« Delivery vehicles | Main | Newington reference library »
November 11, 2006
Closing libraries in Coventry
This article in the Coventry paper has a familiar ring: the library officers of the council are closing a library and are unable to explain in clear language the reasons why
It seems to me that if you are genuinely going to improve the service by opening a new library (as would be the case with a new hospital), you have to open the new library first and then persuade local people that you have in truth provided a better service. That sets the challenge.
As was said at the meeting about Elephant and Castle the other evening, when a council promises that even though it is closing a facility down it intends to open a new better one in three years time, then absolutely nobody believes them. Councils have no credibility, especially over the matter of public libraries where there is very little visible evidence that the people who run the service know what a good library is
Councillors should not be surprised when the public gets cross with them over public libraries. The reports and documents that are produced by chief librarians are so incomprehensible that there is no trust and there is absolutely no need for this.
Posted by Perkins at November 11, 2006 9:23 AM