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February 23, 2008
Hampshire county council to spend 350 thousand pounds more on books
Long enduring readers of this blog will be pleased, if astonished, at this morning's news that Hampshire County Council, out of the blue, has announced that it will increase the spending on books for public libraries by 350 thousand pounds.
Hampshire has over the past ten years, under the same stewardship, reduced expenditure on books for libraries to the point that there are hardly any left. A long difficult and hard fought battle by local people to reverse this policy has, at last, apparently, begun to work.
It has always seemed that the battle for Hampshire libraries was akin to the thin red line commanded by Sir Colin Campbell at the battle of Balaklava. If they had given way the Russian cavalry would have broken right through to the harbour and destroyed the entire British Fleet. If Hampshire county council (which is among the largest in the country) had continued to remove from and deride the role of books in public libraries, then the entire public library service was under imminent threat.
Keep holding the line. We have not won yet-- but at least we have forced a small retreat in one corner of the field. We can now urge other councils to make similar improvement and for Hampshire to do more.
Posted by Perkins at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)
Where your money goes-- Domes syndrome
Just in case you thought by mistake that this Government had learned any lessons at all about not wasting money; and perchance you thought the Olympics was about sport, here is a complex document to keep you on the running track of righteousness
Posted by Perkins at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2008
No more Delay
This blog christened the libraries quango 'Delay: DLA - the department of libraries and archives' often commenting that they treated everything with a dead batt-- which is a cricketing expression. If you search under batt -- in the search box, you will find my references to cream cakes and other confectionery
Now it is closed down - will there be no more Delay?
Has the LLDA outlived them?
Posted by Perkins at 12:46 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2008
Mud larks
7 short years ago in the Culture Select Committee report on public libraries there was a discussion about whether or not it would be useful to have a non- governmental body to help the DCMS improve the public library service and work on museums and archives at the same time. The discussion covered the possible ways of funding such a small organisation as was envisaged. There were those in many parts who thought it might be a useful aid to improvement
Today, the MLA, as that body became called, has released a document about its future operation
We are told that the plan includes making at least 100 people redundant. Anyone who has followed the long and horrible history of Mark Wood, Chris Batt, Roy Clare, the MLA board members and all the civil servants and Ministers in the DCMS who have liberal access to everyone else's money will wonder why they ever employed 100 people in the first place.
I got so confused reading it that I thought I should just post it here. It does, however, remind one greatly of a long run through deep wet mud
Posted by Perkins at 5:58 PM | Comments (0)
February 17, 2008
Ministers
In the ten years since New Labour became the Government of the UK there have been quite a number of Ministers who have had some direct or indirect responsibility for the public library service. I bumped into one of them, by chance, this morning and we had a friendly chat
'I still read all the stuff about libraries," he said, "It's surprising and a shame that it has been a Labour Government that has destroyed public libraries"
I agreed with him.
For what it is worth my view of that group of people is that they meant well and wanted to improve the library service but did completely the wrong things because they didn't assess the problem properly. They must take responsibility- even though they only superintend the activities of local councils in this matter, but at least it was good to hear one of them admit what has happened.
Posted by Perkins at 11:20 AM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2008
Lymington Library
Tales reach here of the appalling state of the stock and computers in Lymington Library. What on earth is going on in Hampshire?
It sounds like a desperate destruction of the whole idea of public libraries.
Yellow stickers with guns on to indicate 'crime books' ? Which century are we living in? Is this an attempt to make libraries attractive to -- well whom?
Posted by Perkins at 11:50 AM | Comments (4)
PLUS: Public Library User Surveys
Attention was drawn below to the shortcomings of the operation of CIPFA (The Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountants) in the matter of their work for the public over public libraries.
In addition to the annual incomprehensible and tardy document called 'Public LIbrary Actuals' -they also oversee and process a programme called PLUS (Public Library User surveys). Most library authorities conduct these once every three years and they comprise a set of questions asked of a sample of people using the libraries under their management.
The market research manager of any large consumer driven corporation (or even any political pollster) will tell you that understanding your market needs several measures. Users are only one of the groups. 'Lapsed users' ie- the group of people who would normally use your service but are choosing not to- are the most informative group, they tell you what you are doing wrong. However if you do use 'user' surveys
- they need to be reasonably frequent to show trends
- the questions need to be the same each time, otherwise the measure is distorted
- the management who read them need to be told that they are only a small part of the picture and are not a really reliable picture of how the whole market views your offering
I looked last week at some PLUS surveys conducted in 2006. The questions had been changed from surveys of 2003 and no explanation came with them as to how to interpret what they meant. They are thus a huge waste of public money and management time.
