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November 30, 2008
High Noon at The Bookseller
High Noon in The Bookseller this weekend as Desmond Clarke calls for more and better advocacy for public libraries from those paid to give it. Desmond has been a friend for 30 years and is one of those people who have an instinct for understanding how the public and the press see things. He has for a long time been one of the great publicists of English poets and was very close to Ted Hughes. For me he is a wise person to whom, when buried within the detail of a subject, I turn in need of counsel. I know that 'behind the scenes' he has been trying to get Andrew Motion and Roy Clare to listen to what he is telling them about libraries and the public, but they steadfastly, and often rudely, ignore his calls. They shouldn't.
In the first piece he makes the same request I did, a week ago, for Andrew Motion to stand up and say his bit about books in libraries. The point about Andrew, as opposed to Mark Wood his predecessor, is that he knows what a book is for and can speak, if he chooses, to say why books are the essence of what makes a proper library. Sadly such experience is rare in government and that is why it is so important that in the job he has been given, he should be prepared to throw himself in front of the train, like we do.
However, it appears that Andrew is a much more cautious person than Desmond had hoped and so, feeling himself to be attacked, rather than do what was asked and join in the battle for books in libraries, he chose to feel insulted at the suggestion that he wasn't doing what he should.
By this time, as you can see from the comments both Julian Rivers and I had chipped in. Julian is also a friend of longstanding. When I was in charge of Waterstone's, he was in charge of Dillons, but long before that when he ran Thorsons, the health book publishers, he taught me a lot about what publishing is all about. Julian's authority on the subject of libraries comes from the days when, as ceo of Bertrams, he moved them into the library supply market and developed what has become Bertrams Library Supply (for whom we all pray this week in the drama of Woolworths) . As much as anyone, Julian cried foul on the tradition that prevented library suppliers giving public libraries the same level of discounts that wholesalers give retailers. In that sense alone, he added £30m per annum to the purchasing power of the library book funds, and is due a knighthood. Our (Julian and I) history includes dark days at The Book Shed, about which the full story will one day make a hollywood movie. It is the only known book store which was truly the diamond of gunslinging gangsters, some of whom came from deepest Essex, and extremely frightening they were.
And talking of darkest Essex, into the debate is pitched a long article from Roy Clare also from the MLA, determined to tell readers of the Bookseller that public libaries are not really about books any more. Someone in his office will explain to him one day, as they did eventually to David Lammy, that the Bookseller is not the best place to make this argument. Readers of this journal just think he doesn't know his job, when he says that. And with so many people calling for the MLA to be sent to Siberia, that is not the most sensible way to behave.
I think it is fair to say that one of the most frustrating aspects of this whole long running saga of public libraries is the extent and amount of experienced advice which has been freely offered to and rejected by government officials whose understanding of the subject has proved to be poor.
A wise minister or permanent secretary should put a stop to all that; it wouldn't be difficult.
Posted by Perkins at 11:35 AM | Comments (4)
November 25, 2008
Publishers should sell directly to UK public libraries
For 150 years we have all assumed that public libraries are a 'good thing' for books. It is time to question that assumption. Why should a publisher allow free loans of books that can be sold? Why should a bookseller permit free government subsidised trading of goods and services in a way that clearly contravenes European competition law ?
While public libraries were part of a genuine attempt to support and promote the use of books for the good of society, for its education and wellbeing, to introduce the taste for reading and the pleasure it brings, then fine; publishers and booksellers could persuade themselves that libraries are a good thing. But our public library service no longer sees the encouragement of the reading of published work as its central role.. Government subsidy is no longer granted for that purpose. Nowadays libraries are community centres and the measure of their success is simply the number of people who visit them. A 'library' which offers free viewing of a football match is a much more successful library than one which offer dull shelves of old and boring books.
The people who do sell to libraries and receive large shares of the tax funding are computer software companies. If you go to the 'Library and Information Show' at the NEC next April you will see row after row of purveyors of electronic gadgetry and web manipulation. UK publishers don't even try to interest public libraries in books. Bill Gates has an open field. Tim Hely Hutchinson and Marjorie Scardino do not show up.
And if you were to go in a library you would see how truly dull and dismal are the selection and presentation of the miserable books on offer.
The supply line from publisher to library is so long and boring that it takes all the magic away on the route. Printer to distributor to wholesaler to library supplier to council service centre, via consortium, to library, many months after publication or sell- by date, makes a truly boring display .
