« From Nick Arnold | Main | Refrain »
July 4, 2006
Tribute to Aileen Cahill in Richmond
Here is support for Aileen Cahill the head of the library service in Richmond upon Thames
For the past two years I have criticised Richmond Library service because they have too much overhead cost and they haven't addressed the management problems, the book stocks and the presentation of the libraries. I had analysed the situation in some detail and I knew when I made those comments that without the support of the council it is impossible to resolve those issues. But I argue that from the public's point of view, it is no excuse to say that improving efficiency within a local council is difficult, even though it is true. Nobody else can, if officers of the council don't.
Nevertheless there can be no doubt that the service has not only improved but also done as many of the right things it found itself able to do. Visits and issues have been rising, the properties have been improved. Book purchasing has increased and the Richmond libraries have broken a long tradition of closing on Mondays to open seven days a week. Particularly and truly impressive has been the way that the library service has grasped the opportunity presented to them by taking part in "Love Libraries". Listening to Aileen Cahill give radio interviews and reading her comments in the press show a person of real energy and belief in what she is doing and a commitment to books that shames people who are better paid and have more influence than she does. The evidence is to be seen in the new smart Richmond library.
That is leadership of the kind the library service needs. For those of us who have struggled to see books and reading genuinely and properly brought back to the heart of the library service Aileen's observations in the Guardian this morning make one feel that at last the campaign is beginning to bear fruit. Thank you to her and to all her colleagues.
Posted by Tim Coates at July 4, 2006 10:54 PM
Comments
An OBE for Aileen Cahill then.
Posted by: susan Hill at July 5, 2006 8:45 AM
Yes it's encouraging to see the turn around in Richmond but the real challenge for Aileen and her staff will be how they sustain these improvements. As the article in the Guardian mentions the "transformation cost £90,000" the national picture is one of "decades of underfunding" and "up to two-thirds of a billion pounds... needed to wipe out the backlog of building repairs and refurbishments."
In my own authority we're facing a 35% cut in our book fund!
Posted by: anon at June 16, 2007 11:12 AM