HANDS OFF OUR PUBLIC LIBRARIES!!

[SJHigbee]

The Government has decided that as part of the national cost-cutting exercise we're all enduring that they are going to 'reshape' the Library service. Apparently not enough of us are visiting libraries on a weekly basis - maybe that's because we can now borrow up to 20 books at once - and in a PREVIOUS effort to cut costs, our libraries now open later and close earlier.

So they are considering closing up to 1000 libraries around the country and resiting them in supermarkets and pubs. Anyone else see the big catch in that one - or is it just me? But... it occurs to me that if supermarkets are full of tins of beans, frozen peas, chunks of meat, nappies, etc... WHERE are they going to stock all the thousands of books necessary to provide a halfway decent service?? Ditto the pub.

Do we WANT a literate, educated populations - or is this just a pious hope? They assure us that there will be no cutting back, just a 'reshaping'... Oh yeah? Here are some OTHER suggestions...

Why aren't mothers presented with a library card along with a birth certificate when they register their baby? Why don't doctors' surgeries & maternity hospitals have posters advertising the baby & toddler sessions held in most libraries twice a week? Why don't franchises like Starbucks & Costa coffee shops have a presence in our local libraries - it works very well in my local Waterstones. Why doesn't OFSTED insist that ALL primary & infant children in state education visit their local library on a regular basis? Why aren't local toy and jigsaw libraries encouraged to use the local library? Why couldn't more local history talks, book readings and signings, musical & poetry events be sited at the public library?

These are just a few of MY ideas... And not ONE of them involved a pub or supermarket!

[che2000]

The current UK government is so desperate to save money that they are considering cutting virtually everything regardless of its intrinsic worth. Of course they will say that they want an educated, literate population, but their actions rather belie this. In an age when the old infrastructures of industry have withered away to be replaced with other forms: specifically information technology and, to a certain extent, the formation of a 'cultural economy', the very notion that libraries should be 'reshaped' is ridiculous (especially since we know that reshaping means cutting, let's be honest). If the UK is to face the sea change that is happening in global society then we need an educated population.

Or is that just me?

[SJHigbee]

Absolutely!!

[che2000]

A Tory/ Liberal coalition government - is there any more terrifying phrase in the English language (except for 'Boo, I'm a ghost!', that is)?

[Jaqhama]

I'm on a forum of ex-pats that live in Oz.
Some of the things I read about that happens in England today is just shocking.

I'm not totally convinced that modern society is evolving.
I think it's sliding sideways into an anal, state controlled hive.
Joining the European Union was a mistake.
England shouldn't have Brussels telling them what to do.

Where's Captain Britain when you need him?

[crystalwizard]

I dunno - sticking libraries in supermarkets might be a good way to get the kids to read and combat the literacy problem that's running rampant right now.

[SJHigbee]

Hm... That's what they said about the Post Offices - and from having a modern, well planned building with all the necessary facilities, our local town now has a their Post Office branch shoe-horned into the back of a shop that wasn't designed for it. There are regular queues out the door into the main shop, where you are jostled by shoppers trying to fight their way around the aisles... It's a nightmare. We currently have well designed libraries welcoming to all age groups which are heavily used. And if you look at my Blog, you'll see that visits to public libraries by children are on the rise - not that you'd know that if you listened to the Government propaganda.

And which supermarket chain do you know would be willing to clear their shelves of commercial produce in favour of the thousands of books necessary to run an adequate service? They've already proved unwilling in many places - like my home town - to find the necessary space for a decent Post Office...

[che2000]

Yes, the government conveniently forgot to mention that library use is on the rise when it comes to children - who are the people who really benefit from them.

It isn't just books, though - my local library offers internet access to those who don't have a PC at home, wi-fi access, a DVD and music rental service and has a rather nice little coffee annex into the bargain. A second library in my home city also houses a Workhouse Museum detailing some of the darker times in Ireland's past. I somehow think that if any or all of these services where shifted to, say, a local branch of Tesco that the quality of things would very quickly disappear.

Just to get bibliophile about it - there are a lot of books in my local library that I have found very useful (there is a great history section in my nearest one, for instance) and I fequent find more obscure titles in there which the main book shop here in Derry simply don't stock (stuff which is jeither ust not commercial or comes from independant publishers).

