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November 30, 2009
Wirral News
Congratulations to Sue Charteris and to the campaigners on the Wirral. The first sighting of the long awaited report makes good reading.
It will be rare to find a council across the country that would satisfy the tests she has applied-- that the council library service should understand (from evidence) the library needs of its residents and act logically in response to them.
Of course it is these same two tests that one has cried out for both the London Libraries Change Programme and the DCMS libraries review to satisfy. All the evidence so far suggests that what both these studies are doing would not and that if they were working as they should there would be no need for the needless secrecy that currently surrounds both projects
In truth the policies of both Labour and Conservative parties will fail the fundamental points raised in the Charteris report. Neither of them, in setting out their polcies have addressed the library needs of ordinary people now. They must. .. otherwise the public library service will have been destroyed within the next ten years.
Posted by Perkins at 2:22 PM | Comments (0)
For only £345
There is to be a conference in London on the future of public libraries on 14 Dec. It has been organised by the MLA. Tickets are only £345 for the day (but you will have to claim your travel expenses from someone else)
It is called '1964 and all that' (not 1984 and all that) -- which is a reference to a book called.....
I hope for that price, you get a good lunch. If 100 people came, it would have cost the taxpayers £34,500 -- ! I am sure they will at last think of something to say, although the preamble is not that exciting "Modernising our public libraries is a hot political issue right now" it says.. "with the DCMS review imminent" (no one told them) .."Digital platforms have the potential to revolutionise the way we access information, colocation with other public services can make libraries more efficient for both users and local authorities and there is the continual challenge to make sure that the rest are delivering as succesfully as the best."
Fine use of English guaranteed, evidently... and a clear understanding of the problems, too? I'm afraid not.
More books, longer hours and better buildings-- that's all-- it's as simple as that, ask the residents of Hillingdon. I did... and they like what was done, but who would be so foolish as to listen to a small black cat. For that money I could sort out the entire library service and have some packets of Whiskas left over.
Posted by Perkins at 11:32 AM | Comments (4)
November 23, 2009
Let us make a timetable
While we yet again await the collective body of politicians and public servants to announce the results of 18 months deliberation in their 'Review of Public Libraries' the public has to wait for improvements and commitments to their public library service.
I think the time for consultation and report writing has long since past and it is time now for clarity and action.
Let us commit to some actions in some councils and make a timetable. Let us no longer depend on any central government body, department or quango- and instead form an alliance of councils to make improvement quickly.
Who will join me? Which councils, which suppliers, which user groups, will put their hand on the table?
Posted by Perkins at 12:46 PM | Comments (1)
November 15, 2009
E books and print books.
Here is an important article by my friend Karen Christensen at Berkshire Publishing. Karen and Berkshire are the hosts of this blog and are leading publishers of reference works
Posted by Perkins at 3:41 PM | Comments (0)
November 14, 2009
Reading helps you write in a way that other people will understand
When I started at work and had to write reports for my company in response to questions asked by managers, my boss told us very strictly that the use of jargon was lazy and and attempt to appear clever. He required us to 'write so that your mother will understand what you mean: in that way you will avoid my wrath'
From Simon Hoggart in the Guardian today
"Your council tax at work. Reader John Richardson sends in a magnificent example of jargon, from a report by Camden council, north London, called "Growing Your Library" [sic]. This turns out to mean sacking lots of staff and replacing them with barcode scanners. It includes phrases such as "information plinths" and reads in part: "The People work stream sits alongside service visioning, ICT procurement, spatial strategy, pilot RFID (radio frequency identification), enabled library and communications work streams."
Why is it, when local councils are having more and more of their power taken by central government, they respond by distancing themselves so thoroughly from their voters?"
My mother would not have understood this report by officers of Camden Council but their work would have been the recipient of the firm and shaming marks of a red pen - as it should have been given by the highly paid directors and councillors. One's sorrow is augmented by the idea that the authors of this work claim to be professional librarians who 'promote reading'. I don't believe them- I never have. You couldn't read books and write English in this way.
