Comments on: Special Report: The Future of Public Libraries. What the senior managers think. https://www.publiclibrariesnews.com/2012/04/special-report-the-future-of-public-libraries-what-the-senior-managers-think.html What's happening to your library? Sat, 23 Jun 2012 11:35:38 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 By: Anonymous https://www.publiclibrariesnews.com/2012/04/special-report-the-future-of-public-libraries-what-the-senior-managers-think.html#comment-278 Sat, 23 Jun 2012 11:35:38 +0000 http://83.170.89.36/~publicli/2012/04/special-report-the-future-of-public-libraries-what-the-senior-managers-think.html#comment-278 If the government and local councils are dedicated to helping people learn and engage with the community, then they need to concentrate wholeheartedly on providing ‘reader services.’ That will involve books, e-books, audiobooks, and all other reading materials. Without book-centred reader development, libaries are simply not libraries. They should be called something else.

]]> By: Alan Wylie https://www.publiclibrariesnews.com/2012/04/special-report-the-future-of-public-libraries-what-the-senior-managers-think.html#comment-256 Mon, 02 Apr 2012 18:22:46 +0000 http://83.170.89.36/~publicli/2012/04/special-report-the-future-of-public-libraries-what-the-senior-managers-think.html#comment-256 I’m very concerned that the ACE consultation has been set up to represent the interests off the SCL et al and the so-called modernisers! There seems to have been a real imbalance in the proceedings up untill now, with no real meaningful time given to users, unions, campaigners and front line staff to express their views and opinions! Hopefully the regional meetings will be more inclusive?

]]> By: Christopher Pipe https://www.publiclibrariesnews.com/2012/04/special-report-the-future-of-public-libraries-what-the-senior-managers-think.html#comment-255 Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:51:01 +0000 http://83.170.89.36/~publicli/2012/04/special-report-the-future-of-public-libraries-what-the-senior-managers-think.html#comment-255 Deeply depressing. Do library bosses no longer see themselves as having anything to do with knowledge? Events, transformation, community – these are just buzzwords from an alien environment. (And why on earth is “promoting health” a “core service” – is there not a National Health Service? And “promoting civic engagement” is a useful by-product of libraries, not a “core service”.)

If this is the best the SCL and ACE can come up with, they deserve all the cuts that are coming their way, and libraries should be removed from ACE’s remit. Get rid of managers, give us librarians – professionals who talk about knowledge, about books (not necessarily printed ones, of course), about supporting learners, about subject knowledge. And never mind “community spaces”, let’s hear it for study spaces!

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