UK public libraries buy £90m books each year, which makes them publishers' 3rd or 4th largest customer. Libraries should spend £200m to satisfy the demand for books within them. Whose job is it to persuade them to spend that money? A small black cat? Or a big fat well paid publishers' sales director? No politician thinks it is their role to increase the spend on books: so there is no point waiting until they do. For 20 years UK publishers have allowed this market to be taken away from them and just at the moment when they could do with the business, they have no idea how to go about securing it. Is there a delegation of publishers seeking out Andy Burnham's review team? I doubt it-- and if there is it wouldn't surprise me if their agenda comprises only ebooks..
Publishers should either close down the public library service, because it is certainly operated wirth their consent, or wake up and service it and sell to it properly with all the verve and enthusiasm of which they are perfectly capable.
Posted by Perkins at 6:48 PM | Comments (7)
November 17, 2008
Mike Thorne and Andrew Motion
Mike Thorne was made chair of the Advisory Council on Libraries about 2 years ago. Andrew Motion became chair of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Commission (the MLA) earlier this year.
They are both certainly jolly clever and very nice people.
However in each case there is and has been a notable lack of any sign of life or interest in public libraries since they took up their (presumably adequately remunerated) roles . Most of the correspondence I ever see tells us they are far too busy occupied with other things.
So why, if that is true, did anyone give them those jobs and why did they accept them? There are plenty of other people who can show some interest and are just as intelligent etc.
Mike Thorne is even on the Ministerial review team. I hope they don't intrude on his time too much for that work as well. And Andrew has commitments with the Queen- but we know her demands of him are not too onerous.
Both seem to think that keeping their heads down and staying silent is what they are supposed to do.
Wake up guys. Your performance is distinctly unimpressive. You may not get the Knighthood and pension for which you seem to hope
Posted by Perkins at 6:18 PM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2008
Norwich Millenium Library has trouble with hooligans
This is an important story reported in the local press in Norfolk.
The people in Gosport reported a similar scenario in the early days of pursuit of youth at all costs into their library.
Book shops and, for example, the Ideas Stores in Tower Hamlets, have learned the appropriate use of discreet security can prevent this kind of thing. It is important to maintain the dignity of a library whatever else we do. Otherwise it becomes useless for everyone
Posted by Perkins at 10:12 PM | Comments (2)
This new American President believes in books
Here is Barack Obama in a long quotation on Alan Gibbons' blog talking about the importance of books in libraries
Posted by Perkins at 9:58 PM | Comments (1)
What should Andy Burnham's review of public libraries say?
I've now been asked by a few places, newspapers, organisations what I think Andy Burnham's review of public libraries should say and I'm scratching around to prepare a proper answer.
But as this is one of the widely read notice boards I wondered what other people thought. You are always welcome to make anonymous comments, if you need to. When you press the 'comments' button below, you are asked to enter a name and an email address. It is perfectly easy to make them up. I even know someone who puts perkins for their name and perkins@yoohoo.com for their email address and the entry goes through.
Posted by Perkins at 12:36 PM | Comments (2)
November 14, 2008
Don't give evidence to a Select Committee
Those of us who spent a long time preparing our spoken and our written evidence to the last Culture Select Committee, thinking we were making a contribution to public service need to be mindful of the way that Ministers regard these things.
This is what Barbara Follett, Minister for libraries, said to the chair of one such committee today
'It is sometimes difficult to read all the way through a Select Committee report without feeling slightly sleepy, but this one kept me awake and provided me with a great deal of useful information...'
Posted by Perkins at 8:08 PM | Comments (0)
It's the content - Stupid
Looking around to marshall the arguments that might persuade library buyers not to become obsessed with e books ( A chief executive of one large international publishing house said this week that, for general books, rather than academic ones, his company anticipates that e-editions will amount to just one percent of new book sales - in five years time. And new books represent about one quarter of his overall business- the other 75% is backlist. ) I come to persuasive line 'It's the content stupid' which means stop concentrating on technology and put your book collections in order.
There is an amateurish obsession with new technologies in UK public libraries which diverts valuable resources and precious management attention from the job that needs to be done.
Then I found the same headline on the website of my American friends at Berkshire publishing. Unlike in the UK, the Americans have not given up publishing Encyclopediae for library use. That's what Karen at Berkshire does. American libraries buy them. So should libraries here.
(Berkshire sponsor this blog- I'm pleased and grateful to say. )
Posted by Perkins at 7:50 PM | Comments (0)
November 13, 2008
A new commenter on the site writes
As a mature student I must agree, there is a huge demand for books from public libraries. I am lucky to have an excellent local librarian who is happy to supplement the deficiencies of my college library (it's guaranteed that there will only be one copy of anything labelled 'required reading') by ordering books in for me. It's only a shame that the library itself has such a limited stock that ordering in is necessary.
