Comments on: Special on Sieghart: The Independent Library Report

By: Hazel Robinson

Hazel Robinson — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 17:34:02 +0000

Just one little problem – local authorities won’t give a damn about suggested standards and, bearing in mind that to date the Government Ministers nominally in charge have reneged on all their responsibilities, who will make them keep to anything at all?

Localism is a wonderful notion in theory and a bad joke in practice.

By: Sue Taylor

Sue Taylor — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 09:07:18 +0000

You are so right Frank – there is plenty of money in this country. The dismantling of the welfare state and all other services which underpin a compassionate, democratic state are ideologically driven. But when I express this view in the library service I work in, I’m just seen as mad – I’ve almost given up. We know our volunteer run libraries are performing badly and impacting on the rest of the service but we’re not allowed to say so. And this report is much of the same – don’t be too critical for fear of giving offence

By: Frank Daniels

Frank Daniels — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 11:43:01 +0000

Nobody really reads reports. In the future, when all the libraries have gone, where will all those future unread reports be shelved? Ah, to “be shelved” has at least two distinct meanings.

It might be worth saying again, though I’m not sure, that there is plenty of money to finance public libraries (and academic libraries). Under this Coalition government and any future such government we shall be defended from our enemies by Trident and by at least two new aircraft carriers, but we will not be worth defending because we shall have become ignorant owing to a lack of access to books. The rich do not have such problems. What is happening now is a class-based attack on those who routinely cannot afford to buy books for themselves, nor can all of them afford access to the world wide web, where much of the information is not “validated”, where much of it may well be propaganda. I am not forgetting that this “process” involves all social services, not just libraries.

During World War II many British people died to preserve a way of life that included books, and public libraries, fighting against an enemy government that had no problems at all with the burning of books by writers with whom they disagreed. Yes, a financial crisis has led to this, but now this government’s slavish attitude towards the bankers and their systems means that we shall lose for the sake of a ledger sheet what others died fighting to defend. As Leonard Cohen once said in a song: “and wasn’t it a long way down?” This Coalition government has lost sight of our priorities. The lack of any real resistance to all this from the leaders of the library profession leads me to think that they are guilty of falling asleep at the wheel.

Finally, if it is acceptable to have professional people in public libraries replaced by volunteers, then I should like, for the sake of total fairness, to see this principle extended to all the other professions: think about it. Why is it not also happening to them? Now that would be a brave new world.

The song, by the way, was “Dress rehearsal rag”.

By: Clare West

Clare West — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 07:45:41 +0000

This is an excellent commentary on the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of Sieghart. As well as linking to it on our library group Facebook page I am forwarding it to all the friends and members of our group. Thank you for all your hard work as the “voice of public libraries”