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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 Tim Coates at May 22, 2006 8:08 PM