Saturday 8 September 2012

Brand or Ethos?

I started working in Public Libraries when i was 17 years old, i was brought up in a Marxist household and believed in public services especially libraries and the role they could play in empowering and educating working class communities. I also loved books and reading and was enthralled to have free access to a treasure trove of literature, knowledge and information..

My passion and belief hasn't wained over the years in fact it's grown stronger!

Public services, including libraries are under attack from 'austerity' cuts, commercialisation, deprofessionalisation, privatisation, divestment and library staff are under pressure to conform and 'keep their heads down', something I've never been very good at! This is why more than ever I truly believe that Public Library staff need to re-discover their public service 'ethos' but what do i mean by this? To me it means a commitment to advancing social equity, integrity, pride, listening to and involving the community in service provision, impartiality,  and specifically in relation to public libraries providing free access to information, knowledge and educational opportunities, in other words empowering communities to take control of their own lives. To me it's political as is everything!

I didn't want to work in libraries to improve my own personal 'brand' or to aspire to senior management, for me it's never been about that and anyway career advancement in public libraries is a very difficult path and poorly resourced. I've now got 20+ years experience and due to a nasty re-structuring which meant being downgraded or promoted I'm now a Librarian for the first time which means i have more independence and control but this also poses problems due to personal conflicts of interest and confrontations due to my disagreement with many in the profession about the way libraries are moving.

One of my major disagreements, and i can assure you i have a few, is with the introduction of commercialisation and retail models (see i can refrain from using the word neoliberalism!) into the service, this to me goes against everything that i believe a statutory, publicly funded and accountable library service should be. We see it all around us in the language we use and the approaches we adopt, from calling 'users/patrons' 'customers' to employing consultants to re-brand and market our services. I get really angry when i hear colleagues harp on about the miraculous benefits to users of 'face-on shelving', 'quick reads', bright shiny colours and self serve, do we think the average library user is a moron that can only function in an HMV, Top Shop environment and have we really ever properly asked them if this is what they want or need?

There appears to have been an "unquestioning acceptance" (thanks to David McMenemy for this phrase) of this agenda and it really does puzzle me, why do we as a profession think that we need to accept this, and why are some welcoming it with open arms?
We are allowing ourselves to be hijacked by marketeers and consultants when we have the expertise and knowledge within our own service, we know how to talk to and involve communities and users, we know how to publicise events/services/stock, we know how to make our libraries welcoming and accessible, we know how to innovate, we have been doing all this and more for years!
for a classic example of what's being sold to us a profession see;
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=ind1210&L=LIS-PUB-LIBS&F=&S=&P=65139

So what's happened then, have we taken our collective eye off the ball, have we lost our pride and confidence as public sector workers and instead become caught up in our own profession and careers? I know some of it's got to do with low morale, poor training. out of touch senior management with their own agenda, lack of sector leadership, lack of political will, ideological cuts but surely we have to take some personal responsibility for the state we're in? We have to regain our confidence and pride and start a fight back, unless you are one of those who truly believe it's the best way forward for libraries in which case i suggest that you either apply for a job as a 'wrangler' with Anythink or hope that LSSI or JLIS win some more contracts!

The question is not what can we learn from the retail sector it's what can they can learn from us after all we're the ones with the history, legacy, expertise and oh yes that other "elephant in the 'library' room" (stolen and bastardised from Lauren Smith, sorry!) ethos!

9 comments:

  1. The idea that libraries can learn from retail has been bugging me recently too. Was tempted to sign up to a 'library safari' so I could see where they were coming from. I've got a post that I may get round to writing about the ethos of retail v the ethos of libraries to compare them, but fear my own bias (and limited knowledge of the retail sector) would skewer the post. It's true that all sectors can learn from others (I'm thinking of the heart surgeon at Great Ormand Street Hosp who learned from the F1 team about patient transfer), but a wholehearted acceptance of the retail model as way forward for libraries is wrong. If librarians are welcoming it with open arms, perhaps it's from fear, and an acknowledgement that the modern world seems to view consumerism as king?

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    1. Thanks for your comment Jo. It's the wide sweeping acceptance of the concept that i'm really worried about, the SCL, ACE, LGA, DCMS, CLOA etc are all pushing the agenda and a lot of library staff are for different reasons going along with it or keeping their heads down, which to a certian extent i can understand but there has to come a time where you lay down a bottom line and say enough is enough. As a service we are being ripped apart and there needs to be an open and honest discussion about what we believe in and in my view that revolves around reclaiming the ethos.
      I'm also getting very angry having to explain myself to consultants who are only interested in making money out of the crisis and couldn't give a shit about public services, they are selling us a package that suits them and many are not only accepting it but are enthusiastically courting them! We are all under a lot of pressure and it's a very difficult time but at least there's a discussion starting to happen!

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  2. The problem in the states is that all those retail models have gone out of business. A warning on how much should be modeled after them.

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    1. Thanks for your comment dg. Excellent point, the retail sectors in the US and the UK are experiencing huge problems not really a model we want to follow as you quite rightly say

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  4. Pity there are not more library workers with your courage and insight Alan. The authority i work for is introducing self-service and to go with this we have to have a sign (costing hundreds of pounds) saying Here to Help. Exactly what else are we there to do? And the managers who go along with this corporate nonsense are the ones who'll be in charge of the restructure after the public 'consultation'. I come home and weep at the destruction of an institution that, like you, I've loved since childhood

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    1. Thank you for your kind words Sue, sometimes i feel that i am a bit of a lone voice! I know that there are more who think the same it's just very difficult for staff to be vocal at the moment and there seems to be an unquestioning acceptance by many.
      I'm incredibly saddened about what's going on, it's the destruction, divestment and fragmentation of the service i love, it's not, as some like to tell us, an opportunity but a crisis!

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  5. don't Worry Alan. Not a lone voice.I think in general thEre is a lot on rushed decisions and copying of ideas, with out thinking them properly through-look at the 5 years(or what ever it was) , of having public internet terminals with no computerised booking system.
    I have subscribed to the book display ideas such as "face out" for a long time, however in the long run how useful this is, really is questionable. when I think about it, many f the face outs if done seems to not move. it is that I'm bad at displays or that public( oho often don't want to bother us), don't want to "ruin" our display so a are afraid to take a book?

    anyway-keep plugging away Alan!

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  6. You are not alone. For the last 40 years I have been firmly of the opinion that the retail sector should learn lessons from librarians. Libraries have learned some useful lessons from retail display - lessons that have been of real help to people browsing without aim or guidance. More purposeful readers are not best served by shelf arrangements that make it impossible to know where to find the book you are looking for (and as for finding your way round a supermarket, well, maybe "redundant" librarians should seek posts in supermarkets to tell them how to do it!).

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