We have just had the Public Library Authorities conference here in the UK, during which the Culture Secretary made a speech (the fallout from which can be seen e.g.
here). There is a lot being said in the public library world at the moment and the trick I think is to pick out the good ideas. Tim Coates has some good ideas, but so do the library reformers in the profession.
I think at the moment we are in a period where the libraries in the first instance became less salient than they once were as books became cheaper and more sources of information were to be had, with the libraries then very much finding themselves competing for the leisure time of patrons. So as issues and visits over the past 10 years take a dive, it is perhaps a good point to carry out an audit and say what
could we be doing better, or what should we do differently, given the changes that are upon us. How should we respond?
One approach is to say that we should make the libraries welcoming to all sectors of the community, allowing computer gaming, screening football matches, and so on. Also the idea of making the library the hub of a community with a cafe, allowing mobile 'phones and food, and even turning the IT suite into an Internet cafe (a noisy library is a joyful library). But as Caroline Moss-Gibbons reminds us, libraries are also places where many different communities have to get on
together: "It is important that there are no artificial barriers restricting use, although inevitably, as requirements will differ between various groups, trade-offs and compromises will be necessary."[1]
[1]
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article4798653.eceTim Coates' approach to say let's take for e.g. the gardening section of 180 books, let's also look at a list of the top best sellers of gardening books, and fill that gardening section with 4 each of the 6 top best sellers, and 156 of the remaining best sellers. The result is a selection second only to that in the best stocked bookshop! He also has other ideas about how libraries should be run that largely
mimic how bookshops are managed (a 50% reduction in the overheads incurred by non-front line staff being one).
That about I think sums it up!