If reporting was properly conducted, as your correspondent recommends, then it would show that over 30 years, those who are highly paid to be responsible have destroyed the public library service in the UK.

People in other countries can hardly believe what they can see with their own eyes: terrible libraries, hardly any reading material; hardly ever open; many of which are unpleasant dirty and unsafe

What was once the best library service in the world, is now no more than a snivelling, complaining, wreckage.

And yet they hear the library ‘profession’ and all its ‘sector bodies’ and supporters relentlessly boasting, untruthfully, how wonderful they are. Shame is an insufficient requirement.

Libraries Connected’s statement is welcome but it is only a baby step forward at best.

The public library service has been running in its current form since 1964. In the last 20+ years the reporting and performance of libraries has declined markedly. Governments of all shades have done away with both library standards and other mechanisms that helped communicate library performance to the public. Over the same period computing power and the ease of communicating data have improved immeasurably. There is absolutely no excuse for the current lamentable state of affairs.

Libraries Connected represents the c.150 Council Chief Librarians who provide public library services in England. Currently they fail to communicate the performance of the public library service to the public. Their bosses the Council Leaders, both the politicians and the CEOs, are obviously happy to keep quiet about library performance, whilst signing up to open government. This an utter failure by councillors and the politicians at Westminster to hold local government to account.

Fundamental reform is required – how about:
• The DCMS, as part of its supervisory role, requires councils to publish public library service data on council websites. Summary data to be published quarterly and more comprehensive data annually.
• Public library data collection and aggregation is carried out by either the DCMS, the ONS or Libraries Connected. Aggregate data is published with a meaningful commentary. CIPFA is sacked.
• The ‘Annual Report to Parliament on public libraries activities’ is heavily revised so that it summarises performance and not just activities.

As the politicians would put it – it is time to build back better.