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June 7, 2010
No progress
A year ago I was approached by one of the large county councils and asked if I could do for them what I had done for the London Borough of Hillingdon.
In Hillingdon the cost of the service has been reduced but the libraries are being improved to the extent that the use of some of the community libraries has increased, I am told, by 300% . It is a good, successful and self sustaining project, being run, now, entirely by the council.
In this large county council I spent some time with the leader and he was absolutely keen to proceed. He understood exactly what had been done and there were many aspects which fitted exactly the way he wanted to run his council. In particular in Hillingdon, the local librarians in each library have control over the resources they need to give the right service in their community. They are able - and have learned how - to be very responsive to local need. That is why they are so popular. Evidence is in abundance- you only have to go and talk to Hillingdon council.
However leaders of councils are busy people and in this case he passed the matter to the appropriate people in his council to manage. It has taken them a year, but they have now persuaded him not to go ahead. They fear that the project will disrupt their own operation, and they do not want to do it. The leader senses belligerence from his management and when he plenty of other problems, it is not worth taking them on. So the project has stopped.
This is not the first time I have seen this -in fact I think I count 6 occasions, including Swindon last year, where this was the method used by library and council management and other national bodies to block a programme which would have quickly brought great benefit to the public.
One day the balloon will burst. Or the libraries will close. Prisoners? Who wants them.
I think it has to be for the local people to be firm and say, simply, we want this project to go ahead. You work for our benefit.
Posted by Perkins at June 7, 2010 8:21 AM
Comments
why not look specifically at their reasons and argue against them?
Posted by: Nelly at June 7, 2010 6:29 PM
I wasn't given specifics --I was only told the outcome and that was through a third party.
Posted by: perkins at June 8, 2010 11:01 AM