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March 23, 2009
Outrage!- Something must be done
From a reader of this blog
"Rachel Cooke's piece in Sundays Observer is excellent, and highlights many of the problems for today's public libraries. Lack of leadership from Government and Quangos down to lack of imagination, and lack of previous strategic planning.
We have had review after review, changes to MLA both in its leadership and range, and all sorts of projects and plans, but the state of the sector is worsening. Yes, some useful things have been done, and some successes, but across the piece things are grim. (just read about our levels of educational attainment and literacy in our schools, we are not top of the class any more internationally)!
I do not advocate never having to close a library, BUT if you were running the library system properly you would make your decisions on hard data. This would include number of population, make up of population, such as age, type,(e.g. working or not, type of work etc.) percentage at work, or school, or elderly, with disabilities etc. etc. I bet you Tesco, Marks and Spencer, train and bus companies, any new business, will have done this sort of thing before setting up, closing down or changing
It is well past time for Action, BUT let's use the perilous situation the country is in to sell to the public the advantage of free access to books and libraries. I know of book shops closing because of the financial situation, so let's get those readers into the library.
Stop all this business of review, review, report, comment etc., and DO SOMETHING NOW! Swindon under Shirley Burnham has shown the way, so there is leadership from the users, lets see it at a local professional librarian and national level also."
Posted by Perkins at March 23, 2009 1:04 PM
Comments
The central problem seems to be a confusion between 'excellence' and 'elitism'. This leads to the absurd situation where you can't have a great book collection in a library in case it puts off those who don't read books.
Similarly, you can't study, write an essay or read in peace, because the rights of the non-readers, bellowing into their mobile phones, must take precedence for 'social inclusion' reasons.
Unless we can turn the tide of this nonsense right now, everything that is excellent about the public library service will have vanished forever - and one thing is for sure: our grandchildren will never forgive us.
Rachel Cooke's article was excellent, but unfortunately it's preaching largely to the converted. Until the Sun, Mirror, Mail and Express start campaigning for 'proper' libraries, then the MLA and the government will continue to ignore it.
Incidentally, even the Observer are not exempt from this fear of so-called 'elitism': in the same section of the paper as Rachel Cooke's article is an interview with a young woman playwright by Lyn Barber. When the playwright says she enjoyed the discipline of studying medieval English at university, Barber appends her own comment: 'Crikey'.
Posted by: Amanda Field at March 23, 2009 3:45 PM
Amanda
You are right. We need a new tactic. Have you any ideas? Probably not even Mail and Express-- it has to be The Sun and The Mirror
Tim
Posted by: Tim Coates at March 23, 2009 10:37 PM
The article's available online, in case people didn't read last Sunday's Observer:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/mar/22/saving-british-libraries
Posted by: Josh at March 26, 2009 7:17 PM