

Posted by: James Christie at November 13, 2011 11:28 PM

October 29, 2011

5 years of the Hillingdon Library project

It is 5 years this month since 2 councillors in London called and asked if we could look at how to improve the library service in Hillingdon, for which one of them had been made responsible.

With some difficulty over the next few months we assembled all the information about how the service operated and all the places that money was spent. We talked to front line staff, office staff, the public and also senior officers from all parts of the council.

We drew up a private plan and the councillor gave directions as to what he wanted to be done.

We had learned that - contrary to almost all of the advice received from elsewhere- what really mattered to the public are the stock of reading material; the design of the buildings to make them attractive, interesting, convivial and useful; the opening hours and the ability of the staff to be helpful, friendly and knowledgeable. It was clear that if those were done properly an awful lot of people would use the service, more than were using the rather desolate library buildkings that existed at the time

By and large these were not the things that most of the money in the service was spent on at all. Most of it went on an outdated management strcuture, both in the library service and in the council itself, an extraordinary distribution set up and a host of other activities of marginal interest or relevance to the public.

The councillor - and increasingly his officers- were unflinching in their pursuit of giving the public what they want - and so, library by library- starting with the smallest community libraries,- they have managed a programme of transformation that has both saved money and made the libraries far more useful, used and popular.

It is a model. There are, of course, other places around the country where good things have been done, but none that I have seen have concentrated so hard on those basics of the service that the public really want - as opposed to concentrating on political theories about what libraries ought to do. None has so totally restructured to provide proper management and leadership

With success has come growing approval and support within the council itself. The councillors have realised that a good library service is actually a vote winner- it has become one of the most talked about achievements of Hillingdon council Last year The Bookseller awarded a new prize for the best public library service to the London Borough of Hillingdon The project has been well publicised and applauded as it deserves to be. The councillors and officers have done a wonderful job- especially if you know how difficult it is to do things well in local councils

Early into the regime of budget cuts, Hillingdon announced that far from cut its library service, it would contine to pursue the improvement programme

Yet here finally is a note of bitterness.- I know that if what was done in Hillingdon were done elsewhere there would never have been a question of closing a library service anywhere. There is no problem of cost - and when libraries are good, they are widely used and represent fabulous value for money.

Yet all those who have authority over libraries have, for 5 long years, ignored this project, simply because it did not fit the agenda - agendas - that they wished to pursue. It hasn't had a PFI for large amounts of money; it hasn't been about trusts or outsourcing; it hasn't been about healthcare; it hasn't been about co-location; it hasn't been about having volunteers replace paid staff-- it has just been about plain honest simple good management, by a council, of a public service.

In the whole of 5 years not one officer or politician has called and said 'What did you do in Hillingdon that has worked so well ?' - not the DCMS, not the MLA, not Arts Council England; not CILIP; not the SCL; not the LGA; not the Mayor of London; no Minister, no MP - no councillor- none-of them, although the project has been well and frequently reported in the newspapers. I have never received that request from one person. Only members of the public campaigning to save libraries have called and I have been happy to give freely of my time to explain what was done and why it works so well as it does.

I imagine that the councillor in Hillingdon feels the same - he, too should have been feted and used as a resource by other councils and central bodies - but he has not. It is bizarre and makes one angry

Yet here, totally ignored- is the answer to the entire public library service- at no cost to anyone.

Amazing That, I guess, is what Philip Pullman meant when he said we are dealing with people who are just completely stupid. And if he did, he was right.

My deduction has been for a long time that the enormously expensive structures of local councils and our state are not about improving publkic service, they are about maintaining and exhalting the structures themselves.. and that is corruption of a kind that is most insidious and dangerous.

Posted by Perkins at 12:14 PM | Comments (1)

Comments

Posted by: James Christie at October 30, 2011 12:26 AM

October 26, 2011

CIPFA figures

Has anyone seen the CIPFA annual figures for 2010- 11 yet? By now there is normally a draft on circulation so that councils can correct any errors. Last year the final published figures came out around this time, under pressure from people who wanted to know what the story is.

These will reveal not only what changes actually took place last year but also what the published budgets for this year were like, after all the public arguments had taken place.

Posted by Perkins at 7:26 AM | Comments (0)

October 22, 2011

Plan B : a national plan to save the public library service

It is awful to watch the dismantling of the public library service across the country. Plan A seems to be to allow this to happen while all those who are responsible for it argue fruitlessly about what they are doing and why.

