Hi Kirstie - you might want to respond to the HLS and WRVS query. Carol
Carol Brooks
Operations Manager (South)
Libraries & Heritage Division
Cultural & Community Services Department
County Hall
Matlock
Derbyshire
DE4 3AG
Tel: Direct Line 01629 535866
Switchboard 01629 580000 Ext 35866
Mobile 07770 703727
Email: [log in to unmask]
Library Information Service Enquiry Line 01629 533444
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of LIS-PUB-LIBS automatic digest system
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 12:03 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: LIS-PUB-LIBS Digest - 11 Jan 2011 to 12 Jan 2011 (#2011-10)
There are 13 messages totaling 2990 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Home Library Service and WRVS
2. and the meek shall inherit the libraries (as Barry George sort of said)
3. Onwards and Upwards? (2)
4. 'We do so much more than shelve books and say shhh' (3)
5. Cracking Up?! Who, we, I? (3)
6. Community engagement: Developing long-lasting partnerships (26th Jan)
7. if only he had been!
8. People love Libraries
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 10:19:04 +0000
From: Lyn Rainbow <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Home Library Service and WRVS
We're looking at using our area WRVS volunteers to deliver our Home Library Service. I'd be interested to hear from other authorities already using WRVS especially their charges(if you could share them) , how it works, amount of library staff time involved, recommendations. I'd be especially interested in how they access your stock for delivery as we have no central reserve for this. It is currently done by volunteers recruited by us from each library in the area.
Lyn Rainbow
Strategic Librarian
Medway Libraries
01634 338736
[log in to unmask]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 10:43:39 -0000
From: Frances Hendrix <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: and the meek shall inherit the libraries (as Barry George sort of said)
Or to put it another way 'he who votes them in, and pays the council tax, should have a say'!
This is an example of the many reports received every day from around the country. Links to most of the press reports are to be found on Alan Gibbons' and Ian Anstice's Public Libraries News blogs.
Village Turns Out for Library Fight
"Hundreds of schoolchildren were among an army of campaigners rallying in protest against the impending closure of Sonning Common Library."
http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/s/2085373_village_turns_out_for_library_fight
Huge Crowd Flocked to Libraries Public Meeting Last Night
"Leader of Gloucestershire County Council, Mark Hawthorne, and cabinet member for libraries, Antonia Noble, faced tough questions from the angry crowd who demanded to know why Bishop's Cleeve library was not being kept on as a full service when it was the third most popular in the county."
http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/news/Huge-crowd-flocked-libraries-public-meeting-night/article-3091017-detail/article.html
Frances Hendrix
Martin House Farm, Hilltop Lane, Whittle le Woods, Chorley, Lancs PR6 7QR, UK
tel: 01257 274 833. fax: 01257 266 488
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 11:36:52 -0000
From: Frances Hendrix <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Onwards and Upwards?
WE, I, You, Us?
it doesnt matter now is your chance!
Call for national inquiry into library service
11.01.11 | Benedicte Page
A Somerset library campaigner is proposing a national public inquiry in response to the widespread closures threatening the library service. Steve Ross said it seemed "sensible and cost effective" to focus nationally on the issue, as well as on specific local situations. Many local campaign groups, including Gloucestershire, Lewisham and Dorset, and Somerset itself are considering legal measures to oppose the cuts. He warned: "The trauma of the Government ignoring calls for inquiry in local areas would pull the country apart."
He said: "The suggestion for a national public library service inquiry is an invitation for central government to offer leadership and an innovative social response....The fear is we are on a short term dash towards cultural oblivion that will place a straitjacket on innovation and lifelong learning in many communities, at a time when the country needs to prepare to face up to the bigger challenges the world faces towards 2050."
Campaigner Desmond Clarke welcomed the campaign, saying he urged everyone to get involved.
Currently approaching 400 libraries are threatened with closure, according to website publiclibrariesnews.blogspot.com, with around half of councils still to announce their plans.
