Another really public library

In a phone box in New York City

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The man who turned his home into a public library

 "The only rule is that there are no rules."



The idea is simple. Readers can take as many books as they want, for as long as they want - even permanently.

BBC News Magazine, 20 Sept 2012 - for full story.

Occupied

I thought to let this blog wither away, but our official blog seems to have fallen asleep again, so I will return here occasionally.

Friern Barnet library has attracted the attention of the Occupy folks...

Reclaim Frien Barnet Library!

http://occupynewsnetwork.co.uk/breakin-news-reclaimed-public-library-latest-occupy-london-venture/

Vandalism and barbarism continues

This piece by Maggie Gee was first published on Thursday (in The Guardian) and pops up in The Week in Books in today's issue.

Midnight Library raid (read the whole thing)

On Monday morning, between 2am and 3am, when most people were asleep, Brent council sent in a team to remove thousands of books in cardboard boxes from London's Kensal Rise library, which local people, ably backed by household-name writers such as Philip Pullman and Zadie Smith, have been fighting to keep open since November 2010.   [...]


The Kensal Rise pop-up library. Photograph: David Levene

   [...]
However, the library service has never stopped operating. On the day of the closure, after one round of our expensive legal battle was lost on 13 October 2011, we opened our own Kensal Rise Pop-Up Library within the library's perimeter wall.

Apologies for use of excerpts without permission.

"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...."

See the full set of pictures, and accompanying story, here.

Here's an article in The Guardian for August 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.

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...

Stating the obvious

THIS found at blogwithoutalibrary.net

An unofficial voice

This remains far from an official venture, emanating stealthily from Cardiff Libraries, but it was great to read that Paige Turner (Swansea Libraries) claims the status of oldest (OK,OOK, longest-running) official library blog in the UK.

Excellent!


This and much other intriguing stuff available here, in Sarah Hammond's article on Ariadne: Public Library 2.0: Culture Change?

Interesting list of the public biblioblogosphere (easy for you to say) here.

Voices for the library

The truth is that this blog does not get written by a professional librarian, simply a user who became a lowly library worker. However, my respect for libraries, and all the staff (qualified by degree, or simply by experience) means that I continue to seek out examples of people trying to raise awareness of the social value of libraries.

Voices for the library seems like one such advocate:

Why librarians?

Librarians stand for free and equal access to information for all. This means a number of things:

• Librarians will not discriminate in the provision of access to material
• Librarians will not disclose what you ask, read, or borrow
• Librarians will work to fight censorship, bias, and false reporting
• Librarians will always work to provide you with the best possible information resources to suit your needs
• Librarians will work to provide high-quality collections tailored to the needs of a community
• Librarians work for the larger public good

De-skilling libraries

Read this article about 'privatising libraries by stealth' - Terence Blacker in The Independent...

"A country's public library service is a sure indicator of how highly it values its citizens, its children and its future. There may well be a place for the new localism around the outer fringes of the service – the library is a focus of local life, after all – but, if the Government allows it to slip into decline in the hollow name of community, Ed Vaizey's promises and his boss's Big Society will be exposed as a heartless sham."

Yup, here we go again - libraries run as sort of charity swap shops, by a bunch of local volunteers...only Tories who can afford to buy what they want when they want it could ignore the 'added value' libraries bring to communities, particularly in deprived areas.

The Big Society, huh. What a lame, and unvivid image. Apparently "The Big Society is a society in which we as individuals don’t feel small."

The Future Libraries Programme from the Ministry of Culture, Media and Sport (which just about sums up the government's level of cultural appreciation).

The press release.

Watch the speech.

Libraries crucial to getting people online

"Digital champion, Martha Lane Fox, wants to see digital leaders in all local authorities, all 750 Jobcentre Plus offices and all public libraries by the end of the year." from: UK AuthorITy

Find her Manifesto for Networked Nation here.

She is presenting her case to Downing Street today.

Race Online 2012

Update: Tuesday 13th July 2010

Tom Sutcliffe in The Independent doesn't think everyone needs to be online - See his article here

Save your local libraries

Libraries remain a crucial social resource, but in these times of cuts they appear like an 'easy cut' to make (for politicians). An old friend from my show-biz days made this short film in support of the local library where he now lives - in Australia - but it seems relevant wherever you live!