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November 20, 2011
Close the Local Government Association down
Not for the first time - in fact it has done it many times- the LGA, the Local Government Association - has tried to make an intervention in the matter of a dispute between local people and their council in the matter of public libraries.
Who pays for the LGA ? What is it for? To whom does it account? Who sees its documents ?
It is a nonsensical idea to have a national body to lobby to central government on behalf of local councillors and officers... and for the public to pay for such lobbying. MP's are local and ought to be able to have a sensible view about the issues of local governnment without this invented- huge and expensive body
What always emerges from what they say is that 'localism means leaving the local council free to do whatever it wants' - but the truth, as library campaigners everywhere have learned, is that nothing is more hidden and evasive than the activity of a local council. They need much more central governnment scrutiny - not less.
Close the LGA and save the money
Before another library is threatened, Mr Pickles, close down the LGA and find a better use for the funds is takes.
Posted by Perkins at 8:52 PM | Comments (1)
November 18, 2011
Will public libraries be the downfall of David Cameron?
It seems improbable that the public library service could bring the end of the political career of the Prime Minister, but it seems to me that there is a small but reasonable and increasing possibility that that might happen.
It is astonishing how libraries have become news. Ten years ago the national papers would never have written about them and even The Bookseller- whose subscriptions come more from libraries than anywhere else only ever had two articles a year - on the publication of figures from CIPFA and LISU.
This morning 3 national papers have stories about libraries and 5 out of the 12 top industry stories in The Bookseller are about libraries.
There can hardly be a clearer and more obvious manifestation of the incompetence of Government than its handling of the simple straightforward matter of public libraries. Yet if one were to endeavour to trip over a daisy in the garden one could hardly be more spectacularly idiotic and useless than Jeremy Hunt and Ed Vaizey.
It is unbelievable and comic and goes on and on. One does have to believe that it could indeed bring the downfall of the Government and The Prime Minister. .... and Perkins will have been, again, the first to spot the possibility. She is often right (ask the Admiral!!)
Posted by Perkins at 11:14 PM | Comments (0)
November 13, 2011
If politicians won't pay for libraries, don't assume that publishers will
We see it time and again in the arguments in local councils in which councillors close libraries or reduce book funds- "but it's ok because reading is freely available on the internet in ebooks and on Kindle - or if it isn't now it soon will be"
Librarians - the profession- have ben saying that for years
But it ISN'T TRUE.
Publishers will not make ebooks freely available - why should they? At present 80% of publishers both here and in the US are refusing to supply the public library service through the various models that are currently available
Why should they give away content so that two thirds of reading can be free and authors of the works are not paid ? If polticians don't think free public libraries are a good idea - why should publishers and authors forego their livelihood ?
We know that people want bread to eat, but that doesn't mean we expect bakers to give two thirds of what they make away, for nothing.
There is a deal to do somewhere-- and common sense to be found - but no one at present is even looking for it
If Ministers have their heads buried someone somewhere has to start talking .. because reading is the at the root of our civilisation - and libraries are the potting sheds of integrity.
Posted by Perkins at 2:58 PM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2011
Perkins
The Good Library Guide Blog is very proud to announce that Perkins has a new job
She is to be the library cat of a famous and presitgious library in California. This is very exciting etc and more details will be released at some point in the future.
"Libraries in England" are not dependable for a career - "even for the most experienced library cat" - she said in a statement
Perkins has previously been the library cat of the Carnegie library on the dockside at Bloggington on Sea. She came to prominence seven years ago when a newspaper (now sadly defunct) observed that the public library service in England was so badly run that even a cat could do better - and Perkins proved that to be true
She played a significant role in the downfall of BATT - a cricketing expression, of the Ministry of Libraries and Archives (MLA), the Society for Closing Libraries (SCL), the Department of Common Sense (DCMS) and of SYRUP .
Afficionadoes of this blog will know that she used to sleep in the space vacated by missing titles in the 12 volume set of 'Naval Maneouvres (sic) in Bloggington Bay in the reign of Queen Anne' and has already been made an honorary citizen cat of the United States of America.
Onwards and Upwards -- to Lemon County California, Bilbary Town Library.
(Perkins has a nephew and a niece called Bob and Kitty. Bob is difficult)
Posted by Perkins at 12:30 PM | Comments (1)