Archive for February, 2014

Editorial

A couple of things spring out to me today that show how libraries may change in the future, or are in some cases already changing.  An excellent article from the Wall Street Journal looking at how libraries are changing in the digital age, shows how libraries have always changed in the past as well.  It concludes that failure to innovate is the real dangers that libraries face.  I suspect that is very much the same thought behind the new website/group Common Libraries (from the Locality team) which looks to assist those who, in management speak, think out of the box – things I really like the idea of such as Maker Spaces are part of their bag.  Of course, they have an uphill struggle to convince campaigners and others that they’re not just Trojan horses for volunteers … but I think they deserve that chance.  Stop throwing the tomatoes at me: we’ll all be far better using the energy (you throwing, me dodging) in examining what they’re actually doing and seeing if it is useful.  From reading all of the news reports every day, I’d say we’re a good two or three years behind the USA in implementing change in public libraries and anything which can give us a leg up should not be automatically rejected.

There’s also a promise of change in the new national English inquiry into public libraries.  Most people aware of it are pretty sceptical that is the case but, hey, let’s hope it is. I put the word “English” in there to distinguish it from the Welsh inquiry into public libraries (what do you mean, you didn’t know there was one?) which comes from a very different mindset (less emphasis on volunteers for one thing).  We’ll see which makes the biggest difference, for good.  Or for ill.

Changes

• Torbay – Mobile library to be closed.

Ideas

• Helpouts – Librarians via Skype etc put people in touch with experts (concept).  See Google Helpouts.

More >

Editorial

Legal action is being launched in Lincolnshire against the library cuts there.  There are four different grounds for a request for a judicial review.  Having followed this story from the beginning, I have been impressed by the hard work put in by the campaigners but, frankly, unimpressed by the work put in by the Council. We’ll see how it goes.

This is a weird time when there is a national push for libraries to provide services for businesses while simultaneously budget cuts elsewhere mean many libraries have less and less business resources.  I was therefore curious when contacted by Sophie Robertson of the City Business Library.  With the admittedly massive advantage of being in the City of London itself, this appears to be a thriving enterprise (check out its events webpage) … and it is also apparently the only stand-alone Business Library operating in the whole of the UK public library scene.  So I asked her a few questions which are printed with her replies below. From my point of view, it shows how diverse and excellent public libraries can be but also how much further the country has to go in order to spread such services out to all areas and not just Central London.

Changes

• Lincolnshire – Legal action being taken against council over library cuts.

More >

Editorial

In what appears to be a somewhat incongruous attempt to ride off the back of National Libraries Day, two Government departments (the DCMS and the DCLG) chose it to announce that they have together commissioned an independent report on England’s public library service.  The terms of the review are to look at what the future “core principles” of the public library should be; whether the current model is the “most comprehensive and efficient” and to look at the role of volunteer (“community”) libraries.  This is therefore about as wide ranging as it is possible to get, for these terms mean it will be looking at whether the public library service should change what it actually does, how it does it and who does it.

The chair of the committee will be William Sieghart, who may be a familiar name to you due to his recent review into e-lending. A frequent library user, when he did a very short interview with this website last year, he identified the main barrier to e-lending in libraries as “fear of change”. This phrase is what many more cynical observers think could be ascribed to Ed Vaizey, who called the last government libraries review “a classic ministerial excuse for not acting”. It is good though that it is not just a DCMS report: libraries are far more about Culture and so the involvement of the DCLG is to be tentatively welcomed, although the suspicion here is that it’s actually all about the budget cuts.

More >

Editorial – my thoughts on the free e-journals from Access to Research

Many library authorities, such as the one I work in, no longer have access to magazines or periodicals at all due to budget cuts. Similarly, our online periodical presence is limited to ten or so populist titles plus the national newspapers. This means at the moment that, when someone walks in and asks if we have a journal or research on a particular sector then the answer is almost always no.  It is against such an environment that locally this initiative will be judged.  Make no mistake,  I’m not talking about the highly online capable who will get it some other way but rather about someone who barely uses a computer, can’t afford to get to college much and needs something for an assignment that instant.  Thankfully, this free offer will mean that we don’t have to turn people away.

I would agree with the comments on the THE that it makes little sense to limit the offer to physical buildings but we’re beggars not choosers.  Yes, it’s a crumb off the table but if we’re being starved of food (and we are) then that’s fine by me and we’d be mistaken to turn it down.  Of course the publishers have an agenda but, at this juncture, their agenda tallies with ours – getting people in through the door and not disappointing them. This is not to say that nationally we should not argue for something more.  We should.  There is also a danger that this project will be used by those who amusingly suggest that e-books should only be downloaded by physically visiting a local branch.  However, I’m happy with this gift horse today.

This editorial was also used in a reply on Lis-Pub-Libs

If you have any news, thoughts or information that you would like to share then please email me at ianlibrarian@live.co.uk

Ideas

• Hack Days 

More >

Editorial

The big news today is the official launch of the Access to Research Initiative which allows access to over eight thousand online journals free of charge to the public if they physically come into the library.  It’s also, crucially, free for the public library authority as well.  This initiative is one of the best news stories for libraries for ages. One hopes that all library authorities will sign up to it quickly, with many thousands of extra visitors coming into libraries because of it.  Click here for a librarian’s guide to the programme.

Mind you, there’s other big news out there as well in the shape of an Early Day Motion in parliament in favour of National Libraries Day.  It’s a cross-party affair and all those who care for libraries are asked to get their MP to sign it in order to boost its impact.  National Libraries Day itself has been notably more accepted by what passes as the library establishment this year: library suppliers are offering discounts to celebrate it, a major league author (organised by the Reading Agency) is officially patron of it and, crucially, it looks like pretty much every library authority is taking part in it.  The day has come a long way since Alan Gibbons wondered if it would be a good idea (and, I remember very proudly, emailed me to ask my view) three years ago and that’s because it makes so much sense. Well done to all involved.

Finally, I’m turning over a section of this post to Northamptonshire Libraries. This service is clearly taking the need to be innovative and to change in order to improve (and survive) very seriously and I’ve reported on them before.  Below, I’m very pleased to have a short interview with one of their Principal Librarians and from a brief report on a children’s initiative from another.  Have a read and see if you agree and/or want to adopt some of their ideas.

If you have anything you would like to see covered in Public Libraries News, or have a news story or point of view, please contact me via ianlibrarian@live.co.uk

More >