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Hi Ed
Sep 6th
Comment
Save Kensal Rise have now raised more than five thousand pounds more than their fundraising target of £70,000. This does not mean their library is safe but it means they have a fighting chance. Which is more than can be said for democracy in Cornwall, as the majority of Cornwall Council councillors have vote against privatising its services, including libraries, only to have their vote ignored by the Cabinet who are pressing ahead anyway.
In a move which raise a wry smile in the UK, it appears that people who work in Nigerian libraries but are not qualified face the danger of prosecution. It is unlikely that the Government will follow this example. Speaking of this Government, Public Libraries News has been honoured by a mention in Parliament. A mention, incidentally, that shows the Under Secretary of State with responsibility for libraries is aware of the existence of this website. Bearing in mind what I occasionally say about him, I can only hope he is not a vindictive or violent man.
You take 18 months, we get 2 weeks?
Sep 5th
Comment
It appears that Kensal Rise Campaign has met, or will soon meet, their £70,000 target needed to have a convincing enough business case for the library owners, the Oxford college All Souls College. It also appears that they have an ex Minister of the Arts no less, Mark Fisher, as Chair of Trustees. The fact he’s a Labour politician will doubtless annoy the DCMS but it remains to see how Labour-run Brent Council, who have been so adamant in their opposition to keeping the library open, will react. The coverage gained by Kensal Rise, with its celebrity and political support, should not cloud the fact that it is just one library of many in difficulties around England, but it’s place as a media darling and the sheer commitment and innovation of its supporters deserves respect, even if one is unsure about the role of volunteer-run libraries.
Goodbye Jeremy, we’re having Maria
Sep 4th
Comment
In a “ruthless Cameron reshuffle to the right“, Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State with ultimate responsibility for Libraries has now moved on to the Department of Health. He said and did almost the absolute minimum on the subject of libraries over a period of unprecedented cuts, closures, hollowing out and deprofessionalisation.
Loss of libraries to 18% of users is fine: Ed Vaizey on Bolton, Isle of Wight & Lewisham
Sep 3rd
Ed Vaizey has responded to three of the most branch-cutting authorities to say that he is not currently minded to intervene in any of them. In other words, he sees the loss of 5 out of 15 branches in Bolton, 5 out of 12 in Lewisham and 5 out of 11 in the Isle of Wight as acceptable.
A lose of a third to nearly a half of total service points would normally be seen as quite major but the letter shows that this it is not sufficient to merit intervention. The main reason put forward for this is that the five branches lost in each case were the smallest ones and so represent only small amounts of active borrowers, being 13% in Bolton and 18% in the Isle of Wight, with the real number being smaller due to some users visiting larger branches as well. Mr Vaizey does not tell us the percentage of active users affected in Lewisham but indirectly notes that 17% of visits and 23% of book issues were in the closed branches in 2009/10.
Demonisation of volunteers: cause and effect?
Sep 2nd
Two interesting articles that at first sight have little to do with eachother have come to my attention. The first is an interesting powerpoint presentation by the Society of Chief Librarians. Within it, the SCL states that it “leads the professional debate” on the future of public libraries and that it is doing “quiet diplomacy” with politicians. The powerpoint also states the (hard to argue with) basic standards that the SCL believes that all library services should deliver:
A beating heart that should not be allowed to stop
Aug 31st
News
- Libraries are the beating heart – Teen Librarian Toolbox (USA). A truly beautiful piece of writing that everyone involved in deciding on the future of libraries, especially the politicians, should read:
… “For 19 years I had the distinct honor of living in Ohio communities with thriving libraries that beat loudly as the heart of their communities. And now I live in a community without one (I commute 45 minutes to work). There is no magic in the air here, just commerce and industry and asphalt. There is no smell of leather and paper. Dreams and magic don’t waft in the air. Children don’t sing and shake eggs as their parents sit together and participate in community. Everywhere you turn it seems we are running out of money; but what happens when we stop our beating heart from beating? What happens to our communities when we shut the doors on the past and put out the flames of the future? What happens when we get rid of our librarians who teach our children to sing and dance and shake an egg and love a good story? What happens when we forget to think and dream, to ask and to answer questions?”
“I owe my whole life to books from libraries” Zadie Smith Radio 5 Interview
Aug 30th
The following is a transcription of a three minute interview between Zadie Smith and Richard Bacon on Radio Five today. A year ago she wrote in defence of libraries and her passion has not dimmed.
“Zadie Smith: When we were children, you’d never imagine that you’d get into a Right/Left argument about the purpose and use of a library. It seems extraordinary to me.
The SCL spells it out
Aug 29th
“As the policy states, SCL supports volunteering. In some cases local policy will mean that this can result in job substitution.” Tony Durcan of the Society of Chief Librarians on its volunteering policy. See SCL on volunteers replacing staff – Question Everything
The above quotation, elaborating on the SCL policy on volunteers, clearly states (rather than skirting around the issue) for the first time that the SCL accepts direct substitution of paid members of staff by volunteers in certain circumstances. Its doing so will shock very few people who have had an awareness of what has been happening in library authorities over the last couple of years. I would recommend everyone in the profession who thinks they have job security (can there be anyone like that?) to read the complete article here. An explanation of why it is different to the recently adopted policy of CILIP, which is clearly against substitution, can be found in a comment on this previous Public Libraries News blog post:
How many new libraries are being built?
Aug 27th
The Labour Party and the Conservatives have been engaged in a spat for a little while about the numbers of libraries closed, under threat and being built. The figures from Public Libraries News was one of the weapons in that battle for those closed or under threat but, until today, there has not been a listing for those new libraries being built. This changed when Conservative Home published an article claiming that Conservatives are opening lots of new libraries (see Conservative councils are opening new libraries). Using the details from this page and from a very helpful reply to my email to the DCMS, this blog now has a dedicated page to listing such matters.
Eye-watering vs. eye-catching
Aug 26th
I’ve been on holiday for a few days so a bumper posting today. Tim Coates/Bilbary is a big thing in the general news, with the plan to share UK Bilbary e-book profits with Kensal Rise campaigners (edit: if purchased via the Kensal Rise website) being especially eye-catching. The cuts in South Tyneside with one-third (17 out of 54) staff being made voluntarily redundant is more eye-watering than eye-catching. The Council predictably wants to take up the resultant gaping hole in its staffing with volunteers. Using developers in order to pay for new buildings is also something of a theme.
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