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March 27, 2007
Responsibility for Libraries has been taken away from Mr Lammy
A student of public library policy can observe
- The MLA has abandoned its attempt to produce new style of Public Library Service Standards. These were to have been replaced by "Impact measures" this month, but that whole project has now been withdrawn. There will evetually be new performance measures of some kind but the MLA and DCMS won't set them. They will be set by the Department of Local Govt.
- A report commissioned by the Department of Local Govt (published by PwC) explains at length that none of the initiatives of the past decade from "Best Value" to "Framework for the Future" to the Public Library Standards has produced an "acceptable and workable model for public libraries"
- The same report also says clearly that the observations made by the Culture Select Committee of a service in "distress" are correct and have not been addressed by any action of the DCMS or MLA or anyone else, that followed.
- So past policy has been written off; there is no current policy and policy for the future will be determined at some point in the next 2 years in line with the Government white paper on "Communities". Libraries will form a tiny consideration within that-- but it will be determined by the Department of Communities and Local Government (Ruth Kelly's ) and not by the DCMS (David Lammy's)
- The MLA is redundant with respect to public libraries, which confirms the view that has been created by their repeated attempts at producing new policy documents in the past few months (Blueprint; The First Smith Institute Policy; Impact measures; PWC supply chain --etc)-- that they are working without direction from any ministerial office.
- The walls of Jericho have fallen and there is now nothing left.
- This is victory of a kind for those of us who have long called for sensible policies instead of daft ones; however it is a wasteland in which standards of libraries may fall even more quickly than now
- That absence of purpose can easily be filled by returning to Ockham's razor as was done on this blog in January.
- The triumph has occurred because of diligent and honest journalism and noble individual efforts by individuals in many places. The country owes them all thanks.
PS - This is not the kind of change will be accompanied by a press release! Don't expect to see it on a Government website. But it is true nevertheless
Posted by Tim Coates at March 27, 2007 8:50 AM
Comments
Is this the first sign of spring?
David Lammy did himself no favours last summer by his speech at the Royal Society of Literature.
All spin - and now he has been spun out.
Posted by: \Christopher Hawtree at March 27, 2007 10:59 AM
What about "Better Stock, Better Libraries" and the £22 million in savings to be made? What about regional hubs and e-market places? Is it all a quintessence of dust? This delights me not!
Posted by: Anthony May at March 29, 2007 10:15 PM
The government seem to want libraries to be 'community centres.' For which purpose books aren't so important.
What's needed is a balanced approach. No more of this either-or, books-or-PCs thinking. And much less one-stop-shoppery. I'm not against efficiency, but sometimes putting it all under one roof is worse as expertise is lost.
Posted by: Pete Smith at March 30, 2007 2:49 PM