Volunteers standing down and a Literary Map of Dundee.

Yesterday a story appeared in the 'Lincolnshire Echo' about volunteers at Alford Library having enough of struggling to run a library, for just over a year, standing down, a worrying blow to Lincolnshires' plans. Apparently they've been cast adrift by the council;

"The volunteers set-up to support the community by giving them another day of opening alongside the other days that the library opened under professional staff."
"Since the decision to completely change the way Lincolnshire libraries are to be run, by threatening closure, if volunteers did not take over the day to day running and funding, the group have noticed the support they used to get has effectively gone."

And as the Councillor quoted in the article puts it;

"It highlights to me the sustainability issue of volunteers and also how much you can push them before they say enough is enough"

Campaigners, users, staff and unions have been stressing the point of sustainability from the offset, it's not just about keeping the building occupied and opening the doors it's far far more than than that; there's the small matter of providing a 'comprehensive and efficient' service even though the majority of volunteer libraries are now outside of the statutory remit.
Campaigners don't vilify people for trying to keep their local libraries open, however misguided and naive it might seem at times, they vilify the government's agenda to shrink the state through the implementation of its 'Localism' agenda. It's all very sad and ultimately destructive.

And now for some good news!

Those clever people at Dundee Central Library have created a literary map of the city.

"The 15-mile, 48-stop route takes in Broughty Ferry as well as the city centre and the west and east ends and will chronicle Dundee’s literary past and present.
Stops on the trail will have walkers thinking about Frankenstein author Mary Shelly, crime writer Agatha Christie and children’s favourite Jacqueline Wilson.
There’s even a stop dedicated to notoriously bad poet William McGonagall."

This excellent idea reminded me off something a friend of mine developed a while back in Edinburgh;
http://dontprivatiselibraries.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/walking-media-libraries-in-wester-hailes.html
 





 

GLL, Bibliotheca and Lincolnshire Libraries.

A little birdie tipped me the wink a few weeks ago that GLL, the 'worker-led' Social Enterprise that runs Greenwich and Wandsworth Libraries, might be interested in expanding into Lincolnshire?
And lo and behold a story appears saying that a "A private branch of Greenwhich Borough Council has offered to take over running the library service in Lincolnshire", this can only mean GLL.
The story also says that Bibliotheca Technical Library Services have shown an interest too, if this is true then it's a relatively new name to add to the usual list of interested parties. Bibliotheca is a major player in the field of library self-service technology and the article states;

"Biblioteca’s proposals could see some libraries become fully automated, with users given a keycard to access the building 24/7 and machines to check books in and out. This would cut costs by reducing staff."

All we really know at the moment is that Lincolnshire CC is proposing to withdraw funding from the majority of their libraries and are considering options ranging from volunteer-led 'book exchanges', cutting opening hours and staff, to divesting the service. Opposition to these proposals has been fierce, Save Lincolnshire Libraries has led the campaign and held a very well attended march and have had an incredible 23,000 people sign their petition, a national record if I'm not mistaken? They have also raised concerns about the public consultation stating;

"One of the big questions the campaigners now have is how the council’s consultation activities (covering a questionnaire and several events) only managed to engage 8,000 people, despite their massive budget of at least £50,000, with final costs not yet published.
Campaigners have felt for a long time that the council consultation made it very hard for people to express their views, and now the clear difference between the ability of the campaign group and the council to engage the public raises worrying questions about how fit for purpose this consultation really was."

Oh and in case you're doubting GLL's interest in all this, may I just draw your attention to the following message of 'support' left on Save Lincolnshire Libraries website;

Diana edmond

June 25, 2013 at 8:46 pm

Happy to help if I can

Diana Edmonds (maybe she left of the 's' as a disguise?) just happens to be the Head of Libraries for GLL, touching isn't it?

For more on GLL see;
http://dontprivatiselibraries.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/GLL