It would be so much less devious if they jut said 'we are under-funded, something has to go, libraries and books are not top priority.' But they pretend books are dead, no one reads, choose to ignore all the new government reading promotions for children, run the service down, cut the books, neglecte the buildings which rarely open and then say, Bingo, no one goes any more.. then they can open grand new Discovery Centres which are book free - and how PATRONISING it is to call them things like that for the poor people who, bless them, can`t cope with the word library. Meanwhile they don`t notice the number of people flocking to the good libraries - let alone to buy more books and read more...and of course it will not be the behind the scenes Management of the libraries who will lose ther jobs, it`ll be the nice people on the front desk, who actually love books and people.

Susan

Nobody has said books are dead ; however in counties where librarians have had to be cut in order to balance the funding there naturally has also been severe cuts in the book buying budget.

As a nation "we" are living beyond our means.

I have amongst my customers a number of very dedicated (front and back office) librarians : too many simplistic solutions are being aired instead of trying to understand you can't get a quart of milk from a pint pot.

Locally, an extra-ordinary meeting of the district council had to be held on Monday last, with injection of £100,000 from reserves, to "save" the community transport service(largely run by volunteers) which gives many normally housebound pensioners the opportunity of getting out into the community. At county and district level there are massive calls on the available limited financial resources.

I know. That`s what I said. More or less.

The overall responsibility *must* rest with David Lammy, the Minister of Culture : it is in his direction that *all* complaints should be registered.

IMVHO too much criticism is weighed against the local authorities whose budgets are very much tied by financial shortfalls : it is also no use blaming heads of department who would need the wisdom of Solomon to try and devise a "deus ex machina" which would satisfy all parties.

At times like this I am very thankful that I have a bookshop to run : god forbid, that I should be one of the accountants in local government trying to draw up budgets which would satisfy the demands of local ratepayers !!

It is true that legally and obviously the overall responsibility must lie with David Lammy, that is not in dispute.

However in terms of practical action to bring change, the real ability to apply pressure lies with local councillors (in the 149 library authorities- not small parish councils). They have, as you say, many and various calls on their priorities and their resources. For many many years, within those scales, public libraries lay very low. The councillor asked the chief librarian what budget was required and 99 times out a 100 the wishes were granted. Not much interrogation was made; occasionally someone asked about the cost of a new building or the size of the book fund, but those were rarely questions that caused whole strategies to be re-written. To be candid, the council has many more important things with which to occupy itself.

It is only in the last few years that the consequence of this lack of interrogation has emerged; essentially staff costs have risen unduly and book funds have fallen very sharply- leading to the saga which we now see playing out.

What you call criticism is in effect an attempt to draw the attention of councillors to the matter: to raise the question of public libraries up the agenda to the point at which they ask serious questions- which of course they are perfectly able and equipped to do.

So, "all the fuss" that you are witnessing is a process of advocacy, not to ask for more money for libraries (which is what this kind of lobbying normally does) but for more sensible interrogation and the creation of a proper strategy.

If we can get articles and headlines not just in the national papers but also repeatedly in the local papers only then will local councillors begin to ask the right questions of their officers. It is a tactical programme of democratic attention seeking, and it is working quite well.

In the pursuit of it we also need publishers and authors to emphasise over and over again, in their own way, the importance of the public library service, its virtues and its inheritance. That in turn helps councillors be clear in their own minds what they seek from those who run the libraries. It is a very important part of the process as these are the two groups (forbid we should call them lobbyists) who can best articulate that part of the national culture. Please keep it up and thank you for what you have done. Tim

Actually Clive, I regret to report that there are many and very senior people in the public library service who DO say that "books are dead".

That comment on what passes for "senior" librarians is accurate in the case of the career politicians who now occupy positions of trust. The simple answer to this idiocy is the retort that in their case "common sense is dead". When was the last time anyone read a novel on a computer screen?

The front page lead story in the HAMPSHIRE CHRONICLE is headed LIBRARIANS TO PAY THE PRICE OF OVERSPEND: Posts to be axed as budget shortfall bites, but pledge on branch closures and opening times.

The story covers three columns and starts:
Dozens of librarians in Hampshire face the axe, and the book fund could be plundered, as chiefs struggle with a £500,000 overspend.
The council is looking at cutting around one third of 80 professional librarian posts and other senior manager jobs in branches and at library service HQ at North Walls, Winchester, in an attempt to save £1m next year...............

County councillor Peter Chegwyn, Lib Dem spokesman for Recreation and Heritage pointed out that "Hampshire already spends the least per head of population of any local authority in England on new books, and saw the biggest decline in borrowing (nine per cent) of any county last year"

The article reports that the cash crisis is being blamed partly on a drop in income from library CD and DVD rental income. The service also had to stump up £250,000 toweards a new county council "contact centre".

