Ian Anstice

I covered Terry Deary’s comment about libraries yesterday but there’s been more coverage today and more things to be angry about.  Therefore, more needs writing on the subject … and here it is:

Terry Deary has at least put the nail in the coffin that authors who support libraries are merely being selfish by claiming that libraries hurt authors and how he’s out of pocket because of their existence.  Perhaps the answer to his question “Why are all the authors coming out in support of libraries when libraries are cutting their throats and slashing their purses?” is that other authors are not being as nakedly and shortsightedly selfish.

Those authors in favour of libraries (see here for a list), especially those of children fiction like (but also so unlike) Deary are aware that most of the population with a reading habit cannot afford to buy everything that they want to buy and that limiting access to those with an ability to pay severely detriments literacy and so the future success of the country.   This is especially the case with children who may be effectively barred from reading outside of school if their parents cannot afford to pay. Such children of course would not be able to buy Horrible Histories and thus he is not out of pocket.  In fact, he’s gaining on the deal as the library is buying a copy of his work which the poorest child would not be able to afford.  For those more in the money, the library serves to introduce them to the books and to get them hooked so they’d be more likely to buy them.  So, Terry wins again.  His argument against “something for nothing” therefore is revealed into what it really is – an author wanting to charge highly for his cake and to be able to eat it too.

In addition, there are many who are not as fortunate as the wealthy Deary – say, for example, those at the edge of society as well as the elderly and the unemployed – who would face a far harsher existence without the libraries that he has taken such a dislike to.  A man came up to me a couple of years ago and said he would commit suicide without libraries.  Those who work in libraries are all aware of the many people who say “I don’t know what I’d do without a library”.  In Deary’s world, they’d need to find out quickly – and I suspect they would lead lonelier, colder, sadder and, yes, shorter lives.  Even in purely economic terms (and that’s always a dangerous thing, putting a price on knowledge) public libraries make national sense.  Have a look at these reports if you don’t believe me:

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A mixed bag today.  The final echoes of National Libraries Day are fading away. The Government is perhaps trying to keep the feel-good vibes going a little longer by announcing £600k of funding per year (half by DCLG, half by ACE and BL) to  encourage libraries to provide intellectual property service for businesses.  It’s a shame, as I have seen pointed out, that all of the authorities involved (including the perhaps slightly reprieved Newcastle) are also having to otherwise drastically cut their library budgets but the initiative itself is promising.

Locally, there’s a real mix in fortunes.  On the negative side, Wrexham may close a quarter of its libraries and nearly halve its number of public computers.  On the balance (depending on how one feels about private companies taking over libraries – I imagine most readers of this blog would be very much against) Ealing appears to be outsourcing its libraries and has cut down its bidders to two,  More positively, it looks like Northumberland is bucking the trend (at least in terms of visits and members) by a rqnge of measures that could bear further examination.

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A media double-whammy today as the media had the National Libraries Day story to run with as well as the release of the Public Lending Right figures.  The two in combination probably meant public libraries had more national media coverage today than at any point in the last year.

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In a welcome spirit of open-ness, the minutes of the SCL (Society of Chief Librarians) Executive Committee meeting held in CILIP on 23rd January 2013 are now available publicly online.  This is part of a conscious spirit of engagement on the part of senior library managers to engage with public library campaigners and, presumably, also with rank and file library staff.  It leads on from its welcome “Universal Offers” announced last week and continues with an announcement in the minutes  that it is reviewing its core purpose and governance.

The main points include a sneak preview of the results of the ACE research and an insight into SCL meetings with politicians:7

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Despite all the bad news and the inherent danger in sounding like the Government who says that libraries are “not in crisis”, it is worth looking at the more positive side of things.  It will do all a disservice just to concentrate on the bad and a portrait that just shows one side of a face is either a Picasso or unfinished.  So what’s good?  Well, I’ll concentrate on two things. I’m already noticing a lot more National Libraries Day stuff than I can remember seeing last year.  A lot of councils are getting on board and sending press releases out.  The best of the bunch so far, of course, is Midlothian whose pole-fitness sessions have – and I can’t think why – appeared to have grabbed the imagination of much of the national media.

Another positive thing is that, like a quiet counterpoint to the loud orchestral crash of libraries closing, there are some libraries opening or being refurbished.  My list (itself an amalgam of information supplied by the DCMS, SCL and many authorities/interested onlookers) has been used as one of the sources for a listing by Designing Libraries which comes the closest yet to something that can claim to be comprehensive.  They count 135 new or refurbished library buildings open or committed to since the start of 2011.  That’s less than half the number of libraries which closed or were “volunteered” in the same period – and 40% were co-locations (which may or may not be a bad thing, depending on how it’s done) – but it’s better than nothing.  And, yes, a lot of these have been “committed to” but not yet built but. come on, it’s still good news.

Along with the Universal Offers last week, there’s some hope for public libraries over the last week or so.  Long may it continue.  However, if the bosses at the DCMS are foolish enough to pretend that this means somehow all is well in libraries then they will be lampooned again, as they were in the comments of the BookSeller:

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