Steve Ross is calling for any supporters for the initiative to contact him at [log in to unmask]
Frances Hendrix
Martin House Farm, Hilltop Lane, Whittle le Woods, Chorley, Lancs PR6 7QR, UK
tel: 01257 274 833. fax: 01257 266 488
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:13:04 +0000
From: "Smith, Nicky" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: 'We do so much more than shelve books and say shhh'
Nice article in today's Grauniad about why professional library staff still matter. There's a film too.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/11/north-yorkshire-libraries-cuts-closures-big-society?INTCMP=SRCH
Librarians: 'We do so much more than shelve books and say shhh'The Tories clearly don't know how much libraries do. Cuts will threaten the very social bonds they claim to want to promote
Fifteen minutes south of Scarborough is Eastfield Community Resource Centre - opened four years ago, to serve one of the area's most disadvantaged communities. In addition to lending out books, what would once have been a mere library has obeyed the modern demand to transform itself into a "hub", and provides what might look to a lot of people like the raw materials of social mobility: internet access, parent and toddler groups, space and resources to help with school homework, meeting rooms and more.
On the day I visit, four staff members are seeing to the needs of a steady stream of people. The shelves bulge with titles that point to horizons well beyond these parts: David Remnick's Obama biography, The Bridge; a rich work of pop-cultural scholarship entitled Dylan's Visions Of Sin; and a coffee-table study of Matisse. "You can't learn everything at school," one local tells me; this place surely offers instant proof.
But for how much longer? Thanks chiefly to the clunking fist of Eric Pickles, Tory-run North Yorkshire county council must save £2.1m from a libraries budget of £7.5m by 2015. Thus, of 42 libraries, only 18 now have a guaranteed future: the remaining 24 - including Eastfield - will either close or somehow be handed to volunteers. North Yorkshire's fleet of mobile libraries will also be hacked down, from 10 to two.
After our initial call for on-the-ground intelligence, I came here thanks to online posts from a couple of Yorkshire-resident regulars on Comment is free, one of whom was adjusting to the possibility of a nearby library - the closest thing to a local community centre, they said - being shut for good. The thread they posted on, of course, reflected a nationwide story, now familiar to millions of us. In Somerset, 24 out of 40 libraries may soon close. In Doncaster, 13 of the 26 are under threat. The same applies to 20 out of 43 libraries in Oxfordshire, 7 of the 12 in Conwy, 23 of the 32 in Cornwall, and 9 of the 11 on the Isle of Wight. The noise of protest grows greater by the day: do not be surprised if pockets of local dissent soon fuse together, and cause no end of problems for both national and local government.
The threat to hundreds of libraries is being recast as an opportunity to bring in volunteers, and finally provide concrete examples of how the "big society" may work in practice - and, though any library is better than none at all, you have to wonder about what will transpire. How volunteers will convincingly step into the space left by trained librarians, or maintain six-day-a-week opening, remains unclear (witness a recent headline from the Swindon Advertiser: "Library hours cut due to lack of volunteers"). Moreover, when you spend time in a facility as ambitious as the one in Eastfield, one thought becomes inescapable: there is simply no way that unpaid staff could run it satisfactorily.
Still, this is the vision of the future to which Ed Vaizey, the minister who sees to libraries, seems enthusiastically pledged, with local stories to assist his case. "There are all sorts of ways of configuring the big society," he said in July last year. "The George and Dragon pub in North Yorkshire is now delivering a library service and a pint to the community in Hudswell. That sounds like a good partnership to me."
That village has a population of 250, and sits on the north-eastern edge of the Yorkshire Dales, in William Hague's constituency, Richmond. Hague was there for the ceremonial opening of what so impressed Vaizey, and hailed it as "an example of the big society at work". The reality is rather more complicated. Yes, the people of the village clubbed together to raise £220,000 to buy the closed local pub and re-open it, and they then combined it with a shop, and a limited book-lending service. But in doing so, they were largely plugging a hole left by the market rather than the state, and the locals I meet are keener to talk about "local socialism" than the big society.
As I also discover when I call in, the idea that their very limited library "service" - a single shelving unit, with 60-odd books supplied by the council - is being held up as a model that might replace orthodox libraries is greeted with something approaching horror.
Underlying that response is something I hear time and again in Yorkshire, which points up gaping cracks in the big society dream: that, if local libraries are pushed so far down the list of local priorities, too many will fail to fulfil vital responsibilities, and thus threaten the very social bonds the Tories claim to want to promote.
