Boris and the Mystery of the Public Libraries Trust!

In January 2011 the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, announced that he was planning to create a trust to manage London's threatened Public Libraries;

"Boris Johnson will tonight announce plans to set up a trust to run libraries in London that are at risk of closure.

It would "manage and improve" libraries for councils that could no longer afford to do so."
"The trust would be run by Team London, which is being set up by the Mayor this summer to bring together all his mentoring and volunteering projects.
Banks and individuals will be asked to top up existing funds. Private donors have already contributed £2 million."
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/boris-johnson-creates-trust-to-save-libraries-at-risk-of-closure-6555463.html

It all seemed pretty certain, even Tim Coates thought so, with £2m already secured and Team London ready to be up and running in Summer 2011 but then in an article in March 2011 it states that "he is considering the idea" and that it has now been put forward by the London Councils as part of the London Library Change Programme! Later that year he is spotted at a number of libraries promoting a literacy scheme (as reported in this insightful article on the Heat magazine website!), run by the National Literacy Trust in cooperation with Team London, to help with the promotion he roped in Peter Andre, a bit like promoting fine arts with a painter and decorator! And then in Dec 2011 he launches under the Team London banner the 'Love Libraries' scheme which looks to place 2,000 volunteers, or 'Library Champions', in London's Libraries, but what has happened to the trust and the £2m?
It all seems to have vanished, was it just part of the Boris self-publicity bandwagon?

But Boris does still care about libraries, in April 2012 he offered his support to the Brent campaigners saying;
“I think it is a great shame. It’s very sad what’s happened to the libraries in Brent."
adding
“I have heard about the efforts of the campaigners and various community events they have held to fight for them and I admire them for that.”
but then again it might be seen to be politically advantageous to back a group fighting Brent Council due to it being Labour controlled?
Then in Sep 2012 he opens a new library in Hillingdon (Tory controlled) complete with a Florist, a Starbucks and 2,000 books! (in case you want to buy flowers and a coffee when the books run out!)

All this and 2,000 volunteers, as they say 'actions speak louder than words'!

The re-election of Boris and what this could mean for London Libraries.

Well like it or lump it in London we've got Boris for another 4 years, what could this mean for London's public libraries?

Let's look at his record on Libraries up until now.

In January 2011 Boris announced that he was planning to set up a trust to run libraries that were at risk of closure, after the announcement no detail emerged and the plans seem to fade away until December the same year when he announced the 'Team London - Library Champions' initiative! Merton was used as the template for the scheme and now has over 450 volunteers working in its libraries!
So within the space of a few months he had moved from the position of saving libraries to doing nothing to stop the closures and staffing the ones still open with volunteers!
In February 2011 he muddied the waters by stating;

“…there is no statutory obligation to provide a library service, but there is plenty of ill-thought-out legislation about equalities and heaven knows what, emanating from Westminster, imposed from Whitehall and slavishly obeyed by local authorities. Councils are not obliged to have libraries…”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/borisjohnson/8337324/What-ski-helmets-can-teach-us-about-keeping-libraries-open.html

something that was clearly untrue and possibly, along with similar comments by the LGA, meant to undermine the sector, or was it just another gaff?

Off course before all this came the Mayor's 'Cultural Strategy' with the immortal;

"The Mayor strongly endorses the efforts that

library staff, local authorities and others are making

to continue to innovate. In recent months, MLA

London in conjunction with the London Cultural

Improvement Programme has overseen the London

Library Change Programme (LLCP) to assist this

process and to address many of the strategic and

resourcing issues. It is also looking at different

governance models, exploring how services can

be made more efficient through possible sharing

or contracting out, while still preserving local

democratic accountability. It is important that the

LLCP delivers tangible, long-term outcomes for

customers, such as improved stock, more flexible

opening hours, improved use of digital technologies

and greater convenience."

The London Libraries Change Programme (LLCP) was run along the lines of a masonic lodge, secret and only for the privileged few namely members of the ALCL, Chief Leisure Officers and the now defunct MLA! No one outside this circle was privy to the reports and findings and no one really knows what impact the programme has had, except that their 'workforce benchmarking' study with it's proposals to cut the London Library workforce by 10% might have already hit its target?

Recently Boris has spoken out publicly in support of the Brent Campaigners, a move that many saw as a cynical election ploy!
Mr Johnson spoke to the Times exclusively about the controversial issue.
He said: “I think it is a great shame. It’s very sad what’s happened to the libraries in Brent. I read that Brent had closed more libraries than anywhere else in the country. Closing them is something that is actually avoidable as there are boroughs that have actually opened libraries recently.
“I think Hammersmith is one of them so it goes to show that they are still used.”
Mr Johnson added: “I have heard about the efforts of the campaigners and various community events they have held to fight for them and I admire them for that.”
Brent & Kiburn Times 01/04/12

With Boris's emphasis on volunteers and private finance, the ALCL seemingly supporting his position and the push towards privatisation I don't envisage there being much of a comprehensive and efficient, publicly funded or accountable library service left in London come the next Mayoral elections in 2016!