"We do so much more than issue books, shelve and say, 'Shhh' to people," he wrote. "We cater to our public from birth to death. We go out to antenatal and postnatal groups to sign up the youngest in our population, thus trying to help those families who do not read … We offer free sessions to under-fives, know all about school curriculums and how best to work with schools.So, basically, their claim to be spared the axe is because they are doing the work that should be done by parents or by other public servants? Or doesn't need to be done at all, at least by the state?
"We know our looked-after children, our troubled teens, our users who suffer from mental health issues … We know how to help with homework, teach internet skills to all ages, help unskilled people find jobs … We embraced using volunteers, but can they run our libraries without us? No. And in my authority they are losing about 60% of librarians."
Mind you, in taking money for doing everything other than their actual job, perhaps they are only following the lead of their quango, as North By Northwest points out?
I have to say that the thought of losing my local Public Library fills me with horror .. I read a lot & would be lost without the Library ..
ReplyDeleteApart from having my bins emptied, its about the only thing I get in return for paying my Council Tax ..
That said, the staff don't exactly help their own cause .. they've recently installed DIY issue & return terminals, whilst the half dozen or so Library Assistants congregate behind the now redundant counter, gossiping somewhat loudly .. in fact making more noise than any member of the public would dare ..
Most of them are nice, helpful people .. however at least two are surly, unhelpful & give the distinct impression that they're doing you an enormous favour by even acknowledging your existence ..
When I lived in Surrey all books were shelved by genre, making it quicker & easier to find what I wanted to read ..
When I asked why the Library in my present Town didn't do the same, I was told it was "Impossible and would never work" .. They shelve alphabetically, which I suppose makes life simpler for the assistants & leaves more time for gossiping ..
"We offer free sessions to under-fives, know all about school curriculums and how best to work with schools. We know our looked-after children, our troubled teens, our users who suffer from mental health issues … We know how to help with homework, teach internet skills to all ages, help unskilled people find jobs."
ReplyDeleteWe know.
We know everything. We are omnipotent. We are so essential to life it almost hurts. We are Librarians. We are the New Gods.
Bow down before us and watch us put books on shelves.
Public libraries used to be a great institution, cathedrals of books and learning worth fighting for.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, however, they're full of people tapping keyboards, nattering on mobile phones or eating junk food.
The librarians - those not yet replaced by machines - have seen their vocation warped into something else by political correctness.
The Public Library - RIP
"When I lived in Surrey all books were shelved by genre, making it quicker & easier to find what I wanted to read ..
ReplyDeleteWhen I asked why the Library in my present Town didn't do the same, I was told it was "Impossible and would never work"..."
It's merely because it makes it easier for the staff (to hell with the customers).
In order to find the genre of a book, it's have to be written on it somewhere. I mean, long gone are the days when librarians were avid readers and could be expected to recognise the genre a book belonged to...
"We know everything. We are omnipotent. We are so essential to life it almost hurts. We are Librarians. We are the New Gods.
"
It is pretty blatant, isn't it?
"Nowadays, however, they're full of people tapping keyboards, nattering on mobile phones or eating junk food. "
I haven't been to one for a while, but my last visit didn't fill me with hope for the future.
Pity. I was never happier as a child than when I got my 'adult' library card!
Thanks for the link, Julia. Glad to see how many people care about libraries.
ReplyDeleteI think there are two things going on here, as they fight over our taxes...
One is the 'total' part of the totalitarianism of cultural Marxism; mission creep like this is inevitable in people who have no interest, let alone any knowledge, of where the money comes from, so why shouldn't they treat these cathedrals of books - thanks Greencoat - into multi-purpose community resource centres? It's not like all our institutions aren't rotten to the Victorian core that built most of them in the first place, so full speed ahead to cyber cafedom and let's get rid of all these dusty paper things.
Castle City just junked 20% of its titles to make the place more 'child friendly' ie, a noisy place where Tax Credit Guardianistas can sit and gossip and look for the local subsidised tumbling classes.
And the second thing, as Captain Haddock pointed out, is that public libraries are one of the last, old-style municipal feather-bed for unsackable jobsworth - I don't think their managers even think of us as customers. They've always moved like snails in Castle City, but now they get to ignore your login troubles and the missing volumes of Batman collections instead of ignoring your missing Louis D'Amour.
Long and short of it - we don't count, and now we can't read in peace either.
If only they would go "shhh". My local library is like fucking bedlam. They have a CRECHE in the open library area. The library itself is full of people talking on mobiles or listening to incredibly loud personal stereos.
ReplyDeleteI imagine current library policy is that these things should he allowed in the name of inclusion. After all, why should loud ignorant yobs and screaming kids be excluded from the library?