APRIL 2023 Welcome to our newsletter round up of Aprils UK libraries news! LibraryOn Beta launched – Library what? Is that it? “It” being LibraryON, the national website for England’s libraries. We’ve needed this for ages – especially during lockdown, when millions could have used the info. After over 10 years of reports, an elaborate analysis of five options, wondering who should do it all, millions in funding, and – I’m quite sure – loads of hard work by the British Library team who got the job, we finally have a trial “beta” version. Or part of it, anyway. “This early version of the site,” says the BL, “features content aimed at two audiences: parents and carers of young children, and retired people.” Well, very many “audiences” need libraries – the exact same services as each other. The new beta is, frankly, already muddled enough. What will it be like when they painstakingly add in teenagers, schoolchildren, students, refugees, businesses, employed people, benefits claimants, book lovers, blind people, and all the rest? “We’ve used stories from library staff, volunteers, and customers to try and capture the transformative power of libraries,” the BL adds. The result is a rabbit warren of quotes, FAQs (the answer is often “Ask at your library/website”), and stories (often about things that may well not be available at your own library). This is earnestly selling the virtues of libraries, rather than simple facts. Easy to get lost as you try to piece together what you might get. OK. We can all say: “Well, I would have done it differently myself.” But the most bewildering bit is their answer to the most obvious question any user might ask: “Where is my local library?” I knew the info must be there somewhere. So I searched it out. I found it by clicking on “your community” (?), which led to a rabbit hole of story boxes. You had to open them. If you did, each had – right at the bottom – a little click-thru that said “Find my library”. That was fun. Searching by my postcode brought me 166 libraries, in order of distance as the crow flies. Of the first five, only two are in my own borough of Lambeth; three are in Southwark. The next 10 offered me libraries in Westminster and Wandsworth too. I had to reach 30 before finding another Lambeth library (by way of Camden, Lewisham, and the City of London). There’s an alternative route – “select library service”. What is my “library service” if I don’t know? Absolute beginners would surely find it easier to search for their local council. Anyway, I clicked on Lambeth and got eight libraries. Lambeth has 10. One on the list was labelled “community managed library”. It isn’t. And the eight on the list just had an address. The daft thing is there’s a better list already available elsewhere. It’s been on TLC’s modest website for years: https://www.librariesathome.co.uk. With link to councils’ library websites. Compiled, essentially, by just one chap in his spare time. Why all this work and expense, instead of incorporating what already exists? See for yourself at https://libraryon.orgUK Library censorship  Don’t think it can’t happen here. There has been a lot of news from the USA, where “concerned parents” have been trying to remove books they don’t like in school and public libraries. And often succeeding. The main focus has been books that take a sympathetic view of LGBT or Black people. It has gone as far as a proposal in Missouri to completely defund the public library service (thankfully reversed, last we saw) and even threats of jail for librarians who don’t toe the anti-people line. The American Library Association is running a determined “Right to Read” campaign. We had a taste of this nonsense here last year, with ill-informed protestors in a few places trying to ban the popular Drag Queen Storytimes that have delighted children for years. Now we learn that there’s been a “significant” rise over here in cases of people demanding books be removed – or even threatening librarians. The most targeted books involve empire, race and LGBT themes, reports librarians’ association CILIP. Part of the job is to maintain bookstock that tells the whole of any story “and to be unafraid in telling that story”, says CILIP. Read further on this issue here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/20/third-of-uk-librarians-asked-to-censor-or-remove-books-research-reveals  Are you listed on our website?If you go to the Campaign website and click on the Friends and Groups box, the next screen has a map of England, Wales (and Scotland though formally we don’t operate there). If you click on your region you will get a list of Friends groups we know about and links to any or all of their website, Facebook, Twitter and email. They are listed by authority. It would be helpful if you could check that you are listed, and let us know of any errors or omissions by email to thelibrarycampaign@gmail.com.Local groups – what are you up to?We would like to get into the habit of featuring a local friends campaign group in each issue of this newsletter. Please let us know what you have been up and what you are planning. It doesn’t