Volunteers do and can make a considerable difference in all sorts of ways and  in all sorts of organisations. However whether more services are offered on line or not (and I do feel we must use technology better than we do, and be in more control of it), the liberal whether public or part of a hospital or business, can provide far more services than it does. It can and should be the engine of the communities served or the organisations served. Managing the vast amount of information that will support people in their jobs or in a much more complex, immediate and difficult society.

If the library was a John Lewis, or Amazon or any great business, the leaders would now be planning their strategy for the future with the changes in employment, immigration and migration, education and leisure, and technological advances to offer services not available elsewhere, that help families to work, rest and play, and to do this in private or in their communities, and open the world to those who are poor, illiterate etc.

VISION please, not defeatism
f

-----Original Message-----
From: Library and Information Professionals [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Clark, Ian ([log in to unmask])
Sent: 24 January 2013 12:48
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The Arts Council report on community libraries

I was going to say exactly this. Please don't fall for the trap that we have no money, we're like Greece etc etc.  Our debt as a ratio of GDP when this bunch came in was nothing particularly spectacular.  Indeed, before the banking crisis it was lower than it was under the Tories. So, when we claim that "there is no money" we should be careful to consider whether this is really true and, furthermore, consider where a lot of our money has gone (*coughs* the financial sector *coughs*).

That said, it's rare for someone to concede that their own job could equally be done by a volunteer...although I perhaps wouldn't use that as a tactic when your next review is due ;)

Ian Clark
Library Systems Officer,
Augustine House,
Canterbury Christ Church University

Tel. 01227 783141

Follow us on Twitter: @ccculibrary


-----Original Message-----
From: Library and Information Professionals [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David McMenemy
Sent: 24 January 2013 12:33
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The Arts Council report on community libraries

The country has money spare to spend where it wants to spend it.  What's happening now is nothing more than a political experiment.  Nothing more, nothing less.  The state is being reduced for political purposes.

Anyone who believes otherwise needs to read more.

-----Original Message-----
From: Library and Information Professionals [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Woodley Zena (RQ8) Mid Essex Hospital
Sent: 24 January 2013 12:22
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The Arts Council report on community libraries

I think we all have to be very mindful of a wider view here.
The country has no money spare. We can argue for hours about the sematics of who & how - but the fact is, most of us are poorer, incl. the government. Even if all the coffee chains in the business paid full whack, it still isn't enough - our debt is over $1.04 TRILLION, and climbing.
Councils are increasingly being told to take on more services for health, and you may have noticed the poxy state of the roads lately. Those are only two examples.
Councils are also being told that penalties will apply if they raise council taxes.

I am not a proponent of all-volunteer libraries - but there are surely cases where, with intelligent management, it's better to have lively volunteers than a closed building. That should be be a matter for local opinion, & for local discussion.

I have long thought that public libraries could have done much to help themselves by adapting to current work practices - why are they never open on Sundays, for example? It's when most shopping is now undertaken...

I can foresee a time  - within my lifetime - when (certainly within towns & larger conurbations) all homes will have internet access fitted as standard, and it will be as taken for granted as is the supply of clean water domestically. Couple that with the rise of electronic books & readers, & a library building - plus the people inside it - almost become irrelevant.

Assuming our working lives are extending ever further, it's also possible that some volunteers will become attracted to information work, and will add it as another skill to their portfolio...

Zena
Zena Woodley B.A.(Joint Hons), MCLIP ~ Information Resources Manager ~ The Warner Library, Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford CM1 7ET T: 01245 514310 e: [log in to unmask]



-----Original Message-----
From: Library and Information Professionals [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Adrian Smith
Sent: 24 January 2013 10:04
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The Arts Council report on community libraries

Many services which used to be provided over the counter e.g. at Post Offic= es are being moved to the internet.

Online tax returns, National concessionary travel Bus Pass, Universal credi= ts and benefits now presume citizens have internet access.

Ministers assure us that if claimants don't have internet access at home, t= hey 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]) [ian.clark1@CANTERBU= RY.AC.UK]
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 gov= ernment=92s intentions towards them.  Whilst some of the contents come as n= o great surprise, we are deeply troubled by how this report will be interpr= eted 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 professi= onal 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 p= roviding the service from the council to the local community.  Very often, = this is done despite the local community=92s preference for the service to = be delivered by the local authority.  In effect, this transfer of responsib= ility isn=92t so much recognition of =93the value of communities being more=  involved in the provision of local libraries=94 (as the report claims), bu= t a way to play on the fears of the community by informing them that they e= ither provide the service, or it will disappear.

Read the full statement here: http://www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk/wordpre=
ss/?p=3D2800

Ian Clark
Voices for the Library

Care, Excel, Innovate

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