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Legal Research

: Information Overload

Libraries - Modernisation Review

By scott

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Andy Burnham announced this review in a speech to the Public Libraries Association in Liverpool on 9th October.

According to Burham, the government had brought Victorian Schools and Hospitals into the 21st century and now it was the turn of libraries. This is usually the kind of thing that makes some Librarians and even some regular library patrons shudder. Burham was keen to ensure people that his and the government’s commitment to provision of comprehensive library service is ‘absolutely non-negotiable’.

He correctly states that there are always people ready to sound the death knell for libraries, such as those who predicted that allowing the internet into libraries would be such a kiss of death, when in reality it has helped increase the numbers of people visiting libraries - and we mustn’t forget that for around a quarter of our population this is there only access to a computer.

There is no doubt that we - as a nation - are borrowing less books than we were even 10 years ago: indeed according to official figures compiled by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy there was an almost 34% drop in the amount borrowed last year compared with the figure for 1997. However, we are not reading less - at least if book sales are a measure, with the amount we are spending on books increasing over the past few years - mostly off the back of the endless 3 for 3 offers seen in every major book chain (something that itself has forced some smaller independent booksellers out of business). Also, the amount of money being spent by libraries on books has been steady in a market where book prices have been falling.

The section of Burham’s speech that has been picked up, and distorted in some instances, is where he talks about how Art Galleries and Museums have re-invented themselves for the 21st century, and how it was now the turn of libraries.

But there’s still a view in some quarters that libraries are should be like the galleries of old - solemn places patrolled by formidable staff. You only have to look at recent coverage of Camden’s revised library strategy to see that. Silence, it would appear, is a library’s most valuable asset. But learning is not all about quiet contemplation. I want to see libraries full of life, rather than silent and sombre. Attractive buildings, exuding a sense of joy - offering something unique and valuable right at the heart of the community. That hasn’t, if we’re honest, always been an accurate description of some libraries.

I should point out that nowhere in his speech does Burham suggest turning libraries into Starbucks with books. On the issue of silence in the library, most of those that I know who work in public libraries would tell him that this hasn’t existed in reality for many years in many of our libraries - no more than trying to stop people using their mobile phones inside them has.

He rightly, in my view, states that we in the profession should see the changes that are happening in public libraries as a challenge and an opportunity, rather than as a threat. With regards to the internet he sees the demand for library services multiplied rather than diminished. I agree. I particularly liked the part of his speech when he says the following:

People talk about social isolation. Young people particularly spending hours alone in front of a computer screen. But there is a real thirst out there from people looking for opportunities to come together. Libraries should be the place where real social networking happens - libraries as Facebook-3D; libraries as OurSpace instead of MySpace.

This should also be a two way thing - Libraries should have a presence on Social Networking sites too to help foster the creation of such OurSpace ideas. We do have to move with the times and remember that libraries as well as being repositories of learning and should be at the heart of the community, and should serve the needs of that community. The one way to guarantee the demise of public libraries is to hold on to the notion that it is all about books and the printed word. Does it sadden me that more and more books are being sidelined for DVDs, PC Games, Internet terminals and other things? To a degree, yes. I do still like the romantic notion of old libraries filled with books - if I had a big enough house (so that I could turn a room into a library) there is nothing that would give me more personal joy than all four walls covered floor to ceiling with books. But, the internet has changed things. We cannot put it back in a box, and as the leads of our clientel change, so must we: adapt and survive.

So, I welcome this Modernisation review. We need to help put our libraries back at the heart of the community, and if this review can renerate some good ideas then we’ll all be better off for it. Personally, as a first step, I’d like to see the government running ads for libraries - reminding people that they are free the join and take books from; as well as highlighting the other types of??things and services??libraries can offer. Let’s shout it from the skies that libraries are great. Start now.

Full post as published by Information Overload on October 22, 2008 (boomark / email).