That point was underlined by a post from a librarian who responded to our initial appeal for information, and it's worth quoting at length: "We do so much more than issue books, shelve and say, 'Shhh' to people," he wrote. "We cater to our public from birth to death. We go out to antenatal and postnatal groups to sign up the youngest in our population, thus trying to help those families who do not read ... We offer free sessions to under-fives, know all about school curriculums and how best to work with schools.
"We know our looked-after children, our troubled teens, our users who suffer from mental health issues ... We know how to help with homework, teach internet skills to all ages, help unskilled people find jobs ... We embraced using volunteers, but can they run our libraries without us? No. And in my authority they are losing about 60% of librarians."
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:16:16 -0000
From: Mick Fortune <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Onwards and Upwards?
I have a small concern that library campaigns are becoming something of a
growth industry and that by having so many we dissipate their effect. What
we are trying to do with www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk is provide a gateway
into ALL the resources and campaigns out there. Not to take over, but to
ensure that everyone can see what's being done to fight back. We also carry
stories like those from Rebecca Front and the leader of Hull Council this
week but our main aim is to bring together the growing number of "voices"
(see what we did there?) speaking out against the disproportionate, and
quality of life threatening, cuts being proposed by so many councils.
We were very pleased that Ian Anstice agreed to join with us last week and
we hope to persuade others to join us very soon. We act as the portal to
Ian's (and others) blogs, maps etc. No-one has to tow a party line, just
tell us what you're doing - we'll give it maximum publicity.
It is, as Frances so rightly says, time to act - and time to act together.
Mick Fortune
m. +44 (0)7786 625544
From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Frances Hendrix
Sent: 12 January 2011 11:37
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Onwards and Upwards?
WE, I, You, Us?
it doesnt matter now is your chance!
Call for national inquiry into library service
11.01.11 | Benedicte Page <http://www.thebookseller.com/Benedicte+Page>
A Somerset library campaigner is proposing a national public inquiry in
response to the widespread closures threatening the library service. Steve
Ross said it seemed "sensible and cost effective" to focus nationally on the
issue, as well as on specific local situations. Many local campaign groups,
including Gloucestershire, Lewisham and Dorset, and Somerset itself are
considering legal measures to oppose the cuts. He warned: "The trauma of
the Government ignoring calls for inquiry in local areas would pull the
country apart."
He said: "The suggestion for a national public library service inquiry is an
invitation for central government to offer leadership and an innovative
social response....The fear is we are on a short term dash towards cultural
oblivion that will place a straitjacket on innovation and lifelong learning
in many communities, at a time when the country needs to prepare to face up
to the bigger challenges the world faces towards 2050."
Campaigner Desmond Clarke welcomed the campaign, saying he urged everyone to
get involved.
Currently approaching 400 libraries are threatened with closure, according
to website publiclibrariesnews.blogspot.com
<http://publiclibrariesnews.blogspot.com/> , with around half of councils
still to announce their plans.
Steve Ross is calling for any supporters for the initiative to contact him
at [log in to unmask]
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]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:12:58 -0000
From: Frances Hendrix <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Cracking Up?! Who, we, I?
Subject: Cracking job? I'd call it total incompetence
Post by
Roy Clare CBE
Chief Executive Officer
Museums Libraries & Archives Council
Dear Andrew
Mr Clare seems a little out of touch . Somerset County Council had not done an equalities impact or transport study when it decided it was closing 20 out of its 34 libraries It had not even had the figures for its settlement, which was better than anticipated with an unexpected 41m capital grant. It announced its public consultation meetings, the majority of which are in towns keeping their libraries, on 16th Dec. How could the most disadvantaged attend a public consultation in towns miles way, relying on Somerset's expensive, patchy rural transport system. It held meeting 9 a.m. to 12.00 when those working could not attend!
Result ,this week a group of parents and children from around Somerset will notify Somerset County Council of their intention to commence legal action into decisions made about the ongoing Library Services Review.
The group will first seek clarification about a recent decision made by Councillor Christine Lawrence and will set out why they consider that Somerset will face both Judicial Review and a costly Public Inquiry into whether the County Council are in breach of their statutory duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service, if the Council act based on the decision in question. If a satisfactory reply is not forthcoming from the Council legal action will start.
