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I don't go along with the "Temple of Learning" model either - our role should be that of Street-Corner University. That doesn't exclude leisure use at all - but it does imply a different way of organising leisure materials from the "Blockbuster" model which has been adopted in too many libraries. As new leisure formats have been introduced, libraries have been happy to treat them solely as a source of revenue. Little or no attempt to develop the same kind of bibliographic disciplines applied to books. At the same time fiction has been increasingly treated as simply another leisure format, with selection often being abrogated to booksellers, with little effort to keep last copies of out of print items available. It is true that the Internet has chipped away at the Librarian's role, but partly this has happened by default, because Public Libraries have failed to treat it as another information source. Libraries should help to organise the information the internet makes available. As new ways of providing information online have been developed, so new models of payment and access have appeared, and Libraries should not allow the development of these to pass without debate, but should seek opportunities to extend the Knowledge Commons by arguing that new categories of information must be brought into the public domain. For example, much academic material relies on government funding. New publishing formats mean that this vast mass of material can easily be brought into the public domain, so that the public who funded the research can read it. Although this is happening already to some extent (through services like Pubmed UK) Public Libraries need to see that they have a real part to play in this process. Because public libraries haven't taken up these issues and made a case for the libraries role in organising information - be it the internet, online information, or "leisure" materials, it is quite natural that many people think the library is just one source of information among many and that the internet is replacing it by making everything "available". Martyn --- On Fri, 4/2/11, Graham Herbing Lib Customer Services Supervisor Basildon <[log in to unmask]> wrote: From: Graham Herbing Lib Customer Services Supervisor Basildon <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Please reads, so very very true! To: [log in to unmask] Date: Friday, 4 February, 2011, 12:45 I disagree…….. In fact, for the first time in my life I felt irritated enough to post a comment on the article!! What ‘chipped away at the librarian’s role’, is the internet. Most people can (with the aid of Google) meet their own information needs from the comfort of their home. Thus councils, who have run libraries for many years, now provide information differently, and in a way that provides value for money. A librarian in every branch would be a whole bunch of very bored librarians. As for self service depriving the staff of interaction with the public, the opposite is true. The interaction used to be hurrying one reader out of the way to get to the rest of the queue. Now, with a significant amount of readers using the self service staff are able to spend more quality time with those who need assistance, often the ‘most vulnerable’ you mention. In a world where information is readily and freely available, and books cheap, (often free in e-format - particularly classics!) the traditional old style library you long for would not survive. Inescapably, the new ‘temple of learning’ is the World Wide Web. Libraries need to be so much more than they were if they are to survive at the heart of their communities. Libraries have always been about empowerment (access to information and learning, and an important contributor to democracy). They still are. Open to all, and with access to a vast array of resources to suit everyone, they deliver the same as they always have. If you don’t recognise this, Sophia, then maybe it is you viewing the past through your ‘rose-tinted spectacles’. My personal views of course, not those of the service I work for…. (though they may not always be that dissimilar) Graham Graham Herbing Customer Services Supervisor, Basildon Library. Libraries Service Adults, Health and Community Wellbeing Essex County Council | telephone: 01268 288533 | email: [log in to unmask] P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Frances Hendrix Sent: 04 February 2011 10:36 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Please reads, so very very true! This is an incredibly good account of the state of the Art http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/04/libraries-dvds > > Save our libraries ... but not our gross-out comedy DVDs > > These temples of learning have been under attack for years ? depleted of > professionals and filled with council money-spinners > > Sophia Deboick > Thursday February 3 2011 > guardian.co.uk > > > http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/04/libraries-dvds > > > I have been a member of my local library since I was four. I am still > using the library card I was given when I first joined (its authenticity > is proven by the fact that it is signed by my mum, not me), and it is > probably the public service that I make the most use of. Despite this, I > wasn't as enthusiastic as many about Philip Pullman's call to arms