The Good Library Blog

We do indeed use plasma screens in Swansea - we find them particulalry useful for community information. Rather than having yards of noticeboards, we scan posters and leaflets and have them playing in a loop (backed up with themed information folders in our reference section).

What's the benefit? Well, lots of wall space has been freed up for ... BOOKS!

Congratulations to Swansea -- who spent seven hundred thousand pounds on new books for their new library. As Mx Paige Turner says, that was a judicious mixture of new copies of backlist and some frontlist titles.

You won't believe it but there have been many new library buildings in which millions of pounds have been spent on the building, but next to nothing at all has been spent on replenishment of book stock. Ask the people of Brighton, Peterborough, Gosport, Winchester, Newcastle, Peckham, Tower Hamlets .... etc.

How much is being spent in this library in Nottingham on the book collections?

Words fail me in regard to plans to show TV programmes at a Nottingham library. Perhaps you could also install a bar and re-name it Wetherspoons? This is a noisy world with very few places to go for quiet reading and study: a library used to be one of these places. Now they are filled with the sounds of people in the cafe, mobile phone ringtones, talking staff....even talking lifts, all of which (if Gosport is anything to go by) permeate every corner of the building because silence has been deemed to be politically incorrect. I suppose the rationale for TV is that no-one goes into a library to read any more, because of the noise levels and because the book-stock is usually so dire.....so why not 'attract' some non-readers by having televisions (thus emitting even more noise). In what way, exactly, does MTV have any connection with literacy and reading......which is surely the sole reason for libraries' existence?

RE : Televisions in Nottingham libraries

Just need to point a few things out.

This is the Nottinghamshire County Council Library Service which is looking at putting screens in its latest library refurbishment.

You may ask ‘ latest’ ? yes this library will be the 11th to be refurbished in the county as part of a planned programme of 15 to be completed at the end of this year. This is in addition to a new library (in Southwell) and a million pound plus modernisation of Sutton in Ashfield library completed in 2006 and 2007 respectively. This programme could be one of the most extensive investments into library buildings in the United Kingdom even matching the success in Swansea over the last couple of years.

I use the word success because we are seeing an increase in visits and book issues, and not just with children’s stock. In fact the bookfund is one of the best in the United Kingdom and the quality and range of stock again matches the best. We are not diverting resources from the bookfund to refurbish buildings or purchase plasma screen systems. The screens are to enable us to animate spaces within the library for a range of purposes as you would see in good museums. The library in Kimberly (near Nottingham but in Nottinghamshire) will have a café and public art space which will have a screen able to show art work, notices, films etc.. a large space between floors will use a projected image to provide a new space for art work etc..This will not impact negatively on the level, presentation or quantity of stock available. Also as with Swansea by having screens we can reduce the numbers of notice boards and free up space for more books.

While I’m on I should also point that in addition to the investment over the last fours years there are two more projects that will see both West Bridgford and Worksop libraries replaced by new buildings. Both will see and increase in floor space and yes, level of book stock. Both schemes go for planning permission soon and work will start hopefully on site towards the end of this year.

We are a modern library service which has the enjoyment of books and reading at its core and we are working hard to reach new audiences, if screens can help us deliver then we will use them.

Hope this clarifies

Peter Gaw
Head of Libraries, Archives and Information :
Nottinghamshire County Council

Peter

Many thanks for coming on the site. Can you post some figures to support what you say? The published data for performance up to March 2007 don't tell the same story as you are implying. Over 6 years prior to this one there has been a very large increase in expenditure on the service in Nottinghamshire, but a 24% fall in book issues per head of population. In the year of the most recent figures there was a small increase in lending overall of less than 1%. Perhaps the success is more recent?