The Good Library Blog

« April 2006 | Main | June 2006 »

May 31, 2006

Audit Commission

The name "Audit Commission" implies serious objective analysis of accounts on behalf of the public interest. We believe that if the Audit Commission reports that a local council is "good" or "satisfactory" or even "poor", that the comment is based on consistent audited factual evidence.

Rubbish- forget it. The Audit Commission operates a scheme called CPA (Comprehensive Performance Assessment) and part of that (as a large section of what they mysteriously call the "culture block") is an appraisal of the public library service.

Last year's results, published in December, showed absolutely no relationship whatsoever between the score given by the Audit Commission and any library performance results achieved by any council. In fact in one instance the Audit Commission gave top score to a council (Buckinghamshire) that hadn't even returned any figures.

Don't think the public interest is served by the Audit Commission and its famous "CPA" -- in respect of libraries, at least, it's just a load of wool and when your local council tells you that "The Audit Commission gave us a high rating for our libraries" - it doesn't mean a thing.

You would think something within this whole area of the British Government would work as it should? Well I am afraid you would be wrong. Self preservation appears to be a far more important value in public service than care for the public.

Somebody tell me I'm wrong.

Posted by Perkins at 7:06 PM | Comments (0)

Lack of financial control in Devon

I was contacted by one of the groups trying to protest about the closure of their local library in Devon. This caused me to read the documents put out by Devon County Council relating to their planned reorganisation of the service.

If you close a library, reduce its hours, reduce the book fund or access to other facilities, then you are making the service worse. People might reasonably understand a financial case for that if you presented them with a clear explanation of how much money is available, how it is spent and what will be saved by making these changes . They have paid for the service and it is their money.

However none of the documents relating to the proposed closure of libraries in Devon contain one single figure of any kind about money. Nor do they mention other significant points about the library service in Devon which are included in the national figures for public libraries

How can councillors, who represent the people involved, have let themselves be persuaded? It is very bizarre. Why does the District Auditor for Devon allow the council to behave in this way with public funds?

Councillors and MP's in Devon should beware; Brighton and other examples have shown that this kind of mismanagement of public libraries can cost them their seats at elections

Posted by Perkins at 9:26 AM | Comments (0)

May 30, 2006

Saving Hove Carnegie Library

Christopher Hawtree writes about how the people of Hove saved their library

It is bogglingly difficult to understand that politicians can ever have contemplated closing down Hove's Carnegie Library.

This has dominated the life of the current, hung Council. The fact that it is a hung Council gave a chance to save the Library which would not have been possible in the previous New Labour council (whose manifesto did not announce its plan to close down the Library...).

It has been a long and sometimes wearisome business to save the Library, although with a great many jokes, which are essential to any campaign. The essential part of any campaign is not only to know how the Council system works - which Questiosn to ask at which meetings of whom - but also persistence. This, paradoxically enough, is a way of marshalling energies and resources, for it is far better to have a series of events and ideas than to fire off everything at once.

One thing led to another in Hove, the first wave of protests - hundreds of messages to opposition Party leaders - led to the Council forming a "working party" to look into the Library matter. There were suspicions that this was a sop, and so the pressure had to be kept up. This led to the formation of the Friends of Hove Library, to which thousands of people signed up, and then, in the middle of a cold winter, when politicians expect things to go quiet, the Friends produced the first SAVE HOVE LIBRARY posters (A4, landscape). Black on bright yellow is very effective. The first of these went up under cover of darkness in the windows of all the houses surrounding the one where lived the Councillor who wanted to close down the Library. As we surmised, she came out the next (stormy) morning and had a fit, issuing an insulting press release about them. This made it clear that the poster was a success, and so we were encouraged to get up 5000 of them. Politicians were amazed, palpably envious. Stategically positioned - in windows along bus routes - as well as in houses everywhere and in independent shops (chain-store staff speak forlornly of the fact that "company policy" means that they cannot play a part in the community). When the Planning Committee went in a mini-bus on a site visit to look at something else entirely, they were flabbergasted to find almost every house in the vicinity had a poster up.

These posters made it clear how strongly people felt about it all. I gather that the local MP was alarmed.

When we got to 5000 posters, it all had a momentum of its own (the tipping point)- everybody wanted one, and it could easily have got to 20,000 by then, but, at that point, the Council announced that the Library would stay put, and, indeed, it has now been repaired and redecorated, although that took a further two years with much debate about the way in which the place would be organised - whether the Reference Library would be ditched, Biography lost, and so on.

I think all this shows what can be done - along with innumerable letters to the local paper by many people, much badinage. The paper gave it a great deal of coverage, and the campaign also got a piece in The Times, TLS (twice), an appearance across the whole south of England on The Politics Show, and Private Eye's "Library News" appears eager for information about councils' sidelining of libraries and books. The whole place here is talking about it all, the pavements echoing to the many comments, some of them unprintable even on the web. As a result, Hove appears to be a continual foment about everything, its atmosphere one of distrust and sucpicion.

This repair of the Library has been done - in house - for a relatively modest sum. It is amazing to me that politicians do not realize the amount of goodwill that can be won by spending on libraries: books. staff, opening hours. Book readers might not be the most obviously vocal of people - until something like this happens - but they do talk among themselves, and word spreads.

When all this erupted, I had been looking forward to a quiet life, and it has been galling to have to give such time and energy to this - but what else could one do? It has been so profoundly dispirting that precious time had to be given to a matter that should never have been necessary that I have decided - heartbreakingly - not to have children. I simply cannot see a future in which people have to battle and battle for what should simply be a part of civilised life. Looking back, to the evening when seeing the news in the local paper of the plan to close down the Library, I did not then realize that the course of my life would be changed.

Posted by Perkins at 8:45 AM | Comments (1)

May 29, 2006

Mr Grimsdyke does a library makeover

This is how they approach a library makeover in Bloggington on Sea

For a Make-over

Managing a library service, like managing any retail operation is about

1. What people see; and
2. What goes on behind the scenes

What people see and experience

What people see and experience

• People who use, or would use, libraries are most interested in three things
1. What is available – the stock
2. Whether the building is attractive and suitable
3. Whether the building is open- the hours
• The makeover is an opportunity to transform these three.

Stock, Layout and Space allocation
• The Stock is a collection of categories. Every library is different and each should match the very particular requirements of its local community.
• When undertaking a makeover of stock you should start from a list of the needs of the community. Emphasise that which make your community different first: if you are in a place with a particularly interesting history, put that at the top of your list of priorities for giving space.
• The remaining space will be given to all those topics which interest everyone, but you can place more emphasis on those which characterise your area. The obvious example is the collection for small children which will be greater in a small local library which is used as a meeting place for children, than in a city centre which has a much older population .
• In this way determine how much space and emphasis you would ideally give to different subjects and categories. There are lists which show how reading habits differ and the proportion of the population, for example, that reads fiction, or uses cookery books. These will be available from your book supplier, or The Reading Agency.
• This ideal space allocation is a description of your understanding of your community, not a reflection of how many books you have on different subjects. You may have too few of some and too many of others and a makeover is an opportunity to correct this imbalance
• You should find a way of asking both your readers and “lapsed users” for their views about your stock, either in discussion or by giving out simple questionnaires. Ask some teachers and local booksellers to comment on your stock in detail. They will give you a load of good advice.
• If you have a local “Friends of libraries” group, you must involve them from the very start of discussions and get to hear what they think and feel.
• In a similar way research the newspapers and journals appropriate for your local community – particularly any that the library may not have stocked in the past but may reflect changes in the area.
• Now make a list of how much display space you wish to devote to different categories of books; and then do the same for films and music, if your library has space for these items too.
• Having allocated space to detailed categories you need to acquire the best stock to make the collections. Obviously you will be limited by your budget but this work is the most important of all
• It is surprising how few people realise that 80-90% or more of what people read (fiction and non fiction) is “back list” which means it was first published over a year ago. Good collections are predominantly back list. Don’t use your makeover money exclusively on front list. Front list adds style and fashion, but backlist is essentially more useable and useful.
• Look at each section you have identified on your plan and purchase new copies of the leading back list.. There are some titles and topics which are essential and you must have them; and some which are important but for which there are alternatives. Your library book supplier or a retail wholesaler will happily tell you what those titles are and, if needs be, you will find them in a good local bookstore or another library. Don’t be afraid of snooping round the stock of book shops with a notepad. They do it to you. (If they ask what you are doing, say you are a school teacher)

