The Good Library Blog

Yes, signs are that we could be on a roll, cogent forces massed against the Burnham breaches of commonsense.

But I am still shocked by the cavalier dismissal of Katherine Mansfield here in Brighton and Hove on Thursday by the "lead councillor for Culture"

Far from being universally damning, I thought the comments were remarkably balanced, apart from Mr Hawtree's insistence that libraries were the cause of the declining publishing industry!

Incidentally, one of the major objections from commenters seems to be to coffee shops in libraries; wasn't this one of the central outcomes of the Hillingdon refurbishment?

In the days when publishers could guarantee the sale of 1-2,000 copies to the public library service of work of intellectual merit, the landscape of what could be viable was quite different. I agree with Mr Hawtree's view that the decline of book stock in public libraries has had a marked effect on the quality of publishing.

In Hillingdon the real matters that are central to the approach and are being tackled are the stock, the opening hours and the design of the buildings to make them safe and attractive.

Underpinning all this is a new management and training structure which is designed to point the service in the right direction and sustain the improvements.

To their credit the council have added a whole set of other interesting features: the libraries carry far more decent working PC's on each study desk than most; there is a whole set of Apple macs in each library and there is a Starbuck's franchise, of different kinds in each library, depending upon its size. There is also a large plasma screen which carries, in silence, 24 hour news broadcast. The libraries offer evening classes, they will take books to people who cannot come to the library, they build relationships with local schools. I'm sure no one would jump on a reader if his or her phone were to buzz. .

All these things are excellent and important-- but, for me, the real foundations of the success lie firstly in the priority they give to the stock of books and reading materials, for all ages and backgrounds; the fact that the new libraries are open until 10pm most evenings and that they are housed in clean safe attractive buildings. They are really pleasant places to sit and read. And secondly one cannot praise too highly the manner in which officers and councillors have tackled the problems in a way which directly links to the needs of the community surrounding each individual library That is why, unlike in many other library refurbishments, the use of books has increased along with the popularity of the library. Tim Coates

Although I have not yet had the opportunity to visit Hillingdon in person, I would certainly agree with your assessment of the outcome. However, I find it interesting that in general the comments you refer to as supporting your argument are (in general) anti-computer, anti-starbucks, anti-TVs and anti-mobile phones. I also find it highly amusing that one of the links in the post above draws the same conclusions as I did in my comment!

Paul

Thanks-- I try to post as many points of view as become available, whether I agree with them or not.

I think it's important that the argument doesn't become one which is pro or anti various facilities that a library can offer. For a long time people tried to characterise my pro-book argument as therefore being anti- computer. That was wrong. I believe that libraries should offer both facilities. But I say that when they do offer them the service should not just be comprehensive, but excellent.

It is for a council to create the library that best suits the needs of its local individual communities as Hillingdon are doing, but no library is a library unless it has extensive reading and reference material and also provides quiet space for private reading and study.

I also believe that when we assess how well public libraries are doing their job, we should measure the number of books they loan. This is controversial. Many authorities and officials disagree with this view. But I think if a library's book lending is increasing that is a sign that the stock is being helpful to local people- and the opposite if it is in decline. Of course there are many other things one might measure, if one wished, but as I believe that the quality of written material is the most important feature of the library, I hold to my view that this is an important guage of what is needed.

Dear Paul, I would mention that I'm a great fan of Starbucks (in libraries or anywhere else), anti- the subject of computers and not overly fond of Microsoft but not against computers per se (please note the distinction), definitely anti-TVs and mobile phones in libraries, but not pro total silence in libraries.
I think it's vital for opposing views not to become polarized, (although, let's face it, they probably will), but I'm presently rather perturbed by the movement towards making libraries louder. Although the library should be a community hub (er, wasn't it always supposed to be?), books and reading should still be central to it, and libraries should, I believe, always have an atmosphere of hush to aid a little quiet contemplation.
Fat chance of that if you've got mobiles going off every other minute!
I also recently had a horrible experience in an office with staff who simply never stopped gossiping backed up by a radio which was always on, just a little too loudly. It was sheer hell (not joy, Mr Burnham) and I ended up signed off sick with stress. I'm afraid, like it or not, there are people in this world - and I've met them - who simply will not shut up or turn the volume down, and I don't want to see libraries turn into talking shops. Library staff have already lost much of their authority, and if the ideas people hack away at the traditional concept of the quiet library, another oasis of contemplation will be gone.

Dear James - thanks for the reply. Would you agree that, even between the three of us, it's interesting that the only point we can agree on is the need for compromise? But enough, I fear we are all broadly in agreement, and merely discussing minutia.

In addition, whilst I can't speak for the quality of publishing with the authority of Mr. Hawtree and Mr. Coates, I find it contradictory to note that the UK publishers more titles per capita than any other country.

Paul. The number of titles published in the UK is an important figure, but might be misleading in the context of public libraries. We are fortunate that English is widely used around the world not only for general reading but also in many professional and specialist fields. UK publishing is blessed by this and is one of our most important and stable industries. The portion of that publishing which is suitable for UK public libraries is quite small.

Within that the part to which Christopher and I refer when we talk of 'quality writing' is small again, and I don't where one would look for figures to support or deny it. But in both our experience it is observably true.