Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Libraries for the 21st century
The public library service in England needs radical transformation and modernisation if it is to remain as relevant and popular in the 21st century as it was in the 19th and 20th centuries, according to Culture Minister Margaret Hodge
Maybe Mags should come over to Haringey some time where the library service is excellent, but anyway there's a new consultation paper out today with 30 essays offering different views of what the important issues are, from people including authors Tracy Chevalier and Michael Rosen; Random House Chair and Chief Executive Gail Rebuck, Starbucks MD Darcy Willson-Rymer; and many others.
It also poses a series of questions upon which the DCMS seeks views from as wide a range of people as possible, including the library and publishing community.
Library lovers can find the document here as well as reading more of Madge's speech.
Maybe Mags should come over to Haringey some time where the library service is excellent, but anyway there's a new consultation paper out today with 30 essays offering different views of what the important issues are, from people including authors Tracy Chevalier and Michael Rosen; Random House Chair and Chief Executive Gail Rebuck, Starbucks MD Darcy Willson-Rymer; and many others.
It also poses a series of questions upon which the DCMS seeks views from as wide a range of people as possible, including the library and publishing community.
Library lovers can find the document here as well as reading more of Madge's speech.
Tags for Forum Posts: libraries
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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But Alan, fewer people are using them every year. If something doesn't happen they'll die of their own accord. Yes, in a lot of boroughs funding has been scarce and branches have closed but even in the ones where this hasn't happened (the borough I work in spends more per head on the library service that almost anyone else in the country) visits are continuing to fall.
I love libraries and don't want to see them vanish (I beat you on years by the way, I first worked in a library in 1979) but it seems that for a large proportion of the population they do not even enter their conciousness.
It's a hard fact that there is less money to spend and council's will ration what little they have. Cuts won't fall in the least aceptable places like children's and older people's services, but on discretionary ones. If selling coffee gets money in that can be spent on books, isn't that OK?
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Permalink Reply by Zena Brabazon on
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But in Haringey its a different story. Liz is right - our libraries are a huge success story which should be celebrated. Book issues are up and the libraries are always full. Having entreprenuerial leadership wth creative and imaginative ideas has made a massive difference.
My speculation is that having such a diverse population comprising so many new communities contributes to their popularity as people are studying, using the computers and the reference libraries.
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Permalink Reply by rahman on
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Hee hee. Do you shout at them really loudly to embarrass them? Sounds like fun! :D
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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AFTER being run down throughout the 90's and threatened with closure, Stroud Green Library (pictured), is now in the best state it has ever been in. I don't welcome the wretched PCs stuffed into corners and would like to see the library expand upstairs, as its always been short of space. But the opening hours, decor and morale has been turned around. All credit to Diana Edmonds MBE of Instant Library Service.
At one time, it was suggested the Stroud Green Library was poorly sited. And yet the Borough's oldest (and smallest) library is right by a bus stop, by a small group of shops, within 100m of Harringay railway station, also within 100m of a big council estate and in the middle of a residential area.
The policy quietly abandoned several years ago was to phase out all branch libraries and to have just couple of "super libraries". A centralistic approach, great for library staff and career paths. Not so great as a service to the public, especially if you're elderly, disabled, a mother with young children. And even the able bodied are not keen to travel more than about one kilometre to access library services.
Also, libraries function more than just as a place to lend books. For some, they're a quiet place to do homework. Councillors often hold surgeries there. Every day, they perform a valuable role as an outpost of all council functions and information.
I think more could be done to signpost libraries in nearby roads.
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You cant yet download books on the internet. What are children reading these days if books are less in demand?!
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Yuck...
Someone I follow on twitter sent this picture of a library along with the comment that he had an hour in it to read one book. I was quite jealous. Apparently it is the Oriel room of the house of commons library.
This is library porn, just for you Alan.
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