Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
More reading in Haringey?
by james walsh
Diana Edmunds OBE, By offering a free DVD for every 8 books taken out she miraculously raised the percentage of books taken out in Haringey libraries. Nothing wrong with that but i haven't seen anyone recognise this fact. All i have read and heard is that people in Haringey 'read more books' since Diana took over as librarian. I'm unclear about what data supports that. I agree that anything that raises the positive profile of the libraries is good but don't lets be confused by the sleight of hand which has artificially massaged the figures. It really doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you waive the hire fees for DVD's on the condition that the person takes out 8 books it will look like folk are reading more (but they are not, in fact they are overall, watching more DVD's and therefore, reading FEWER books.) This isn't an attack on Diana but a stab at balancing the facts.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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And if we just carry eight 'heavy' books to-and-fro, think what it does for our biceps.
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Liz* As i mentioned above, this is the idea innovated by Diana when she took over as librarian. It's not permanent, only 4-5 times a year but without it the apparent reading habits of Haringey citizens would be drastically altered. Now do you understand my point ?
Another 'statistic' altered because of this device is that the authors in the A-D section have suddenly become popular why ? because the A-D section is nearest the checkout desk. When folk get to the checkout they are told that they can hire the DVD for free if they take out 8 books. They take the nearest 8 books to the check out desk which is where the A-D section is in Haringey libraries (go check for yourself). I know this because i did it myself. Simply walk to the nearest bookshelf and count eight (smallest) books off and take them to the counter. The authors on the A-D section haven't become suddenly popular because of their superior prose have they ?
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Don't be afraid to give James a Meldrew for this. Pedantry is lovely but "point made".
James, Issac Asimov is the most popular author in Haringey because he is awesome and not because his surname starts with the letter 'A' and the original Foundation series is easy to carry.
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Proud to accept with pride a 'meldrew' award i'm thinking of putting myself forward to the olympic 'Team Uk Pedants'. By the way, can we have a correspondingly opposite award called the 'Jeremy Clarkson' ?
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