Making the building attractive and suitable

• There may be a tight limit on the funds available for a refit but however much is available, you should start by making a plan of the layout of the whole building. How much of the space you can afford to refurbish expensively can come later, but your rough plan is essential and the cost is mainly in your time and thought.
• As with your stock find a way to ask some local people, users and non users (separately) to talk about the library; what they like about it now and what they would like to see change. Do this by getting them to talk about actual visits they have made to the library or shops rather than allowing them to be hypothetical. “When did you last go to X’s shop? What did you buy? How did you find it?” - those kind of questions about past experience.
• The best way to plan the layout of a library is to make a scale drawing of the outline and use pieces of card or wood blocks scaled to match the furniture and display cabinets. This helps you to think with an open mind about the possibilities without worrying about how things are now. Every building is different but points to watch are
1. Make the entrance area as welcoming and attractive as possible. Don’t allow your visitors to feel they are being watched or they need permission to come in. Many shops nowadays place the cash points out of sight of the entrance so that people start browsing as soon as they cross the threshold.
2. Someone entering likes to have at least some sense of the scale of the room that they have come into, so make some sight lines clear to the ends of the building
3. Try to place the area for small children well away from the quiet study and reading areas so that children can enjoy themselves and people can work in peace
4. Try to divide the space into rooms like generous sitting rooms. Put tall book cases around the wall and also use them to form alcoves and quiet corners. Break up the space in this way so that it feels comfortable.
5. Don’t make service counters larger than they absolutely need to be. Don’t let them become the central or dominant feature of the library. In fact the transactions at a library counter are less complex than those at most shop checkouts, so there is no need for them to be large structures.
6. Don’t put entrance and exit check out gates, but do put unobtrusive electronic security shields and traffic counters near to the main doors. Don’t make a feature out of them.
7. Use surveillance cameras to watch any places where cash is handled and other parts of the library that cause anxiety to staff.
8. Position inquiry and lending counters where they have a good view of the library floor and avoid having more positions than necessary.
9. Use some windows to allow natural light but at the same time it is most important to make the maximum use of space available- remember your library is more useful the more stock it has in it which might help a reader find what they are looking for. If you cover windows with display fixtures, make sure the space behind is lit and accessible for making displays visible from the outside
10. Discuss the layout and go and visit shops, hotels and other public buildings for ideas:
11. There is a misconception that DDA (the disability discrimination act) applies in a special way to libraries, particularly about the height of displays. In fact it applies to all public premises including shops and everyone has had to adapt and alter premises and layouts accordingly. What you see in other premises, particularly of larger retailers, will conform to the law.
12. Having assembled your research and your opinions you should now seek shop fitters or designers to discuss the next stage (it is not normally appropriate to go to an architect)
13. Retailers often work within very tight budgets and timescales for their refit work. They all seek very competitive tenders from shop fitters and they will normally never allow their premises to be closed to the public while refit work is in progress. Retailers demand that work has to be done fast, cleanly and to a well prepared plan with minimum disruption.
14. One option to consider seriously, if your budget is tight, is only to refit the first 10m inside the library (or a limited space). This will normally include the main window areas and the most important displays. It will also include the parts that get most wear and weather. A shop fitter should be very happy to accept such a brief and a very short timetable of work. If you can do this during the retail peak season (October- January) when fitters are short of work, you may find you get a bargain price.
15. The shop fitter and their own design team will finish off your layout plan and make sure it conforms to all legal requirements and they will use it as a basis for their own planning. You can use it to rearrange fixtures further back in the library.
• Lighting a library is one of the most important tasks. The display shelves, the study areas and the windows need to be lit brightly and “locally”. Modern bookstores have addressed these problems and other retailers have learned to make their stores much brighter than they used to be
• At the same time the fittings used need to be cheap and long lasting. You don’t want to be changing bulbs all the time and if the equipment is not specified by an experienced shop designer, the maintenance cost and bother can be excessive.

Preparing for a refit

• You must make sure that everything is planned and all issues are settled before anyone lifts a hammer. Somebody has to be in charge of dealings with the builders and fitters and lines of responsibility must be clear. The timetable might change because of unforeseen circumstances, but there should be none of those at the outset.
• If the shop fitter is to work in phases (ie in one section of the library while the others remain open), there will be a need to move stock when the plan requires and that will normally be out of opening hours. Be ready for that and have plenty of people available.
• A refit is a difficult time even if everything works to plan because of the dirt and the discomfit. Be ready. Customers might complain but you mustn’t – it is their inconvenience that has to concern you. Put up plenty of notices explaining to the public what is happening and the timetable; apologise for the disruption to the service. Make sure there are clear arrangements for them about anything that might affect them.

Opening hours and membership

• To complete your makeover you need to have increased your opening hours from their previous number. Most shops these days are open at least 60 hours on seven days. They have learned to do this without increasing their cost, because for most of them the net effect has brought no increase in income. Libraries have to learn to do the same.
• Each situation is different, but the starting point is identifying any opportunities to open longer because your staff would prefer to work different hours. Councils do have all manner of strange employment practices, which are not part of contracts or legal agreements, but have become normal. Quite often a free and open discussion among staff will reveal all manner of possibilities for extending hours.
• After the re opening go back to your groups of readers, friends and non users and get them to talk about whether you have got any of the problems right. You are at the beginning of a new dialogue with your community, regard it as a start, not a finish.
• Make membership easy. After your refit you will find lots of new people, who never used the library before, want to join. It is their library and they paid for it- so hand over the cards with pleasure; give them out liberally; make your neighbours feel that you are giving them what is rightfully theirs. Make membership completely simple and instant. No rules.

Yourselves

• Whatever has been planned for stock, the building and the opening hours, the feeling your community receives is what you think of it- all of you who work in the library. You are all the librarians in their community.
• There is no better feeling than being able to help a customer: a small child find a book they enjoy reading; a person who is trying to find out how to trace a relative; someone who has been trying to obtain a book from the British Library or even an overseas academic database; or just someone who wants a good book to read.
• Enjoy it together and be proud. You do an incredibly important job.

Launch

• When people come to see your new building, aside from the day the Lord Mayor and the Minister comes, what will interest the public will be the stock. They will come looking for the books on their favourite topic and this is the moment you really have to make an impression. You can win them for life if you impress them with what is available.
• So the end of the refit is not the day the builder goes, or the dignitaries come – but the day the stock is on the shelves, clearly displayed in all its new abundance. “We are a new library”

Posted by Perkins at 9:42 AM | Comments (0)

May 28, 2006

Rock bands in libraries

One of the strangest phenomena of the public library service is that people come up with the daftest ideas and claim they are being clever. It happens a lot. You wouldn't say "rock bands in Marks and Spencers is the way forward" you would say "the right design clothes in the right sizes, is the way forward"-- but some librarians think in deranged ways. I call them "happy clappy".

Posted by Perkins at 11:44 AM | Comments (1)

May 27, 2006

Hertfordshire

This is from Geoff Laycock in Hertfordshire:

"I am heartened to hear of a successful 'save our library' campaign (in Hove). Hertfordshire County council are in the process of consulting with our local community of Fleetville in St Albans regarding the closing of our dearly loved, and much needed, one room local library.

Following the last public meeting with the Library service representatives we were subjected to a predictable 'hiding behind conflicting statistics' approach intended to avoid facing up to the fact that closing libraries is a bad thing.

In my capacity in helping to create web resources for educational and library communities I have come to understand that a lateral approach may win the day.

Take the reasons for closure: 'not enough use', refurbishment required, want to use staff else where, dda etc. and turn them on their head.

I.E. we have a very committed community with willingness and skills, let us volunteer to help with the refurbishment, give hours to manning the desk, help in publicising the work of the library and events etc.

Do you or any of your contributors know of examples of such an approach being used elsewhere? It would be fantastic if this type of involvement has happened before and succeded.That alone could be reason enough for us to convince the council to allow a stay of execution through a trial implementation.

Our local children, adults and elderly all need our Library.

Geoff, there are some examples of what you say and there are a lot of people in the same position as you. Let's meet and talk: my email address is tim.coates@yahoo.com. At the same time, if anyone else has, as Geoff asks, experience or problems, please do make a comment on here and we'll get together.

Posted by Perkins at 8:15 AM | Comments (2)

May 26, 2006

Just a matter of pride

I avoid deviating from the central theme, but I want to draw attention to a very important article on the front page of
The Times newspaper on 26 May. The leading article emphasised the point

Posted by Perkins at 9:39 PM | Comments (0)

Social inclusion

One of the most excluding and unwelcoming habits of public libraries is their method of arranging the stock by a system that only they understand: the so-called "Dewey-Decimal" system

Of course this puts people off- especially new, younger readers who are used to a world in which shop signage is intended to be helpful, not to show how clever the owners are

At last a conference of librarians has recognised this. Let's hope it doesn't take 850 years for them to do something about it

Mrs Dumpling in Barsetshire will recognise that I made the same suggestion myself that has been made at today's conference to her in my report "Who's in Charge?" several years ago - and she took no notice at all, insisting with all her friends that I had no understanding of the idea of social inclusion, public service, local government, libraries, etc. Oh really Mrs Dumpling!

Posted by Perkins at 7:34 PM | Comments (1)

Barsetshire: Recovery Centres

Over the hill from Bloggington on Sea lie the rolling vales of Barsetshire.

Mrs Dumpling, the chief librarian of Barsetshire is a kindly lady who worries that many residents of the county do not use libraries. For them she makes scones and cream teas and provides string quartets playing Haydn. In fact she has decided that the books in the library are what puts people off. There is something about their seriousness and age that is too frightening and she has installed the television and shelves full of electronic games so as to lure the ordinary people of the county in.

As a consequence the nice people of Barsetshire don't have a library service any longer. Even though they pay £25m each year. Mrs Dumpling has removed the name "library" from the door and the buildings are now called "Recovery centres"

The best thing for Mrs Dumpling is to fall in the river; but what is strangest of all this lunatic saga is why the Mayor and Aldermen of Barset allow it all to happen. I suppose they must have their fingers in the honey pot, so to speak

Posted by Perkins at 9:40 AM | Comments (1)

Devon libraries- who's in charge?

The library service in Devon fails to meet the national standard for opening hours; they fail to meet the national standard for library visits; book lending in the past 5 years has fallen by 20%; library visits have fallen by 17%. Book stocks have fallen and fallen

The management of the service are so inefficient in their operation that they pay a cost of 40% more than the UK average for each book they buy.

So faced with a budget problem do the council interrogate the management and demand improvement? No: they keep the management and close the libraries. You wouldn't believe it if this was the National Health Service.

Posted by Perkins at 8:33 AM | Comments (1)

May 25, 2006

Bradwell library

3 years ago Norfolk County Council closed Bradwell library on the normal grounds; "nobody wants it, it's out of date, society has changed" and suchlike rubbish.

Now, in the hands of the local community, it is one of the most thriving public libraries in the country

The fundamental difference is "attitude". A local council spends so much time defending its toe nails from its socks, that the people who work there have lost their contact with humanity. Management has come to mean "telling people what to do" and "waiting to be told what to do". Local government practice needs to be overhauled.