Posted by Perkins at 5:19 PM | Comments (0)
November 11, 2008
The riddle of Redbridge
Here is a strange article from East London. What does 'putting reference books on computer' mean?
Posted by Perkins at 7:24 PM | Comments (4)
Celebrating the downfall of Edinburgh libraries
My breath was so taken away by the arrogance and patronising tone of this article in the Edinburgh Evening Paper that I rushed to look up the performance figures of the Edinburgh library service.
Where lending has fallen across the country by about 40% in 10 years, in Edinburgh it has fallen by 54%, according to CIPFA. This is probably a consequence of the fact that where Scotland as a whole just spends 7% of library funding on books, in Edinburgh that figure is just a miserly 4.5%.
And this well paid Wendy has the cheek to go out and tell the good people of Edinburgh to look for other things in their libraries than books. Who has given her that clever idea? Not the people of Edinburgh, to be sure.
Perhaps someone from Edinburgh or SCILIP would like to reply. Or someone from the Scottish Parliament, or the Scottish Publishers' Association or Edinburgh Council. Tell the people they have enough books already. Come on Elaine. Tell me I'm wrong and I'm out of date. Go on.
Posted by Perkins at 9:16 AM | Comments (1)
November 10, 2008
E-books in UK public libraries and the MLA
The Bookseller has this article posted last Friday.
It seems that once again public libraries are spending time and resource rushing into a new technical field in which so much of the future is uncertain. The one thing of which one can be sure is that everything will be different in 12 months time, and at that point the same thing will be true. One just wishes they wouldn't do that and that some council financial officer would insist that they behave responsibly. Yet again this story has the flavour of 'We all went to a conference at which some geek who is in the commercial world told us about a new technology for libraries and we have to be the first in line"
However what surprised me most in this article was the absence of any mention of the MLA. Why should The Reading Agency be the appropriate go-between for public libraries and publishers on a matter like this? What has happened to the MLA? Have they given up already in the face of Lyn Brown's roaring?
Posted by Perkins at 10:01 AM | Comments (3)
November 9, 2008
Grim for grown ups
Miranda Mckearney at the Reading Agency has rightly been at pains to point out that childrens librarians are doing a good job and that the use of libraries for borrowing books is far from over.
She strips out the childrens lending figures which show, encouragingly that in each year since the millenium
Loans per child
2000/1 8.3
2001/2 8.2
2002/3 8.1
2003/4 8.0
2004/5 8.2
2005/6 8.3
2006/7 8.4
but when you look at what remains for adults the picture is pretty grim:
loans per adult
2000/1 5.2
2001/2 4.9
2002/3 4.6
2003/4 4.3
2004/5 4.0
2005/6 3.9
2006/7 3.7
You wouldn't want your income to go down like that! Presumably that's why the Chief Librarians, MLA, DCMS, CILIP etc keep telling us that book lending is not a measure of the performance of libraries. Well Miranda obviously thinks it is a good measure.
Everybody likes measures when they make their performance look good and dismisses them when they do the opposite
We say that these figures on their own show the poor performance of the public library service, and that it is time the Society of Chief Librarians faced their responsibilities and addressed the problems properly instead of denying them.
When compared to other council services satisfaction levels for public libraries may be relatively high, but where potential customers of libraries have a choice of going elsewhere to obtain what a library offers, they have been voting with their feet for a long time. The service is very poor indeed.
Posted by Perkins at 11:38 AM | Comments (4)
November 7, 2008
The Ministers, Andy Burnham and Barbara Follett, are not listening
The themes of most library campaign groups are
- Don't close libraries
- Put more books in them to make them useful
- Opening hours should be longer
- Modernise the buildings and the equipment
- Experienced professional staff are needed at the front line
- These are the elements that require proper funding.
So a 'review' of libraries for these people would address these issues. Book issues and visits have declined quite dramatically over a decade so the need is serious and fairly urgent.
On the other hand the view expressed in the world of senior librarians is "Satisfaction levels are high. Libraries always score very well in council surveys of the public. There is no problem with the service we give. If anything preoccupation with books has meant that libraries appear dull to a generation interested in other media. Libraries", they say, "have many issues of facing the future with proper funding; we are not properly appreciated by Government and many councils, but our existing customers are happy".
But the headings to be addressed in the recently announced Ministerial Review of Libraries are
- "Digital Services and Information literacy"
- "A skilled and responsive library workforce"
- "Capturing (a measure of) Impact"
- "A community- led service"
- "Funding Innovation"
These are three views which are miles apart in their statement of the questions facing public libraries, they seem actually to be avoiding contact with each other and one cannot be sure that if one were to ask a councillor who is responsible for running the service whether his or her list would not be quite different again. Reducing cost and improving value for money would probably be the first two items. Front line staff in libraries will certainly have a different (but important) list again (there is too much management that doesn't listen to us, might well be what they would say).