For the group Steve Ross, from Wiveliscombe said "Under the rules for Judicial Review and to avoid unnecessary legal costs we need to clarify the exact nature of the issues we want addressed with Somerset County Council. The information available to the public is unclear. We will explain our position and wait for their reply. While we are waiting we will be asking for a legal undertaking that the current library consultation will be suspended and that no further decisions on the future of the library service will be made by the Cabinet or Council until the legality of the position is clarified".
"It would be a shocking waste of taxpayers money for the Council to rely on decisions made and then have to start again because those decisions were found to be unreasonable by a Judge. We hope our action will save Somerset time and money in the long run by providing the Council with an opportunity to stop and reflect on decisions made as well as to consider available alternatives".
"The one thing Somerset really can't afford now is wasteful mistakes from it's decision makers".
Mr Clare stated "Where closures are inappropriate or strategies lack imagination or leadership we in MLA are on hand to help. " ..."many more are doing a cracking job for their communities". So where is Mr Clare or is this what he calls cracking job?
Fiona Kirton
Press Liaison i
Friends of Glastonbury Library
e: [log in to unmask]
t: 01749 890784
m: 07875596858
"Today's economic challenge means people need library services more than ever, to help them back to work, to access learning and as a central plank of community cohesion," said Mr Vaizey, Culture Minster (July 2010)
Frances Hendrix
Martin House Farm, Hilltop Lane, Whittle le Woods, Chorley, Lancs PR6 7QR, UK
tel: 01257 274 833. fax: 01257 266 488
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:43:03 -0000
From: Roy Clare <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Cracking Up?! Who, we, I?
Frances,
I have previously requested that you avoid making personal remarks about MLA staff and me on a public forum. Please keep in mind that however heated the debate becomes, we each have rights in law as individuals.
I respect your views and those of all others; and am very supportive of the democratic rights and freedoms to debate and challenge, but my staff and I are working hard to support local authorities, who in turn are faced with unprecedented conditions.
Personal abuse helps no one at all.
Thank you.
Roy
Roy Clare CBE
CEO, Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
www.mla.gov.uk
+44 (0) 207 273 1476/9
Via Blackberry
_____
From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wed Jan 12 14:12:58 2011
Subject: Cracking Up?! Who, we, I?
Subject: Cracking job? I'd call it total incompetence
Post by
Roy Clare CBE
Chief Executive Officer
Museums Libraries & Archives Council
Dear Andrew
Mr Clare seems a little out of touch . Somerset County Council had not done an equalities impact or transport study when it decided it was closing 20 out of its 34 libraries It had not even had the figures for its settlement, which was better than anticipated with an unexpected 41m capital grant. It announced its public consultation meetings, the majority of which are in towns keeping their libraries, on 16th Dec. How could the most disadvantaged attend a public consultation in towns miles way, relying on Somerset's expensive, patchy rural transport system. It held meeting 9 a.m. to 12.00 when those working could not attend!
Result ,this week a group of parents and children from around Somerset will notify Somerset County Council of their intention to commence legal action into decisions made about the ongoing Library Services Review.
The group will first seek clarification about a recent decision made by Councillor Christine Lawrence and will set out why they consider that Somerset will face both Judicial Review and a costly Public Inquiry into whether the County Council are in breach of their statutory duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service, if the Council act based on the decision in question. If a satisfactory reply is not forthcoming from the Council legal action will start.
For the group Steve Ross, from Wiveliscombe said "Under the rules for Judicial Review and to avoid unnecessary legal costs we need to clarify the exact nature of the issues we want addressed with Somerset County Council. The information available to the public is unclear. We will explain our position and wait for their reply. While we are waiting we will be asking for a legal undertaking that the current library consultation will be suspended and that no further decisions on the future of the library service will be made by the Cabinet or Council until the legality of the position is clarified".
"It would be a shocking waste of taxpayers money for the Council to rely on decisions made and then have to start again because those decisions were found to be unreasonable by a Judge. We hope our action will save Somerset time and money in the long run by providing the Council with an opportunity to stop and reflect on decisions made as well as to consider available alternatives".
"The one thing Somerset really can't afford now is wasteful mistakes from it's decision makers".