Tim

A serious burden has been placed on local authority buildings by all the recent disability access legislation. Commercial businesses can simply shut-down and move on if the financial demands for upgrading are too high : in most instances the local authority would be the landlord via their estates office.

Local authority buildings are expected to be role models - the price which has to be paid needs hammering through to the appropriate Cabinet Ministers. Mr Lammy should be petitioning for extra funds to cover such requirements.

All commercial businesses know that, especially where there is public access, there is now a mass of red tape and far more legislation than ever previously existed.

One "side issue" is getting very little coverage.

I know that many dedicated librarians are very concerned about loss of staff who would have specialist "stack stock" knowledge. In 1999/2000 many libraries disposed of their approx 100 year run of annual Book Auction Records because they were led to believe all the information would be digitalised and archived via the internet - surprise, surprise this did not happen.

The following article from The Times is "required reading"

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2468609.html

Here in Somerset the County Council is speaking of trying to become a unitary authority : for a number of years it has been suggested that West Dorset District Council and South Somerset District Council should be amalgamated into a unitary authority. The aim from all authorities is to cut costs by any means possible.

IMVHO, the only way that the whole library issue is going to get any decent long-term resolution is by massive petitioning of David Lammy. Mr Lammy is permitted too many nice little jaunts for photo opportunities rather than noticing that the plebs are rising up demanding a better service.

Clive

Thank you - firstly on the Disability Discrimination Act: the requirements of the Act were made clear six or seven years ago and although they come into force now local councils, as well as everyone else have had loads of time to plan and prepare for the act to become law.

Local councils do indeed, as you say, tell us that the requirements of the Act fall more heavily upon them than on commercial operators. That is simply not true: the Act does in no sense discrminate between commercial and public tenants. The obligations for people like Marks and Spencer and Tescos are identical and I'm sure they would see themselves as required to be as responsible in following the law as anyone else in the public sector. Tenants of retail properties who mostly have 25 year leases cannot (as you suggest) simply move to other properties; they have to meet the obligations of their leases which are normally extremely expensive. They have had to meet the requirements of the DDA and most have done so. There has been a good market for lifts as a visit to most high streets will show.

The answer, I'm afraid, as with so many other things, is that many managers of public sector buildings failed to plan properly for the advent of the Act.

Moreover, as is demonstrated in the case of the Newington reference library which I have reported on my blog, the way that the council approached the problem, led to a proposal to close the library on the grounds that it does not comply with the Act. This is a ridiculous interpretation of the Act, which was never intended to close perfectly safe and well used buildings, just because it is difficult to provide access. If that were the case most London Underground stations would have to be closed. As a general rule, management of civil administration has become more about following procedures than about providing good efficient public service and that is wrong.

On the matter of David Lammy resolving the problems: at the moment he and his advisers continue with persistence to deny that there are any problems to solve. That is why we are having to pour out so many words and figures and show politicians and the press that he is being wrongly advised.

If only he and the people around him would concede that there are problems (as Gerald Kaufman's select committee told them to last year) then we could get about solving them and the people who work in the service could be given a clear idea what they are expected to do.

Tim

I could go on at great length but today is "Black Friday" and we retailers have to get our arse in gear so that publishers bills for our seasonal stock get paid.

Just a quick passing thought ; how many library premises do you think are up to building standard where a commercial tenant would be prepared to take on a full repairing and insuring lease. IMVHO many library buildings are not "fit for purpose" and would be unlettable commercially.

I say that it is the Minister's - David Lammy - responsibility to ensure that the library buildings are "fit for purpose" ; the captain should take the helm, and not be away from the bridge in a time of change.

Clive

This is good stuff. Firstly, many of the premises are absolutely wonderful- from my days searching for book shops, there are loads to which the answer is yes, I would have taken a lease, even though quite often they are in strange locations. Many in the profession grizzle about how difficult the buildings are, they are listed etc, but then just look how the designers who work for Pizza Express, or Wetherspoons, for example (or even Waterstone's) take an old building and make it absolutely beautiful by restoring most of its original features. Believe me, because I have studied it, that these transformations generally cost much less than inviting a council architect to re-invent their idea of what a public library and spend a lot of money on an old council building, which in the right hands could be gorgeous. I wouldn't say that about those built from the sixties onwards, but there are designers who can make even those work properly.

I agree with you David Lammy is responsible, but what I think I am trying to say is that (despite the views of others) there is a perfectly workable management structure to cope with the 4,000 libraries, it is just that there is a habit of ducking responsibility throughout the piece- and that is a source of so much problem.