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Vaizey must speak now over library concerns, says CILIP
27.07.10 | Benedicte Page
The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals has warned the government that its actions on libraries are causing "concern and uncertainty" for the future of the service.
CILIP president Biddy Fisher said: "Parliament goes into recess today but [culture minister] Ed Vaizey can’t simply go off on his summer holidays having created such a climate of concern and uncertainty around this most popular of public services."
Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt yesterday announced the government's intention to abolish the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), on top of the earlier decision to axe the Advisory Council on Libraries (ACL).
Speaking at the first meeting of the Library Support Programme Governance Board, charged by Vaizey with overseeing public libraries' response to the government public spending cuts, CILIP chief executive Bob McKee said: “The abolition of key library agencies calls into question the government’s commitment to public library provision."
McKee went on: "The coalition says nice things about libraries being at the heart of the ‘Big Society, but nothing has been done to protect libraries from the worst of the cuts in the way that education and health have been promised partial protection.”
He added: "There’s been criticism of library leadership in the past. But this announcement [on the MLA] simply dismantles the existing leadership framework and puts nothing in its place.”
Fisher said: "The minister must act quickly to allay public concern, demonstrate commitment to public library provision, and clarify how library leadership at government level will be structured in the future.”
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Someone should point out to Bob McKee and Biddy Fisher that much of the failure of leadership in the public library sector has been because of them. It is quite reasonable for politicians, both locally and nationally, to expect that the so-called library profession would, over the years have addressed and dealt with many of the problems that beset public libraries: the poor standard of library management, the hopeless supply chains, the non standards systems,the excessive overhead costs and so on. These are the two people who have been in a better position than anyone to tackle these matters and it ill becomes them to whinge publicly again about someone else's lack of commitment. If I were the Minister I would remove CILIP's charter, in so far as it describes their contribution to public libraries, and not involve them in any discussions of strategy at all. They need to be faced down. Their membership also should call upon them to perform better than they have, otherwise they, too, must accept their fair share of the responsibility for the lamentable state of the public library service.
Jeremy is wrong to try to shift the blame from politicians on to CILIP. Leadership in the public library sector is down to local and national politicians, senior managers in local government and senior librarians. The librarians do share some of the blame but to suggest that a professional association, that represents all libray workers and has always fought for better library services, has the main responsibility for failures in library management and leadership seems to be a deliberate attempt to draw fire away from those who are responsible.
Close textual analysis of Mr Triangle's comments here and elsewhere show striking similarities with the pronouncements of one T. Coates, Esq. I wonder if they could possibly be related?
Mr Panizzi. Thank you for your suggestion, but I assure you I am not related to this Mr Triangle.
What the hell is going on with "The Bookseller" ? Either this is currently downtime (les vacances?) for those that actually do SELL books (as in "The BookSELLER" ) or the non-holidaying library fraternity is intent on using this as a chat room. For goodness sake can we have a more relevant and interesting discussion from those who, whilst not as "worthy" as librarians, might know a bit more about BOOKSELLING. Actually it seems quite clear to me - The Bookseller has to decide whether maximising its subscribers at the risk of losing relevance to its original target market is a good long term strategy. My guess is they are making the wrong decision and are losing their raison d'etre. Time will tell. In the meantime I recommend aggrieved non-booksellers to subscribe to "The Librarian".
Well said.
Philip: "vital to the ecosystem of the book business as we know it". Well once you start talking about "the ecosystem of the book business" one can only swoon. This sort of arrogant pseudo-intellectual verbiage is precisely the reason that libraries are underused - they are staffed for the most part by jobsworths with delusions of grandeur serving the rest of us that are paying their wages from our rates (though you wouldn't know it from the service you get). I can deal with a surly bookshop assistant - I don't have to shop there again. But if I come across a librarian with attitude it really grates: I'm paying their wages whether I go there or not. "Libraries are a massive shop window for published content" - sorry? Bookshops have windows and promote the latest books, libraries provide an ancillary lending service courtesy of our rates. Let's be clear regarding the difference and what this trade journal should be about.
Libraries buy about
Someone should point out to Bob McKee and Biddy Fisher that much of the failure of leadership in the public library sector has been because of them. It is quite reasonable for politicians, both locally and nationally, to expect that the so-called library profession would, over the years have addressed and dealt with many of the problems that beset public libraries: the poor standard of library management, the hopeless supply chains, the non standards systems,the excessive overhead costs and so on. These are the two people who have been in a better position than anyone to tackle these matters and it ill becomes them to whinge publicly again about someone else's lack of commitment. If I were the Minister I would remove CILIP's charter, in so far as it describes their contribution to public libraries, and not involve them in any discussions of strategy at all. They need to be faced down. Their membership also should call upon them to perform better than they have, otherwise they, too, must accept their fair share of the responsibility for the lamentable state of the public library service.
Jeremy is wrong to try to shift the blame from politicians on to CILIP. Leadership in the public library sector is down to local and national politicians, senior managers in local government and senior librarians. The librarians do share some of the blame but to suggest that a professional association, that represents all libray workers and has always fought for better library services, has the main responsibility for failures in library management and leadership seems to be a deliberate attempt to draw fire away from those who are responsible.
Close textual analysis of Mr Triangle's comments here and elsewhere show striking similarities with the pronouncements of one T. Coates, Esq. I wonder if they could possibly be related?
Mr Panizzi. Thank you for your suggestion, but I assure you I am not related to this Mr Triangle.
What the hell is going on with "The Bookseller" ? Either this is currently downtime (les vacances?) for those that actually do SELL books (as in "The BookSELLER" ) or the non-holidaying library fraternity is intent on using this as a chat room. For goodness sake can we have a more relevant and interesting discussion from those who, whilst not as "worthy" as librarians, might know a bit more about BOOKSELLING. Actually it seems quite clear to me - The Bookseller has to decide whether maximising its subscribers at the risk of losing relevance to its original target market is a good long term strategy. My guess is they are making the wrong decision and are losing their raison d'etre. Time will tell. In the meantime I recommend aggrieved non-booksellers to subscribe to "The Librarian".
Libraries buy about
Well said.
Philip: "vital to the ecosystem of the book business as we know it". Well once you start talking about "the ecosystem of the book business" one can only swoon. This sort of arrogant pseudo-intellectual verbiage is precisely the reason that libraries are underused - they are staffed for the most part by jobsworths with delusions of grandeur serving the rest of us that are paying their wages from our rates (though you wouldn't know it from the service you get). I can deal with a surly bookshop assistant - I don't have to shop there again. But if I come across a librarian with attitude it really grates: I'm paying their wages whether I go there or not. "Libraries are a massive shop window for published content" - sorry? Bookshops have windows and promote the latest books, libraries provide an ancillary lending service courtesy of our rates. Let's be clear regarding the difference and what this trade journal should be about.