Editorial

It’s great to see the petition to safeguard libraries for funding reaching (at time of posting) 24,582 signatures. This is already making an impact, with it being used in evidence when CILIP and others met with the libraries minister and others yesterday. I’d forgotten but there was another one back in 2012 and that, in six months, reached 17,569 names and the new one has five months left to go. Every extra person signing is that little bit extra pressure, and that little bit more evidence that libraries matter. Tell a friend.

Changes

National news

  • BIC Technology Excellence in Libraries Award (TEiLA) Accreditation Scheme – BIC. “TEiLA is a new accreditation scheme designed by BIC for libraries and their suppliers. The scheme encourages and rewards libraries for their adoption of best practice and industry standards and their investment in beneficial technologies. The scheme is directly aligned to BIC’s programme of work in libraries over recent years. This includes the development of ‘full-cycle’ EDI, RFID, Bibliographic Information and Book Classification. The accreditation scheme is simple to apply for, and applications are completely free of charge. Whether your organisation is a library, a library stock supplier or a library systems supplier, e.g. for LMS or RFID, you just download the appropriate questionnaire, fill it in and email it back to BIC. More information about the scheme and its requirements can be found here. “
  • The Big Issue has taken your stories to Westminster to save our libraries – Big Issue. “Lord John Bird and other library campaigners presented politicians with hard evidence of the social echo of libraries – as the cause is taken to decision-makers” … “In July the group, headed by Lord Bird and made up of prominent figures in the libraries community, was tasked with presenting solid, quantifiable evidence to politicians of the real-world impact libraries have on society if their quest for sustainable funding was to go any further. And today they delivered: Libraries Minister Michael Ellis MP and Local Government Minister Rishi Sunak MP heard the testimonies of library users who agree that libraries are a vital public lifeline. The meeting was hugely successful, with the evidence presented being extremely well-received by both the ministers and the other members of the libraries community. The politicians ultimately agreed to use their platform to take the cause forward.”
  • Calls for sustainable long-term library funding – Government Business. “CILIP and The Big Issue Group have jointly called for long-term sustainable investment to secure the future of England’s public libraries. The two organisations have collaborated to produce compelling evidence of both the popularity of public libraries and their impact on wider social issues including health and wellbeing, education, poverty, loneliness and digital skills, with the evidence presented at a meeting of the Libraries All-Party Parliamentary Group. The evidence will be presented alongside a petition calling on local and central government to ring-fence future funding for public libraries, which has already received more than 20,000 signatures since it was launched in late September.”
  • Library petition hits 20k signatures after Rowling support  – BookSeller. “Currently at over 21,000 signatures and continuing to gain traction, the Government will now have to respond to the petition. According to the petition webpage, organisers are expecting a response within the next three days. Should it garner more than 100,000 signatures before 24th March next year, the petition would have to be considered for debate in Parliament.”
  • So-called austerity has done huge damage to our country. Hammond must call a halt – and reverse the cuts that are being made – Star. “Local government is facing a funding gap of £5.8bn by 2020, with the number of children being taken into care at its highest level since 1985 while over 500 libraries and children’s centres are set to be closed.”
  • Tackling loneliness through the proven power of reading – Libraries Taskforce. “Reading Friends is a UK wide befriending scheme, which uses reading to tackle loneliness. It was developed by us at The Reading Agency working with partners and funded by the Big Lottery Fund. The programme has been designed with older people and is delivered by volunteers. By sharing stories in groups or one to one sessions, Reading Friends empowers and engages older people who are vulnerable and isolated, including people with dementia and carers.”

Axiell Selflib

International news

  • USA – From Brooklyn to Wichita, public libraries create LGBTQ-affirming spaces – NBC News. “Drag queens reading children’s books and puppets talking about gender identity are examples of the unique programming libraries are using to foster acceptance.”
  • USA – The haunting of Peoria Public Library – Dewey Decibel. “Books flying off the shelves. Shadowy figures roaming the hallways. Unexplained sounds. What’s going on at Peoria (Ill.) Public Library? Is the building possessed by spirits hovering above cursed ground? Or are these apparitions just a sign that librarians have been spending too much time in the stacks?”

Local news by authority

  • Glasgow – Tackling loneliness through the proven power of reading – Clydebank Post. “As part of National Libraries Week, AH Proctor hid magical tokens within her “Thumble Tumble” books in libraries across Scotland and children who found them received a prize. The author made a personal appearance in Knightswood library on October 9 where she was joined by pupils from Clyde Primary and Bankhead Primary schools.”
  • Hampshire – New look Gosport library shown off at grand unveiling – Portsmouth News. “Based in the town’s high street, Gosport Discovery Centre has been the focus of a £700,000 investment project by Hampshire County Council – seeing it remodelled to include a cafe, Citizens Advice, a wellbeing centre and a register office for births and deaths”
  • North Yorkshire – James Patterson to headline Crime Writing Festival – Harrogate News.
  • Surrey – Surrey launches five consultations amid plans to slash £200m by 2021 – Local Guardian. “The county council is consulting on five areas: children’s centres, concessionary bus travel, special educational needs and disabilities, libraries and cultural services and community recycling centres. Cllr David Hodge, leader of Surrey county council, said: “The aim is to transform the support provided by all of us to residents and communities, but to get there we’ll need to take some very difficult decisions.”
  • Trafford – Teddy bear library sleepover leads to hi-jinx – Messenger. “Midnight feats, campfire – and even adventures in the lift were just some of the things the cuddly toys got up at the half-term event. The sleepover also saw their owners – 35 children from across Trafford – enjoy story time and crafts before letting their teddies run riot through the library once everyone had gone home. Libraries manager Jill Robertson said: “It was a fantastic time. We had lots of fun with it and the children loved it! When they came back the next morning they got a laminated picture of them with their teddy as well as some sweets.”

“Some of the children hadn’t joined the library before so we were able to give them a membership card. One boy said that he didn’t realise the library was so much fun.”

  • Worcestershire – Future of Worcestershire’s libraries: have your say from today – Malvern Gazette. “Residents have been asked to give their views on how libraries can evolve to offer modern services for people and ensure value for money. Worcestershire’s library services have faced change as finanical pressures have grown on the county council. The council says it has made considerable progress to modernise services to ensure value for money with a Libraries’ Transformation programme launched in 2011, which has seen more than £3.7m of efficiency savings made.”