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September 10, 2008
The Society of Chief Librarians doesn't want the press to report the fiddling of library figures.
From Tony Durcan -- wishing the damn newspapers wouldn't investigate the way that public money gets spent.
"As many colleagues will know, the recent LIS-PUB-LIBS debate about book issues, and the suggestion that some are deliberately miscalculated, has been reported in a recent edition of the Bookseller. This isn’t good. It damages our credibility and integrity (quite wrongly in my opinion), and it also damages the work we and our partners are trying to do with the National Year of Reading membership campaign
Where colleagues have queries about library performance indicators, or any service matters, I would urge them to seek answers from their Head of Service. Any chief can easily find out from the SCL Executive what the current position on an issue is. I’m not saying we shouldn’t use LIS-PUB-LIBS. This provides really useful discussion opportunities. The problem is that not everyone engages, or has the time to engage, and there may not always be a representative view.
And just to complete the facts – for Frances at least. Some of SCL, including me, have been on holiday. The rest, as usual, have been busy.
Tony Durcan, President of the Society of Chief Librarians.
Come on Tony Durcan. No secrets please. It's good that The Bookseller raises these issues. They reported a number of library authorities saying that they fiddle their performance figures-- and that is not something that should be hidden- and nor should you be saying it should be. There should be nothing behind closed doors. It's not your money.
What you should have said is 'It's wrong to fiddle the figures; if you are doing it, stop now.'
Mr Durcan has had difficulties with 'facts' and figures before both on this blog and in the Bookseller
When you put all this together, frankly, it is no wonder that the public library service never improves. The leaders have no ambition and no integrity. Shameful.
Posted by Perkins at September 10, 2008 4:33 PM