Mr Clare stated "Where closures are inappropriate or strategies lack imagination or leadership we in MLA are on hand to help. " ..."many more are doing a cracking job for their communities". So where is Mr Clare or is this what he calls cracking job?
Fiona Kirton
Press Liaison i
Friends of Glastonbury Library
e: [log in to unmask]
t: 01749 890784
m: 07875596858
"Today's economic challenge means people need library services more than ever, to help them back to work, to access learning and as a central plank of community cohesion," said Mr Vaizey, Culture Minster (July 2010)
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]
______________________________________________________________________
Unless stated otherwise the information contained in this e-mail and any
attachments is confidential. If you have received it in error, you are
on notice of its status. It is intended solely for the addressee.
Any unauthorised use is strictly prohibited. If you are not the
intended recipient please notify the sender immediately and delete the
email and any attachments from your system.
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council is a Company Limited by
Guarantee, Registered in England, with Company Number 03888251. The
Registered Office being : Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, (MLA)
Grosvenor House, 14 Bennett's Hill, Birmingham, B2 5RS. Registered Charity
number : 1079666.
______________________________________________________________________
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:50:35 -0000
From: Lucy Auger <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Community engagement: Developing long-lasting partnerships (26th Jan)
Community engagement – a course to support you develop long lasting
partnerships
Have you been given responsibility for engaging with your local community?
Or have you tried a number of approaches, but found that some of them are
not working? This course will help you develop approaches to
partnership-building and to reassess your current practice.
Community engagement: developing long-lasting partnerships
Is for people who want to develop their community engagement skills and who
want to gain:
o Understanding of why we need to build partnerships, and with whom
o Understanding of what makes effective practice in
partnership-building
o Sharing and learning from good practice in partnership-building
skills
o Understanding of different types of partnerships and how they
function.
Date: 26th January 2011
Price: £125 + VAT per delegate. Cost includes 3 months post course support
Venue: 44 Portland Place, London, W1B 1NE
Interested?
Then book online (www.creatingcapacity.org) or call me on 07985 659425 for
more information.
And don’t forget another community themed course Inclusive services –
working with young offenders (24th January). Places are still left so get
booking now!
Kind regards,
Lucy Auger
Creating Capacity for Museums, Libraries and Archives
Tel: 079 8565 9425
Email: [log in to unmask]
Follow us on Twitter: <http://www.twitter.com/LearningCC> @LearningCC
Web: <http://www.creatingcapacity.org/> www.creatingcapacity.org
Learning programmes to develop confidence
and inspire the profession now and for the future
And don't forget our fantastic
<https://creatingcapacity.enterprisestudy.com/View.aspx?p=88817&c=107702&cou
rseid=107702&zz=74161545> Future Proofing your Organisation: Action Planning
and Networking Event on 2 February. Confirm your place now to get the Early
Bird Rate.
Full programme 2010 / 2011
<http://www.creatingcapacity.org/uploads/creating_capacity_programme_Sep_Mar
ch_2July_v12.pdf> here
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:57:56 -0000
From: Frances Hendrix <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Cracking Up?! Who, we, I?
Roy
I have made no personal comments at all about you or your staff.
Fiona Kirton's letter was in an email,circulated to a number of people. I have not suggested any support one way or the other to comments made, simply demonstrating the rising concern around the country about library closure threats
Perhaps you can identify the personal abuse you detect in my name?
I am well aware of the unprecedented cuts, not just for libraries but in my position of a police Authority member where the cuts are 40% plus.
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: Roy Clare
To: [log in to unmask] ; [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 2:43 PM
Subject: Re: Cracking Up?! Who, we, I?
Frances,
I have previously requested that you avoid making personal remarks about MLA staff and me on a public forum. Please keep in mind that however heated the debate becomes, we each have rights in law as individuals.
I respect your views and those of all others; and am very supportive of the democratic rights and freedoms to debate and challenge, but my staff and I are working hard to support local authorities, who in turn are faced with unprecedented conditions.
Personal abuse helps no one at all.
Thank you.
Roy
Roy Clare CBE
CEO, Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
www.mla.gov.uk
+44 (0) 207 273 1476/9
Via Blackberry
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wed Jan 12 14:12:58 2011
Subject: Cracking Up?! Who, we, I?