[alrobe]

During tough economic times library usage always goes up(people can't affored to buy books), but there funding is always cut because they are viewed as nonessential I am a librarian at a small library in western Nebraska. In the past three years our number of patrons has risen from right around 2,000 to over 5,000. During that same time our funding was cut by more than 25%

[erazmus]

I'm sorry your country is in this position. It comes of having government in charge of libraries on a national level. Of course, you can try to deal with it on a national level, instead of piecemeal in every locality, so there is some good of that as well.
My own local library has become, through its efforts to reach out to our community, cut costs and maintain "relevance" in the modern world, almost unusable. There is no one to help you check out, its all self-check-out. The "librarians" congregate at a help-desk with a long line and intermittent service, the place is bustling with community events, there is always a meeting or class of some sort going on, the place is crawling with unsupervised children of all ages, its loud, crowded and very little reading is going on. Most people come in to use the internet, with waits of up to three hours for an hour's usage. The books are poorly shelved (usually in a jumbled order with titles in a category only vaguely in the same general area).
This is a branch library in a shopping center. The main library is, as it always has been, well ordered and quiet but I have to wonder how long that will last due to the view that my local branch is such a "success". As a community center, it is a great success. For people who want a place to go, to listen to someone speak, to have something to do, to get internet access, (to leave their children run wild while they use the internet access) its a marvel.
For those of us who want to find books to read, or research a topic from the volumes on the shelves, it is much less than a success. In fact it resembles a library exactly in the manner a playground resembles school.
So there are worse things than sticking your library into the corner of a pub or market. I'd love for mine to be tucked away in the back room of a nice, quiet pub.

Mike

[darkbow]

A library that serves beer. Now that would draw in the customers. Not sure it would keep things quiet, though. ;-)

[SJHigbee]

No. Our library service in the UK isn't centralised. Libraries are controlled by local councils - trouble is our current lib-con government has decided to cut back our national indebtedness and councils are having to choose between cutting back on social services or their libraries. If you look at my blog, you'll see that a Government report has just been released that indicates library use is in steep decline over the past 5 years. I believe they have been more than economical with the truth - and by releasing such a report at this particular time, they are in effect telling hard pressed councils that if they decide to squeeze libraries and go ahead with proposed closures that will account for up to a quarter of our current library network, they will probably shrug their shoulders and look the other way... While making concerned noises and encouraging supermarkets/retail spaces to take up the slack.

And as I KEEP asking - what makes ANYONE think that the likes of Sainsburys/Tesco, etc will actually hand over sufficient space to shelve enough books to offer an adequate service, when - locally- none of them adequately stepped up and took on our local Post Office when it desperately needed a home??

And - no - Mike I'm NOT sanguine about having my beloved, precious library that I visit on average twice a week, being 'tucked away' in the back of a 'nice, quiet pub'. While I do sympathise with your issues with your community centre-cum-library (and I do SINCERELY mean that, by the way - it's the direction our library service is being nudged into...), pubs are closing down around here, left, right and centre. Those that aren't tend to offer huge screens to watch sports, or particularly appeal to the young, rowdy set. The notion of a 'nice, quiet pub' in our neck of the woods has always been something of a pipedream - we live in a seaside town which attracts a large number of unemployed youngsters.

Maybe this appears to be a fairly minor rant in the scheme of things - I'm aware that Life is getting bleaker for all of us - my part-time job as Creative Writing tutor is looking increasingly iffy as Government subsidies for adult education courses is slashed, causing a big hike in fees... And I realise that I should be grateful that I'm not in the position of needing a home help or social care, which is also being savagely cut back. But I do LOVE my local library and I bitterly resent the underhanded, dishonest manner in which a thoroughly professional service by a dedicated band of people is being denigrated in order to 'persuade' us all that hardly anyone uses the public libraries any more...

[erazmus]

Yes, I see your problem. There is no easy solution, I'm afraid. It seems odd that an existing library, already in a building dedicated to that purpose, shelves inside already stocked with books, should be able to weather hard financial times better than they do. Of course, many "libraries" here where I live are not actual libraries, with a dedicated -and paid for!- building. Many are branch locations leased in commercial real estate, and so when budgets crunch and cut-backs must be made, it isn't just staff and hours that are under the axe.
I do not care if my library has all the latest releases, though I read many of the ones they do stock from their shelves. I don't mind traveling a minor distance--across town, say-- to get to my library. I do dislike it when they must shut down a branch entirely because they can not afford to lease the space anymore--I regularly argued for buying and building when funds were available, even though it meant fewer locations. Of course our community has never been "flush" enough for the local Pols to build anything for the actual use of the people. Though it was flush enough to lease property for the new library branches from business associates of the local council members.
Its very odd. Most Libraries here in the US were started with private funds during the depression.

Mike