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CILIP Calls on Government to Intervene in UK Library DeclineThe Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, Britain’s professional library association, has asked UK Culture Secretary James Purnell to use his legal authority to stop local councils from further degrading public library service. In an August 8 letter, CILIP Chief Executive Bob McKee wrote that a number of council authorities were planning drastic staff reductions and even turning over libraries to inexperienced community groups in an effort to save money. “We hear talk about improved customer service and greater community management,” McKee said, “but this is just spin-doctoring to cover up the reality of budget cuts and job losses. The truth is that without adequate professional expertise the quality of service will be reduced and the future of the service put at risk.” An increasing number of councils, among them Kent and Dorset, have looked to the example set by Buckinghamshire, which last year avoided closing some of its libraries by running them with financial support from local parishes and businesses and by using unpaid volunteers. But CILIP Immediate Past President Martin Molloy said such restructuring would “lead to the break up of the national network which is one of the major assets of the service.” Purnell’s Department of Culture, Media, and Sport seems disinclined to take drastic measures, even though it is authorized by the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act to “secure the proper discharge” of library services that are not “comprehensive and efficient.” A spokesperson told The Bookseller magazine August 15 that “we do not set budgets nor would we want to micromanage the work of individual library authorities.” CILIP’s call for action indicates it has come closer to the opinion of library advocate Tim Coates, who in 2004 issued a report saying that libraries in the UK were in decline and faced a crisis that would make them unused and irrelevant by 2020. Coates is still an active promoter of public library service, running the Good Library Blog and—in stark contrast to news of closings and layoffs—recently helped libraries in the Hillingdon section of London to increase opening hours, add to book acquisition budgets, purchase new furnishings, and save £260,000 ($515,300 U.S.) at the same time. The Bookseller reported August 9 that the changes will take place in September. Posted August 17, 2007. |
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