Library cuts “a betrayal of trust and an insult to sensibility” says Chris Packham
It’s great to see Chris Packham join the ranks of celebrities speaking out to defend public libraries. It’s also good to see the ever-excellent US Geek The Library campaign’s page on debunking the myths behind US public library finance. It would be useful to have a similar page somewhere in the UK too to challenge those who think that all council services are padded and wasteful. A recent Oxford University report which shows the altogether disastrous impact to teenage studiers of not having an online connection is also useful ammunition in the fight to highlight the continued importance of the library.
The good effects of having a far-sighted and dynamic, and perhaps well-funded, public library service is shown further down today’s post in the success of Edinburgh. It’s also good to see a vacancy in Norwich for someone to keep up the good work there. It’s not often one sees a job advert like that these days.
As to what public libraries should be for … well, that’s always been a contentious issue. There are some who see libraries as simply for the provision of literature and information and others who see them as having an altogether wider remit. The response, below, by Tim Coates to an article by Phil Bradley on 3D printers shows this difference of opinion in sharp relief.
News
- 3D printing: is it for libraries? – Phil Bradley’s Weblog. Looks at what 3D printers can do and how they can be used in the library (not necessarily public library) environment and thinks they have a place in mix of services some libraries provide. “we must invest time and yes, money as well in being THE place that people can go in order to learn, to explore, to create and make – as well as being entertained. A library should be a place where people are intellectually stimulated, both by reading fiction of all types, but by experiencing the new. So, should libraries invest in 3D printing? I can’t in all honesty see your local public library rushing out and buying a printer, nor do I think that they should. However, that doesn’t mean that every library should ignore them”
“He [Phil Bradley] says that ‘the mission of libraries is to improve assist and develop communities’ but who says so? Why? Surely, the mission of libraries is only to make literature and information available to people who want it.
What he is saying is what a council should do or try to do, but a library could never have the skills or resources to undertake that kind of community well being. It is pretentious to set those kinds of aims for a library. The mischief that comes from those who claim these ridiculous roles for libraries may ironically end up destroying the institution they are trying to defend.” Tim Coates via email, printed with permission.
- Debunk the myths – Geek the Library (USA). A simple guide for Americans on the reality behind public libraries funding.
- How Fifty Shades of Grey set pulses racing in the libraries of Surrey – Telegraph. “New figures show library users in Surrey are clamouring for the book like nowhere else in the country. Surrey residents now account for one fifth of all library borrowing of EL James’s Fifty Shades of Grey.Despite the fact the book was published more than 18 months ago in June 2011, Surrey’s readers have not grown tired of the novel. “They just can’t get enough,” a spokesman for the county’s libraries said.In August, Surrey libraries accounted for an estimated 20 per cent of all nationwide loans of the trilogy by James” … “Tandridge in Surrey was last year named the housewife capital of Britain, a fact which could explain the popularity of the book in the affluent county.”
- Packham defends Southampton Library – BookSeller. “TV presenter Chris Packham has spoken out in defence of library opening hours, calling proposed cuts “draconian” and “ruinous”. The BBC wildlife expert who presents Springwatch, defended Cobbett Road Library in Southampton, which is facing a proposed cut in its opening hours from 29.5 hours a week to 14.5 hours, a cut of more that half. Packham said: “In an age when the need for good education and strong community spirit is truly needed, this insensitive, short-sighted and short-termist lunacy should be exposed for what it is – a very serious and damaging mistake.”