Subject: Cracking job? I'd call it total incompetence
Post by
Roy Clare CBE
Chief Executive Officer
Museums Libraries & Archives Council
Dear Andrew
Mr Clare seems a little out of touch . Somerset County Council had not done an equalities impact or transport study when it decided it was closing 20 out of its 34 libraries It had not even had the figures for its settlement, which was better than anticipated with an unexpected 41m capital grant. It announced its public consultation meetings, the majority of which are in towns keeping their libraries, on 16th Dec. How could the most disadvantaged attend a public consultation in towns miles way, relying on Somerset's expensive, patchy rural transport system. It held meeting 9 a.m. to 12.00 when those working could not attend!
Result ,this week a group of parents and children from around Somerset will notify Somerset County Council of their intention to commence legal action into decisions made about the ongoing Library Services Review.
The group will first seek clarification about a recent decision made by Councillor Christine Lawrence and will set out why they consider that Somerset will face both Judicial Review and a costly Public Inquiry into whether the County Council are in breach of their statutory duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service, if the Council act based on the decision in question. If a satisfactory reply is not forthcoming from the Council legal action will start.
For the group Steve Ross, from Wiveliscombe said "Under the rules for Judicial Review and to avoid unnecessary legal costs we need to clarify the exact nature of the issues we want addressed with Somerset County Council. The information available to the public is unclear. We will explain our position and wait for their reply. While we are waiting we will be asking for a legal undertaking that the current library consultation will be suspended and that no further decisions on the future of the library service will be made by the Cabinet or Council until the legality of the position is clarified".
"It would be a shocking waste of taxpayers money for the Council to rely on decisions made and then have to start again because those decisions were found to be unreasonable by a Judge. We hope our action will save Somerset time and money in the long run by providing the Council with an opportunity to stop and reflect on decisions made as well as to consider available alternatives".
"The one thing Somerset really can't afford now is wasteful mistakes from it's decision makers".
Mr Clare stated "Where closures are inappropriate or strategies lack imagination or leadership we in MLA are on hand to help. " ..."many more are doing a cracking job for their communities". So where is Mr Clare or is this what he calls cracking job?
Fiona Kirton
Press Liaison i
Friends of Glastonbury Library
e: [log in to unmask]
t: 01749 890784
m: 07875596858
"Today's economic challenge means people need library services more than ever, to help them back to work, to access learning and as a central plank of community cohesion," said Mr Vaizey, Culture Minster (July 2010)
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]
______________________________________________________________________
Unless stated otherwise the information contained in this e-mail and any
attachments is confidential. If you have received it in error, you are
on notice of its status. It is intended solely for the addressee.
Any unauthorised use is strictly prohibited. If you are not the
intended recipient please notify the sender immediately and delete the
email and any attachments from your system.
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council is a Company Limited by
Guarantee, Registered in England, with Company Number 03888251. The
Registered Office being : Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, (MLA)
Grosvenor House, 14 Bennett's Hill, Birmingham, B2 5RS. Registered Charity
number : 1079666.
______________________________________________________________________
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 15:07:50 -0000
From: Frances Hendrix <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: if only he had been!
"When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equaliser."
Keith Richards, who wanted to be a librarian! 2010
Frances Hendrix
Martin House Farm, Hilltop Lane, Whittle le Woods, Chorley, Lancs PR6 7QR, UK
tel: 01257 274 833. fax: 01257 266 488
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:24:07 -0000
From: Frances Hendrix <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: People love Libraries
let us get these and all other similar stories and quotes to the minister and the press?
Comment made at the funeral of Jimmy Reid..If he was alive today Jimmy would be as hard a fighter for public libraries as he was for the future of shipbuilding on the Clyde.
During the service at Govan Old Parish Church, broadcast via loudspeaker to members of the public outside, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson remembered a man whose "mantra in life" was helping other people.
He recalled how as a young boy, Jimmy Reid did not play football but was often seen with books under his arm.
"Our education was football, his education was the Govan Library - he was never out of there," he said.
"That education gave him an intellect far beyond what we ever thought we could achieve."