Come on Norfolk County Council- I know you have done extremely well since then-so explain what you lessons you learn from Bradwell library

By a curious coincidence this morning's post brings an invitation to a seminar at 11 Downing St on "Double Devolution" which is the expression which means giving resource and freedom to small local communities to manage their own services. It is an idea I wholeheartedly support. It is certainly how the libraries in Bloggington on Sea are operated. Mr Grimsdyke's methods are obviously admired in the highest places

Incidentally "double devolution" is the exact opposite of what the MLA have just done which is set up large suites of offices in provincial cities.

Posted by Perkins at 11:02 AM | Comments (0)

No more library fines

In one state of America they have stopped issuing "fines" for late return of library books. They added up the cost they incur of chasing people and found it came to more than the revenue.

After a while, if you don't return the books, you may not be allowed to borrow any more. Sometimes they take a credit card deposit (like hotels do)

"Fines" is an out of date word - it conveys all the things we most dislike about local councils. I think this is a good idea.

Posted by Perkins at 8:29 AM | Comments (1)

May 24, 2006

Westminster City Council

When I called for the redecoration of Victoria Library in April an anonymous spokesperson popped up very quickly to comment that the work was in hand.

Since I have observed the incomplete job they have done, no such spokesperson has come forward.

Come on Westminster: you should be leading the way, I'm sure all your council documents claim you are a wonderful council. Please can someone pass this to all the Councillors and MP's in Westminster.

Posted by Perkins at 8:53 AM | Comments (0)

Saving Hove Library

A long message this morning from the exceptional Christopher Hawtree who has fought for and saved the beautiful Carnegie Library in Hove, which has now been restored by Brighton and Hove council.

Three years ago the Council were on the point of disposing of the site, claiming that there was no need for a public library in Hove. Christopher battled and endured abuse and rudeness from council officers and councillors, but his efforts were supported by the residents of Hove and the local newspapers.

There are many lessons from his long and finally successful campaign, but the one he mentions this morning is that so many councillors have lost their seats over the matter and experienced humiliation as a result of being forced to change their policies. When we started fighting for libraries people told us "there are no votes". That is no longer true: at the recent election councillors all over the country lost their seats because of libraries. These were the places where stupid library policies have been exposed: unnecessary closures, reductions in book holdings; reduced opening hours; wrongly presented accounts and figures. Whether they were Conservative, Labour or Lib Dem, the people in their wards were well aware of the incompetent local management of the library service and they voted to say so.

Beware those MP's and Councillors in places all over the country which are currently closing libraries: your days in office are numbered. Stop listening to the lunatic advice you are receiving from you paid library officers and use your common sense. But act quickly.

Congrtulations to Christopher: if anybody should be Minister for Libraries, or Chairman of the MLA, it is he.

Posted by Perkins at 8:33 AM | Comments (3)

May 23, 2006

A beautiful library

In the first entry on this blog I observed that the Victoria Library on Buckingham Palace Road is potentially as attractive as the photo on the jacket of "Libraries we Love" featured on the left of our text.

Whatever happened to the makeover promised by Westminster City Council? I went to to look and while there is evidence of painting and decorating, the light fittings are still filthy, the place is dirty and I can see no change to the layout nor any more books than were there before.

Westminster libraries should be a shining star. But they haven't got this right- and there was a lot of help on offer, which they declined to use.

I shall explain what that help was and how Westminster should have used it in a following entry. Bloggington on Sea library service know about these things. I shall explain what Mr Grimsdyke does.

Posted by Perkins at 8:15 AM | Comments (0)

May 22, 2006

This is not a joke

It is easy to make fun of the MLA but the serious concern is that librarians, the MLA and the DCMS cannot see that there is a problem with the public library service. They cannot see that the public are dissatisfied and that there is a need to change and improve. They have isolated themselves from the public view.

They gather in their private conferences and reassure each other that they are on the right track, only listening to their own bretheren and they they return to their local councils and tell the councillors that all is fine. They ask Government, Lottery, their councils and any other funds available for more money, and then blame these if they do not produce.

There is no programme of fundamental management reform; there is no pursuit of improvement to book collections, buildings or opening hours; there is no management development programme that will produce a long lasting renovation. There is no attempt to improve efficiency or reduce waste. There is no understanding that these things are needed. There is no improvement of this or any kind at all.

We have not even begun on the road that we should have started on eight years ago when this Government laid emphasis on the important role libraries should be playing in society. There is nothing in the air that will bring about that ideal, nothing at all. Nobody has even begun to think what it needs or how to do it. That is why the need now is for dramatic action. The self satisfaction has to stop.

There is a desperate need for an immense programme of reform and renewal, but unless the current pattern of thinking is changed there is no chance at all of this happening. We have to start renewal: now.

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

The MLA colour supplement

My friend Seaumus O'Hoolihan, of Buttercup Wharf, Bloggington-on-Sea, who also thinks the MLA is an expensive national joke sends me a copy of their New Colour Supplement, called "10 nil".

Reading this brochure I cannot see for whose benefit it is written. Is it to persuade the public? Is it for people working in the service? Who has approved its publication? how many copies were sent out?

What you have to remember about the MLA is that if it closed all its ten offices tomorrow, that would not make one jot of difference to the public library service: so what is it for?

Call on your local council to ignore the MLA and see what difference it makes.

Posted by Perkins at 5:40 PM | Comments (0)

May 21, 2006

A warning

"FOR YOUR INFORMATION
This is the site of the former Adlestrop Railway Station, the inspiration for Edward Thomas’s famous poem Adlestrop. British Railways closed the Station in 1966 and all the buildings, platforms and infrastructure were demolished and removed. The land is now privately owned and you are asked NOT to trespass onto this land NOR disturb the occupants of Station Cottage with enquiries. Thank you."

Posted by Perkins at 2:02 PM | Comments (0)

Democracy at work

A politician wrote to me
"While local councils have the right to mismanage library services without interference from Government, there is always the possibility of the great credit (to a politician) to be had in a national initiative."

Posted by Perkins at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)

Public libraries and the internet

The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee remarked last year in a BBC interview:"Even the clearest, cleverest and most comprehensive website cannot hope to equal the wealth of information contained in a good reference book. The internet is most definitely not a substitute for a well-stocked public library".

As our benefactor Andrew Carnegie wrote, “whatever agencies for good may rise or fall in the future, it seems certain that the Free Library is destined to stand and become an ever-increasing foundation of good to all the inhabitants” (An American Four-in-Hand in Britain, page 283).

Posted by Perkins at 9:36 AM | Comments (0)

May 19, 2006

Wasting a lot of public money

On 20 April I wrote about the current government review of inefficiency in libraries. There is £300m of wasted effort per annum and this review was set up in order to identify the detail and get rid of it.

I said then that I suspected that the Society of Chief Librarians and the MLA had hi-jacked the process so that whatever happened the review wouldn't touch them or the jobs they protect.

I was right; I've just been sent the current presentation about the review which is being privately shown by the MLA and Price Waterhouse Cooper to the Society of Chief Librarians. The review has been reduced to a tiny fraction of its original scope and most of that relates to what suppliers do. None of it relates to the waste of money that goes on inside the library service in each local council.

The people who are involved in this review and those who direct them are too defensive, insisting that no one can help them; they will not be told of the urgency and magnitude of what is at stake. There is a need for public, or even parliamentary or judicial inquiry into what has happened to this review. Wasting people's money on this scale is not something any of us should tolerate.

This is the money we need for books, longer hours, redecorating buildings, computers etc. The wastage explains why the service is so poor.

The Chair of MLA is Mark Wood; the chief executive is Chris Batt. The library officers are John Dolan, Andrew Stevens and Sarah Wilkie. The persons responsible for libraries at the DCMS are Paul Kirkman, Jeff Jacobs. Keith Gibbins, Les Pedrick and Vanessa Brand. The members of the board of the MLA who have presided over all this include Lynne Brindley (of the British Library), Bob McKee of CILIP, Neil McGregor (of the British Museum), Sir David Henshaw and Lloyd Grossman of keyhole fame. There are also equivalents of the MLA in Scotland (Elaine Fulton) and Wales (Linda Tomos). The Chair of the project steering committee is Chris White of the LGA. The Minister is, of course, Dr. David Lammy.

The consultants for Price Waterhouse Cooper are David Padwick and Damian Riley.

Questions should be asked of all these individuals about the role they have played in the investigation of public library efficency since the initiation of the study by consultants PKF in Autumn 2004.

Posted by Perkins at 4:21 PM | Comments (0)

Bank Holiday

I just walked past my local library in Camden.

The big message in the window is "SHUT" for the Bank Holiday, just to make sure we know... thanks for the welcome.

Posted by Perkins at 4:03 PM | Comments (1)

May 18, 2006

Libraries are a simple idea

Maxine makes an extemely important point in response to Laura (Library campaigner May 15). Laura was referring to government reports like "Framework for the Future" and "Public Library Service Standards". Maxine says:

Yes, I think there is a language problem here. Users (members of public) (aka taxpayers) do not need these reports. They know that the most important thing in a library are the books. I don't understand Laura's comment -- library users don't want to "work with" libraries or "need basic knowledge about how it all actually works in real life".

They want to be able to go to a library, for it to be open, and to borrow books. Isn't that simple?

One of the most important lessons they teach you in management training schools is "If you want something to work, everybody has to understand what you are doing. Keep it simple" I agree with Maxine. There is nothing complicated about running a library. There should be no imcomprehensible jargon or reports to hide behind.

Posted by Perkins at 11:36 PM | Comments (0)

Nobody uses public libraries

There's a press release doing the rounds from the Department of Common Sense (DCMS) and a charity called LASER.