“This place has become a real focus for a rich community of children and adults alike. We need all our libraries to be strengthened, to be better resourced and better funded, we need them open longer hours – not fewer. These proposals betray a serious shortcoming in the reasoning and priorities of those who we have elected to act in our best interests. It is a betrayal of trust and an insult to sensibility.” Chris Packham
- What the DPLA can mean for libraries – Digital Shift. “One of the concerns expressed about the planning initiative to create a Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is that its very existence might threaten public libraries. While I credit this fear—no outcome to this initiative could be worse—the DPLA is designed to do precisely the opposite: to establish a platform and resources that will help libraries and other cultural heritage institutions, both public and private, to succeed in a digital era.” …. “The DPLA can help bring materials to people through public, academic, and special libraries. The DPLA can also free up time for librarians to spend more time directly helping people. The DPLA can provide access to code and applications that will do extraordinary things for people through libraries. And the DPLA is already providing an open source platform …”
“We have a run of Mathematische Annalen from 1869-1943 with something of a chequered past, having previously been in the Luftfahrtforschungsanstalt Hermann Goering (http://www.geschichtsspuren.de/artikel/luftfahrt-luftwaffe/98-luftfahrtforschungsanstalt- braunschweig.html) library. It looks as though they were taken to the Ministry of Defence after the war and then acquired here when they were withdrawn from there … If anyone has any further information on journals like these, I’d be very grateful if they could get in touch so that we know whether we (or a specialist collection) ought to keep them.” Ex-Nazi library books – University of Bath post on LIS-LINK.
- UK teenagers without the internet are “educationally disadvantaged” – Oxford University. Looks at damage caused by lack of internet access to teenagers, with implications for the benefit of public libraries.
Changes
- Islington – John Barnes Library to be demolished and built anew as part of housing development.
- Southampton – 1 mobile library to close, £50k cut to bookfund, eight libraries to have hours cut.
Local News
- Barnet – Library squatters will launch two-pronged attack to prevent eviction from Friern Barnet Library – Times series. “Squatters occupying Friern Barnet Library will appeal against their eviction while community groups launch their own bid to run the facility, it has been confirmed. Members of the Friern Barnet Community Library voted last night to press ahead with legal action to delay or prevent their eviction should negotiations with the local authority fail.”
- Bolton – Library closure campaigners fight back over “luvvie” slur – Bolton News. “Tom Hanley, chairman of SBLC said: “SBLC is not a group of ‘luvvies’ as Eric Pickles described library campaigners recently. “We represent the widest cross-section of Bolton society, united in a recognition that libraries are lifelines for many who would be left further and further behind were they to disappear. In the present state of the economy we need more libraries, not less.”https://www.publiclibrariesnews.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=3691&action=edit&message=10
- Bradford – Massive decline in visitors at Bradford Central Library – Telegraph & Argus. “The true impact of the closure of Bradford Central Library has emerged 12 months after it partially shut when it was condemned as a fire risk. The library is undergoing a £900,000 revamp to make it safe after a check branded it unsafe, with the staircase possibly acting as a chimney in the event of fire. But since its partial closure with only two floors open since October, 2011, visitor numbers have dropped from 17,284 in October, 2011, to 14,893 in September, 2012, and the number of staff have halved. But from October, 2010, to October, 2012, visitor numbers dropped from 24,278 to 16,723 Library staff have been reduced from 32 full-time staff in 2010-11 with a £695,000 wage bill, to 15 full-time staff in 2011-12 with a wage bill of £438,000.”
- Dorset – Volunteers taking up duties in new era for Puddletown library – Dorset Echo. “Monday sees the start of a new era for Dorset libraries as Puddletown becomes the first of seven communities to take over the running of their facility.” … “Retired Anglican priest Roy Bennett, who will be on duty at the library with his wife Diana today, said: “Not only have we amateur part-timers got to convince the people who come to borrow books or to seek information that we’re as on the ball as the professionals we are replacing – on top of that job we have the massive task of balancing the books.””
“I see in the latest edition of ‘Panlibus’ magazine that Edinburgh Libraries have recently ‘announced that their strategy of adopting and combining technology, space and social media has led to a significant upturn in their statistics: Visits – up 9.5% year on year. Issues – up 3.9% year on year. Virtual visits and issues up 251% year on year … how was this achieved?” Query on LIS-PUB LIBS.
“It would be impossible to put the answer to your question into an email. However, in 2012 Edinburgh won the Bookseller Library service of the Year Award and I think this sums up our success pretty well. The award was launched to recognise library services which are thriving and innovating in a difficult climate and increasing access and performance. Edinburgh was considered against a range of libraries across the UK. Judges identified our key strengths as:
* Range of services for hard to reach readers
* A cutting edge website and Library App
* Engaging social media activity
* Committed support from the local authority.