Posted by Perkins at 5:22 PM | Comments (6)
November 7, 2009
Public Letter to Ed Vaizey and Boris Johnson
To Ed Vaizey and Boris Johnson : London Libraries Change Programme
Just once more and further to all our previous correspondence.... I am going to start making public statements about the London Libraries Change Programme
My view, and I suspect it will be widely understood and suppported, is this-- and it is probably best if you regard this as a public letter.
1. The Public library service in London is an essential part of the cultural fabric of one of the great learning centres of the world.
2. All the figures tell a simple story; the buildings have been allowed to decay and the facilities they offer have fallen behind the times; stocks of books and other reading material have degenerated to a terrible low standard; opening hours, in a 24 hour city, where people study night and day, are no reflection of people's lives nor their expectations; staff are sometimes good and knowledgeable, but not always, in a world where people expect good service
3. At over £200m per annum with further considerable annual capital expenditures in total amounting almost the cost of BBC TV licenses for London families-- the cost is huge but fails to deliver respectable value for money. There is obviously a significant wastage of money and therefore there should be no need to seek additional finance to do anything.
4. Users don't believe that those responsible understand their needs and therefore when making changes will probably do the wrong things. Public communication of the actions of the service is poor
5. The metropolis needs central libraries, good large libraries and a network of small community, or suburban libraries, the values of each of which are properly and clearly understood and appreciated by those responsible for them. People don't want to have to fight all the time to keep their libraries open or well stocked.
5. A London Libraries Change Programme (LLCP) should have addressed all these matters with urgency years ago. The service desperately needs improvement across the whole of its activities.
6. The current plans expressed in LLCP documents are deeply depressing to people of London and miles away from making immediate improvement. They need to be re-energised so that they bring beneficial change-- people need a promise of regeneration that is public, clear, credible and in the hands of people trusted to deliver it. They want to hear about longer hours, improved collections and smarter buildings designed for reading and study, funded out of the money they already pay and have paid. Savings should be possible, in these times, but only if the management of resources is properly directed and effective.
7 People don't want to be told about endless administative failings and confusions and about how one council won't listen to the advice of another or how reports have been ignored or technical changes in cataloguing and non standard cataloguing systems are debated at library conferences . Not do they want to hear half baked theories about how council services have to be delivered nor about the possible needs of libraries in future centuries. They want the attention of those responsible to concentrate on the public library service now- and improvements to be urgent.
8. In drawing up these plans, those responsible for the current LLCP appear to have made no attempt to hear, listen to or understand the public needs of the various and many groups and individuals who use, or would use libraries. That failing runs through almost every page of both the consultants' reports (which have already cost over £300k) and the summaries and directions being given by the LLCP Board. The factual basis of the consultants' work relies entirely on information from within the service and is largely a regurgitation of observations of management incompetence and obfuscation that has been reported time and again over the years. The reports totally lack any clarity of understanding or vision. The allocation of priorities and the management of the project has been put in the hands of those who failed to address these issues in the past decades.
9. So for all these reasons, the LLCP is a shambles and needs immediate political redirection. It is hard not to say that those who are charged by the public with the care of the service have not been naive, gullible, distracted and less than attentive in letting a project run for two years at such enormous expense without correction. That needs to change
10 The only place from which that redirection can come is from those in positions of political leadership upon whom the public depend. Because so many of the councils in London have Conservative administrations, that means you Ed Vaizey as shadow minister and aspirant minister and it means Boris Johnson as Mayor-- and I think you should work together and express a joint vision- to which you should insist that the administrators, officers and civil servants respond with more energy than they have so far.
11. I beg you both not to tolerate the secret schemings which have brought us to this position and not only to attend the meeting on 13th November at which those responsible are to discuss these issues with London Councils but also to make that a public meeting
12 I also call on you to dismiss from office the entire Board of the LLCP and replace it with a small effective body that will conduct the improvement work with appropriate expedition and urgency
In this way we will at last see some improvement in public libraries in London -- we should be ambitious and seek a world class public library service for our capital which it needs and deserves
I offer you my support in all this - and believe that a wider public understanding of this project will also give you the mandate for change and recognisable imrpovement-- it will be a good matter for you and a new government to tackle well
With kind regards
Tim Coates
Posted by Perkins at 7:18 PM | Comments (0)