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November 10, 2006
Delivery vehicles
..are not what you think they are. The Duchess of Malfi is one of the regular commenters on the site - and in the past she has confessed that she has tried to find fault with some of the things I say, which is absolutely reasonable.
However today she has sent this, and I think she knows that not only I, but all other thinking earthlings, are going to agree with her sentiment....
"Don't worry, Tim - PWC (Price Waterhouse Cooper, consultants) have just produced a new report that will solve all the woes of the country's libraries. It is called "Developing the local government services market to support a long-term strategy for local government" - you can find it on the DCLG (The Government Department of Local Government) website. It really is very poorly written, but don't let that put you off - inside it has such gems as this:
"Public Library Service – where an alternative perspective focused on the optimum way of commissioning lifelong learning outcomes for local communities, rather than on traditional “bricks and mortar” library services, creates opportunities for radical new thinking on delivery vehicles within this sector."
Splendid. Bricks and mortar are clearly old hat, and books don't even get a mention. Instead we can commission lifelong learning outcomes!
And you wonder why Chief Librarians seem to have lost the will to live?
Another one:
"Such a shift in mindset will create opportunities to challenge the current pattern of service delivery, by encouraging a range of alternative providers, expertise, and new ways of working for different parts of the service, maximising resources on frontline delivery, and making the services much more responsive to existing users, and bringing in new users."
Nonsense. Thousands of hours will be spent by managers inventing new ways to run a service that will result in no net benefits to readers.
Bah."
Posted by Perkins at November 10, 2006 6:04 PM