Also referenced in our success were the online library portal ‘Your Library’, 2 brand new library facilities within the city including Drumbrae Library Hub and Craigmillar, refurbished facilities in Morningside and several others, the Prison Library Service, the range of special reading projects including those for dyslexic children and services for older readers. Judges concluded that Edinburgh Libraries & Information Services are “innovative on so many fronts, full of energy, bang up to date and unafraid of the future”. Providing “a template for libraries everywhere to be inspired by.”This is the third national libraries award won by the city’s library service in two years. In July 2010, the service was successful in winning the Libraries Change Lives Award from the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals for HMP Edinburgh Library Partnership (Saughton Prison). This was followed in 2011 with the ‘Whose Town’ Project achieving the Scottish Design Awards Chairman’s Award. If you world like to know more we are hosting our annual EDGE 2013 conference 28th February – 1st March and we would be delighted to put some flesh on the bones of this short response http://edgeconference.co.uk/” Answer – Liz McGettigan, Head of Libraries and Information Services, Edinburgh on LIS-PUB-LIBS
- Glasgow – Libraries could act as food banks for the needy – Evening Times. “Glasgow SNP councillor David McDonald has called on the city’s leaders to widen the range of services offered by libraries. He said this could include the loan of electrical goods or small-scale food banks to help families who are struggling to put meals on the table. Benefit cuts, unemployment and rising living costs have led to an increase in the numbers of Scots using food banks. There is already at least one service in the Govanhill area of Glasgow, handing out emergency supplies of food, one in Renfrewshire and one in Inverclyde.”
- Islington – John Barnes Library to be revitalised in housing development – Islington Council. “Islington Council is proposing to bring up to 30 new homes to an estate in Tufnell Park, N7, delivering much needed new social housing for social rent. As part of the development the council will rebuild a new library at the same location and improve the local environment.”
- John Barnes library revamp in motion – Islington Now. “The John Barnes Library will be torn down in January 2014 and rebuilt on the Lower Hilldrop Estate in a move that may surprise some residents, as just one month ago it was announced that the building would only be refurbished.”
“Locality Manager Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library, Norwich £32,574 – £36,306 per annum (Scale K) 37 hours per week Permanent contract. Are you looking for an opportunity to lead a remarkable and highly successful library into the next chapter of its development? The Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library is looking for a Locality Manager to take the lead in the development and management of one of the busiest and most innovative libraries in the UK.” Norfolk – Job advert – via LIS-PUB-LIBS.
- Somerset – Frome Library to close for installation of self-service point – This is Somerset. “The county council has said the self-service system will free up staff so they can help library users in other ways.”
- Southampton – Packham: cutting library hours “short-termist lunacy” – Bitterne Park.info. ““I read, revised, plotted and schemed; I dreamed and devised a life in those semi-silent rooms – and now libraries are so, so much more: Cobbett Road Library is many things to many people of all ages and all walks of life, and such draconian cuts and closures will be ruinous in so many ways.”
Southend – Talking newspaper service – 2 minute video explaining their service.
- Staffordshire – Go to your library to choose an e-book – This is Tamworth. “The county library service now has 1,800 e-titles on offer to suit all tastes and ages, and from April to November 2012 7,853 were loaned, more than triple the number borrowed during the same period last year.County Councillor Pat Corfield said: “We are currently seeing on average just under 1,000 e-book loans every month.””
- Use your library, urges county chief – This is Tamworth. “County councillor Pat Corfield is reminding residents that the local library can be the ideal place to banish the boredom and find new friends and companionship in 2013.He said: “The county’s libraries offer a wide range of friendly, welcoming groups and activities to local people.”Covering interests as diverse as reading, writing, poetry, handicrafts, art, local and community history, mothers and toddlers, war-gaming and much more; there is a club or group to suit almost everyone.”
“It’s a place that quietly, unassumingly offers social networking with REAL people, encouraging local residents to grow within and as part of their community,” added Councillor Corfield.”