There is much call for leadership. The first job of such a leader would be to express the problems that need to be solved in a way that everyone recognises and understands. We most certainly don't have that at present. Burnham's list is not a list that the public would understand at all. One wonders from where it originates?
And where the proposed solution of allowing people to talk in libraries comes from, in all this, goodness knows. Out on the streets the accusation is that the Burnham review is not listening to anyone except a very closed circle and neither are Andy Burnham and Barbara Follett. Even more worrying is the attempt it appears to be making to review public libraries without an analysis of the needs of the public at large. Consultation after the event, is not the same thing at all.
Posted by Perkins at 8:33 AM | Comments (1)
November 6, 2008
From CILIP
Forcing Hackney library to withdraw its invitation to Iain Sinclair to launch his book there on 'political' grounds was utterly deplorable. CILIP has made representations about this in a number of places, including the letter I sent - as Leader of CILIP Council - to the Guardian, in response to their article on the matter last week.
Book launches are popular in public libraries, quite rightly so, as books are an absolutely fundamental part of the 'comprehensive service' that Councils are obliged BY STATUTE to provide through their public library service.
Looking ahead to the publication of Iain Sinclair's book in February, CILIP's view is that any lawful book published may be stocked, and should only be rejected if it falls outside the individual library's collections policy.
Caroline Moss-Gibbons
Posted by Perkins at 6:40 PM | Comments (0)
November 5, 2008
The horror of Hackney
This is the tale of Councillor Luke Akehurst in Hackney.
I think Andy Burnham should spend his time reveiwing this one. After all they appear to be in the same political party. The world is full of surprises. I suppose the Minister agrees with what the Councillor said.
Posted by Perkins at 6:25 PM | Comments (1)
November 4, 2008
Lyn Brown and Happy Clappy libraries
Writes in the Guardian again calling for the end of the MLA and other things.
She has high hopes for the Ministerial review. But it is councils that run libraries, not the government or The Minister. How will a group of middle grade civil servants, all of whom depend on the handouts of the Minister for their existence-- bring about a revolution that is not the one Lyn Brown wants, but that people want?
It seems to me like discussing what the French should have for breakfast. Interesting but not up to us.
The comments to Lyn Brown's article tell her what a complete fool she is and Andy Burnham and his clones are, too. But she's not the kind of person who is minded to listen to people who don't agree with her- and neither I think are Andy and his Bandy of Happy Clappy do gooders.
Martyn is right. We have to be very careful of what damage this review can do.
And I am very grateful to Hampshire County Council who still have this as part of their leading news story on the council website:
"Tim Coates says “A good library makes a profound contribution to a local community and provides a place for private, dignified reading and study. Libraries must be modern, safe, clean, welcoming and attractive. They need to have a high reputation not only among those who use them, but also those who do not, but still understand their value. That is what the public pay for and that is what they deserve.”
Posted by Perkins at 9:13 PM | Comments (1)
November 3, 2008
Lambeth again
Readers will recall that it is only a few weeks since the London Borough of Lambeth tried to deceive the Audit Commission inspectors of public libraries by opening three kiosks, that they called libraries, and then closing them them down again. We already know that Lambeth has had the worst library performance figures in the country every year for the past ten years.
Now, tonight, comes this news in The Evening Standard!
What do the councillors in Lambeth do? What are the cabinet members paid for?
Posted by Perkins at 8:01 PM | Comments (0)
More letters rejecting Andy Burnham's view of public libraries
In The Independent last week.
And here, at last, is a view from the Lib Dems. The Lib Dems run quite a lot of councils, so it is quite within their sphere of influence to take some positive step on public libraries. Someone could have a word with Camden council, for a start.
Posted by Perkins at 9:27 AM | Comments (0)
November 1, 2008
Boom time in London
Reading the comments about the opening of the huge new Shepherds Bush shopping centre many ask whether this is the right time for retailers to risk so much.
I have no idea whether this particular development will prosper or how long it will take to pay back the investment in it, but I do think that London will soon see an influx of visitors. If the pound falls and prices are marked down anyhow, then the metropolis will become a place to which to travel from overseas
From the point of view of the public library nedtwork, I have always thought of London as a student centre of the world. For a long time it has been a place for young people to join courses and take up qualfications for every subject and profession imaginable.
That is why it is so important to restore the public libraries to the purpose and use for which they were intended.
Posted by Perkins at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)