It says "People under the age of 35 don't like libraries"

Knowing DCMS and LASER as we all do we can be sure that they will call a very expensive conference (£185 each ticket) and witter all day.

I can save everybody their money and explain that the reason people under 35 don't like libraries is because libraries are awful dumps with nothing in them that are generally shut. People under 35 expect better and are not fooled by daft marketing slogans like "Love libraries".

Get a life - and do your job, Minister.

Everyone else could send £100 to me instead. I'd be grateful.

Posted by Perkins at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)

Public libraries in the Digital Age

So much time is spent discussing how libraries should 'adapt' to the digital age and the answer is, and always has been: "They need to improve"

Irrespective of which technology one has in mind, all the advancing technologies of the last decade (and the last thirty or three hundred years) have had a dominating effect on people's thirst for knowledge, information and particularly induced a desperate need to understand how other people cope and have coped with their lives. The growth in need for reading material is exponential- in every country. (look at magazine sales)

What does that mean for public libraries?: it means that if they are good they will be used more and more. If they are bad, however, they will be shunned as dead bodies. That's what happens

Instead of spending so much time debating this subject in weak poorly informed endless arguments and without factual material, we should get on and make our libraries good again. Quickly.

What does making a library good mean? Well, here's a fact: no person of any age or background in any country of the world, rich or poor, will say that removing books from libraries makes them better; except a few senior librarians in the UK.

Posted by Perkins at 8:29 AM | Comments (0)

May 17, 2006

Raging Beauty

Apologies from me to Sarah who sent in the MLA "mission statement". I foolishly believed she worked at the MLA. Sarah, I am so sorry- and I will reveal that your email address is "Raging Beauty"

Sarah says that she works in a library authority "a bit like Bloggington". Perhaps you know Elgar Atkins and Mr Grimsdyke? Is it you that has fed Perkins too many herrings from the fisherman's basket on the harbour?

I also tell everybody that you have read "Patsy; the story of Mary Cornwallis West" and reasonably ask me to explain the mystery of my email from Hawaii. Yes: Hawaii!

Posted by Perkins at 9:50 PM | Comments (1)

Removal of Reference books from libraries

A reader writes:

Last Saturday I went to my local library to consult the Medical Directory. I hoped to find an address for a doctor whom, with his wife, I had met on a recent holiday. I had earlier tried to trace him through Google and had failed. To my surprise, there was no Medical Directory, which I have consulted before but not for some time, in the library and almost no reference books - only copies of the Hutchinson Encyclopaedia, the Chronicle of the 20th century and few other volumes on the almost bare reference shelves. I was told that the removal of the reference books had been ordered. The librarian attempted to get the information for me on the internet but after some time had not succeeded; her time and mine was being wasted. Had the book been there, I could have discovered the information for myself. If reference books are removed from shelves, library staff will spend time helping readers discover facts which they could perfectly well have found for themselves if the books had been there. Not only are our libraries short of new books but those they have got are being removed.

Posted by Perkins at 9:48 PM | Comments (0)

Bloggington : How does Mr Grimsdyke spend the money?

The total funds and resources available to Bloggington library service are

£3.8m from the Council and
£0.4m from library users in the form of dvd rentals etc
Making a revenue total of £4.2m per annum
In addition the council normally provides £250,000 pa for capital expenditure

Mr Grimsdyke spends the £4.2m approximately as follows

£1m for books, other items, software and the materials for the public
£0.8m for all the costs associated with the library buildings
£1.6m for staff: apart from Mr Grimsdyke everyone else is on the crew of one library or another
£0.6m for equipment for operating the libraries
£0.2m for the libraries' share of the council costs

He spends the £250,000 capital on a rolling programme of renovation around the city libraries, to keep them all in top order.

Posted by Perkins at 11:52 AM | Comments (0)

Evasion by councillors and council officers in Hampshire

My report "Who's in Charge?" was written using Hampshire County Council as an illustration of why the library service around the country is failing so dramatically, while taxpayers continue to pay fortunes for it.

In it I said what I always say: that their libraries need more books, need to be clean and smart and open longer hours. I also went to some lengths to explain the role that the council should play bringing that about and I urged them to use their abundant funds for these purposes and not for another amateur re-invention of what libraries are for. The people of Hampshire have expressed their considerable support for what I said.

People often ask, however, whether Hampshire County Council responded to what was written and the answer is no, they didn't

You can see from the letter that follows, which was written recently by a resident, the struggle the people of Hampshire have to get their council to act in an open, democratic and sensible way. Deeply unhappy at what they see happening to the library service, they had, last year, secured a review of what is being done. Now the officers of the council are trying to wriggle out of that commitment. This whole sorry sequence is an indictment of the officers and councillors of Hampshire County Council:

Dear Councillors

SCRUTINY REVIEW FOR LIBRARY & INFORMATION SERVICE:
18th May meeting of the Recreation & Heritage Policy Review Committee
I am writing on behalf of myself and of the chairman & the committee of Winchester City Residents' Association, following our deputation to you on 17th November 2005.

We note there is an item on the Agenda to consider whether the above Review is still appropriate under Terms of Reference previously agreed, following changes in composition/ scope of the Recreation & Heritage Policy Review Committee.

Whatever these changes may be, may I say we would be deeply concerned if the Review is not carried out as envisaged.

History
The resolution to hold this review was passed at committee of 15th September 2005 and confirmed on 17th November 2005, when Terms of Reference were agreed. It was then also agreed all members of the R&HPR committee would take part; and that it should take place after conclusion of the Arts Review (which concluded before March 2006).

The Leader of Hampshire County Council confirmed in writing that the review should take place early in 2006. It is now May 2006; so we would be most grateful to know if there has been any progress in agreeing a start date.

Issues of concern re Discovery Centre policies
These were outlined in papers submitted in our deputation of 17th November 2005, on behalf of Winchester City Residents Association's committee. As stated then, we respect & sympathise with the aims behind Discovery Centre policies and understand their rationale, but find them unacceptable when resulting (as practically happens) in decreased space/funds for books. This is combined with long term underfunding of the book fund, resulting in a decreased service for genuine library users, including those on a low income which may include many pensioners, who are forced to exit to the private book sector.

We are deeply concerned about implications for teenage literacy, and well aware of the problems the library service has to face in making the service more attractive to them, and the honourable motivations of the Discovery Centre policies in this respect. We are sure a huge amount of good and hard work is being done, and pay tribute to this. But we think the shift to an IT culture has implications that councillors need to consider very seriouslyin far more depth than has yet taken place, by consultation with teachers and other informed stakeholders. These problems have never been publicly answered or debated by HCC, another reason we feel a genuine review is very necessary.

WCRA contains many traditional library users who energetically voiced similar concerns about Winchester Cultural Centre at an AGM attended by Cllr Margaret Snaith and Richard Ward in November 2005.

The same factors are still present as much as ever, viz:-
1. Hampshire County Council spends the least amount of any English county on books; it only achieves 5 out of the 10 public library service standards.
2. the Gosport Discovery Centre 'increased visitors' only by activities already supplied by (and perhaps more appropriate to) recreation and community centres but without increasing overall literacy; it saw a 13.5% further decline in bookloans, and at the cost of shallow, superficial inadequate bookstocks. This policy needs revision at Gosport and its implications are serious for Winchester.
3. Winchester Cultural Centre is shortly to be put under construction and will result in a permanently curtailed space for books: it will only accommodate a maximum of 58,000 books (as in the current building, where stock has been run down from an original library of 80,000). This is not the 'flagship library' we were originally promised.

Finally, let us say:

Consultation & evaluation exercises re Discovery Centres so far have been inadequate because:
(a) consultation in Winchester over the £7m Discovery Centre has never included any public meeting whatsoever
(b) stakeholder groups such as teachers and school librarians have been not been adequately consulted, or their views heard by councillors; some are expressing concern at the degree public libraries are being taken over by IT when so many IT facilities already exist in schools, and are attempting to renovate their school libraries to restore emphasis on books
(c) evaluation exercises, such as the Gosport Pathfinder, are conducted internally and presented by departments committed to Discovery Centre policies, whose interest is to vindicate them. When presented, results are very inadequately scrutinised & debated by the Policy Review Committee. This was clear from the meeting of 17th November 2005.
(d) questionnaires and evaluations only take in a small sample of users and bypass disgruntled or ex users, who have abandoned the Library service for bookshops because of long term underfunding of the book loan service. Most people are unaware of such surveys or consultations. Small MORI samples are no substitute for full public discussion, even though they may suit the decision making process.
(e) views of focus groups are ignored where inconvenient (City of Winchester Trust)
(f) questions frequently appear designed to get the answers wanted. For instance, questionnaires never clearly explain upfront the implications of choices, in terms of decreased support for books (eg, at Winchester the consultation exercise failed to inform the public that bookstocks had been run down from 80,000 to 58,000 and that the space allocated for books in Winchester Cultural Centre would make this run down of stock size permanent).

Winchester Cultural Centre will only provide, at most, space for about 58,000 books, while the cultural facilities brought under the one roof will duplicate and remove facilities already in place elsewhere. This Discovery Centre will soon be under construction, and the issues remain.

We would be grateful to be kept informed of progress on the issue of the Library & Information Services Review.

With thanks for your attention,

Yours sincerely

Posted by Perkins at 8:35 AM | Comments (0)

May 16, 2006

Framework for the Future

Laura says that "Framework for the Future" is a most important influence on public libraries.

This is a policy document written by the English Government which has been the centre piece of library "policy" for the past 3 years or so.

While it contains many interesting ideas I don't believe it has been an influence for the good and I think it should be scrapped.

I think it should be replaced by a programme and a policy based on Sir Gerald Kaufman's Culture Select Committee report on public libraries of March 2005

Posted by Perkins at 8:39 PM | Comments (0)

Library Campaigner

Laura Swaffield has put me straight on a few matters relating to my observations about the "Library Campaigner"

See her comment to my piece on May 14.