- Worcestershire – Wyre Forest authors fear for library’s archive – Shuttle. “Worcestershire County Council announced a review of the material will begin this month as part of controversial plans to relocate the building’s top-floor gallery to the first floor where the collections are housed. But this has sparked fears that much of Kidderminster’s past could remain “undiscovered” and in an open letter to the county council, users say they are worried that more than a century’s worth of work could be “thrown away”.”
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about 11 years ago
Brent libraries, which closed 50% of the borough’slibraries over a year ago in spite of total opposition from residents, have seen their service fall into the bottom quartile in comparisons with many other London boroughs. This draconian measure or ‘Transformation Project’ and disparagement of all those who wish the libraries reopened has led to disastrous figures,stock holding and access to books and computers to say the least. Empty shelves in the once fine Reference section in the Town Hall library are not in the least conducive to an interesting atmosphere to which readers can be drawn.
about 11 years ago
This is a godd summary of the devastation to the library service but where is the celebration ?
I thought there was a sort of We Love our Libraries Day on the first Saturday of february.
Including the titles of books and websites which show alternatives to the austerity programme would be useful.
about 11 years ago
PLN reports the news and the news does not, generally, include a celebration of libraries at the moment. I hope it will for National Libraries Day (of which there is an advert on the right-hand side of the screen) although I have seen little sign as yet.
If you, or anyone else has such a list then do please ciruclate.
about 11 years ago
Tim Coates says: “Surely, the mission of libraries is only to make literature and information available to people who want it.”
A second recent quote from what will probably be the next government:
“Labour will review the purpose and value of all public spending if it wins the next general election”
Labour pledges ‘ruthless’ post-election spending review
28 September 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19750556
How would Tim Coates then propose the libraries justify the value of publically accessible literature and information to the next Labour government?
I have to admit I have frequently been on the receiving end of the same criticism from TC, but have also valued this particular criticism. His perspective I think is doubly of value in these times where libraries have long since burned all the fat off and are now consuming muscle for calories (effectively canabalising itself to survive). A message to focus on what is important – the core competence of the service, and not to waste energy on activities that can be had else where. I agree entirely with Tim Coates in this respect.
However, “but a library could never have the skills or resources to undertake that kind of community well being”, it seems to me that this is a valid impression that someone might have of the current state of the public libraries, and while my career in libraries only began in 2003, from what I can gather there was prior to the Thatcher era during the 60s and 70s a very rich culture of librarianship and public service (there was a great deal of research being undertaken at this point). So TC’s conclusion is not entirely correct (TC asserts “could never”). Also I would add that times have changed so much that if such a body of knowledge and rich a librarian culture were to build up again, it would be very different from that of 50 years ago – it would have to begin not entirely afresh, but from a starting point.
On a slightly more creative point, I note TC uses the phrase community “well being” here, this is a term the Office of National Statistics (ONS) use[1], and also I note the phrase Wikipedia uses in defining happiness (“mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions”[2]). The government at the moment is starting to ask departments to justify their funding not only in terms of the traditional measures of the society we live in (GDP, the deficit, trade balance, etc.), but also using a new well-being index. Library surveys to my knowledge do not currently base any of their questions on this – but will they in the future? (While not detracting from TC’s reminding of the distictive competence of the libraries, important in terms of overall policy.)
[1] http://neweconomics.org/blog/2011/07/26/sir-gus-and-the-well-being-revolution
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness
My conclusion – public libraries do need assertively and if necessary somewhat cruelly (it is what they are paid to do) reminding of their core competency. But also I would ask if Tim Coates’ approach is preventing the public libraries from making progress in seeming to be so rigidly retrospective. If libraries are to continue to maintain our nation’s literary tradition, then they do have to be a live living entity within the culture of the nation.
about 11 years ago
Gareth – there is nothing dead about living in the world of publishing. Librarians often talk about how they should be at the ‘cutting edge’ and the need to ‘make progress’ . The way that they can and should do that is not to keep adopting every new technology that comes along, but to put the books and journals that writers are writing and publishers are publishing onto their shelves.
