With all the the excitement around eReaders, eBooks, social media, and all the other innovations libraries are taking on, it’s easy to forget that public libraries are very much under siege.
From the Guardian UK:
Labour politicians and campaigners have condemned the head of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council for suggesting that public libraries are primarily used by the white middle classes.
The controversial comments were made by Roy Clare, the council’s chief executive, who argued that the service should not be preserved in “aspic“… [full article here]
In the UK (and the US, too… and, well, lots of places), where austerity measures are gutting public spending. Public libraries and their patrons have to put up the good fight to keep branches open. Ridiculous, wrong-headed comments from government ministers do no good.
Here’s the response from the the Labour Party’s shadow minister for media and culture:
De Piero, who says she is still waiting for a reply to a letter she wrote to Vaizey in December, points out that the minister made a speech last summer in which he set out the continued value of local libraries. Speaking to a conference of librarians in London, Vaizey said: “Libraries have an enviable network of estate and expertise and a tribe of incredibly diverse and passionate customers; 325 million visits were made to libraries last year and an additional 113 million visits online.”
De Piero added: “Almost 80% of 11- to 15-year-olds visit a library and children’s borrowing continues to increase year on year. For many areas of the country there are tremendous success stories as library visits increase during the recession.”
Anyone who has spent any time in a public library knows that diversity depends on the diversity of branch location. And, it’s usually more complex than you realize.
You’d expect an urban branch to have a variety of users from different social groups. But, while I was working for the Windsor Public Library, I found the suburban branches to bring in an equally varied collection of patrons. It does absolutely no good to prejudge.
In times like these, public libraries repeatedly demonstrate their worth. Comments like Roy Clare’s bely the important point: even libraries who service relatively homogeneous communities are still providing important services. Blanket statements about who’s using libraries and who’s not, ignore the important reality that people are using libraries.
Looking over the Guardian UK site, there are a lot of articles, editorials, etc. about the future of British public libraries. I’m happy to see that the there is some national debate about these cuts. Would this happen at the same level in Canada? In the US? Probably not because here libraries are considered a municipal or state/province level concern.
One more thing. It looks like Mr. Clare’s gonna loose his job, too. Like many unemployed folk, he’s probably going to be visiting his local library more. Hopefully, it’s still open.
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