Pointless security sensors, Southampton cuts, Bromley cuts and Bolton cuts

Editorial

It’s a bumper edition today due to not having reported for one week. The reason for this was a most worthwhile few days spent attending (and speaking at) the biennial Spanish national libraries conference.  There’s enough for about four different posts from my time there but the first I have already published, as a separate page, on the subject that apparently a lot of people know about but few have mentioned: the pointlessness in many libraries of having security sensors.  Experts have already given some feedback via the comments section of the page and via Twitter so you can be assured that it’s not just one man’s opinion.  Basically, it looks like most librarians agree with my view that security gates cost far more money than they save but, if you live in a high crime area and have expensive stock then they can be viable (or more than viable) as long as you have trained and motivated staff.  If, however, your staff (and be honest with yourselves here) are not then you’re basically wasting your money.  Which no one should these days … and it’s a world wide phenomenon because I’m getting lots of Australian librarians agreeing with me: isn’t social media wonderful? For the full page see Library security gates: why you should save money by not using them.

Big news this edition are cuts in both Bromley and Southampton, where the standard response to cuts of bringing in the volunteers is being made.  Bromley is perhaps more interesting as it is looking at alternatives, including outsourcing, to its current close relationship with the neighbouring borough of Bexley.  Another B, Bolton, also makes the news due to more information about its cuts, with ten people’s jobs being lost (you know, I’d really appreciate some research on what happens to these people) and a look at becoming a non-profit trust on the cards. I hope Bolton has chatted to its neighbour Wigan as they are looking to get rid of their own trust. Finally, a mention must be made of the Leicestershire councillor who has made it clear that bricks and mortar are more important to him than mere employees.  Nice. This, I should point out, is directly opposite to the response to cuts that I discovered in Spain, but of that more in a post soon.

Changes

• Bolton – Considering setting up non-profit trust for libraries. 10 job losses. £300k-£500k budget cut.
• Bromley –  6 libraries to be volunteer-run.  Service to be market-tested for outsourcing. Consultation to ensure legal.
• Southampton – £268k cut.  5 libraries to become volunteer or close.

“In any library in the world, I am at home, unselfconscious, still and absorbed” Germaine Greer

News

• Creators not consumers: visualising the radical alternative for libraries – Infoism. see also Libraries – Brought To You In Association With Tesco – Infoism. Both articles argue against a commercial approach to libraries and for a pure state-funded model.
• Digital bringing people together – Arbroath Herald. “Libraries, clubs and community organisations across the country are supporting the Let’s Get On campaign and offering people the opportunity to join classes and support groups, showing them how to get online and use the internet to their advantage. “
• English public libraries: a ‘dysfunctional’ service? – CILIP. Guy Daines looks into William Sieghart’s claim that ““The way the service is set up, it is run totally dysfunctional. The DCMS has responsibility, but no budget, the Arts Council has been given a role reluctantly, and the DCLG looks at the local authorities who actually make decisions. I’m frightened and worried for the library network”.
• Financial literacy for library users courtesy of Tesco & Visa – Stop the privatisation of public libraries. “SyrsiDynix the company behind the idea tries it’s hardest to alleviate any professional and ethical fears by claiming that it’s performing a social role by providing access to debit cards for ‘unbanked’ patrons”.  Questions the ethics involved. Includes reply from SyrsiDynix and query from RFID expert Mick Fortune.
• Make a noise about libraries but, please, keep quiet afterwards: Week in books – Independent. “Yet as admirable as it is, libraries shouldn’t have to become multi-platform, nor should they have to jump through hoops to show us their worth. Isn’t it enough that they provide one of the few remaining oases of ritualised solitude? Of course, libraries can be both sanctuaries of quiet, and creative hubs filled with noise and activity. There is nothing wrong in having a band perform in your local library, or in ordering a latte with chocolate sprinkles there, but this shouldn’t be the “lure”. A library isn’t a Starbucks or the Royal Albert Hall. The boon of books, and silence, should surely be lure enough.”
• To expect more from my local library – MumsNet. Library user unimpressed by stock selection.  The many and varied comments discuss the situation that has caused this, focusing mainly on the dire cuts to book budgets.

