It’s good news that the date of National Libraries Day has finally been formally confirmed.  It gives libraries, and supporters, just enough time to get something prepared. Everyone in libraries should have no problem getting behind the Day.  CILIP and others have gone out of their way to ensure that the Day is not about campaigning and fighting cuts but rather about celebrating these wonderful institutions in our midst.  Campaigners and library users will find no problem in getting on board.  Nor will library staff. Those authorities who are cutting libraries in one way or another  (which is the great majority of them) should not feel threatened by a day promoting their services as, after all, no council has gone on record to say they dislike libraries, it’s just that the money is tight.  Also, as was vividly shown last year, those authorities who do decide not to support the Day (as Kent found out) are likely not to come out of the affair smelling of roses.  For good or ill – definitely to the good in my book – NLD is here to stay and all should get with the programme and make it a tremendous success.  We need a day to celebrate more than ever.  Well, this is the day.  Let’s make it one to remember.

More >

There’s been a spirited exchange of comments on a post on this blog about who actually is supervising the UK public library service.  The comments were left by myself, the library campaigner Shirley Burnham and an anonymous but obviously very well-informed person using the tag “Revisit History”.  The conversation starts with a statement by “Revisit History”that the claim that the MLA had a superintendent function “is a myth”.  I then point out the quote from the libraries minister, Ed Vaizey, in parliament which says:

More >

David Fay, City Libraries’ Manager at Newcastle has been in touch with me to say:

“The position in Newcastle is bad but not quite as bad as you seem to think. The proposal is to keep a network of 8 libraries (including the City Library). This still means closing 10 libraries including High Heaton but it does mean that 96% of the population of Newcastle will be within 1.5 miles of a council run service. This core network will be staffed by trained library staff. Any libraries that are threatened with closure that are run in the future by local communities would sit outside of our core network and would be clearly branded as such. Also the article by Tony Durcan asking whether libraries were needed in an age of austerity did, I think, firmly argue that they were needed.”

A key plank of the CMS Report is in doubt due to the reduction in dedicated library staff in Arts Council England and what appears to be a misunderstanding about its role.  In an official response to Public Libraries News from the Arts Council, it is stated that the number of specialists will be reduced from the current nine to just five for the whole of England.  This is due to the cuts in funding already noted by this blog a few days ago.

More >

The Select Committee into Library Closures made public its report today.  Has the wait since the inquiry ended in February been worth the wait?  No, not really.  To sum up its entirety in one sentence: people are told to work harder, share good practice and not to close libraries wholesale without a decent plan.  That’s it.  Oh, you want more?  Oh, OK then:

More >