Santa Clarita Library Opens Its Doors to LSSI as Toronto Gears Up for an Outsourcing Fight

http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/891415-264/santa_clarita_library_opens_its.html.csp
Interesting article in the American Library Journal including details of staff benefits, or lack of them?, provided by LSSI and a survey carried out by the Library Research Service looking at the publics' attitude towards library privatisation, with 86% saying that library management should remain public!

Private Eye Library News - LSSI, Croydon and Wandsworth

PRIVATE EYE
Issue No. 1203
22 July to 4 August 2011

LIBRARY NEWS

American outsourcing firm LSSI's ambitions to snap up 15 percent of UK libraries continue apace, as the firm tries to call first dibs on the library service in two London boroughs.

Croydon and Wandsworth chief execs Jon Rouse and Paul Martin jointly held what was described as a "30-minute chat" with Library Systems Services Inc (LSSI).  The councils kept very quiet about this -- Croydon's council leader told his local press he didn't know the meeting was taking place.  But LSSI bosses couldn't help name-dropping places they'd held meetings in an interview with the Sunday Express in June, prompting an outcry from Croydon library campaigners - who had previously been told that there were schools and voluntary groups clamouring to take on local libraries.

Just weeks later the two councils announced a joint market testing exercise to investigate whether a "third party organisation" could offer savings and improvements for the library service.

Ends

Toronto says no to privatisation and library cuts

Toronto Public Library Workers Union : 13th July
Poll shows three-quarters of Toronto residents oppose closing local library branches
as a way of cutting costs and equally oppose library privatization
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/July2011/13/c5032.html
http://fivestones.ca/ourpubliclibraries/ - campaign site to save Toronto's libraries

Who’s the Boss? Does private management have a place in public libraries?

http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/features/07122011/who-s-boss - make your own mind up, I have posted my comments.

Wokingham Update

http://save-our-libraries.blogspot.com/ - new campaign group set up plus online petition
http://www.getwokingham.co.uk/news/s/2095988_private_libraries_will_continue_all_statutory_services -
more hollow promises from Wokingham Council
http://pruebray.mycouncillor.org.uk/2011/07/01/saving-the-libraries/ - LibDem councillors views on the matter

LIBRARY “OUTSOURCING” BILL PASSES SENATE POLICY COMMITTEE

http://www.cla-net.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=292  - AB438, the bill that would “impose requirements on a city or library district that intends to withdraw from a county free library system and operate libraries with a private contractor.” passed the California Senate Governance and Finance Committee on 6/7/11, this is an important step on its way to becoming part of Californian state law.

"AB 438, as you may recall, is sponsored by the Ventura Reader’s Book Group and supported by SEIU and the California Labor Federation. AB 438 is opposed by the California League of Cities, LSSI, and the California Chamber of Commerce. During debate on the bill, the supporters argued for the protection of jobs and for more public input on the decision to outsource, while the opposition argued that the “practical effect of the bill was to ban cities from contracting out services, which likely means staff layoffs and branch closures.” 

 

Libraries are safe, says council boss

http://www.getwokingham.co.uk/news/s/2095713_libraries_are_safe_says_council_boss - a very odd interpretation of safe?

Huge cuts in public funding for libraries in California

http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/891201-264/in_california_all_state_funding.html.csp
"Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed the FY12 California state budget on June 30, the last day of the fiscal year, and it contains a double dose of bad news for public library funding. The budget also contains massive cuts to the state's higher education system.
First, as expected, the budget cuts state funding for public libraries in half, to $15.2 million. This includes $3 million for the Public Library Fund (PLF), $3.7 million for the California Library Literacy and English Acquisition Service, and $8.5 million for the California Library Services Act (CLSA).
Second, a "trigger" amendment attached to the budget would eliminate all state funding for public libraries at midyear if the state's revenue projections are not being met. Funding for the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program and the California Newspaper Project administered by the state library would also be eliminated, which would bring the total midyear cut to $15.9 million."

No Time for Transparency or Public Input in Santa Clarita

http://savesantaclaritalibraries.wordpress.com/2011/07/05/no-time-for-transparency-or-public-input/
Secrecy and a lack of transparency, now what does that remind you of, Croydon or Wokingham perhaps?

The plot thickens in Wokingham!

http://matthewsdent.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/a-response-to-john-halsall/