A [Conservative] council that had its library restructuring plans quashed in the high court spent more than £70,000 fighting the judicial review.
The review at the high court in November decided it was unlawful for Somerset county council to withdraw funding for 11 libraries because the cuts did not comply with "public sector equality duties" owed to vulnerable social groups.
Full Story at The Guardian
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
"In support of Libraries, Books, Words and Ideas...."
I don't seem to visit this blog much any more - but this wonderful contribution to the Save the Libraries movement came to my attention, and I like to pass on such life-enhancing ideas.
Ten mysterious paper sculptures turned up in various Edinburgh libraries, with the only explanation in notes which read (in part):
"...In support of Libraries, Books, Words and Ideas...."
Monday, November 7, 2011
lucid defence of libraries
As I have said before - I let this blog slip when the library I work for set up its own blog, Twitter and Facebook outlets.
However, I really liked this article about the true value of libraries to a community - as a public space.
However, I really liked this article about the true value of libraries to a community - as a public space.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Bowing to the inevitable
Although I planned to abandon this blog, and give way to the official blog for the library service I work in, I still get sent the occasional link that seems worth sharing.
This piece, from The Guardian, does seem to have almost given up on arguing for libraries, and seems to imply that we might as well get used to them no longer receiving funding from local government, and having to find their own sustainable income.
I'll resist the temptation to wonder whether a computer-recycling station running by someone with the 'gift of dyslexia' really seems an obvious match for libraries of books. Perhaps not. If libraries really have started heading down the book-free route, then maybe. Who can tell?
I can see how the funding of a building through recycling seems like a good idea, but can it prove sustainable? Does the money buy new stock, or does it pay people a wage? How long does unpaid volunteer enthusiasm last (especially when confronted by demanding customers)? How do libraries appeal to people if they don't get a regularly replenished stock?
Too many questions, not enough answers, in my book, but see what you think.
The original council library staff have lost their jobs, by the way, having passed on their skills.
The buildings have become 'community hubs'.
Library closures: what can local people do?
Excerpt:
Kath Dunbar, a vociferous anti-library closure campaigner, echoes his views. Dunbar, 56, is among a core of around 10 volunteers now running New Cross library. "We're getting people more involved in the library who perhaps wouldn't have come in before," she says. "It's becoming more of a community library, without a doubt. I think the potential of what we can do is amazing."
New Cross People's Library
I wish them luck, of course, but why does it have to be this way? Especially as Councils claim to worry about illiteracy, and then fail to provide the essential, bottom line service for tackling illiteracy - causes of which have to include not having enough access to books at home, or sufficient encouragement to explore them (outside of school, bookshops and other daunting places).
This piece, from The Guardian, does seem to have almost given up on arguing for libraries, and seems to imply that we might as well get used to them no longer receiving funding from local government, and having to find their own sustainable income.
I'll resist the temptation to wonder whether a computer-recycling station running by someone with the 'gift of dyslexia' really seems an obvious match for libraries of books. Perhaps not. If libraries really have started heading down the book-free route, then maybe. Who can tell?
I can see how the funding of a building through recycling seems like a good idea, but can it prove sustainable? Does the money buy new stock, or does it pay people a wage? How long does unpaid volunteer enthusiasm last (especially when confronted by demanding customers)? How do libraries appeal to people if they don't get a regularly replenished stock?
Too many questions, not enough answers, in my book, but see what you think.
The original council library staff have lost their jobs, by the way, having passed on their skills.
The buildings have become 'community hubs'.
Library closures: what can local people do?
Excerpt:
Kath Dunbar, a vociferous anti-library closure campaigner, echoes his views. Dunbar, 56, is among a core of around 10 volunteers now running New Cross library. "We're getting people more involved in the library who perhaps wouldn't have come in before," she says. "It's becoming more of a community library, without a doubt. I think the potential of what we can do is amazing."
New Cross People's Library
I wish them luck, of course, but why does it have to be this way? Especially as Councils claim to worry about illiteracy, and then fail to provide the essential, bottom line service for tackling illiteracy - causes of which have to include not having enough access to books at home, or sufficient encouragement to explore them (outside of school, bookshops and other daunting places).
Monday, October 10, 2011
Another Look
If you have visited here before, and wonder where the familiar layout went (and, indeed, the blog list, favourite places, etc) I can only tell you that I decided to test out the dynamic views that Blogger now offers.
Since the library I work for acquired its own front ends (Twitter, Facebook, Blog) I decided to more or less retire this one - but I still enjoy to experiment. You can flip through the 7 new options yourself, but you can't revert to the old one, which also had links to favourite places to visit, blogs I like, etc. (sigh).So here are the results of the various 'looks':
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Invisible Libraries and Imaginary Books
I love this little article about 'The Invisible Library" as an intro.