I'm not sure we are quite at one on this. In the magazine she lists "Framework for the Future"; "The Public Library Service Standards"; "The Shared Priorities" and the "CPA measures" as the "The big 4 influences on public libraries".

I've never met a member of the public who understands any one of those. I would have wished to see "What the public wants" as the biggest influence.

Posted by Perkins at 5:07 PM | Comments (2)

Urgent Action

For a long time I thought that there was no point in changing the arrangement of ministerial responsibilities for libraries. That, I argued, would just be the equivalent of shuffling the mouldy bananas: what was really needed was for the people in their positions in local and national government simply to do the job for which they are paid.

However in the time since I have watched the horrors of administration which currently include a huge increase in expenditure by MLA, the body responsible, at the same time as 100 or more libraries are actually closing.

Now I feel there needs to be a dramatic change:

The public library service needs to be taken out of the hands of the DCMS. Having been asked to "raise their game" by Parliament, they could hardly have lowered it further.

It would be straightforward to place responsibility for public libraries with the new department of local government and with a minister there. There has to be a way of accounting to Parliament for the service and the expenditure

The MLA and its regional offshoots should be stripped of any connection with public libraries.

A new "Library board for England" needs to be set up with management responsibility and accountability. It should report to the new Minister in the way that the BBC governors report to the Secretary of State. This body should also take responsibility for proper management training for the service. The existing professional bodies for public libraries should be replaced by a new training programme. The new library board must represent the view of the public and also contain outside professional management experience

Management of library services should remain with local government but be susceptible to much closer influence by the Library Board, by virtue of an active professional project team who will proactively offer help to councils who struggle to provide an excellent service.

The most difficult aspect of improving libraries lies within the knotty problems of management within each council. That is where the effort, help, expertise and resource needs to be directed. It does not need to be spent on regional boards, strategists and teams of PR experts.

These changes of direction need to be made within weeks if not days. The lead time for making changes is long. The public deserve no less. They cannot be forced to keep paying for the complete shambles we are watching at present. It is not just, fair or democratic.

Posted by Perkins at 8:45 AM | Comments (0)

May 15, 2006

Buckinghamshire

I feel desperately sad but I fear we have lost the battle to save the libraries in Buckinghamshire. There could be little more unjust than asking the people of the 8 villages to pay again for that which they have already paid and run the libraries at their own expense. That would be a loss.

There is absolutely no financial reason why these libraries could not remain open and be improved with the money available to the council. Yet there is not one politician of any party, civil servant or officer employed in the county or in Whitehall who has the guts, interest or honesty to sit down and work out how to save them.

They should be ashamed to go home at night: all of them.

Posted by Perkins at 10:09 PM | Comments (0)

Bloggington on Sea : Communications

In an earlier entry I explained that Mr Grimsdyke, the council accountant, sits in his tower on Grimsdyke hill watching the library service and that he uses a slide rule and a telescope to help him.

The slide rule is used to hold the window open, not just because the sun always shines in Bloggington on Sea, but also it has been the tradition that Mr Grimsdyke receives daily performance figures from all the libraries.

Every day, in the evening as they close, each library logs their day's figures with Mr Grimsdyke. He knows how many visitors, loans, computer logs, children and senior citizens have visited or used or borrowed items from each library, every day. He also knows what costs have been incurred and what orders for stock have been placed and what commitments have been made for future expenditure.

In the old days the information was communicated by semaphore or flashing beacons, which is why he has a telescope. Sometimes he even has been known to use pigeons, although these upset Perkins the library cat. Nowadays they use their intranet which has a web page for each library. Each library can see their day's performance on the graph and compare it to the performance planned in their budget.

Posted by Perkins at 7:02 PM | Comments (0)

May 14, 2006

Ealing

Stan from Ealing has been fantastically helpful and he asks me to stress the following:

"I would like to add to your wish-list that a good local library should retain its link with the national interlibrary loans system which can ensure that specialist technical reference works are available to all members of the public regardless of their location.

The initiatives taken by Buckinghamshire County Council to transfer control of the libraries to untrained local residents (who will have to fund the library from their own pockets) means that libraries such as that of Little Chalfont (if it survives at all) will be effectively cut-off from the mainstream.

See the excellent BBC Action Network website for more details on this and other library matters."

In a separate note to me Stan said:

"(People)... make a serious mistake when
they think that those who are most committed to digital media are hostile to books. This could not be more wrong. It is really only the pseudo-tech poseurs who adopt a "books are obsolete" stance. Most software and internet technicians are natural allies for a campaign to promote good libraries. They are, almost without exception, acutely aware of the technical and legal limitations of access to detailed topical source material."

Thank you Stan. Your point is made with authority and it is such an important thing to say.

"Pseudo-Tech Poseurs"! I must remember that. (What did M.L.A. stand for?)

Posted by Perkins at 4:29 PM | Comments (1)

Library Campaigner

There is a magazine called "The Library Campaigner" of which a copy was sent to me yesterday. It is edited by the excellent Laura Swaffield.

The trouble is that it acknowledges its two sponsors as Unison, the public service union and CILIP, the so called "Professional body" of librarians. That means it campaigns for librarians to keep their jobs and to hold on to control of the library service. The solution to most problems is to blame others, particularly local councils, or to seek additional funding.

That is not the same as campaigning for improvement to public libraries on behalf of the public. It is almost the opposite.

Beware "The Library Campaign" (but not Laura, who is a good person and I'm sure is glad of the money)

In a way this magazine embodies the whole management problem of the library service; it has the character of almost every discussion that takes place. Those who work in local and central government and in all the quangoes for public libraries act as if they believed the whole purpose of libraries is to employ them and to continue to employ them and it their right to determine what libraries are like and what the public should be given. They believe that they are not given enough money and it is important that they "advocate" for or "seek partnerships" who will give them more. Everyone who is not employed in the service and sees the interests of librarians as secondary to those of the rest of us: the public, councillors and the press, they regard as meddlesome and trouble makers.

It shouldn't be left to me to tell them that none of that is just and it should not be the nature of public service. The Minister and the DCMS and local Councillors should tell them that they are employed to provide the public with the libraries they need and already pay for. Managers have a duty to use the existing funds efficiently. People who ask for and even demand a better service for the money they already pay are not trouble-makers: they have an absolute right to be listened to.

It is shameful to realise that even the Minister has been told to describe ordinary people who seek improvements in libraries as a cause of trouble, as he did in Parliament on Jan 29 this year in the first debate on libraries for years.

In fact, if all this were made clear to the public they would see that the whole senior management of the library service is rather sinister and not operated in the public interest at all.

That's why I say and write the things I do; it also explains why those who manage the service are so determined not to let Ministers and Councillors hear what I say. Sadly.

Posted by Perkins at 10:29 AM | Comments (1)

Adultery

I had an email from Hawaii this morning as mysterious as any.

This blog now has readers all over the world, which is amazing. Brazil is the third country on the list.

I'll share the mystery, but first you have to read Patsy: The story of Mary Cornwallis West which was published two years ago by Bloomsbury

Amazon.com edition

Posted by Perkins at 9:35 AM | Comments (1)

May 13, 2006

Bloggington : the Daily Routine

Some time ago Mrs Sideloader, the head of the Carnegie library on the harbour front at Bloggington on Sea wrote out the daily routine that she expected of her crew.

Here is what she put

Outside

• It’s hard and takes practice but you have to see your library as a stranger sees it and make it so they find it attractive and want to come in. Some people do this naturally, some don’t; just as some people dress instinctively in a stylish way and some don’t. We are on public show- we must look smart. There are people who don’t care what we look like, but we have to dress for those who do care.
• Stand 10m away from the library and see what is there.
-The front windows must be clean, bright and arresting.
-The window displays should entice someone outside to want to come and see what is inside. Whether that be books, or a clear view of the library, it must be a stage set- brilliant, bright and inviting
-The steps, pavement and paintwork must be clean
-Any signs must be professional, clear, clean and legible.
-Many library buildings, old and new, are very attractive and were well designed. Make sure that that those qualities are retained. Don’t spoil them by bad signage or by other changes which detract from the original features. Don’t stick things to the windows (inside or out!)
-If designers have been used to improve your graphics or your presentation- use their rule book; don’t ignore their work- don’t destroy what they have thought about.
-What you see from 10m is the best advertisement for the library. It must be attractive and interesting. Just because you have got used to what is there doesn’t mean it is satisfactory

• From time to time pick your favourite 5 shops, or restaurants or pubs, go and stand 10m outside: ask 2 questions
-Do the people who own and run this place look like interesting people who will be unintrusive, friendly and welcoming; or do they look difficult and will require you to behave in a way that will make you uncomfortable?
-Have they got something inside that is worth exploring, browsing or just enjoying: or might it all be dowdy and disappointing?
-Against these two measures, give them and the library a score out of ten- it may help identify what you can improve. Ask others, who don’t work in the library to do the same and see what they tell you.
• Most good presentation isn’t about spending money- it’s about seeing yourself as others see you.

Inside the front door

• Clean the carpet and the floors every day
• Every day make sure all the lights are working : no flashing fluorescents, no dirty bulbs or deflectors.
• Use notice boards and keep them current, attractive and interesting. Use people’s material from the community, liberally- but display it tidily and neatly. People are proud of their own posters.
• Don’t put blue-tack or sellotape on walls or wooden furniture, counters etc
• Keep the service counters tidy and uncluttered. Don’t use the shelves underneath the counter for storage. Keep them clean and tidy.
• Make sure all the windows, blinds and shutters are clean.
• Make sure all the internal signs are clear, clean and well lit. There are DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) requirements about lettering. They are intended to make everything very easy to see and read.
• Any flowers or plants should be alive, thriving and looked after. No dead plants.
• Staff should be smart, clean and stylish.
• Check display posters are straight and properly hung. If possible make sure the books they advertise are visible close by.
• Compare yourself to the lobby of a really smart hotel. Look good.

