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David McMenemy wrote: > What's so bad is very clear. Public libraries should not be trading their > image for a few bucks. That is not just a big deal, it is an immense deal > if you believe in what public libraries stand for, as I and many others do. > It is selling out a proud heritage for nothing. There's that word again you > seem to hate so much, pride. > You're trying to defend a style of service that hasn't existed for several decades. > It's hardly inevitable. Of course it is a source of cash, but people pay > taxes to receive a public service, they don't pay taxes to receive a service > that then fires private ads at them. Most of the people who live in a particular administrative area also don't pay their taxes for a library service, if you ask them. Which is why, when politicians look for areas to cut spending, libraries are one of the obvious targets. As I said before, if the money from this goes into the purchasing fund, is that so bad? More books and a slip of paper. It's not the end of the world. > As other contributors have pointed > out, public libraries should strive to be better than that. It should be > free from any outside influence, certainly any influence that is paid for, > and once that aspiration is gone, it becomes a shadow of itself in terms of > status. > There is nothing in this proposal that suggests that the advertisers are buying influence over the library. > My approach is hardly anti-advertising, I have no problem with advertising > at all, I am as susceptible to a well sold product as the next person. But > it doesn't belong in a public library. Society needs spaces free of the > mindless junk we are deluged with day in day out, spaces that attempt to be > better in terms of their aspirations and goals for the people they serve. > Historically public libraries were one of those places. It seems no more, > sadly. > > As for my point on managerialism, it is the blind obsession that the public > should ape the private, even when it is clearly nonsensical in terms of its > utilisation in many public services, that is at the route of so much that is > wrong with the sector. This is just another horrible example of where that > mindset takes you. > > As an aside I was discussing this issue with a colleague today, someone who > has worked at high levels in the private sector, not a wannabe like so many > public sector managerialists. He was incredulous that the library "brand" > was so expendable as to toss it aside so lightly. The reality is that a > well run private sector organisation wouldn't dream of compromising its > image for a few bucks. It knows how important that "brand" is for its > future. Would it were so in this case! > I don't think I've ever seen a brand description of libraries that mention that they are free of adverts but the inflexibility of local government and unwillingness to adapt to current trends is something that does get mentioned in reports. -- - -- Loz "I was in a sushi bar and it dawned on me - how could I discriminate between a cow and a fish?" - Carre Otis. "Singing is a gift from God, and when people say I can't sing, it's kind of like insulting God." - Fergie, Black Eyed Peas -This email address can be temperamental, so you can also try [log in to unmask]