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July 7, 2008
Obsessed with the Olympics
This is how the Bookseller reported the appointment of a new chairman of the MLA. The largest part (by funding and by staff numbers) of the MLA's responsibility is for public libraries. I have never understood the obsession with a relationship between public libraries and The Olympic Games in London in 2012. By 2013, they will be in the past - and, sadly, one feels that most of the needed attention and improvement to the public library service will not have taken place.
"Poet Laureate Andrew Motion has been appointed as the new chair of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). Motion takes up the role, which was previously held by Mark Wood, this week. He will hold the position for four years.
Culture secretary Andy Burnham said Motion "has some wonderful and exciting ideas about how he can take the MLA forward, continuing their pursuit of excellence and, in particular, promoting the culture sector to Olympic spectators and visitors in 2012."
Motion said, "It is an exciting time to be entering the heart of the cultural arena, with the enormous boost in popularity that museums and galleries have seen over the past few years, and the Olympics just around the corner. I am confident the MLA can build on this and achieve even greater things in the future."
Roy Clare, MLA chief executive, added: "Andrew arrives at a very appropriate and exciting time as a newly reshaped MLA equips itself to focus on the integration, improvement, and innovation of museums, libraries and archives. A refreshed team is beginning to fit into place and will join me in looking forward to the opportunity of working with Andrew and the noard as we aim for our sector to make an ever increasing impact for the public." "
Posted by Perkins at July 7, 2008 12:03 PM
Comments
I (rather happily) admit to being a grumpy old man about this one, but how many times do we have to hear the same old tired phraseology and lumpen cliche trotted out by these boring old farts? It's neither wonderful, exciting nor refreshed and what does an ever increasing impact for the public actually mean? How about reasonable opening hours, enough staff, adequate funding and a good stock of books? This is not something which has to "impact for" the public (should actually be "impact on")! It's just hard common sense, but of course this is the MLA and they can't have that. Is the MLA in fact trying to bomb the public into submission? Personally, I'd like to take a leaf out of Dr Strangelove and drop Burnham and Clare through a B-52's bomb-bay doors. Falling to their deaths astride a nuclear missile might at least inspire them to produce some original vocabulary or even create a new Olympic event - synchronised suicide instead of synchronised swimming, perhaps? More seriously, could not Andrew Motion use his undoubted capability with words, get with the program (US spelling) like an angry young man and say something pithy and politically-incorrect about the problems with the public library service?
Posted by: James Christie at July 8, 2008 11:34 AM
The prospect of the Olympics has not prevented the continued selling of playing fields for buildings...
In any case, the Olympics have nothing to do with libraries. Will Andrew Motion be encouraging -by tangible means - the increase of books in them? More books, fewer "initiatives"!
Posted by: Christopher Hawtree at July 9, 2008 9:47 AM
'A refreshed team' - Oh Lord.
Pardon my vulgarity, but what does the MLA have to do with the Olympics? Can anyone explain? Or does this attempted linkage between the MLA and the Olympics mean that money is going to get siphoned from their budget into the Olympics? I know lets get all the quangos and government-funded bodies to create an Olympic Games project (with at least a 2 million budget) with some dubious linkages and have great words/terms/phrases involved.
Posted by: Katie Collis at July 9, 2008 11:04 AM