The Good Library Blog

An excellent piece of work - none of it new to regulars readers of goodlibraryblog, but pertinent and well-informed.

Alas! you made no reference to the many, many, many initiatives - thrusting, IT based, multi-media - which MLA spokespersons and chief librarians are wont to quote, when invited to comment on the deficiencies of the services they are responsible for.
Indeed, one fears that by the time these inititives come to fruition - like the OPAC-linking, all-singing, all-dancing Library 2.0, here will be no books left for enthusiastic readers to be linked to - then we'll be really glad of those online secondhand booksellers!

Fight the good fight!

Verity

Like Bunter on the starting blocks, the MLA have already replied:-

Thursday 7 June 2007

Readers Digest: Letter to the Editor

Public libraries – more than meets the eye

Sir, I am writing in response to your article “Our Libraries: Where Has All the Cash Gone”. The MLA urges local authorities to provide appropriate resources to meet the needs of local communities for learning and leisure. People made over 290 million visits to libraries in 2005-2006, borrowing over 275 million books. Staff answer almost 50 million enquiries from the public each year. They provide over 30,000 computer terminals, with access to trusted online resources. Libraries run thousands of reading groups, hundreds of local history groups, homework clubs and family activities every week. The MLA is driving improvement, and consulting with others to set out the next stages of public library development. Readers comments are welcome. Please email John Dolan: blueprint@mla.gov.uk

John Dolan, Head of Library Policy, Museums, Libraries and Archives Council

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-- so that's all fine, then!! that gets the MLA off the hook !

- Do you think Mr Dolan actually read the article or is this a standard letter that the MLA Press corps sends out to any newspaper that crosses their path - so to speak?

Yet again the MLA flagrantly mis-uses statistics. It is in the habit of trotting out all this talk of "millions" of this and that.

But what is 275 million? That is just over four books per person a year.

If Mr Dolan could speak of 500 million, we might be starting to get somewhere.

And the way to increase book-issues, is more books, especially those hard to come by elsewhere.

Space is not a problem. More readers means more borroiwng, and so these books are on people's own shelves for much of the time.

To compare international booksellers to public libraries is misleading. A quick google search will tell you that Borders makes $4.1billion (£2.1billion) profit to spend on it's 1,200 stores worldwide, compared to over 4,500 public libraries in the UK getting the £1.16billion mentioned. Also, borders are proud to note that each store contains a Starbucks franchise, a notion routinely lampooned for public libraries on this site. Incidently the CEO of borders is reported to have been paid $2.1 billion in salary and shares in 2005, which is easily 50% on one member of staff!

I think it could be argued that this article deserved a lazy response. I think this blog could be a powerful tool for change for the better, but needs to concentrate on what it does best and lose the lazy journalism and 'anonymous anecdotes'.