Frances Hendrix
Martin House Farm, Hilltop Lane, Whittle le Woods, Chorley, Lancs PR6 7QR, UK
tel: 01257 274 833. fax: 01257 266 488
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 17:04:50 -0000
From: Lynda Bowler <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: 'We do so much more than shelve books and say shhh'
What interests me about this whole 'volunteer' business is the access required to ICT systems needed to run the library.
Information security has become a major issue over last few years (and much money invested in the lock down of personal/sensitive data). Big Society or not, I can't imagine any Information Security department allowing 'private'/LAN access to anyone not directly employed by the Local Authority!
Browne issue anyone?
Lynda
Please note that the opinions expressed in this email are personal and not necessarily those of the organisation I work for.
Lynda Bowler
Public Access and Web Officer (dept ITLO)
Devon Libraries
Great Moor House
Bittern Road
Sowton
Exeter
EX2 7NL
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-----Original Message-----
From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Smith, Nicky
Sent: 12 January 2011 12:13
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: 'We do so much more than shelve books and say shhh'
Nice article in today's Grauniad about why professional library staff still matter. There's a film too.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/11/north-yorkshire-libraries-cuts-closures-big-society?INTCMP=SRCH
Librarians: 'We do so much more than shelve books and say shhh'The Tories clearly don't know how much libraries do. Cuts will threaten the very social bonds they claim to want to promote
Fifteen minutes south of Scarborough is Eastfield Community Resource Centre - opened four years ago, to serve one of the area's most disadvantaged communities. In addition to lending out books, what would once have been a mere library has obeyed the modern demand to transform itself into a "hub", and provides what might look to a lot of people like the raw materials of social mobility: internet access, parent and toddler groups, space and resources to help with school homework, meeting rooms and more.
On the day I visit, four staff members are seeing to the needs of a steady stream of people. The shelves bulge with titles that point to horizons well beyond these parts: David Remnick's Obama biography, The Bridge; a rich work of pop-cultural scholarship entitled Dylan's Visions Of Sin; and a coffee-table study of Matisse. "You can't learn everything at school," one local tells me; this place surely offers instant proof.
But for how much longer? Thanks chiefly to the clunking fist of Eric Pickles, Tory-run North Yorkshire county council must save £2.1m from a libraries budget of £7.5m by 2015. Thus, of 42 libraries, only 18 now have a guaranteed future: the remaining 24 - including Eastfield - will either close or somehow be handed to volunteers. North Yorkshire's fleet of mobile libraries will also be hacked down, from 10 to two.
After our initial call for on-the-ground intelligence, I came here thanks to online posts from a couple of Yorkshire-resident regulars on Comment is free, one of whom was adjusting to the possibility of a nearby library - the closest thing to a local community centre, they said - being shut for good. The thread they posted on, of course, reflected a nationwide story, now familiar to millions of us. In Somerset, 24 out of 40 libraries may soon close. In Doncaster, 13 of the 26 are under threat. The same applies to 20 out of 43 libraries in Oxfordshire, 7 of the 12 in Conwy, 23 of the 32 in Cornwall, and 9 of the 11 on the Isle of Wight. The noise of protest grows greater by the day: do not be surprised if pockets of local dissent soon fuse together, and cause no end of problems for both national and local government.
The threat to hundreds of libraries is being recast as an opportunity to bring in volunteers, and finally provide concrete examples of how the "big society" may work in practice - and, though any library is better than none at all, you have to wonder about what will transpire. How volunteers will convincingly step into the space left by trained librarians, or maintain six-day-a-week opening, remains unclear (witness a recent headline from the Swindon Advertiser: "Library hours cut due to lack of volunteers"). Moreover, when you spend time in a facility as ambitious as the one in Eastfield, one thought becomes inescapable: there is simply no way that unpaid staff could run it satisfactorily.
Still, this is the vision of the future to which Ed Vaizey, the minister who sees to libraries, seems enthusiastically pledged, with local stories to assist his case. "There are all sorts of ways of configuring the big society," he said in July last year. "The George and Dragon pub in North Yorkshire is now delivering a library service and a pint to the community in Hudswell. That sounds like a good partnership to me."
