The Good Library Blog

Amanda Field, or indeed, anyone, couldn't have said it better.

Speaking as someone who has wanted a 'boring' job in a library for 15 years and received sweet FA from the library profession, you may have a point. I do love books, reading and hush (if not absolute silence) and think a library should be something of a cultural cathedral. I put up with CILIP and others' daft ideas for years until I finally cracked and wrote my (hopefully famous) open letter in 2006. But this year, when the usual hungry demand for payment from CILIP crashed through my letterbox like a large runaway phonebook, open revolt beckoned.

I thought about it. I even contacted Bob McKee, and I would like to attend the meeting to which he referred (please note I'm not available in March) about their Big Project Thing, but retain my membership of an organisation which has done little else than crush my spirit, denigrate my likes (ie books) and foist upon me jargon and ideas like metadata and the hated, no, absolutely loathed revalidation? No, I just can't do it no more, and if comments on this blog that CILIP is losing members and is nearly extinct are true, then it may be that others feel the same.

I was once a rare book cataloguer, self-taught. Am I bitter and twisted that my potential has been so totally wasted?

Hell, yes!

Librarians aren't the problem, honest. They know what a good library should be like and there are some stunningly good ones out there.

Unfortunately, the powers that be (that's the elected members) keep nibbling and hacking away at the budgets. The powers that would like to be (that's DCMS) tell us that the only measure of success for libraries is footfall and the number of books issued.

With a few notable exceptions, the 'daft' ideas (does that include or exclude coffee shops?)are designed to boost footfall and usage by bringing in people who might otherwise never venture inside and benefit from a library. And guess what? Most of the 'daft' ideas actually work and those that don't work get dumped.

I would say that the article is correct: there are only three ideas that really matter, good buildings, long hours and wonderful stock. If you do anything else before you have done these, then it is mere packaging. Coffee doesn't turn a poor library into a good one. The way to attract people who might not venture inside is to improve the stock, the place and the times. If you don't believe me, go to Hillingdon. If people don't want to read or use the library in some way for information or study, there is no point wasting money trying to attract them-- there isn't enough to go round.

And, incidentally, there are very few library budgets, over the past ten years, that have been reduced; and I believe that the number of books issued is a very good measure of the impact the library is having on its community. If they go down, the library is poor, if they go up the library is improving.

We have seen a lot of librarians who are the problem but I shall leave that to others to relate.

Absolutely right: basics first - welcoming, comfortable buildings, good stock, friendly knowledgeable staff. All the things that I found when I first used a good old Carnegie library and that helped bring me into the profession.

The world has moved on of course and the majority of users and potential users expect more - disabled access, good IT, refreshments, toilets. I think they're right to do so.

True also that no amount of window-dressing can make a bad library good. Even in Hillingdon there are sites which have more of a 'Five Minute Makeover' than a 'Grand Designs' feel, and where some rather than no professional input would have produced a more user-friendly result.

What is indisputable is that high profile relaunches of new and refitted libraries boost footfall. That's always been the case, and was demonstrated effectively by the 'Love Libraries' initiative (mainly funded by local authorities despite its MLA branding).

MLA surveyed the state of the country's public library buildings a few years back with the ambitious (or naive) plan of asking the Treasury to fund their repair and upgrade. With the estimated cost running into hundreds of millions, the plan was quietly abandoned and libraries have been left fighting for capital investment against schools, highways, and all the other crumbling but essential infrastructure.

And finally, I wish that I inhabited the parallel universe in which library budgets have all been going up. The reported cost may be going up due to the creative addition of 'central overheads' but actual spend on service delivery continues to slither downwards in real terms in all but a few councils.

Mr Apollo. I think we agree on much of this. Your faith in the profession is honourable and to be respected. Let's see what the new CIPFA figures reveal in the next few weeks.

I wish we didn't make the distinction that we so heavily underscore, that some library staff are 'professional' and others, apparently are not. Surely they all are?

Remember that toilets, wheelchair access and those kinds of things don't make a building into a library. A pub, restaurant or most large shops, would, nowadays, be expected to do all those properly as would most public buildings. They are no more library developments than the use of electricity was when it came in.

I would take issue with "good buildings, long hours and wonderful stock" are the ONLY three ideas that "really matter" because without exception, to all the people with whom i've spoken, contact with paid Library Assistants beats "long hours" by a mile. RFID machines are seen by councils as a fab means of reducing costs -- many community libraries are now left with reduced staff, often only one. It's not rocket science to understand that their great skills with the reading public are being side-lined. Community libraries that users know and love will be changed out of all recognition if Library Assistants are omitted from the equation. Whoever is to blame for this, and it's not wholly down to 'Librarians' (that's simplistic isn't it?) they should be hung out to dry. We, the public, know that Library Assistants also underpin the loyalty we feel to our community libraries. We do not undertake campaigns only to defend a building full of books. The equation "long hours, good buildings and wonderful stock equals 'all that matters'" is MISSING this absolutely vital ingredient. I trust Perkins will amend it forthwith!

Shirley.. Of course, library assistants, too. Knowledgeable friendly and helpful. Sorry for the omission.