Displays

• Dust the shelves on a regular rota so that the library is completely cleaned each week. At the same time, make sure every shelf display is tidy and presented in a professional manner: no books fallen over, no empty shelves because the classification needs moving.
• Put books back in the right place- clear the returns and place the new stock every day so there is no accumulated back log.
• Weed the stock every day so that as much stock is leaving as is arriving. This will allow you to keep the shelves full all the time and not have gaps in the display.
• Adjust the classification signs constantly so that they deliver their promise. A sign that says “Gardening books” should be as comprehensive collection of topics about gardening as the space in your library permits
• Use smartly prepared shelf edge labels to sub-divide a category or to highlight particular authors or subjects.
• “Don’t use signs that say “oversize” books unless you absolutely have to- adjust the shelves if you can.
• Use all the shelves making displays which are an attractive mixture of “spine- out” and “face-out”, pulling the face out books to the front of the shelf with display blocks. Use the top and bottom shelves: the important thing is to have as wide a selection as possible of the best books on the topics within a category.
• Don’t sit behind the issues desk waiting for readers: there is always the possibility to make displays more attractive.

Study areas

• Areas for private reading or study, or for using computers, are a most important part of the function of the library. Make sure that that the desks, surfaces and chairs are cleaned every day.
• Make sure that computer screens and keyboards are also clean.
• Respect people’s privacy, dignity and their work and study and make sure that other readers do the same.
• If you have comfortable arm chairs and sofas, keep them tidy and make sure they give a reader privacy- don’t gather them round one table as if they were for a group in conversation. Put them in quiet corners.

But the first and most important thing each morning : Feed Perkins, the library cat.

Posted by Perkins at 7:18 PM | Comments (0)

Publishers and public libraries

Maxine asked last night "Why don't publishers support your campaign for the improvement of public libraries?"

The answer is because they are sensible, rational, commercial folk who are not allowed to waste money. For them, in publishing terms, the UK public library service has for a long long time been a completely lost cause.

When you see that the head of Ealing library service says, effectively, from a publisher's point of view: "The way to make libraries attractive to people is to reduce the emphasis on books- by a lot" then you can see why publishers take the view that they do.

When one hears the chief librarian for Hampshire repeat with emphasis on the radio that It is just as important and stimulating for people to watch the film of Pride and Prejudice as it is for them to read the book, then in one's mind one sees the book publishers pick their coats and bags and leave the discussion. It isn't a publisher's job to persuade these people what libraries are for. They can only shrug their shoulders in disbelief and move on to more useful ways of spending their time.

In fact publishers are beginning to take up my cause (verbally), but it is only out of pity for me, and in response to my hectoring and that won't last long unless we get some results quickly.

Posted by Perkins at 8:59 AM | Comments (0)

May 12, 2006

The Da Vinci Institute

We wouldn't be a library blog without news of the Da Vinci library from Lynne in America.

Thank you Lynne.

Posted by Perkins at 9:52 PM | Comments (0)

Call for campaign support

I am very grateful to those people who kindly contributed last year to the costs of my campaign to save the public library service. Throughout the time I have worked on this project I have believed that what I do is what the public want, and that the work should be paid for by Government. But Government refuse any help and although they take an interest and often follow my line, they decline to talk to me in a meaningful way. My messages to them do not receive replies,although I do have good and sensible discussions with opposition factions and parties and a number of local councils.

I had a meeting this week with one of the country's senior librarians, a man who I like and respect. He told me that, in his view, the decade in which it has been unfashionable to talk about books in libraries is coming to an end. It is now possible to stand on a platform and say "books are essential to what we do". That is an achievement of this campaign and those of other like minded people.

The Wolf is once more at the door and I am forced again to ask for support. Donations small and large will be gratefully accepted. I would also be delighted if anyone can put me in touch with possible sponsors or funds or even universities who would support my work. My credentials are on the blog

If you feel able to make a contribution of whatever kind, send me an email and I will reply with my address.

Many thanks - Tim

tim.coates@yahoo.com

Posted by Perkins at 8:38 AM | Comments (3)

Ealing Central Library and Brighton

The people, councillors, MP's and library officers of Ealing should take note of the sad tale of the new library in Brighton. A handsome new building which cost a large fortune and attracted much praise has a pitiful collection of books. Only a year or so after opening it is the subject of derision in the local press, not just by would be users but even by the local politicians.

Des Turner the MP for Kemptown is reported in the local paper saying "all it needs is some books in it" .

Many Councillors involved in the project have now lost their seats.

The message is clearly: don't be fooled by architects and think tanks into converting a library into something they call "a democratic neutral space". Beware of brave new concepts. Use the English language in a straightforward way and keep your library

Not only is the concept wrong, but the planning lacks arithmetic. Brighton library has no book fund adequate for the size of the building; they cannot afford staff to keep it open; and saddest of all, as it is mostly made of glass: they cannot afford the window cleaners. I fear the same kinds of problems in the Discovery Centres of Kent and Hampshire and Ideas Stores of Tower Hamlets. They look fine on an architect's drawing, but five years later, they pose many problems, particularly of operating cost. Don't do it.

Local councils are for providing local services in an efficient way to their communities. They are not for inventing risky retail concepts that even a brave entrepeneur would avoid.

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

May 11, 2006

Ealing ; a test for The Tories

The plea from Ealing for help poses an interesting conundrum

Last week Ealing became a Conservative council, having been a Labour one. This gives the new councillors an opportunity to put right whatever the council officials have been putting wrong (a great deal it seems)

The Conservative Party are very keen to improve libraries and have gone to some lengths to review their policy and so on. And their priorities are the same as mine (and Mr Brown's I suspect) (and Maxine's- see below)- and not the same as those of the MLA, thank goodness.

So the problems in Ealing provide an opportunity to see if, by discussion, there is a way to put into practice the "New Tory View of libraries"

Excellent

Posted by Perkins at 10:41 PM | Comments (0)

Maxine's mission statement

Maxine says

"The most important aspect of a library is to have a wide range of books for people to read (either on site or available by order within 24 hours).
Secondarily, they can provide a quiet environment for people to read and study.
Thirdly, they can provide internet access if they really want to.

That's my twopennorth!"

It's worth more than tuppence, Maxine. The MLA costs £45m per annum.

Posted by Perkins at 10:15 PM | Comments (1)

Ealing libraries

There's a plea this evening to my friends at Libri from Ealing:

We originally formed an Ealing Library Users Group back in 1996 and successfully campaigned against the threatened closure of our local libraries. We succeeded beyond our expectation at the time and so disbanded in 1998.

We are now faced with a "modernisation" exercise which will result in our Central Library being turned by minimalist architects into a coffee bar, study area, and internet cafe with very few books.

We would be very grateful for any suggestions and contacts.

Yours faithfully,

Ealing Library Campaign

Posted by Perkins at 7:52 PM | Comments (1)

MLA mission

There's a message from "Sarah" who doesn't give her second name to say that

"The MLA's mission is "To connect people and change lives through museums, libraries and archives"

It's on their website, along with their strategic aims (Go to 'About Us' and follow link to 'What We Do' on the right)."

We can put that alongside today's Private Eye "Library News" who report John Dolan of the MLA who says that

"the three most important aspects of a library are "range, relevance and currency"." which the Eye observes is a difficult statement to understand and open to question. I agree with them: a list like that could apply to many things (today's newspaper, for example, which will be out of date tomorrow)

Both statements fail the test that I was taught to apply to writing at work which is "Would your mother understand what this means and what you are trying to say?"

To illustrate my point I offer the idea that one of the great virtues of a good library is that much it contains is not current: it is of the past.

It is sad to have to explain but slogans like "libraries connect people" (which could apply to many things: telephones connect people); and "libraries change lives" ( there are many things that change your life like having children) are of no help to anybody, least of all people who work in the library service and wonder what on earth they are supposed to be doing. A mission statement should be clear and contain an idea which exemplifies what the people who contribute to the organisation are proud of doing.

Careless use of language of the kind in these two examples is damaging.

Sarah, if you are at the MLA, you can say so, but I do like the email address you have used to send your message.

Posted by Perkins at 5:02 PM | Comments (1)

May 10, 2006

Llareggub

Llareggub is the name of the Village in Wales about which Dylan Thomas tells tales in "Under Milk Wood". That the name is intended to be read backwards is not intended to imply that the people are the same. The library service of Wales however appears to have been going backwards for some time.

Today the Welsh Assembly are to debate their library service, but I doubt if many of its members will have been properly informed about what is going on. They need a debate and they need to take some firm initiatives (and I hope they are not waiting for the MLA to suggest what those might be!)

The decline in book lending in the past five years is horrific. for a brief period there was an increase in "use" of libraries in some areas when computers were installed for free use. But that, too, has now faded away.

These figures show, for each council the decline in book lending in the past five years. Over the whole country the fall in that time has been 26%. Figures I quoted earlier in this blog about the English local elections show that falling book loans are common- but by no means universal. Wales, however, have got it bad:

(figures from CIPFA, Jan 2006)
Blaenau Gwent, a fall of 23%
Bridgend, a fall of 21%
Caerphilly, a fall of 31%
Cardiff, a fall of 23%
Carmarthenshire, a fall of 34%
Ceredigion, a fall of 14%
Conwy, a fall of 22%
Denbighshire, a fall of 32%
Flintshire, a fall of 32%
Gwynedd,a fall of 20%
Anglesey,a fall of 31%
Merthyr Tydfil, a fall of 26%
Monmouthshire, a fall of 28%
Neath, Port Talbot, a fall of 17%
Newport, a fall of 24%
Pembrokeshire, a fall of 20%
Powys- provide no figures
Rhondda Cynon Taff, a fall of 35%
Swansea, a fall of 26%
Torfaen, a fall of 25%
Vale of Glamorgan, a fall of 40%
Wrexham, a fall of 29%

My friends in Wales tell me that CYMAL (the Welsh MLA) have been keeping these figures a secret. In no way is that surprising!

