https://www.publiclibrariesnews.com/2011/03/mr-vaizey-in-parliament-with-the-rose-tinted-spectacles.html What's happening to your library? Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:56:04 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 https://www.publiclibrariesnews.com/2011/03/mr-vaizey-in-parliament-with-the-rose-tinted-spectacles.html#comment-91 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:56:04 +0000 http://83.170.89.36/~publicli/2011/03/mr-vaizey-in-parliament-with-the-rose-tinted-spectacles.html#comment-91 I would agree.

]]> https://www.publiclibrariesnews.com/2011/03/mr-vaizey-in-parliament-with-the-rose-tinted-spectacles.html#comment-90 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:35:32 +0000 http://83.170.89.36/~publicli/2011/03/mr-vaizey-in-parliament-with-the-rose-tinted-spectacles.html#comment-90 My two penneth, for what its worth, by definition a privatised library (or “volunteer led”) is no longer a “public library”. To me this phrase does not simply describe a building to which the public have access to with resources to be used by the public, it describes that the service is also owned by and accountable to the public. Once the service is taken out of the public domain public law no longer governs it and cannot be accountable to the public in its operation e.g. the public do not have to be consulted about changes, impact assessments no longer have to be carried out e.t.c. These libraries will be no more public (and I suspect not subject to rules about provision of library services e.t.c.) than a private exhibition by a charity in a public building. That assumes the councils are planning to retain the building and not sell them back to the “volunteers” at the market rate as they planned with the forests.

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