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October 31, 2006
Wringing hands
As Helen Rumbelow predicted in her article in The Times, she caused much wringing of hands. The paper has printed 3 letters which I have reprinted below.
The first is from Desmond Clarke who makes similar comments to those made on here by Miriam Palfrey
The second is from David Bradbury who is a senior Librarian (which he didn't declare to the letters editor) and who thinks the press should be silenced
The third is from John Dolan, who persists in making up policy for libraries for which he has no authority or mandate and which bears no relationship to the wishes of Government or Parliament and certainly of no section of the community I have encountered except his own office and the Society of Chief Librarians-- sometimes known as the Society for Closing Libraries.
My own view is different again and it is that the library service needs to make itself attractive and useful to Helen Rumbelow and commentators like her. It can just plead that it is worthy and useful to minorities. They cannot blame the press for reporting what they see.
One fact I deduced from David Bradbury's letter but hadn't noticed before is that, in London, each library visit is subsidised to the cost of £4 by taxpayers and each book loan costs £5. That is an expensive service.
Desmond Clarke's letter
Letters to the Editor
The Times October 28, 2006
In the stacks
Sir, Helen Rumbelow (Comment, Oct 26) forgets those who can’t afford to buy every book they wish to read — and those who have no wish to do so. Last year 330 million books were borrowed from our public libraries and many others were used for research and study.
Several government-sponsored and independent reports have highlighted the issues in our public libraries: the 20 per cent decline in book stocks, inadequate opening hours, poor marketing, continuining inefficiencies and 1,000 buildings that are unfit for purpose.
The service is desperately in need of leadership and a taskforce to help the 149 separately managed authorities to provide a comprehensive and efficient service as defined by the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964.
The better-managed authorities have shown that the demand is as strong as ever for libraries which have good stocks, are open when people can visit them and are welcoming places to visit. And they don’t need their names changed. They just need to do their job well.
DESMOND CLARKE
Chairman, LIBRI
The Times October 31, 2006
Wonderful libraries
Sir, The library is far from dead (Comment, Oct 26). In London more than 50 million visits are made to public libraries every year, and more than 40 million books are borrowed.
Public libraries are among the most used and appreciated of British public services. They provide a lifeline to learning, reading, information, entertainment and activities for children, the elderly, the less well-off and the millions without broadband.
If we repeatedly promote the myth that they are dying, public libraries will eventually suffer the fate of municipal swimming pools and rural post offices. Millions of people love their libraries: let’s hear more of their views than those of the prophets of library doom.
DAVID BRADBURY
London EC1
Sir, Libraries are changing and do not need to link solely or uniquely with books to serve local people with the services they want. The Idea Store is just one example. All over the country people are discovering that libraries put on programmes of exciting activities — from literature to performance, learning to community history. We know that libraries have always been about learning, reading, information and inspiration — it’s just that in Victorian times this could only be delivered with books. Now we can add to that the new technologies like the internet, e-books and online publications. And in the library, whether local or virtual, growing numbers of people continue to discover themselves, meet other people and connect with a world of possibilities.
JOHN DOLAN
Head of Library Policy Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
Posted by Tim Coates at October 31, 2006 10:25 PM
Comments
The other day, in order to write an article, I went to a far-flung library to get the one copy of a twenty-year-old book in the area about a gangster, and elsewhere for one by a record producer. Full of interesting material, none of which is on the internet, and all this helped greatly with the article.
If journalists think that the internet means that there is no longer a need for libraries, then there will be no newspapers left.
- Before someone comments that these titles will soon be re-published by Google book search, they won't unless author and publisher respectively sign over the copyright. Google will making tempting and informative indexes and snatches available which should whet the appetite to go and seek the whole- Tim
Posted by: christopher.hawtree at November 1, 2006 8:11 AM
Tim, I don't think that David Bradbury thinks the press should be silenced. He believes, like myself, that people (esp Ms Rumbelow) should really think about the value that the Library has in society and who else it effects, aside from themselves! Everyone has their opinion but when that 'opinion' is being read by millions of people it is important to really be sure about what you are talking about as you will get a backlash which has been the case in The Times.
Love the blog - look forward to meeting you in the next few weeks (you are speaking at one of my Lectures at City Uni).
Katie
Posted by: Katie Collis at November 6, 2006 12:56 PM
Katie
Thank you- I look forward to meeting you!
But if Helen Rumbelow had reviewed a restaurant you wouldn't say she had to talk about the value of restaurants in society or the the nutritional content of her supper. You want to know how she thinks, that's her job. If she went into a book store or a music store, and she persuaded her editor she wanted to write about it, no one would expect her to promote their wider role in society- unless there was something interesting to say
I think that special pleading is the destruction of libraries-- they have to be needed because they are useful and exciting-- not because we used to need them a long time ago. Tim
Posted by: Tim at November 6, 2006 1:13 PM