Posted by Perkins at 9:02 AM | Comments (0)

Nobody knows how the MLA grows

Digging deep in my memory cells I cannot think of one act of the MLA (Museums, Libraries and Archives Council) since it was founded that has made a material difference to the public library service, that a member of the public would recognise. Nor do I believe that any local council could recount any substantial way in which the MLA had aided their effort to provide a service.

Yet, last week, the MLA announced that "through a new partnership arrangement:"

"MLA now operates at regional level through nine Regional Agencies, our strategic partners responsible for representing museums, libraries and archives ‘on the ground’, informing policy and priorities and delivering programmes." -

This is a new and expensive development as my blog about the London MLA demonstrates.

In the same week the Bookseller carried the headline

Over 100 libraries now face closure

The number of public libraries facing closure has risen to more than 100, after 27 branches in Dorset and Northumberland joined the national hit list.

To those many people who work in the MLA and the DCMS these two items are not connected. That is exactly the problem

Posted by Perkins at 7:48 AM | Comments (0)

May 9, 2006

Who is Ken?

It occurred to me that our overseas readers may not know to whom Mr Elgar Atkins refers when he says "hand the libraries of London to Ken"

American readers will recognise Ken. He is the chief traffic warden of London who has just given a parking ticket to the US Ambassador which carries a fine of $500,000. He is also London's Lord Mayor and direct descendent of Dick Whittington and Puss in Boots.

Maxine from Kingston upon Thames writes

"Well, it is all very well saying (as did your previous commenter, Mr Elgar Atkins of Bloggington on Sea) that Ken should be given power to work for London libraries, as he has been Mayor for so long but does not seem to have done much yet.

What an illiterate mission statement for the MLA -- at first I thought the acronym was MIA, for which "missing in action" would be appropriate.

What about the famous London "literary mafia" (Harold Pinter et al)? Will they throw their weight behind this goal? Melvyn Bragg?

I would have thought it would be ideal for some politician to take up as a campaign because it won't cost much. Seems to me that Tony Blair (or anyone who happens to be PM) would love to do something that is obviously good but doesn't cost them. If Tony Blair wants to rehabilitate himself, he could introduce a universal library card for Britain (let's not be small minded and stick to just London!) and go down in the history books...."

Thank you Maxine. What about one library card for the world? How about that? You'd think with satelites buzzing around as they do, that might be possible. I'll go for that.

(By the way- what is the mission statement of the MLA? Or shall we make that another competition? Entries please and I promise another grand prize from our sponsor)

Posted by Perkins at 10:48 PM | Comments (1)

MLA London refuses to lie down

Despite my declaration of the closure of MLA, London, Mr Elgar Atkins of Horatio Nelson Street, Bloggington on Sea, writes to say that last week alone MLA London advertised new jobs to the value of £97,000.

One of them is a "Workforce Development Co-ordinator" which, as Mr Atkins shrewdly observes, means there is more of the same to come.

Ah money, wherefore art thou? As libraries close the workforce develops.

Posted by Perkins at 9:50 PM | Comments (0)

Enterprise in Bloggington

Lynne Scanlon has written from America identifying some possible original library methods for Bloggington

Thank you Lynne.

Posted by Perkins at 9:16 AM | Comments (0)

May 8, 2006

Bloggington on Sea 4 : the library service in each Ward

Mr Grimsdyke's first budget sheet is a list of the wards in the city. Against the name of each he asks each library to tell him how many "active members" use their library. (He defines an "active member" as someone who has used the library service in the past year) From this information he can tell how well each ward is served by the library service. He can see which libraries the people in the ward use. This is information he can pass to the ward councillors (and the opposition parties) so that they can discuss the service with the crew of each library.

He also makes sure that each library is given the addresses of people who are added to the electoral register. These people are given pre-completed library membership cards: once a month each library arranges a delivery to the addresses on the new arrivals list.

Each of the libraries has a friends of the library group which meets every month or so and one of the items on the agenda is always to identify special needs in the local area and to make contacts with organisations like care homes, nurseries and other groups for whom the library can offer special assistance.

For the budget Mr Grimsdyke records the population of each ward, the active membership of each library, divided into children, people over 60 and all other adults. He also keeps a track on his sheet of other measures like book issues and satisfaction scores from polls that are taken. He wants to know if a ward is not getting good service.

Posted by Perkins at 9:16 AM | Comments (1)

May 7, 2006

Politics and public libraries

In England we have just had a set of local council elections. The people in most of the country have used the occasion to express their extreme unhappiness with the current government. They may hasten the end of Mr Blair's period as British Prime Minister. Certainly they have caused the realignment of many local councils and "Who's in Charge?" of public libraries has changed in many places as a result of last Thursday.

My own sense is that in 1997 Mr Blair identified correctly that the people of the country wanted better management of all our public services, particularly those for education and health care, and less posturing by self important politicians. At almost every election since then he has admitted that despite huge increases in expenditure little progress has been made towards these aims and he has requested more time to do the job.

Politicians (both national and local) should be very close to the management of public services like libraries but in our system they don't get "under the skin" of how they work and what is right and what is wrong. That is why public services don't improve: they have no leadership derived from the political system and no leadership from anywhere else. No one accepts responsibility and acts accordingly. No one says "I shall make sure the public gets value for the money they pay." The public have to be the most important "stakeholder". Those who manage the service have always to endeavour, in a professional way, to read the public mind. Purposes have to be clearly defined, otherwise efficiency is not possible

The public services are far more costly than any national or multi- national corporation and yet the management structures are unclear, responsibilities are not identified, activity and expenditure is not measured and the people who run them are not trained. The expenditure and the performance is not attended by the same public scrutiny as the smallest quoted public company: they should be. The habit of "reshuffling" ministers whenever there is a remote political crisis, is utterly destructive and exactly the opposite of responsible management.

The public library service is an obvious case. The funding comes from one ministry, but responsibility to Parliament (and the people) lies in another. Monitoring is carried out by a third and the actual management is carried out, with no meaningful connecting link to any of these by 206 local councils.

This arrangement, despite its complexity, could work if the appropriate, wise and experienced people were in the key positions; however the DCMS, which is the department which accounts to Parliament for this £1.2bn pa expenditure actually has no senior person who is responsible for public libraries. They have no data about the performance of the service; they only receive information about the service from a private body once a year, 18 months after the event. Until recently when they were forced by campaigners like me, they were not used to studying what that data says. They have, for example, no idea at all at the moment, of which libraries are likely to be opened or to be closed: even though this has been a subject both in the press and Parliament. They have no idea of how the service has performed since March 2005.

They operate a subsidiary "Non- governmental body" (and that is an extremely misleading expression: the MLA would not exist if the government hadn't set it up) which in turn has no ability to gather information and does not assess the performance of the service or identify actions that should be taken on the basis of any material information at all. At the current time the MLA is promoting ideals for the library service which are exactly the opposite of the values which the Minister is expressing in speeches. Instead of reconciling their approach, both parties simply deny the difference in the hope that the public can't or won't read what they have said

Local council library services are run with extremely variable quality of management and no help, management training or sense of direction of the kind that is needed for improvement. They have little analysis of performance and expenditure presented in a manner which either councillors or the public could understand. This has been the finding of endless reports, including particularly several by the Audit Commission and last year's Select Committee of Parliament. Nothing has been done as a result of any of these: which is in itself a clear failure of the structure of our public service.

I doubt if there is a council in the country which has made a serious attempt to address to the recommendations on public libraries made in Audit Commission reports since 1998, the Select Committee report of 2005 and the PKF report of 2005. When one asks how effectively these matters could be addressed in a council, one is generally told that councils have no effective method of taking in advice other than that which is home-grown; even if the advice is obviously sound and helpful. "Councils don't work like that" is a pathetic excuse that is so often used to explain manifest incompetence, miscommunication and inefficiency.

Public services won't improve until these matters are addressed properly and in a detailed manner. It is true that libraries would be used more if they had more books, were open longer and were welcoming buildings; but they will fall again into decline if we don't at the same time remove the problems that caused their decay in the first place.

We have not yet begun to solve the problem that was posed in 1997: which is to give value and quality in return for the large expenditure the public makes. That is not fair and not acceptable, and that is why the need for action is now extremely urgent. The public were right to say what they did on Thursday. I agree with them.

Posted by Perkins at 9:45 AM | Comments (0)

May 6, 2006

Budget time in Bloggington

The Italians invaded Britain 2000 years ago bringing Pizza, Spaghetti and Balsamic Vinegar.

The place they landed was Bloggington on Sea and it is for this reason that the city of Bloggington has a tremendous sense of history and very good Italian restaurants.

Ethelred Grimsdyke, ancestor of the current council accountant gave his name to Grimsdyke hill from which he saw the invasion fleet land and it is from Grimsdyke tower that young Mr Grimsdyke keeps a tenacious eye on the city's fine public library service

Each year, on the first Monday of September Mrs Sideloader, the captain of the crew of the Carnegie library on the dockside, climbs Grimsdyke hill for the first day of "boojits". "Boojits" is the ancient religous ceremony in which council pass pieces of paper with figures on from desk to desk day after day. Normally, during the ceremony of "boojits" no other productive work takes place. It generally lasts between September and the following April but has been known to go on longer

Mr Grimsdyke, however, has a very practical approach. He follows the same routine each year

The priorities for using available funds are

First priority: Work out if we have enough libraries: providing a library service for everyone in the city is the first priority. Buildings are better than mobiles; but mobiles will be used if there is no available and suitable premises.
Second priority : For each library the aim is to have a crew that can open every day until 10pm. Each year we work towards that object and we are well advanced to it.
Third priority :There has to be sufficient book fund to keep every category of stock in every library up to date and relevant.
Fourth priority: The council has a rolling programme of building redecoration and equipment renovation.