It is not for librarians to keep on changing what they do – it is for them to support writers who do that all the time
about 11 years ago
As a matter of ritual, but also with some development of current topics as well (quantitatively valuing public libraries, understanding of what exactly constitutes progress in public libraries)
I could be cited myself (from the web) as saying that it is the job of the libraries to put the nation’s literary culture to work in society. Literature and information can make a great deal of difference to people’s lives. Books are of value in most contexts of our lives – given how many and varied those contexts this is not an easy subject to quantify (we’re talking about understanding how a culture and civilisation grows and develops I guess at this point). However the evidence of the value of our literary ecosystem is to be found all around us and within all the contexts of our lives.
As the National Association for Literature Development (NALD) reminded us it is also not just writers, publishers, bookshops and libraries that maintain the literary ecosystem that we enjoy – “all those involved in the development of creative writing and reading”, (http://www.literaturedevelopment.co.uk ).
With regards the issue of this thread, behind the community library counter staff frequently and ritually bemoan that issues and footfall do not do justice to the community library and work they do. As phrased above a library is of value in more or less every context of our lives (though more important in some than others), it is not easy to pinpoint exactly the value of the library to a community given how varied and many the contexts are to our lives. Abstracting things out a library provides literature and information to people who want it (and libraries are charged with the duty since 1964 to develop their use as well), but measuring a library’s worth in more detail beyond issues of books and footfall in an attempt to value literature and information is not an easy task, and hence I think the status quo seems to settle at the point where administrators ask for the only practical thing they can ask for (library usage figures), while staff complain these do not represent the actuall value of the work they do, and while librarian academics research the value otherwise but not really making any progress in increasing our overall ability to view the entire forest (rather than individual trees).
Though having said that! Library staff do have the new government well-being index to factor in (ref. web link in prev. comment) – I’m sure at some point public libraries will hook into this — this may prove to actually be a workable level of abstraction for libraries to value themselves at beyond that of usage figures – measuring their contribution to the happiness of people isn’t too specific (i.e., more detail than anyone knows what to do with), however indicative of an active role (it would, e.g., factor in the person who only uses the library once in a while but when they do they find it of considerable value to them). The government is doing the necessary groundwork on what is not a straightforward subject, and so it should take only a minimum of effort for libraries at that point towards the ends of understanding the goings on and application.
On the subject of technology in libraries. Tim points out that if a library wants to make progress it puts the “books and journals that writers are writing and publishers are publishing onto their shelves.” Now that would be real progress.
However if I were to sketch out what Edward de Bono calls an ‘achieving network’, and talk about the broad concepts, specific means and actual detail of achieving this (and other ends), and while I acknowledge that libraries have little means to focus in on anything other than the bones of the library service at the moment, it is still necessary I think to cultivate a creative culture for the future (as the environment changes).
While technology is **not an end in itself**, it is certainly a **means**.
So by all means put technology in its place (a means to an end, of which there may be other means), but an organisation needs a creative culture, and towards that end is exploring all of the possibilities of new technologies – maybe a ritual that shouldn’t at least be discouraged.
Teamwork in the end I think, the ends clearly defined, but creatively working on the means. Have public libraries lacked a clear sense of direction and the ends and priorities? (If so why?)
Back on the subject of the means, in the past DVDs, Internet access, etc. have increased footfall, however can I suggest the following as this year’s agenda for reaching out to the public and actually getting people engaged in using the public library service:
– social media strategy (an increasingly preferred method of communication of the public, if in not fact becoming the norm)
– information literacy (particularly finding literature and information, though specific relevant domains also)
– cultural role (literary heritage)
– using staff time freed by technology for more outreach work (encorporating all of the above)
– R & D (the library is of value in every context of our lives – the libraries have by no means exhausted all the new possibilities presented for a more efficient and effective service in the technological and political age we live)
– e-books, getting people using these (demonstrating and coaching in ‘how to’, etc.), and working on the necessary legal framework for libraries (ref. comment to PLN 2 Jan 2012, E-book reading jumps, print book reading declines, https://www.publiclibrariesnews.com/2013/01/buckle-up-for-the-new-year.html#comment-5602 )