PLUS need to be conducted by a professional marketing body who know what they are doing in this field-- not a bunch of amateur committees who don't. They need to be overhauled-- like all the data production for the public library service. That should have been done by the DCMS 10 yrs ago or the MLA 5 years ago-- it was the obvious first job.
Posted by Perkins at 8:50 AM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2008
Cash crisis
The newspapers this morning report the gloomy predictions of the Governor of the Bank of England about the UK economy. He says we will have to learn to accept a lower standard of living. (Not him-- but many of the rest of us)
One wonders what form the descent will take. Throughout this investigation of the public library service and the local government process within which it operates, I have often wondered what form the inevitable ecoonomic 'correction' will take.
Ten years ago, when Labour came to office, the Public Sector Unions were not strong and sensible management of the sector could have, at that time, brought value into line with cost. Indeed 'Best Value Reviews' were intended to achieve exactly that.. However local government management failed dismally to face the questions posed of them then and have continued to avoid them ever since.. That has been the almost daily observation of all this study.
The problems are most certainly not the responsibility of the work force-- they are the responsibility of the management from middle levels to the most senior and ministers beyond. Nevertheless if, now, a correction were to be applied it would normally be the working lower ranks of civil servants and government officers who would bear the strain, literally, of their inept seniors.
Now, however, the public sector unions are extremely strong and they have achieved working conditions, contracts and practices which make the junior staff almost unassailable. Well done them; but that means that there can hardly be any economic correction in the public sector-- without - well without major, serious and unpleasant upheaval.
Public sector operations are able to extract cash from the public almost without limit. There are no enforcers as powerful as tax collectors-- either local or national. Public servants have been brought up to believe that it is their right and entitlement to raise more taxes and grants without limit. They praise each other for their ability to obtain yet more public funds. Every day they invent new handouts of money which is not theirs to give.
So how will non public sector citizens survive a real and major reduction in available cash predicted by the Governor when it suddenly hits us? When the moment comes when it is not possible to borrow any more?
With great difficulty and local violence-- is the prediction of this blog--- or civil unrest on a scale not seen since the Iraq war march or the poll tax riots of 1988-9-- or worse.
It is sad that this generation have so dismally failed to manage the public funding and functioning of the country at a time when there was little external pressure in the world which might have made the job hard. Unlike previous genrations of the 20th century, for sixty years in our country we have had neither war nor serious depresssion. What we have seen in the recent past is a terrible waste of opportunity. It is very sad and a great shame and will leave a sorry, poor and uncultured legacy.
Posted by Perkins at 3:21 PM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2008
The cost of CIPFA public library statistics
In a previous entry Martyn asked why the public has to pay to obtain statistics about the performance of the public library service - the only figures available about individual councils come from CIPFA
Jim, from CIPFA, responds
"The answer to Martyn’s question as to why the CIPFA stats are not made freely available to the public is simple. CIPFA is the leading, independent source of comprehensive data about local government services and has been collecting and publishing data for over a century. Our Statistical Information Service has developed a reputation for robust and reliable data sets, following a statistical code of conduct, and applying a stringent data validation process. Our data collection surveys are continuously reviewed by a network of working parties involving key players to ensure the data we collect are relevant and fit for purpose. These extensive activities are funded by sales of publications and databases."
Yes, but this only answers half the question.. Where are the performance figures for the public library service for which the public pay? Of course Jim and his chums need paying-- so do we all; that's not the point.
The Act of Parliament by which the public library service operates requires the Minister to 'collect such data as is needed to perform his/ her duty to superintend the service' Why can't the public have access to this information -- and where is it?
The truth is that there ought to be clear, consistent, timely performance information about every public library freely available to the public (who have paid for it through their taxes) -- and there is not.
In fact the whole role of providing information should be in the hands of an independent body-- who can see it from the public's point of view-- someone like the Consumers' Association.
Posted by Perkins at 8:27 PM | Comments (3)
A plea to all library authorities
This sensible request has come up this morning:
You may be interested to know that CBC has agreed on standard fiction genres and standard labels, which the library suppliers provide and affix in exactly the same way as they would a non fiction spine label. This means that the label is part of standard core servicing. CBC is the largest library purchasing consortium in the country and currently has 38 participating authorities. If others could agree to use the genres that CBC is using we would be well on the way to making this the national standard.
