Literacy news

Negative reception for Government’s library blueprint

8 Aug 2011

Libraries should be run by the private sector with self-service borrowing points in shops and village halls, according to the report from the Future Libraries Programme.

The report, "Future Libraries: Change, Options and How to Get There" has been issued by the Local Government Association and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, and will now be shared with councils across the country.

The report's four key recommendations are that libraries be run in partnership with the private sector, charities and other councils; that they be integrated with "other community facilities like churches, shops and village halls"; that back office services be shared; and that library users be given "the ability to play a more active role in running library services themselves".

But librarian group Voices for the Library have lambasted the report's recommendations, saying they will do "serious damage to our public library network, and be counterproductive to efforts to modernise libraries and meet the needs of the UK public".

Libraries campaigner Desmond Clarke said it was "absolutely disgraceful" the report was "coming up with excuses to replace paid librarians with volunteers", and that overall the report was "remarkably unimaginative."

The Future Libraries Programme was set up a year ago with the backing of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport with the involvement of 36 library authorities with a brief to develop "innovative ways to modernise services". Despite the criticism, the Arts Council last week signalled its commitment to the continuation of the programme in partnership with the DCMS and the Local Government Group (LGG). The Arts Council said phase two of the programme would focus on long-term goals, with full details to be announced in September.

Read more at the Bookseller.

Tags: Communities and local areas, Libraries

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