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July 25, 2006
Public libraries in Scotland
Those who have read the early entries on this blog might remember the astonishing exchange I had at a distance with Elaine Fulton who is head of SLIC and therefore in charge (hem hem) of the public libraries in Scotland
Following that episode an honourable member of the Scottish Parliament asked the Minister responsible to comment on the state of the public library service in Scotland
I was shown a copy of the briefing note that SLIC gave to the Minister which starts with the immortal line "There is no evidence that councils mismanage or over bureaucratise their libraries" It goes on to remind the Minister of the achievements of those responsible.
Well, Elaine, here is some evidence that was omitted from the brief that was given to the Minister:
I have listed below, for each council the decline in book issues betwen 1999-2000 and 2004-5 These are directly from CIPFA, the official source who give the figure as "loans per 1000 population". These are the most recent published figures.
Book lending
Aberdeen -31.9%
Aberdeenshire -23.6%
Angus -20.0%
Argyll and Bute -29.8%
Clackmannanshire -28.7%
Dumfries and Galloway -21.6%
Dundee -24.0%
East Ayrshire -19.6%
East Dunbartonshire -24.5%
East Lothian -16.6%
East Renfrewshire -26.8%
Edinburgh -26.3%
Falkirk -35.3%
Fife -32.7%
Glasgow -26.7%
Highland -9.2%
Inverclyde -24.7%
Midlothian -28.7%
Moray -30.3%
North Ayrshire -14.8%
North Lanarkshire -20.4%
Perth and Kinross -38.6%
Renfrewshire -23.9%
Scottish Borders -34.4%
South Ayrshire -29.7%
South Lanarkshire -29.1%
Stirling -21.6%
West Dunbartonshire -35.5%
West Lothian -32.9%
Eilean Siar -10.3%
Orkney -23.4%
Shetland -15.5%
Total Scotland -26.2%
The National Visits
figures are -3.2%
for the same period
No management problems here- obviously.
Elaine- there was one comment in the brief, which apparently you didn't think would be made public, that said "some of Mr Coates' comments would seem to be inaccurate"; but you didn't say which. That is a serious accusation for a senior civil servant to have made about one to a Minister and because it is unspecific it is impossible to respond. If you had asked for clarification of anything I had said, I would have answered immediately. You could have done that before briefing a Minister and Parliament in that way. My source of figures is exactly the same as yours and, errors apart, to my knowledge I have not presented anything that could be described as "inaccurate" or indeed misleading. I should, of course, be grateful if you would correct the impression of my "inaccuracy" that you have created in the mind of the Minister and the Members of Parliament. If there has been a misrepresentation of some figure, let us correct it; I am not aware what it is.
Posted by Tim Coates at July 25, 2006 8:31 PM