Maggie
Volunteers have been assisting library staff for years and yes have been doing a good job ‘assisting’ but as you know volunteers are now replacing paid library staff and i’m sorry that you are getting fed up hearing our concerns but as a Library Worker, Unison Rep and Campaigner all i hear every day is the concerns of my colleagues and members about losing their jobs (3000+ in the last 2 years) and the service being de-professionalised, fragmented and ‘hollowed out’.
We are all very aware that communities are having a gun put to their heads and told “run your library or we’ll close it” and we admire their passion and committment but how sustainable and ‘comprehensive and efficient’ this model is anyone’s guess?
Anyway maybe the way forward is for community groups to link with local campaigners and unions to fight for the retention or the return of properly resourced and staffed libraries, after all we all know that there is plenty of money in the country and that ‘austerity’ is just an ideological myth!

I will happily print pro-volunteer news and, indeed, do so in listing news reports, many of which present positive sides to volunteers. If you, or anyone else reading this, want to produce something then I will happily consider it for publication.