News Out Of Manchester, England where they say libraries could be transformed into modern hi-tech “village halls” under a 10-year plan to halt the decline in book-borrowing.
The city that pioneered free public book lending is starting a new chapter in its 152-year history with a shake-up of community libraries and longer opening hours.
Julie Robinson passed along this release from CILIP.
“PUBLIC LIBRARIES REPORT – DIAGNOSIS MAY BE RIGHT, TREATMENT ISN’T
CILIP, the UK’s leading organisation for library and information professionals, finds much to criticise in Libri report Who’s In Charge?
The diagnosis may be right, but the treatment isn’t – that was the immediate response from CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals to Who’s in Charge? – a new report from Libri on the public library service in the UK
Julie Robinson passed along this release from CILIP.
“PUBLIC LIBRARIES REPORT – DIAGNOSIS MAY BE RIGHT, TREATMENT ISN’T
CILIP, the UK’s leading organisation for library and information professionals, finds much to criticise in Libri report Who’s In Charge?
The diagnosis may be right, but the treatment isn’t – that was the immediate response from CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals to Who’s in Charge? – a new report from Libri on the public library service in the UK.
Commenting in the Guardian on April 28 on the report, by former Waterstone’s Managing Director Tim Coates, CILIP’s Chief Executive Bob McKee said: “Mr Coates paints a picture of a public library service in terminal decline. It isn’t. It certainly faces challenges – just like bookshops do from supermarkets selling cut-price bestsellers or the BBC does from cable and satellite. But [it] is still a huge operation.â€?
Mr Coates’s treatment is flawed, CILIP believes, because it makes the assumption that libraries are just like bookshops that happen to lend books instead of selling them. “Libraries don’t just carry multiple copies of what’s currently in print,� Dr McKee told the Guardian’s John Ezard. “They’re required by law to be comprehensive, so they carry large numbers of out-of-print works as well. Managing them is a task that bookshops just don’t have.�
In an hour-long debate with the report’s author Tim Coates on the BBC Radio 5 Live Simon Mayo Show on Tuesday, CILIP’s Head of External Relations Tim Buckley Owen also questioned some of the assumptions behind the report’s findings. “Bookshops extend their opening hours in the expectation of increased revenues and profit,� he pointed out. “If libraries open late, they just see their costs increase.�
Who’s In Charge? raises several points that are worthy of serious debate, CILIP believes. Longer opening hours and more books on the shelves are certainly desirable goals – and CILIP also approves of the report’s conclusions that management of libraries should be left to the professionals but that councillors must take proper responsibility for the service and assume leadership. Improved training and appropriate professional qualifications for public library staff were other recommendations that CILIP supported, and Tim Buckley Owen told the launch press conference that these were areas where CILIP could make a direct contribution.
However CILIP does have concerns at Mr Coates’s contention that improvements can be achieved entirely within the existing public library budget. In a speech to MPs and authors at a House of Commons reception to celebrate 25 years of Public Lending Right, coincidentally held on the day of the report’s launch, CILIP’s President Margaret Haines said: “There is pressure from Government on public libraries to make even better use of the resources they already have. To be candid, this isn’t the whole story; public libraries have suffered from years of under-investment, and increased efficiency is only part of the equation.�
Mr Coates also bases many of his figures on highly questionable assumptions, CILIP believes. In a raft of responses to the newspapers on the day news of the report broke, Bob McKee rebutted claims that libraries spent £24 on each £10 book they bought, or that it took 28 librarians to put a book on a shelf. “By all means let’s have a debate on where libraries go from here,� Dr McKee said. “But let’s have it on the basis of a proper understanding of how public libraries work.�
Contact: Tim Buckley Owen, Head of External Relations.
Tel: 020 7255 0652. Email: [email protected]
Notes to Editors
CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals is the leading professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers, with around 23,000 members working in all sectors, including business and industry, science and technology, further and higher education, schools, local and central government, the health service, the voluntary sector, national and public libraries. For more information about CILIP, please go to www.cilip.org.uk.”
M. McGrorty writes “News From Guam where
it’s going to take time, hard work and patience, but it can be repaired. Guam’s bookmobile may be back on the streets within a few months, going from village to village with a busload of library books to offer residents.”
CNN/Money Reports Google registered for a $2.7 billion initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday.
In the filing, Google said that it generated revenues of $961.9 million in 2003 and reported a net profit of $106.5 million. Sales rose 177 percent from a year ago although earnings increased by just 6 percent.
The fine folks at SEO sent over A Blurb from cincypost.com on “Statistics for Top Ten Circulating Libraries.” It says Cincinnati loaned more than 14.8 million books and materials in 2003. It’s the second year in a row the library received the 7th-place ranking.
I can’t seem to find the full list, nor figure out where it comes from, maybe someone else can point us in the right direction
nbruce writes “President Bush on Tuesday created the post of National Health Information Technology Coordinator, who will coordinate bar codes on drug bottles, paperless medical records and other high-tech government health initiatives. . . Other official duties for the health information technology coordinator include promoting the adoption of information technology in the health sector and developing ways to make it affordable for rural and poor communities. Story here.“ (Free registration required.)
Story here from the Star Banner about the how the design for the new Marion County (FL) Library came into being. Library director Julie Sieg returned from a conference elsewhere in the state having been inspired by decorated banners, and with the financial help of the Friends of the Library, and a state art organization, a contest was sponsored for artists to represent the major categories of the Dewey Decimal system from 000 generalities through 999 history.
You may recall that this is the same county that considered slashing the budget to limit purchases of so-called undesirable books (LIS News story from April 7).
InfoWhale writes to share the following announcement,
“I have suggested to Marie Nesthus, director of the media program at NYPL’s Donnell Library Center, that she run a series of films that have been created by librarians-turned-filmmaker. She would like to do so sometime in spring 2005.
Everyone knows about the many librarians-turned-author, but as far as either one of us knows, no one has ever programmed such a series. I myself am the associate producer for a new indie feature film made in West Virginia, “Correct Change.”
One librarian in Lexington, Ky. directed a Sundance Film Festival hit film, “100 Proof.”
There are other librarian-turned-filmmaker (and
vica versa) out there. If you are interested in being part of this series,contact me: Steve Fesenmaier, 907 Churchill Circle, Charleston, WV
25314 (304) 345-5850 [email protected]”
nbruce writes “J. Ransom Clark, the Vice President for Administration at Muskingum College in New Concord, OH, has prepared an extensive bibliography for the web titled The Literature of Intelligence:
A Bibliography of Materials, with Essays, Reviews, and Comments. It is quite up to date, including the 9/11 hearings. Could be helpful for librarians looking for comprehensive sources.”
Daniel writes “The current Bill of Rights Defense Committee Newsletter cites polls indicating the public’s support for the USA PATRIOT Act is slipping.
A quote from the newsletter suggests that the gov’t is starting to acknowledge the opposition:
“Even the Department of Justice (DOJ) is starting to listen to the public: On March 21, 2004, Chuck Rosenberg, the chief of staff to the DOJ’s Deputy Attorney General, admitted that the public’s support of the Patriot Act is waning. At a panel in St. Louis following the passage of that city’s resolution, Rosenberg acknowledged that his department is “losing this fight” to justify controversial parts of the Patriot Act.”
As I’ve told other people on this board, polls DO NOT show whether laws are just, only how people feel about them. Still, I’m happy to see that as more people become acquainted with the possibilities of the Act, the less they like the law.”
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