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January 5, 2009
Essex libraries are a mess
From a library user in Essex
Essex Libraries are in a mess and nobody seems to care. My local library is selling off books as though they were competing with Woolworths' final day sale. I've picked up a few gems, but that does mean that there are fewer available for research. I cannot use my library, which is one of the largest in the county because the books it does retain are so out of date. I tend to nip over to Redbridge, which is on a bus route from where I live in Loughton. Ilford's research library is excellent but I shouldn't have to go out of county to find the books I need. I do use the Essex online services, but whenever I look for a particular book it is usually over at Chelmsford or Southend and it may as well be in Scotland for all the good that is to me. Interlibrary loan does not work terribly well and the local history section has also suffered the same fate as other books and many have been sold off or sent to Chelmsford. Why is everything at Chelmsford?
A word about the staff too - they are mostly helpful but they are not librarians and they do not have the research skills to help users undertaking serious research. I watched one trying to help a someone with a family history question and she had no idea where to start - other than recommend the woman to go to the Essex Record Office. The topic of the research was a Victorian author, but the library assistant had clearly never heard of her even though she was the JK Rowling of her day. Had the assistant known a little more about books, she would have suggested looking in a biographical dictionary.
Posted by Perkins at January 5, 2009 10:03 AM
Comments
I have been a regular user of Loughton library for a few years now. I have found it pretty good all in all. I agree that the book sale is a little crazed at 10p (!) an item. That said - most of the stuff I have seen in there is either fairly worn out or fairly trashy and ephemeral (horror, true love etc). It may be that your contributor gets there before me?
Opening hours are fairly good and a regular flow of new books does seem to appear. There has been no reduction in stock levels that I have noticed - clearly the sold stock is being replenished.
You can request items from anywhere in Essex libraries using the catalogue and these arrive without charge in a few days for the most part. I receive automated notifications and can collect at my convenience. Many of the books I borrow come in this way. I cannot comment on wider ILL as I have not had call to use it.
I have contacted the service on a number of occasions to make suggestions about additional copies, items that might be held and so on. I have always received very rapid responses and generally the item has been purchased if in print. I would suggest the correspondent tries engaging with the service if they are not providing the items they need.
Just an alternate view really.
Posted by: A Loughton Library User at January 6, 2009 1:03 PM
I have just heard from somebody who went into Oxford Library for The Old Wives' Tale - and found there there was no Arnold Bennett at all.
Teachers are being encouraged to isnpire teenagers to use libraries, but any teacher would be embarrassed to take them to such poorly-stocked libraries.
Something precious has been thrown away, and that has brought a pervasive sense that in England now we are at the end of community.
Every so often there is some hope, as with Brighton and Hove's move to restock classics, but the national trend is decay and closure, and that can only foster that sense of alientation which makes these times all the worse.
It would be eye-opening for such people as the MLA to get from behind their screens and stand outside libraries in the cold, as residents have to do, and talk with people. That might not be a West End restaurant, but it would be far more enlightening.
Posted by: Christopher Hawtree at January 6, 2009 1:49 PM
Essex Libraries have done a lot of positive things over the last few years - extended opening hours, free reservations for online inter-lending requests. They also provide an excellent and efficient central enquiries service in the form of Answers Direct. Essex also provide excellent online services , but the County is not without problems.
The County sold off important parts of their book collections - and I do not mean just the normal turn-over of used fiction and non-fiction, but irreplaceable antiquarian items were offered for sale in large quantities. A few years ago the County also provided an excellent local studies service which has been dismantled - and however helpful the staff in the centralised Local Studies Collection in Colchester, they cannot replace the local structure that existed.
One very real problem remains stock selection. Essex has managed to purchase 28 copies of Catherine Townsend's "Breaking the Rules: Confessions of a bad Girl" but not a single copy of "Breaking the Rules: the printed face of the European Avant-Garde 1900-1937" by Stephen Bury, the book that accompanied the ground-breaking British Library exhibition of the same name - which is relevant to people interested in art, literature, politics and print. The problem is encapsulated in these examples - many important and useful books never get into the Public Library system in the first place. When they are requested there are delays in obtaining the book from the British Library or delays while the book is purchased.
Although my local supermarket sells the "Times Literary Supplement", no library in Essex currently subscribes to the "TLS". No library in Essex subscribes to the "London Review of Books", and no library in Essex subscribes to the "Literary Review".
There are signs, however, that things are beginning to change - a new Cabinet member for Libraries and a new County Librarian, who are both willing to listen is a good start.
Posted by: Martyn at January 7, 2009 10:02 AM
I am a reporter for the Epping Forest Guardian. Please could 'Perkins' and 'A Loughton Library User' get in touch with me on 020 8498 3431 or email me at eroberts@london.newsquest.co.uk thanks.
Emily Roberts
Posted by: Emily Roberts at January 12, 2009 10:38 AM