International

• 51 Books That Prove Reading Can Change Your Life – Buzzfeed (Global).  Great list for displays, especially mental health.
• Brooklyn wins 4th annual ‘Battle of the Book Sorters’ – Brooklyn Daily Eagle (USA). “The systems competed to see who can sort the most books in one hour. New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library share a state-of-the-art, automated book sorter (as well as all book delivery operations), so they formed a single team. The defeated returning champion King County in Washington State has its own sorter, and had been leading the annual contest with two wins to New York’s one.”
  
• Welcome to the Library – Librarians – TNT.
• Last Man Standing / How to kill public libraries – R David Lankes (USA). “The two big concerns I’ve heard about are “what happens when public libraries are the last civic service agency standing,” and “as libraries expand services to include everything from tax help to maker spaces, how am I supposed to know it all?!” These two concerns are related.” … “Librarians don’t know everything, but they can empower everyone to share what they know.”

“Where libraries could once confine their mission to literacy and assume a wider social safety net existed to handle issues of homelessness, democratic participation, education, even food support and adult literacy this is no longer the case … However, an expansion of services without a matching expansion of resources (budget, personnel, authority, training) is a recipe for disaster.” R David Lankes

• Little free library pops up in Surrey park – The Now (USA). “At Surrey’s Boundary Park (6058 Boundary Drive West) last Saturday (Nov. 1), community members and library employees unveiled their own little free library – a painted, wooden box a little larger than a birdhouse – for residents to give and take from as they please. Though the Surrey Libraries helped kickstart the initiative, a local community group will be taking care of the space.

Supporter’s news

• How did life on Earth begin?  What is astrobiology? Why is our planet habitable when others aren’t? Discover how astrobiology attempts to answer these fundamental questions with this sample chapter from Very Short Introductions online. Very Short Introductions online is available via subscription to all public libraries in the UK. Please contact your representative Ged Welford for your free trial or more information.

UK local news by authority

• Barnet – Brought to book: Barnet’s nonsultation on library cuts – Broken Barnet. “The truth is, of course, that radical change is necessary only for certain interested parties, in order to create further opportunities for outsourcing, and favoured by our empty headed Tory councillors because they have been persuaded by their senior management, and the cohort of private consultants who feast off public sector privatisation, that there is no alternative, and the savings that such contracts will deliver are ‘guaranteed’.”  Looks in detail at the draconian cuts proposed.
• Bolton – Children’s centres, library service and sheltered housing to be hit by more Bolton Council cuts – Bolton News. “Libraries in Bolton could be run by a not-for-profit trust — while children’s centres and housing for the elderly also face massive cuts as Bolton Council looks to save £43 million. ” … “No libraries will be closed, but up to 10 jobs will be lost as the library and museum service is asked to cut between £300,000 and £500,000 from its budget — with bosses examining the possibility of turning the library into a not-for-profit trust”
• Bristol – Bristol libraries to be sponsored by Tesco? – Bristol 247. ” the Bristol North West candidate for Labour was writing to the chief executives of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons to urge them to invest in libraries. Darren Jones has written to the big four supermarket bosses to ask them to invest in IT equipment and training.” Includes full text of letter.
• Bristol – Reader’s letter: Books are still the best places for information – Bristol Post. see also Libraries are useful and do have a future – Bristol Post.
  
