« Publishers should sell directly to UK public libraries | Main | A school library »
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 November 30, 2008 11:35 AM
Comments
You may be interested to know that last week the Rear Admiral gave a lecture entitled"The culture of place-making ; the role of the Arts in shaping identity and building communities".~In this he promised to "explore different themes and talk about identity, well-being and what the arts can offer....part of what I do is work with local government to improve what's on offer and point out who's doing something innovative. It's all about community."
So now we know.
Posted by: postumus at November 30, 2008 9:05 PM
You could turn a library into a launderette and the Rear Admiral would applaud you for innovation.
(I shouldn't have said that, should I?)
Posted by: perkins at December 1, 2008 10:50 AM
I think libraries are for people to borrow books from and read books in, not there to be Local Community Centres. I don't want Coffee Shops and Craft Fairs, though I wouldn't be averse to a coffee, tea and chocolate machine and plenty of available drinking water. I don't want Yoga and Pilates in a library, nor Farmers' Markets or Internet Cafés. I don't want radios or mobiles or piped music or play centres or any sound other than the discreet whisper of a librarian. Or a little stifled laughter.
Books are mind-expanding, mind-boggling, thrilling, nourishing, saddening, terrifying, reviving, teasing. Like love-making, they deserve a space of their own. Dawn
Posted by: Dawn Lowe-Watson/Dawn Valery at December 1, 2008 4:34 PM
Well, I think Dawn summed it all up perfectly there, and I sure did go to sleep with a smile on my face after I read that last analogy! Why can't we have love-making in libraries, anyway? It sure would spice up those empty spaces between the Romance racks.
Posted by: James Christie at December 2, 2008 12:37 PM