« Adultery | Main | Ealing »
May 14, 2006
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 Tim Coates at May 14, 2006 10:29 AM
Comments
I'm glad you (still) think I'm a good person Tim – I think you are, too, but you don't half get things round your neck sometimes.
In this case, The Library Campaign isn't influenced by ANYONE. CILIP just gives me permission to re-use some of the stuff that goes in their own magazine. Unison gives us some money – and since nobody else does at all, we're not about to turn it down.
Neither Unison nor CILIP has ever, ever had any influence on what The Library Campaign does. Ever, ever, ever.
Though mind you, at local level Unison represents frontline staff (as opposed to the managers you are at war with) and these people often work with library users to improve services, fight closures (etc).
You won't help library users much, Tim, if you try to turn them against useful resources like The Library Campaign (www.librarycampaign.com).
PS: I'm not 'glad of the money' working for TLC because I don't get paid. Nor does anyone else.
Posted by: Laura Swaffield at May 16, 2006 3:16 PM