• Bromley – Library Service Strategy – Bromley Council. 6 libraries to be volunteer-run.  Service to be market-tested for outsourcing. Consutation to ensure legal.
• Camden – Green councillor wins backing for Camden library and community centre fund – Ham and High.  “Introducing her motion to full council, she said: “It occurred to me from what I was seeing in my own ward and elsewhere – with a lot of libraries and community centres moving towards more volunteer-running and trying to extend their services – it would be a really useful thing for them to have a reserve fund to draw upon.”
• East Renfrewshire – Cuts in public and school libraries for East Renfrewshire – BookSeller. “a £325,000 budget drop as the service restructures. The council has said it will continue to run four main library centres, while looking for a “a new way to deliver the service” in at least six other libraries. This could involve both co-location of the library with other services, or handing them over to community groups to run.” see also Storm at move to staff libraries with volunteers – Herald Scotland. “”CILIPS believes that society benefits from the contribution trained and skilled library workers make to developing and delivering services. We do not believe volunteers should undertake core service delivery or be asked to replace the specialised roles of staff who work in libraries.”
• Hertfordshire – Fears over proposed cuts to library service in St Albans – Review. “Senior St Albans politicians fear the district’s libraries will be “simply window-dressing” if proposed cuts to services go ahead. ” … “”Here in St Albans the Maltings Library is the busiest in the county. It’s always humming whenever I go in. “So it’s ominous when the last four words of the county’s library strategy objectives read ‘cost the taxpayer less’. “Libraries must constantly develop their services and appeal but residents will be terribly let down if the brave vision of new services and facilities is simply window dressing with the real agenda being about cuts.””
• Kirklees – Petition to save Batley library gathers fresh support – Batley News.
• Leicestershire – Library staff are facing the axe – Loughborough Echo. Councillor says “We understand these people are valuable but buildings, books or people and can’t cut books or computers. We have to cut the person.”.  Offering tapered support for seven years for volunteers to take over 36 libraries with 22 full time equivalent staff to go. see also No reprieve for rural libraries from county council – Hinckley Times and Senior Leicestershire Tory says “one or two” village libraries will close in cost-cutting drive – Leicester Mercury.

“We understand these people are valuable but buildings, books or people and can’t cut books or computers. We have to cut the person.” Cllr Richard Blunt, cabinet member for libraries.

• Liverpool – Authors claim victory after Liverpool drops library closure plans – Guardian. ““The campaign definitely had a huge impact. Until just a few days ago Mayor Anderson was repeating ad infinitum that there was no alternative, tough choices had to be made, we were fantasists who didn’t understand council finance. We endlessly said council finances had wriggle-room. There were alternatives and we would happily discuss them in an open-ended meeting,” said Gibbons on Tuesday morning.”
• Manchester – Chetham’s Library: a medieval gem in a modern city – Northern Soul. “It really mustn’t become a museum and we’re really conscious of the fact,” he says. “ Museum’s not a bad word, but it’s not to become fossilised. We still buy, we still acquire stuff, we still get stuff often by gift.”
• North Yorkshire – Letter: Concerns over North Yorkshire library cuts – Harrogate Advertiser. “While viable in the short-term, I worry about the long-term sustainability of this model. With the pension age being pushed back and the age of first-time home buyers going up, I find it hard to believe that in 20 years’ time, the same number of people will be in a position to volunteer … Harrogate is termed a ‘core’ library, but will also be staffed by volunteers (in combination with professional staff). I’m left wondering what the proposed ratio of staff to volunteers will be and will ‘core’ libraries still deliver the same services provided currently?” see also North Yorkshire – Controversial shake-up proposes community volunteers run and fund running of Stokesley Library – Gazette Live.
• North Yorkshire – New chapter beckons at Cross Hills Library – Keighley News. ““A current group of community libraries has proved to be a resounding success,” said Councillor Chris Metcalfe, executive member for library and information services. We can’t deny they were introduced originally because of the need for us to do our bit to get the county’s economy back on an even keel, but the reality is they have proved to be of enormous value, and their introduction has enabled the people of North Yorkshire to continue an effective library service where otherwise they might so easily have seen it diminish or disappear.””
• Northamptonshire – Northamptonshire children’s service shake-up proposes to reduce opening hours – Northampton Chronicle. “A children’s centre isn’t just a place where you can go in and play with the children. We go in for advice, for support, for a shoulder to cry on. A lot of the mums I talk to say they do not want to go into a library, because the other people in there tend to want quiet, not a crying baby. “We just feel pushed out because we are ‘okay’.”
• Northern Ireland – ‘Acute danger’ to libraries – Farming Life. “North Antrim MLA Robin Swann has warned that “rural libraries face an acute danger of closing” and he is “gravely concerned about the future of some rural libraries”. Mr Swann issued his warning after it emerged that because of cutbacks, LibrariesNI is no longer employing temporary staff.”
• Somerset – Mobile library routes to be axed in Somerset County Council cost-cutting measures – Bridgwater Mercury. “One of the stops set to go in the plans is Brook Cottage which is the only stop in the village of Fiddington. One library user in the village, Hilary Burland, told the Mercury: “It is sad to see it go as it was the last remaining service in the village apart from bin collections. “Even the bus doesn’t stop here any more.”” see also Axe threatens Burnham and Highbridge mobile libraries – This is the West Country and Plans to cut library services in Taunton Deane slammed – Somerset County Gazette.
• Southampton – ‘Axe a third of Southampton City Council councillors to save five libraries’ say campaigners – Daily Echo. ” some have suggested that axeing a third of councillors could find the £268,000 a year the council would save by not running the libraries. Labour council bosses say they are not looking to close libraries, and want community groups to take over the running of the five in question.” see also TV star Chris Packham joins fight to save Southampton’s libraries – Southern Daily Echo and Friends will fight ‘devastating’ library closure plans – Bitterne Park Info. “Chair of Friends of Cobbett Road Library (FOCRL) Kevin Lancashire (left) described the proposals as “devastating” and said the group would be vigorously campaigning to keep the branch open. “All the hard work the Friends and the community have put in over the years at Cobbett has seemingly been disregarded,”

