yes, not a very good punch line or mission statement is it!
f
Frances Hendrix
Martin House Farm, Hilltop Lane, Whittle le Woods, Chorley, Lancs PR6 7QR,
UK
tel: 01257 274 833. fax: 01257 266 488
email: [log in to unmask]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Aird" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2010 12:48 PM
Subject: Re: Hands off our libraries!
>I don't equate the two, but would be happy to use either depending on the
>preference of the people we're serving. Either way, relating to our public
>in plain English on their level is important, and the language you
>suggested just isn't suitable.
>
> I'm afraid I don't have time to research the origins of the words as we
> have services to manage and provide. On that note, our 'plain English'
> approach has done us no harm - statistics are virtually all on the up:
>
> Visits up 4.75% over 12 months
> Request up 125% over 24 months
> Issues up 9.15% over 24 months
> Active borrowers up 6.4% over 12 months
>
> I would imagine treating our customers as "citizens engaging in accessing
> a collective service paid for by taxation" would have alienated quite a
> few, and our stats would drop accordingly.
>
> Regards,
>
> Richard.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David McMenemy [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 26 August 2010 12:32
> To: Richard Aird; [log in to unmask]
> Subject: RE: Hands off our libraries!
>
> It's not plain English, do the research as to its origins and adoption
> over the past 30 years.
>
> And if you equate customer and member as the same thing, you clearly can't
> or don't want to see the issue.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Aird [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 26 August 2010 12:29
> To: 'David McMenemy'; [log in to unmask]
> Subject: RE: Hands off our libraries!
>
> David,
>
> Ask any library member visiting their local library how they should be
> referred to or considered as, and I'm absolutely certain that not one
> would reply "a citizen engaging in accessing a collective service paid for
> by taxation" - I think the overwhelming majority would reply "customer" or
> "member".
>
> This isn't management speak, political vision or a professional issue -
> it's plain English.
>
> Too often, managers, politicians and academics prescribe what language to
> use, when we should be using the language of our customers. Customers who
> can of course choose to take their custom elsewhere - Amazon, LoveFilm,
> Asda, etc.
>
> Regards,
>
> Richard.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David McMenemy
> Sent: 26 August 2010 12:24
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Hands off our libraries!
>
> With respect to you, Linda, this kind of language is all part of the
> problem. Offers? Competition? Business models? Customers? 30 years of
> this newspeak has almost killed any semblance of a public service ethos.
>
> Public libraries are services provided to citizens by public servants on
> behalf of local authorities. The people who use them are NOT customers,
> they are citizens engaging in accessing a collective service paid for by
> taxation. For too long public librarians have adopted the language of the
> private sector for political expediency, and look where it's got us?
>
> If there's to be a future for public libraries it should be based on a
> professional vision, not a political one. For too long the language of
> managerialism has polluted the discourse, and it's delivered a service
> that has dumbed down to the extent that its whole future is now under
> question. It's time the profession got its courage back and remembered
> what it actually stands for.
>
>
>
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