Changes

Ideas

  • Suffolk – An author as “patron”
  • Westminster – Twinning with French library authority to exchange 200 books per year.

News

  • How would you want to be remembered Mr. Deary? – Smily Librarian.  Compares the help given by Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams to libraries with the criticism from Terry Deary. ” who has demonstrated he would rather attack the institutions and individuals who have helped create his success (because, be honest, how many children would have found his books without a library whether school or public and the people who work in them) to create a few moments of sensationalism and publicity. He will be remembered for that, if he is remembered at all, long after his books have been pulped, or wiped from the e readers.”
  • SCL Rolls Out Extensive Staff Training Programme – Society of Chief Librarians. “To date SCL has trained just over 300 library staff from across the country in a series of four Universal Offer workshops. The workshops have been designed to increase awareness and embed the four universal offers: Information, Health, Reading and Digital.The workshops have been delivered in partnership with The Reading Agency and  attended by a whole range of public library staff ;we have been sharing best practice to date and exploring new and creative ways that the offers can be developed .”
  • Terry Deary the idiot – Phil Bradley’s Weblog. “My first feeling, and I still think that it’s the correct one, is that the guy is desperate for publicity for his new book.” … “I love the fact that Deary is selling his books on Amazon, while at the same time decrying the closure of bookshops. Here’s a clue Mr Deary – if you want to try and keep bookshops open don’t allow you books to be sold on Amazon” … “This entirely ignores that fact that he’s too thick to actually work out what libraries are *for*. His idea of what a library is – a glorified bookshop that gives his work away for free – is so outdated that it would be laughable if he wasn’t so pathetic.”

UK news by authority

  • Croydon – JLIS, now Carillion, what next? – Save Croydon Libraries. Looking at the changes in Croydon due to outsourcing and wondering what will happen next.
  • Lincolnshire – We are heading for a volunteer overload situation – Save Lincolnshire Libraries. “Cllr Hill has made much of the expressions of interest that could keep open 24 libraries under sole volunteer operation and at the same time belittled the remaining 6 who have not. It should be pointed out that no expressions of interest would have been forthcoming if the communities were not having their arms twisted up their backs by threats to close these much loved community hubs that village and community libraries clearly are.”

“Cllr Steve Palmer Lincolnshire Independent councillor spokesman on Libraries and Culture said, “I am an ex “Librarian” and a volunteer in one of my local Libraries that have not expressed an interest because to a man and woman we are not convinced we can raise the money every year to pay for the running costs of this library and while we are prepared to assist professional staff or to run the library extra hours as we do now, and have been for the last two years, we also have the experience enough to know what would be required of us to run the whole kit and caboodle”.”

“We are different to the way Newcastle did it. We could quite easily say we are going to restructure pools and libraries and have no events programme but that’s not a very positive approach. “We’ve been paternalistic in the past – we’ve tried to do everything for everyone. As a council we should be in an enabling role. “It’s only when somebody can’t do something for themselves do we need to step in.”

  • Powys – Top author scores with young Welshpool readers – Reading Agency (press release). “Top children’s author Tom Palmer helped schoolchildren in Powys explore the life-changing joys of reading when he visited Welshpool yesterday (19 November), to lead a special day of workshops which had been jointly organised by national charity The Reading Agency, publishers Barrington Stoke and Powys County Council’s library service.”

“This event was part of The Reading Agency’s work to bring together its partners from the publishing world and the whole of the UK public library network to create successful and exciting events and activities for readers of all ages. This summer, Barrington Stoke was the latest publisher to join its Children’s Reading Partners consortium of library services and children’s book publishers.”

  • Sheffield – Schoolchildren pound pavements in library protest – Star. “Youngsters from Lydgate Junior School pounded the pavements armed with placards to show their opposition to the city council’s plans to shut Broomhill Library. They sang and chanted as they made their way down Manchester Road to the library in a bid to make their voices heard. The protest was led by Year Six pupil Anna Mayer, aged 11, who enlisted the help of classmates to save the facility from closure. For an entire week the school tailored its curriculum towards the demonstration – pupils composed a protest song in Music lessons, had to make the case for keeping the library open as part of their persuasive writing topic in English and created banners in Art and Design.”
  • Suffolk – Gallery: Glemsford streetscape gets the ‘Lowry’ treatment – EADT. “Glemsford Library commissioned local artist David Gilbert to paint a view of the village street where the library stands based on the style of Lowry, who was well known for his urban scenes featuring figures often referred to as “matchstick men”. The artist’s work was the inspiration behind the 1978 number one hit song Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs.”
  • Suffolk – Renowned writer bids to raise profile of his local library – Sudbury Mercury. “Renowned Suffolk author and historian Charlie Haylock is to become the patron of his local library in a bid to raise the profile of the facility and encourage people to use it.”
  • Torbay – Brixham Library 20th anniversary celebrations continue with Festival of Authors – Herald Express. “The Friends of Brixham Library started in February 2005 with a small membership offering book sales and coffee mornings to support and promote the library. The current group of Friends have been able to increase membership sevenfold and draw funding from local and national organisations to help improve facilities and the offer to the community. In this anniversary year, the Friends have brought in over £7,000 to ensure free celebrations via art workshops, courses and improvements to The Ledge, situated over the entrance doors, for art shows.”
  • Westminster – Central London library ‘twins’ with Parisian library – Westminster Council (press release). A public library in central London has become the first become ‘twinned’ with a library in another European capital. In a move resonant of the post-war town-twinning movement, Church Street Library in Westminster has struck an entente cordial with Parisian counterpart Place des Fetes library. Under the pilot scheme, the two libraries will exchange more than two hundred books and hold various cultural and language events throughout the year until next summer. The move means that library-users in Westminster will have access to a range of modern and classic titles by renowned French authors such as Frederic Beigbeder, Michel Houellebecq and J. M. G. Le Clezio, as well as a range of children’s books in French, such as Harry Potter et Les Reliques De La Mort – Harry Potter and the deathly hallows.’”