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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 February 16, 2008 11:50 AM
Comments
I think it's a little unfair to post with such an outraged tone without substantiating your argument in some way. Is this something you've witnessed for yourself or just hearsay/ opinion?
Posted by: Neil Ford at February 18, 2008 4:10 PM
It was a report from a visitor whose judgment I trust as much as I trust my own. I received a detailed account of the fiction - or lack of it- available on the shelves and of several other areas of stock and facilities.
Nevertheless the report can hardly be a surprise. Having bought so little stock for so long, the collections of books in Hampshire are hardly going to represent the great history of human imagination, are they?
Posted by: perkins at February 18, 2008 6:49 PM
I'm all for public libraries and agree that it is a sad reflection on our society that they are so under-resourced. However, is posting unsubstantiated dogma in the guise of a fictional cat likely to help or hinder the situation? I would like to suggest that, whilst it is entertaining, this only serves to justify the politicians who write-off those who still see a role for libraries in our society as wackos and cranks. This debate needs facts and reasoned argument not rhetoric.
Posted by: Neil Ford at February 18, 2008 9:48 PM
The libraries are not under-resourced at all, Neil. You should understand that for a start. In Hampshire the public library service has spent more than £160m in ten years and more capital expenditure than any other English authority. Someone said that their cat could run the public library service better than those people who do it-- and I agree with them.
I'm sure my view of politicians who write off the public library service is as scathing as theirs is ignorant. Glad to be entertaining-- and if you search this blog you will find more facts and reason than in any government paper, local or national. All the figures are here.
Posted by: perkins at February 19, 2008 9:12 AM