“They are tremendously valuable resources and are a far greater asset than they used to be. “I’m really disappointed about the council’s proposals. “I do agree with the council that the volunteers should help to do some of the roles, and the community should get involved. “But they should not be potentially closing them down, they should be thinking about expanding them through community engagement.” Chris Packham

• Swansea – Gower library campaigners seek legal advice as dispute with Swansea Council takes a new turn – South Wales Evening Post. “Library campaigners have sought legal advice after what they claim was a broken promise by Swansea Council. Nearly 100 people voted in favour of exploring a judicial review process at a public meeting about the future of Pennard Library.” … “Campaign group Friends of Pennard Library (FoPL) believes that in its favour is a written pledge from former cabinet member councillor Nick Bradley that a librarian service would remain if the building was refurbished. A signed but non-legally building memorandum of understanding then set out the two parties’ respective positions further.”
• Swindon – Good people or scabs – Swindon Advertiser / Letters. ” suppose this is what David Cameron, the Prime Minister, meant when he invented the term ‘The Big Society?’, job losses! How are we to view these volunteers? Good people who are trying to save the public libraries or scabs who are destroying jobs?”
• Swindon – Swindon leisure services will lose more money after takeover, group says – Swindon Advertiser. “Diana Edmonds, the head of libraries at GLL, said the aim was to boost visitor numbers to the library while making the gym more profitable, reducing the deficit, which had been successful in other areas. “We moved into the libraries sector in 2011 and manage two services, in Wands-worth and Greenwich,” she said. “Our aim is to grow visitor numbers, and in Greenwich the number of people using our facilities has increased by 44 per cent over two years, while Wands-worth numbers have increased by 92 per cent.” Designs for the new library are being discussed and it is expected to be homed over both floors the gym currently occupies.”
• Vale of Glamorgan – Protest against library downgrade – Barry and District News. “Rhoose residents have come out in opposition to the plans with the Save Rhoose Library Campaign group leading the way. “
• Wandsworth – Southfields Library reopens after £16,000 roof works – Guardian series. “The library was recently swamped with controversy when Councillor Malcolm Grimston left the Tory party amid concerns it could close. The council insisted there were absolutely no plans to close the library. Community services spokesman, Councillor Jonathan Cook, said: “Wandsworth Council is investing in its libraries at a time when many other local authorities are closing theirs.”
• Worcestershire – Reverse library cuts in Worcestershire and stop calling them savings, says councillor – Worcester News. “Cllr Mallett said: “I do think this report presents this area through rose tinted glasses. “I note that our aspiration is to cut £2.7 million from a £7 million library budget, and we’ve cut (more than) £2 million of that already. “I think libraries add value to our communities, this is a cut, not a saving.”