The greatest books that never were
Literature is full of imaginary books. Given the choice, which one would you read?
And then you can go look up a virtually complete list on the Invisible Library blog, here.
Or check out Beachcombing's Bizarre History Blog
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Devaluing libraries
The story goes on, as ever.
Volunteers
Certainly in England (if not yet in Wales) the Tory plan to have libraries run by volunteers is getting rolled out (as if running a library is roughly like running a charity shop, like the one in Walcot which doesn't get enough volunteers).
This is not only insulting to professional library staff, but seriously misunderstands the library's place in society.
It seems far more likely that the plan is to run them this way, and then, as volunteers fall away, claim that proves people don't really want libraries, and close them. Will we also get a volunteer fire service, volunteer ambulance service, volunteer-run old people's homes? What is this? A war zone?
When I posted something similar on Facebook, one librarian commented:
"I'd love to see how long volunteers would last in a branch library, they damned well be prepared for anyone and anything, there'll be no sitting around reading books all bloody day. Social workers, mental health workers, children's nannies, cleaners, career advisors, IT specialists, human dictionaries, counsellors and riot police...Just some of the hats we wear every day, eh?"
Uniformed officers
Here in Wales we thought we had weathered the storm, but we have been wondering why there has been a push towards staff wearing uniforms (when an informal look, and approachability, has previously been part of the library image). It appears that the old One Stop Shop idea has turned up again - which means combining council services, so that library staff get replaced by desks staffed by housing benefit officers, citizen's advice bureau staff, etc.
Hence the uniforms. Officers.
Whether they will also get training in running a library (see the above comments from front line staff) or library staff are simply expected to add these skills and responsibilities to their already crowded days, doesn't seem clear yet. We'll see.
I am, as they say, not optimistic. The plans are being made by people who probably have a private library in the West Wing of their homes (even if many of them maybe don't read very much). It's hard to believe they might understand...
Volunteers
Certainly in England (if not yet in Wales) the Tory plan to have libraries run by volunteers is getting rolled out (as if running a library is roughly like running a charity shop, like the one in Walcot which doesn't get enough volunteers).
This is not only insulting to professional library staff, but seriously misunderstands the library's place in society.
It seems far more likely that the plan is to run them this way, and then, as volunteers fall away, claim that proves people don't really want libraries, and close them. Will we also get a volunteer fire service, volunteer ambulance service, volunteer-run old people's homes? What is this? A war zone?
When I posted something similar on Facebook, one librarian commented:
"I'd love to see how long volunteers would last in a branch library, they damned well be prepared for anyone and anything, there'll be no sitting around reading books all bloody day. Social workers, mental health workers, children's nannies, cleaners, career advisors, IT specialists, human dictionaries, counsellors and riot police...Just some of the hats we wear every day, eh?"
Uniformed officers
Here in Wales we thought we had weathered the storm, but we have been wondering why there has been a push towards staff wearing uniforms (when an informal look, and approachability, has previously been part of the library image). It appears that the old One Stop Shop idea has turned up again - which means combining council services, so that library staff get replaced by desks staffed by housing benefit officers, citizen's advice bureau staff, etc.
Hence the uniforms. Officers.
Whether they will also get training in running a library (see the above comments from front line staff) or library staff are simply expected to add these skills and responsibilities to their already crowded days, doesn't seem clear yet. We'll see.
I am, as they say, not optimistic. The plans are being made by people who probably have a private library in the West Wing of their homes (even if many of them maybe don't read very much). It's hard to believe they might understand...
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Well, I thought it was funny...
you can buy this at The Literary Gift site.
I particularly liked their Description: "the perfect mug for librarians: we tried to do a mug which said "Go away I'm cataloguing, and shelving, and being nice to borrowers..." but we couldn't fit it all on."
I have left this blog on hold for now, as the official blog seems sufficient for the specific library tasks, and I don't have quite enough interest in the general process of librarianship to pursue too many links (heading towards writing books now, instead of lending them), but this mug made me laugh (even if the Shhhh cliché is pretty out of date, now).
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Just a quick post - testing, testing
For the last few weeks we have been unable to post to (and sometimes even read) any Blogger blogs in Cardiff Libraries. This morning it seems I can, if you are reading this - so I'll try a couple of edits. *** Yolande Philpott - aromatherapist in Cornwall. *** Here's something more related to libraries, from my son, originally posted on Facebook...(rummages in FB)...um....a method of sorting the books on shelves with a sophisticated RFID tagging system. [it'll turn up, and I'll be back!] *** I notice that YouTube inserts in the official Cardiff Libraries blog seem to work OK on the public access PCs (after a short delay) but film clips in Facebook keep demanding an Adobe FlashPlayer update (which won't run, of course, on locked-down public access mode). It doesn't seem to be holding the edits, paragraph breaks, etc.
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