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July 5, 2006
Refrain
I thought, for the benefit of new readers on the site, I should go back and re-state what this blog is about.
Firstly public libraries are important in communities, both large and small. They need to be well stocked with good collections of fiction, non fiction, reference works, new books and old books; newspapers and reading material and information in abundance in whatever form it comes. They are also places of private study and that often means providing access to the internet at work stations and desks. The detail of that provision should lie in the hands of the community in which the library stands- but local councils should provide proper funding and ensure community needs are met to the highest standard. They need to be open as long hours as it is safe to be so and be well presented clean buildings. When staff are available they should be knowledgeable, helpful and pleasant. They should provide particularly for the needs of children and those who study at any age and, of course, they should go out of their way to cater for anyone with any disability. A good local library should reach out to those in its area who are not easily able to visit it.
Secondly, libraries are better if the funds they have are used efficiently. Access to national collections, to book suppliers to property management, to databases and national libraries and use systems for information retrieval which are the best that are available. In these and similar matters there is no value in individual libraries inventing or researching their own individual solutions and economies. There is a need for one national agency- not to manage the library service- but to support individual libraries in their quest for excellent efficient local service. Councils should also act, not to provide management that burdens their libraries but to enable their local libraries to provide the best possible libraries for all who need them, in their communities. The most important staff in the service are those available in a library to keep it open and provide help to readers who need it.
In the pursuit of these things I harrass Government departments, councils, national and regional bodies and quangoes who currently hold responsibility for or influence over the public library service and often seek to shame them for their ineffectiveness and expense. We pay, across the UK, over £1.2bn for the library service- and, whether or not we have a current requirement, we are entitled for that amount of money, to see an extremely high standard of service.
For the most part, sadly, many of these simple requirements are not met in many partsof the country. That is why there is a need for people to be aware that the problems of the library service are not shortage of money, nor of a national desire to have a service (in the lowest and highest places), but rather that those funds and that desire and somehow fail to be translated, by those who have responsibility for doing so, into reality.
Throughout these messages I try to offer my (and my friends') management experience of how these problems could be resolved. We have done this for a long time in the face of tough ear plugs and waving arms of resistance. It would be far better for those who do not listen to bury their pride and come purposefully to the table to talk, but I have learned not to hold my breath while we wait, nor to believe any of the promises of good intention and action which we hear almost every day.
Posted by Tim Coates at July 5, 2006 12:57 PM
Comments
Tim,
A suggestion from Josephine Public.
The dreaded Dome, I think, would make a suitable depository for donating unwanted books of every kind.
The deputy prime minister, who seems to have lots of spare time at present, and has always taken a keen interest in the Dome and it's future. Casino Royale? Perhaps he could be made responsible for the donated books being allocated to needy libraries?
Hmmmmm,on second thoughts, not a good idea, baring in mind his "track" record on management.
Posted by: Margo Harker at July 5, 2006 8:54 PM
Here in Conwy, North Wales, our pathetic excuse for a library service is about to be devastated at the hands of people who would surely be happier running a branch of Starbucks. These so called librarians (barbarians?) admit that spending on books is already about the lowest in Wales (£1.30 a head) and the provision of libraries well below the Welsh Library Standards yet they've just advised the Council to close 6 of our 13 libraries! Ironically for a "Library & Information Service" they are refusing all FOI requests for documents supporting their closure plans. I note that in a recent article in Readers' Digest Tim identifies bloated management costs and minimal spending on buildings as a curse blighting public libraries and so I've researched Conwy's costs. Tim reckons successful book chains spend roughly equal parts of their budget on each category, books and staffing, and deplores libraries that spend as much as "55 percent of budgets on wages and top heavy management and as little as 11 percent on buildings". Conwy's official figures are 64 percent and 1 percent respectively! Despite the best endeavours of library management to intimidate junior staff into keeping quiet and toeing the party line their embargo on information is leaking like a sieve. Staff with integrity have provided all sorts of facts and figures but we desperately need support and publicity. For more info you can call me anytime on 01492-547590.
Posted by: Christopher Draper at June 21, 2007 9:31 AM
Tim, thanks for giving us all some hope with your recent work at Hillingdon.
Walthamstow's libraries are being defended by the St James Street library campaign, see
http://stjamesstlibrary.wordpress.com/
and as part of an innovative "Trail of Destruction" event event on Sunday 9 September 2007, see http://www.e17arttrail.co.uk/index.php?page=9&passed_index=141.
Come and join us. All welcome!
Posted by: Walthamster at August 30, 2007 12:31 PM