In Solidarity: Standing with UK Libraries; Library Journal, 4/13/16

Rebecca T. Miller, Library Journal; In Solidarity: Standing with UK Libraries:

"Last month, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) released a series of articles on the status of public libraries in the UK. The news is dramatic. More than 300 libraries have been closed since 2010—the reported total of 343 includes 132 mobile libraries, with over 100 more on the chopping block—and almost 8,000 jobs have been lost. The advocacy drumbeat for UK libraries has been sounding for some time, with prominent authors and celebrities offering their support. Staring down the numbers reported by the BBC has spurred a barrage of public and professional response—some reinforcing negative stereotypes and others helping to build the case for more investment.

I reached out to Nick Poole, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), the library association for the UK, to get a better sense of what’s happening on the ground and behind the scenes...

One initiative CILIP developed is the “My Library by Right” campaign to raise awareness of the requirement for library service, to counter prevailing misconceptions about what libraries provide, and to build understanding of what recourse is available.

A longer term solution, says Poole, is to move toward a national library strategy, shifting the governance of libraries away from the local councils. This direction has had some success already in Scotland, he adds, and is gaining traction in Wales and Northern Ireland. With such deep reform currently stymied in England, however, a “Leadership for Libraries Taskforce” is focused first on improving the perception about libraries."