Experience shows that readers like stock to be presented to them in genres, and provided that the labelling can be achieved in the way CBC authorities are doing it, this is the most cost effective way of getting the books back onto the shelves in the right place. All other alternatives take much more staff time and are not as cost effective when this is taken into account.
Please will every library authority tell their own suppliers that they would like their labelling to conform to the CBC standard. Then we would each save a fortune on labelling. At present suppliers have to hold stocks of and operate different labelling requirements for almost every different council. It is such a waste of time and money. You can be sure a supplier will share the saving by giving you an increased discount. You don't have to wait until your next supply contract renewal. Ask to make the change now.
Posted by Perkins at 11:18 AM | Comments (0)
February 12, 2008
MacSyrup
Three revelations and it is hard to know which are the worst
- Some UK library staff who work on Saturdays are paid 'time and a half' for doing so because working on a Saturday is deemed to be 'unsocial' (for most non public-sector work this is not the case)
- In Scotland that practice is to stop
- Most professional librarians work in offices on weekdays and not at library counters on Saturdays
So it will be the poor lowly paid 'library assistants' who suffer and the office jobs that continue unfettered.
And the public will continue to pay heavily for staff who are not on the library opening rotas.
This news is brought to us by an old aged pensioner in Fife. (and his beautiful wife)
Posted by Perkins at 2:52 PM | Comments (1)
Bad Stock, Bad Libraries
The Bookseller's excellent report this week on CIPFA figures is full again of stories about how libraries these days do lots of other things apart from hold collections of 'materials' for people to read and use.
Very few people in the public would understand why librarians think it is more important to spend resources to 'reach out' to people by 'engaging' with them - than it is to spend that money on books and things to read.
In fact the truth is that it is much more useful to people to have the books they want rather than to be offered some 'learning experience in a public library' . Where funds are limited in public service, efficiency means focussing expenditure very specifically on the public requirement and not on peripheral 'nice to do's'
The Audit Commission, in 2002 identified that there was real problem of efficient use of the £1.2bn spent on public libraries. Without a greater investment in stock, they said, the judgement was that spending was inefficient. This was evident for their analysis of a whole number of council 'Best Value Reviews'.
The report 'Who's in Charge' in 2004, elaborated on how to correct this inefficency which was then recognised by Gerald Kaufman's Select Committee in 2005 who said 'The public library service has a long overdue need to overhaul its efficiency .. and that expenditure on books should take priority over other projects and expenditure.
Andrew McIntosh, who was then the Minister, encapsulated the need in a prject which he called 'Better Stock Better Libraries.' There was some disagreement about the scope of the work-- it mght be £40m or it might be £200m - but there was universal, if grudging, acceptance that this work and its consequences were necessary. The money that could be released is needed to be spent - of course- in part on additional book acquisitions. The unspoken opposite of 'Better Stock, better Libraries meant that a failure to address the questions properly can only lead to 'Bad Stock, Bad Libraries'.
Of course BSBL has now collapsed and most certainly it has lost sight of its origins and it purposes. That silent number within councils who were hoping that it would help them solve the problems have been let down. Where they said 'This is the only the horse in the race' they now search the stable in vain.
Stock in libraries is the most important thing-- alongside the buildings and the access through opening hours.
Few councillors are alerted to the danger of allowing their stock collections to dwindle to the point of exctinction.. they need to be.. It is not advocation of the library service that is needed -- but advcation of Better Stock, Better Buildings and Better Hours that will make Better Libraries.
Posted by Perkins at 9:26 AM | Comments (1)
February 10, 2008
Misuse of language in the library service
Christopher Hawtree writes
"Another word which bedevils libraries now is to call non-fiction "information books". A horrible term. Gibbon did not sit down to write an "information book", nor did Richard Dawkins.
Information is not the same thing as knowledge."
- And information and knowledge are not the only reasons for writing and reading books. They are not even the most important ones.
Posted by Perkins at 3:20 PM | Comments (5)
February 8, 2008
Barsetshire Chronicles
The county known sometimes on this blog as Barsetshire is witness to some exceptionally clever political tactics.
Afficionadoes will recall that Mrs Dumpling who used to run the libraries has now retired to Sicily handing over responsibility to Mr Dumpling who has always been head of the Barsetshire Parks department. Shortly before her departure Mr Dumpling put all the library books on park benches and changed the libraries into Recovery Centres for alcoholic teenagers. He also dismissed the librarians and was rewarded an honorary KGB by the Queen of England for his efforts .
