Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Had a rare bout of librarian rage occasioned by this report on libraries. I'm not going to go into it now as I haven't read the full report but my considered professional opinion is that it is a load of arse and as a librarian it would delight me no end that if Tim Coates were to google his name he would discover that he was a fucking idiot. I'm about a third of the way through, he generalises wildly based on Hampshire County Council's library service and a clutch of stats, and he seems to believe that people want libraries that act like bookshops and that we should open for much longer hours, increase our book budgets three times and redecorate ourselves, all without having to increase the funding we get by a penny.
Tim Coates (fucking idiot remember) has produced this report for Libri, which coyly describes itself as It was formed a couple of years ago by a group of enthusiasts for public libraries dismayed at the present decline. The use of the word 'enthusiasts', coupled with the use of 'decline' to refer to libraries should give you clues to where this lot are coming from. Tim 'fucking idiot' Coates comes from the background of working in bookshops, not libraries, so it's not surprising that in the first ten or so pages I've seen that bookshops get books to people better than libraries, and that bookshops would not survive with the satisfaction and success rates that Coates gives for libraries. I'm sure that fishmongers wouldn't survive either, or restaurants either. You're comparing a business with something that is not a business. There is no charter that demands that your bookshops stay where they are unprofitable, libraries are required by law to provide a service.
The forum that Libri want us to discuss this report on doesn't appear to exist yet. If I can be bothered to write a response I hope they'll get their act together to provide one for it.
Tim Coates (fucking idiot remember) has produced this report for Libri, which coyly describes itself as It was formed a couple of years ago by a group of enthusiasts for public libraries dismayed at the present decline. The use of the word 'enthusiasts', coupled with the use of 'decline' to refer to libraries should give you clues to where this lot are coming from. Tim 'fucking idiot' Coates comes from the background of working in bookshops, not libraries, so it's not surprising that in the first ten or so pages I've seen that bookshops get books to people better than libraries, and that bookshops would not survive with the satisfaction and success rates that Coates gives for libraries. I'm sure that fishmongers wouldn't survive either, or restaurants either. You're comparing a business with something that is not a business. There is no charter that demands that your bookshops stay where they are unprofitable, libraries are required by law to provide a service.
The forum that Libri want us to discuss this report on doesn't appear to exist yet. If I can be bothered to write a response I hope they'll get their act together to provide one for it.