Mr Grimsdyke does listen to special pleading for other activities, but it is the pursuit of maximum quality of service for minimum cost against these 4 priorities that occupies his planning.

He runs his office with a telescope and a slide rule, for reasons that will explained on another day

Posted by Perkins at 8:59 AM | Comments (0)

May 5, 2006

Libraries in London: MLA London : Prize on offer

Yesterday I reported the closing down of the "London Libraries Development Agency". This evening I can also report the closing of yet another agency which could have been working to improve the library service in London but which appears to have done nothing throughout the whole of its existence. This is called MLA London. Whatever this outfit was supposed to do I found an explanation of the closure on its (now defunct) website which says

"25.09.05
How do archives, libraries and museums form meaningful and sustainable relationships that meet the needs of their local communities?

There are several existing models of best practice in community participation for the archive, museum and library sector. These initiatives tend to address the main processes involved in developing service delivery to specific community groups.

However, evidence suggests that there is a gap between what archives, libraries and museums understand by community participation and what are the realities of community need"

My sponsors are offering a prize for the best translation of this statement into English (or any other language). I think it means "Please pass the smoked salmon sandwiches".

They had fine offices, too, in Clerkenwell, which is very smart.

Posted by Perkins at 7:01 PM | Comments (1)

May 4, 2006

London Libraries Development Agency

My comments about one library card and one library website for London, longer opening hours for libraries in London and London libraries being open on bank holidays are the kind of matters that could have been addressed by the London Libraries Development Agency whose lavish office suite overlooked Leicester Square and the National Portrait Gallery. Their inactivity in these areas might lead one to believe that their agency must have closed down. Well at least that would be a substantial saving for the taxpayers of London.

If it were true this would be a similar action to the closure of the DLA : Delay, the department of libraries and archives. They closed down some time ago and still continue to pay their officers large salaries, expenses, pensions etc.

Maxine from Kingston writes with perception "Well, what is their job then?" (see her comment below- thank you, Maxine!)

Elgar Atkins from Bloggington-on-Sea has written to say "The answer is to give a London Library authority to Ken.. This is one area where he could make a difference and make himself a hero". Thank you Elgar! I see you have been blogging on our sister website "Love Libraries". We are honoured.

Posted by Perkins at 8:15 PM | Comments (1)

May 3, 2006

Bloggington on Sea 2 : Perkins the library cat

Others who write about Bloggington on Sea talk about murder, swindling, drug smuggling, bodies on the beach and a host of seashore crimes. I just see it as a place where the sun shines all the time and you can dangle your feet in the warm lapping waves off the dock side.

On May 1, I described how the libraries plan their own staff requirement by anticipating the times of day and days of the week when different numbers of staff are needed in each library. These nautical folk describe each library as having a crew. Nasty global retailers call these groups teams; in boring reports I have described them as "people who work on the opening rota". "Crew" seems to me a very good word for a fisherman's town: each library has a crew and it comprises a mixture of people who have different experience, like to work different hours and have different home needs. In other words a "crew", by working together, can work out how best to staff the library to meet the needs of the public.

When they wanted to extend the opening hours into the evenings, this was done by a crew discussion: they found that there were a couple of the less aged who preferred to work afternoons until 10pm and do their drug smuggling in the mornings. By recruiting a couple of like minded friends to work part time and cover some nights, they were able to add 40% to their opening hours with just 10% more staff time. The godless and students among them even quite like working on a Sunday.

Of course all the libraries are ruled over by Mr Grimsdyke the council accountant; and when he says "5% less cost" which he regularly does, the crews generally find that they can cope by shifting and manoeuvring and using less hours from the part timers but without reducing the opening hours for the public. And anyhow they knew he was coming round, so they allow themselves some room in the plan that they let him see.

The crews have learned that by having a few friends who are happy to work hours "as and when" it is possible to cover for days off and school plays with a regular, well informed staff who are familiar with the library stock and the community (just like a pub). In the Carnegie library on the harbour they even have a library cat called Perkins (who the old salts have called "Diesel"- and that is an ancient naval yarn)

The important thing is that all the people who work in these crews are called librarians and they are all "professional" - even Perkins.

Posted by Perkins at 8:22 PM | Comments (0)

May 2, 2006

Education, education, education: communities communities, communities......

From the Lancashire Evening Telegraph tonight:

In loving memory of a library
By Charlotte Bradshaw

THE LIBRARIAN of a popular Rossendale library left a heartfelt final parting shot on the day of its closure.

Catherine Jobling put up notices in Waterfoot library window which read: "In memory of Waterfoot Library, died 29th April 2006, leaving behind a devastated community."

In a further notice she added: "Thankyou for all your kind words. I will miss you all. Waterfoot is a great community with very friendly people. I wish you all future happiness."

Library users made a surprise presentation to Catherine before the library closed to thank her for providing an excellent service at the Bacup Road venue.

People in Waterfoot said the signs left in the window summed up the general feeling of disappointment and anger in the community following the popular library's closure.

It sparked a storm of protest from users of Waterfoot Library who attacked the decision by Lancashire County Council and said the closure would deprive the town's people of accessible book lending facilities.

However despite hundreds of protesters signing a petition to prevent the library's closure the doors were finally shut to the public on Saturday.

It is one of nine libraries closed across the county.

Today Steve Taylor, owner of Steve's Quality Fruiterers, Bacup Road, who campaigned to keep the library open, said: "It was a very sad day when the library closed on Saturday but I think the message that Catherine has left in the window gets the strength of feeling across in this community that Waterfoot is devastated by the loss of yet another service.

"The local elections are looming and the councillors are worried because of the timing of the closure and so they should be. People in this community are absolutely outraged that we have lost this service.

"Waterfoot is thriving. It's going to get a new school just 200 yards away from the library building which would have been used by those pupils. It's not been thought through properly and the people of Waterfoot won't forget."

Steve, whose son Bradley learned to read at the library, launched the petition despite county library bosses defended the decision to axe the library, claiming better facilities exist nearby.

County Coun Hazel Harding said the library was no longer viable as not it did not have enough users.

She added: "It's sad because I love books and libraries and I have much regret but I want to see us expand the libraries at Rawtenstall and Bacup to make them more accessible to people.

"Whitewell ward Tory councillor Marlene Crosta added: "I haven't seen the signs but I am sad for Waterfoot and for the librarian who did a good job. We had a petition and did try to save it because I love the library the majority of people where I live are elderly and users of the library.

"There is still a need for a library service and we need to ensure the mobile library comes to Waterfoot."

Posted by Perkins at 9:03 PM | Comments (0)

Long Island libraries

There's a message from Lynne Scanlon in America

"In New York the small towns of East Hampton, Amagansett and Montauk on the end of Long Island have beautiful libraries, their hours are reasonable and their selection of books excellent. Still, they seem to have to be more than "just a traditional library" these days in order to remain viable. (I hate that word, but you know what I mean.) Sure, there are people amid the stacks and people of all ages borrowing books, as well as the usual folks who drift in to read a free morning newspaper or to park Grandpa for the afternoon, but being just a library in the old-fashioned sense of the word isn't enough. If it were, why would the libraries be attempting to become community centers, showing films and inviting guest lecturers, for example? It seems the libraries feel they need to be "multipurpose" to remain relevant and important to the entire town--students and nonstudents, readers and nonreaders, alike."

I think many people would say the same thing here, Lynne, but the point we are at is that many of our libraries here don't any longer have decent collections on display, they aren't open long enough and many of the buildings are in such poor state that they aren't at all welcoming or safe. Libraries have always been places that did much more than just hold a stock of books and newspapers; good ones have always played an active role in their local community (small or large) and that embraces a huge variety of different services and events; nowadays in order to study you often have to have a computer on your desk. Nevertheless if the library doesn't do its basic job properly it is like a railway station without trains, a hotel without bedrooms; in other words it could be any old community building and not a library at all. Events and films don't make a poor library into a good one: neither do sofas and hot coffee.

It's the restoration of the basics that we are arguing for over here. There aren't many places in the whole country about which I could write, as you have, "these towns have beautiful libraries, their hours are reasonable and their selection of books excellent", I wish I could.

Posted by Perkins at 7:23 AM | Comments (0)

May 1, 2006

Bloggington on Sea 1

It's rare but there are some library authorities who have read "Who's in Charge? Responsibility for the public library service" and asked me what they should do.

In a series of these blogs I shall try to explain the steps that I recommend to planning a better library service. We shall call the authority Bloggington on Sea and let us imagine it has one central library, nine branches and a book bus.

The first steps are about working out how many staff are needed to operate the libraries. You can create a picture of the staffing requirement by recording several days activity in each library. In each library (or on each floor or level of a library that is larger) every twenty minutes count and keep a record of the number of visitors present and how many loans or enquiries of different kinds took place since the last measure twenty minutes before.

If you plot these results on a graph you will be able to see if there is a pattern to the use of the library during the day and on different days of the week.

Having drawn these graphs it becomes possible to draw conclusions about when you need people to staff the library. You may find you need less people up to say eleven o'clock and more thereafter, or you may find another pattern.

Of course these patterns change at different times of the year, for example in school holidays, but by drawing out the use that you predict you will see how might be able to organise staff hours to fit the needs of your community.

Posted by Perkins at 8:48 PM | Comments (0)