Many services which used to be provided over the counter e.g. at Post Offices are being moved to the internet.
Online tax returns, National concessionary travel Bus Pass, Universal credits and benefits now presume citizens have internet access.
Ministers assure us that if claimants don't have internet access at home, they can go to the Library for IT
Adrian, Headingley
________________________________________
From: Library and Information Professionals [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Clark, Ian ([log in to unmask]) [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 23 January 2013 11:36 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: The Arts Council report on community libraries
Voices for the Library statement on the Arts Council report:
The release of the official view on community libraries has underlined our grave concerns about the future for public libraries in the UK, and the government’s intentions towards them. Whilst some of the contents come as no great surprise, we are deeply troubled by how this report will be interpreted by library authorities across England.
According to the report, community libraries run by volunteers are a viable alternative to a service provided by paid and trained staff (both professional and non-professional). We simply do not agree with this conclusion. Volunteer libraries are not a sustainable long-term option and simply offer many councils a quick fix or a useful tactic to shift responsibility for providing the service from the council to the local community. Very often, this is done despite the local community’s preference for the service to be delivered by the local authority. In effect, this transfer of responsibility isn’t so much recognition of “the value of communities being more involved in the provision of local libraries” (as the report claims), but a way to play on the fears of the community by informing them that they either provide the service, or it will disappear.
Read the full statement here: http://www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk/wordpress/?p=2800
Ian Clark
Voices for the Library
|