in > defence of libraries > [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/27/philip-pullman-defend-libraries-web" > title="Guardian: Philip Pullman's call to defend libraries resounds around > web] against funding cuts. Last year I worked part-time in a small branch > library, and what I found there was a service which, after a long process > of erosion, no longer offers what many think our public libraries should. > > I worked alongside the most dedicated staff imaginable. They were keenly > aware of the crucial role the library played as the hub of the local > community, were on first-name terms with regulars and ran the parent and > toddler groups with huge enthusiasm. We had no professional librarian, > however, and the information and research service that had once been the > library's backbone had been outsourced to a council-run call centre. This, > and the installation of self-service issuing machines, deprived staff of > the chances for real interaction with the public that they had once > enjoyed. Already, years of cut-backs had chipped away at the integrity of > the librarian's role. > > I quickly found that the "temple of learning" ideal of the library, as > author and journalist Carl T Rowan described it > [http://thinkexist.com/quotation/the_library_is_the_temple_of_learning-and/201912.html" > title="Thinkexist: Quote], was long gone. Very little study space was > available and the book stock did not suggest great ambitions for the > community it served. Misery memoirs and celebrity biographies abounded. > Any decent books were hoarded at the central library and there was usually > only one copy of non-fiction hardback titles for the whole county. DVDs > were a central part of our offering. Although partly justifiable as > money-spinners, I still found it profoundly depressing that we had a whole > wall of gross-out comedies and spoof horror films, while the literary > classics section was afforded all of two feet of shelving space. Libraries > should be about leisure as well as learning, but there comes a point when > entertainment has taken over from education as the primary focus. > > Another matter of concern was the abuse of the library for any function > the council saw fit. Staff time was often taken up with purely > money-making activities, such as selling garden waste bags. With the > council needing to make over ?120m of savings, this emphasis on revenue > raising and treatment of libraries as convenient depots for council > services ? with nothing to do with information, education and culture ? > can only get worse. > > New initiatives in recent years have undoubtedly added value to the > traditional library model, as was recently noted by John Harris > [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/11/north-yorkshire-libraries-cuts-closures-big-society" > title="Guardian: Librarians: 'We do so much more than shelve books and say > shhh']. Libraries are run very differently by different local authorities, > and many are no doubt better than my experience suggests. Having spent > last summer signing-up kids for the national Summer Reading Challenge > [http://www.summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/" title="Summer Reading > Challenge] , and also having witnessed what a vital social role libraries > can play for the most vulnerable, I see much to defend in the service and > I will be supporting Save Our Libraries Day > [http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/advocacy/public-libraries/Pages/savelibrariesday.aspx" > title="Save Our Libraries Day] on Saturday. But we need to be honest about > the state of the service that we are fighting to save if we are going to > make a credible argument for providing healthy levels of funding to > libraries. > > The promotion of a love of reading and of learning that Pullman sees as > the essence of the library's role has been under attack for many years. A > key part of the effort to protect our library services should be a public > discussion about what we want from it, and uncritical, sentimental > defences are not helpful. We should be supporting our libraries, but we > should also be shaping them ? something that is impossible if we view them > through rose-tinted spectacles. We need a clear-sighted reassessment of > the realities and a meaningful engagement with the decisions that are > made. Ultimately, if we decide that the "temple of learning" model is > indeed the one we want, we will have to turn the clock back, not simply > preserve the current, often degraded, service. > > > If you have any questions about this email, please contact the > guardian.co.uk user help desk: [log in to unmask] > > > guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2011 > Registered in England and Wales No. 908396 > Registered office: PO Box 68164 , Kings Place , 90 York Way , London N1P 2AP > Please consider the environment before printing this email. > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > Visit guardian.co.uk - newspaper website of the year > www.guardian.co.uk www.observer.co.uk > > To save up to 30% when you subscribe to the Guardian and the Observer > visit http://www.guardian.co.uk/subscriber > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > This e-mail and all attachments are confidential and may also > be privileged. 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