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Library staff vital for specialist support and advice
• AS convener of events at Chalk Farm Library, I have read the piece (Staff fear hours cut as libraries turn high-tech, February 5), and have talked to library staff.
It is inaccurate to say that library groups “have welcomed the move” to self-service check-outs; we could not have done so, because we were not informed of the move.
Talking it through with staff, we feel that if technology can be harnessed to streamline any admin functions, that’s fine: there could be an alternative check-out line for those who just want their books serviced as quickly as possible. However, the result should be to free up staff to give advice, not to reduce levels.
Any queues are there to consult with staff about availability etcetera, rather than for checking books in and out. We need more specialist librarians, for example for the children’s sections. Also, as the recession bites, the library becomes yet more of a drop-in centre, supporting vital local networks. We need all the staff we can get to run the libraries, with their specialist support and advice.
BRENDA STONES
Friends of Chalk Farm Library, NW1
• I AM all for progress, but it depends on what sort of “progress”.
The piece (February 5) about installing self-service machines in Camden’s libraries rings alarm bells.
The reason given is to speed things up but what’s the hurry?
Our lives are already dominated by too many machines, as anybody ringing a council department and hearing an answering machine will testify.
Despite soothing reassurances, it will inevitably mean job losses, which was probably the aim, anyway.
And we are library users, not “customers”!
PAT WAGLAND
Brecknock Road, N19
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