have to be an essay – indeed we would rather it wasn’t – you can see the length of articles from this and previous newsletters.Dudley – bad newsDudley Council have announced a plan to cut 30% from their libraries and archive budget over the next three years. This will mean any or all of: closing branches, cutting opening hours, or sacking staff. The local UNISON branch (which represents the staff) has set up a Save Dudley Libraries Facebook page and is campaigning to stop the proposals. Earlier this month they had a meeting with more than 25 people or organisations present, to discuss taking the campaign forward. The library service was outsourced to Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) in 2017. The contract ends in 2024 but the press reports that a councillor said he could not be certain how the projected savings would be made! UNISON’s Branch Secretary is quoted as saying: “Dudley’s library contract needs reviewing without further delay. The service was outsourced on the basis that the council stood to save £600k in costs. Prior to this, our libraries were identified as an ‘exemplar service’ but the one with the lowest potential savings, so it is questionable as to why this service got chosen to be outsourced over services that offered higher savings. “With the additional £1 million paid to GLL in 2021, the library contract has cost the council £4,230,000 since 2017, but it has not achieved the projected savings and the number of library users have declined significantly due to GLL’s mismanagement.”  St Helens – more bad newsThere goes another one… St Helens used to be a leading service. Especially noteworthy was its ingenuity in getting funding to run extra activities from, for instance, public health. Lots of stories about the way people’s lives were changed at their local library. Now, a “draft library strategy and delivery plan for 2023-2028” is looking tto be a leading service. Especially noteworthy was its ingenuity in getting funding to run extra activities from, for instance, public health. Lots of stories about the way people’s lives were changed at their local library. Now, a “draft library strategy and delivery plan for 2023-2028” is looking to slash the number of libraries from 13 to seven. These “difficult proposals”, says the council, will “transform the library service into a modern forward-thinking service that contributes to the delivery of the borough’s priorities… target areas of greatest need, reach into communities both physically and digitally and reduce the dependency on physical buildings.” Fair point: government funding has plummeted from £127m in 2010 to just £11m this year. But don’t “areas of greatest need” above all need a place to go to? Consultation is going on now.to be a leading service. Especially noteworthy was its ingenuity in getting funding to run extra activities from, for instance, public health. Lots of stories about the way people’s lives were changed at their local library. Now, a “draft library strategy and delivery plan for 2023-2028” is looking to slash the number of libraries from 13 to seven. These “difficult proposals”, says the council, will “transform the library service into a modern forward-thinking service that contributes to the delivery of the borough’s priorities… target areas of greatest need, reach into communities both physically and digitally and reduce the dependency on physical buildings.” Fair point: government funding has plummeted from £127m in 2010 to just £11m this year. But don’t “areas of greatest need” above all need a place to go to? Consultation is going on now.Warm feelingsOne huge success has been libraries’ provision of “warm spaces” for people who can’t afford heating at home. Libraries were not the only providers. But they were the obvious option for the many councils that invested in this shamefully necessary support. It all helps to prove to councils how much they need libraries! But there’s more. Much more. A survey by the Warm Welcome campaign finds that poverty relief mattered – but what people valued far more was the sense of community, and tackling loneliness. They wanted community events and things to do “in an accessible, non-judgemental space”. If they were just offered “a place where the poor came to huddle together in winter”, they didn’t come. Frequent visitors reported “improvements in their mental health, social wellbeing, and sense of purpose”. This is what libraries are all about. Are you listening, St Helens? https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023 /apr/26/warm-rooms-winter-loneliness And finally…Please click the link below to fill out our questionnaire if you haven’t had a chance to do so thus far. Also, a reminder to follow us and comment across our social media: Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. And, as ever, you can keep up to date with the work that we do as well as join or donate at https://librarycampaign.com THE LIBRARY CAMPAIGN QUESTIONNAIRE Thanks again – all of us at The Library Campaign Copyright (C) *2023* *The Library Campaign*. * Registered Charity No: 1102634 * All rights reserved.  |