The latest of these Recovery Centres, quite close to the Cathedral Close, cost many millions of pounds and has at last come under the scrutiny of a council scrutiny and scrutiny scrutiny. The date for this hearing has been fixed for a long time and the local newspapermen and newspaperwomen have been looking forward to it and even cancelled their holidays
Today's news is that the indefatigable Mr Dumpling has outflanked them all by inviting the Notorious Countess of Roger, who is herself a well known Trollope character, to open the new Recovery Centre on the same day as the council hearing. Mr Dumpling thus has managed to excuse himself for the day of difficult questions. This is taking place despite the fact that the new building has already been open for a long time. The people of the county are cross and unforgiving
Posted by Perkins at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)
The Reading Agency
Someone has just sent me an expensive multicoloured news letter from The Reading Agency..
Nowhere on it do we see the ever ready "Love Libraries" luxury logo designed by Saatchi and Saatchi at huge expense just two years ago..
Neverthless the most exciting news is that The Reading Agency has a new logo.. Roughly speaking the the new logo is ......" read "
The nanny state thrives strongly at The Reading Agency-- where all the nannies swoosh champagne for elevenses.
Bless.. The magazine also calls for a vision for Public Libraries.. Perhaps they mean Mrs Hodge is a vision in tights? Mrs Mansion Polish, as we call her, has gone very quiet-- even shy and sheepish.. But all the MP's have gone a bit quiet recently as they have been found out for having their paws in the goldfish bowl!
The magazine also reveals an exciting new alliance between The Reading Agency and The Society of Chief Librarians.. If you didn't laugh it would make you weep buckets! Keep it up girls, someone has to be the pom pom bobblers for libraries.
Posted by Perkins at 10:19 AM | Comments (1)
February 7, 2008
Libraries in Camden
From where I sit on my roof each night and listen to the first birds of spring a- twittering I can see many of the libraries of Camden- dim, dismal boring and bookless.
We are all astonished to hear that the head of the Librarians Love Daffodils Association (LLDA) is to become the Head of Camden libraries
Of course this has absolutely no connection whatsoever with the appointment of one of our local Camden councillors to the board of the LLDA last year.. There cannot be a connection of any kind because councillors do not affect the appointment of officers-- even to extraordinarily high paid jobs like Head of Camden libraries. And this particular councillor is a very good and honourable person. It just looks surprising.
Posted by Perkins at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)
February 5, 2008
East Finchley
Hello Perkins,
I just found your lovely blog. Leslie Gilbert, Adam Gee and I run a support group for our local library in East Finchley. We have about 200 members and we miraculously managed to persuade our council to put in a bid to the Big Lottery Fund. Quite an investment of time (for us) and money (for the council - proper architectural drawings & so on). We cooked up a plan for a Dyslexia Centre to go in the upstairs meeting room of our beautiful Grade II listed branch (which would have necessitated a lift of course to comply with the DDA).
Sadly we heard in September that we were unsuccessful (sniff). Probably you already know this, but we were told that 130 local authorities put in bids which totalled £180 million pounds. So well oversubscribed on the £80m on offer despite the really very onerous nature of the application process. I think this speaks of the desperation of Local Authorities and library services across the country.
Posted by Perkins at 7:28 AM | Comments (0)
February 3, 2008
Will Basingstoke Ban the Booker?
One would hope to hear the head of the library service in one of the largest English counties encouraging the reading of fiction. Yet here is Yinnon Ezra who does that job in Hampshire, tootling off again in the Observer today. Why does he do it?
" if the modern public library service were only to depend on the mass loan of fiction without looking to broaden its customer base and do other things that local communities demand, that would be the end of the service.
Yinnon Ezra, Director of recreation and heritage, Hampshire County Council"
No more stories for children in Hampshire, then. What does he want libraries to do? Sell ice cream? Will somebody tell him that it's a library service he is supposed to be running, not a poodle parlour. What does he mean by the sinister and unpleasant expression 'mass loan of fiction'?
Where are these demanding "local communities" in Hampshire, of which he speaks- is Liphook the place that insists upon an end to the novel? Is Winchester putting authors in the stocks? Will Basingstoke ban the Booker?
A councillor might have a quiet word, perhaps? Who, by mistake, put him into this job? One has to feel there are other jobs which would suit him better. He begins to sound like Gerald Ratner and the 'crap' jewellery.
Posted by Perkins at 9:50 PM | Comments (2)