That village has a population of 250, and sits on the north-eastern edge of the Yorkshire Dales, in William Hague's constituency, Richmond. Hague was there for the ceremonial opening of what so impressed Vaizey, and hailed it as "an example of the big society at work". The reality is rather more complicated. Yes, the people of the village clubbed together to raise £220,000 to buy the closed local pub and re-open it, and they then combined it with a shop, and a limited book-lending service. But in doing so, they were largely plugging a hole left by the market rather than the state, and the locals I meet are keener to talk about "local socialism" than the big society.
As I also discover when I call in, the idea that their very limited library "service" - a single shelving unit, with 60-odd books supplied by the council - is being held up as a model that might replace orthodox libraries is greeted with something approaching horror.
Underlying that response is something I hear time and again in Yorkshire, which points up gaping cracks in the big society dream: that, if local libraries are pushed so far down the list of local priorities, too many will fail to fulfil vital responsibilities, and thus threaten the very social bonds the Tories claim to want to promote.
That point was underlined by a post from a librarian who responded to our initial appeal for information, and it's worth quoting at length: "We do so much more than issue books, shelve and say, 'Shhh' to people," he wrote. "We cater to our public from birth to death. We go out to antenatal and postnatal groups to sign up the youngest in our population, thus trying to help those families who do not read ... We offer free sessions to under-fives, know all about school curriculums and how best to work with schools.
"We know our looked-after children, our troubled teens, our users who suffer from mental health issues ... We know how to help with homework, teach internet skills to all ages, help unskilled people find jobs ... We embraced using volunteers, but can they run our libraries without us? No. And in my authority they are losing about 60% of librarians."
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Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 23:18:30 -0000
From: John Dolan <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: 'We do so much more than shelve books and say shhh'
Thanks Nicky, very much
Excellent piece of reporting, hugely enhanced by the film
http://bit.ly/gYLgGj and local interviews. Derek Laws is right, in adding
that we [yes, me too as Head of Birmingham Libraries] have been making cuts
for years; we are starting from a low base already!
Technology, with changed working methods, can reduce costs further as well
as increase and enhance service potential - and the latter is critical for
libraries to remain relevant. Don't lose sight of the fact that innovation
in both management and provision remains crucial in the long term.
This is also why the library's responsive community role - information,
learning, local history and culture, democracy and action - needs to be
brought to the fore; it's what makes libraries a civilising influence on
society.
It is also why Enquire, Reference Online, Bookstart, Summer Reading
challenge and many others are so important; see the Libraries Change Lives
awards.
Interestingly some of the film's interviewees would "volunteer". It is not
defeatist to acknowledge that some things may well change, nor to condone
the ill-judged and uninformed way in which some "council bosses" have made
their "tough decisions".
Incidentally, little is said in these exchanges of [or by] chief librarians.
I know from experience that the chief librarian, however grand the title, is
part of an organisation, slots into a hierarchy; s/he may well have little
choice once "told" to find X% savings. The exposure given to the volunteer
idea, linked to a superficial view of the librarian's job, has become a
populist substitute for insightful thinking that would help.
Meanwhile there is a lot happening out there in terms of social enterprise,
community engagement and community ownership. In the BIG Lottery Community
Libraries Programme, many successful authorities and the winning communities
found it difficult to undertake the required community engagement [NB not
"consultation"]. However, such community ownership has a long history in
Britain and there might be some useful learning there.
I'm no advocate of the removal of librarians from libraries . or of course
skilled supervisors, and library assistants. If community ownership or
participation is to emerge as a solution, then it should be librarians,
librarians, librarians who devise, design and develop and demonstrate the
process and what can/cannot be achieved, working with community and social
organisations and drawing on the experience and knowledge of the several
leaders in this field. Can CILIP guide this? Can ACE provide the leadership?
Finally, this is the beginning not the end. There is much to do and what
hits the headlines for public libraries will emerge to varying degrees in
other library sectors. Get ready.
Meanwhile please watch another fantastic film short showing the immense
complexity and potential of what you can get from the library
http://bit.ly/gKYhHA .
John
John Dolan OBE, BA, Dip Lib, MCLIP
E. <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask]
Tw @johnrdolan
T. 0121 476 4258
M. 07508 204200
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End of LIS-PUB-LIBS Digest - 11 Jan 2011 to 12 Jan 2011 (#2011-10)
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