So here, on this blog, and not for the first time, we offer a 'Plan B' - which is intended to not only save the public library service but also to make it prosper and grow.

Mind - be wary - my views have never been accepted by Government; they are not accepted by local councils; and they are positively disliked by the 'library profession'- so do not imagine that I believe they will be taken up. The only people who generally do approve of what I say are the people who do use and would use libraries - so, until what they think matters, we cannot expect this to be the way forward . Neverthless here, briefly, is what I now suggest should be done

1. The heart of the public libraries lies in its buildings, the 'materials' - books and other information, the facilities, computers and other devices, areas for private and repsected study, and above all the staff- their energy, experience and understanding. Therefore we need a simple statement that these are the ingredients that we need in every single library in the country- with long opening houra, clean well kept, well managed well designed premises and the funding such operations require. Each individual library should have the ability and freedom to order its own stock and manage its own resources to meet the needs of the local community

2. There is a huge swathe of public library activity that costs far more than is needed, because it is operated separately and differently in each council - and there is no advantage at all in it being done in this way. There needs to be a new national public library support body that exists to provide each individual library the access to all it needs and to provide those services which are much better operated nationally. The national services should be the catalogue, the access to electronic reference and ebooks, the supply contracts with publishers and a general resource of information. There should be just one national library management system with absolutely nil permitted local variations of process or supply. This body will facilitate, by contract, any movement of stock that is really needed- leaving no local distribution to be done by local councils at all

3. In each council there is a need for only a very small management team that ensures that each individual library operates a high standard of local management, in response to what the local people and the council wants and ensures that each library does have access to all it needs to provide the best possible service. I anticipate no more than 1- 4 people even in the largest coundil should work in such non-library based teams. It is by reduction in the cost of the existing council library management teams, that the necessary savings to save the service can be found

4. The idea of a library 'profession' should extend to embrace all those who work in local libraries - and there needs to be a new trainng to provide those skills 'on the job' . The qualification for 'professionalism' should not be academic, but practical - with the proviso that the service needs to employ people who are well educated, well informed and generous to the people they serve

Because this new service will cut out vast amounts of waste which is currently incurred by the replication of out dated management structures all over the country - and variations in procedure bordering on the lunatic, it will operate at two thirds of the cost of the existing service and be far better.

Unless someone else has a plan (other than pleading with the Government to stop in its aim to cut the deficit, to which they don't appear to be listening) - then this is actually the only plan there is.. ... oh, apart from the one that says libraries should be run by volunteers.

Posted by Perkins at 6:44 PM | Comments (3)

Comments

Posted by: Ian at October 23, 2011 10:29 AM

Posted by: perkins at October 23, 2011 10:49 AM

Posted by: James Christie at October 28, 2011 2:51 AM

October 2, 2011

The public library service is in really really deep water

If the Government won't pay for libraries, why should publishers and authors subsidise them?

The extent of the problem facing public libraries is underlined in an article in The Bookseller last week

Stephen Edwards, who is a very experienced acquistions librarian is quoted expressing anxiety about the number of publishers actually willing to supply ebooks to the public library service. He is right, and despite what one commenter on the article says, around 80% of publishers both in the United States and here are refusing to. They are making the observation that if people want to read their books, they should pay for them.

We know that children need bread and clothes - but we don't give them for nothing- why should we give them free books? Or, if they are so valuable - why should the people who produce them go hungry? Shouldn't they be paid for out of general taxation.

Librarians- especially the professional ones who run the library service, as opposed to the library assistants, one meets in a public library, a well paid- so why should an author not be remunerated fo 70% of the use of their books. Most authors earn very little.

The publishing industry, though reluctant to say so publicly, is losing patience with the idea of public libraries - and soon there will be no books

Then we will see how stupid the idea that 'libraries are about much more than books' has been - because without books, a public library has no point or purpose. People won't visit, and it only makes sense to close them down

Of course I wish all this wasn't happening. i believe, passionately and despairingly, in the importance of access to libraries- but the crisis is real -so very real- and we need to start finding some substantial and sustainable solutions

In 2004 I said that the public library service would be finished in 20 years and was pilloried by CILIP, and the then Government for saying it. But I was right then and it's time we all did some serious talking. We are almost down to the last decade - and in government terms, that isn't long.

(Bythe way, I apologise to commenters on the site - we are the victims of a huge attack of spam and Iam struggling to distinguish the idiotic from the sensible, in order to post genuine comments)

Posted by Perkins at 8:08 PM | Comments (0)