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How many books are in our libraries?
• COUNCILLOR Flick Rea stated (It’s nothing to fear! August 13) that “We have absolutely no plans to reduce library stock – we have actually increased stock levels, buying between 45,000 and 50,000 new books every year over the past four years.”
Quickly reading that sentence may lead you to conclude that between March 31 2005 and March 31 2009 Camden’s library book stock increased by 180,000 to 200,000 books.
That would be very nice, if true.
For very many years Camden’s Library Service has purchased 40,000 to 50,000 new books per year.
So there has been no new initiative, but the continuation of a long-term policy.
Unfortunately, this consistent policy has not stopped the overall book stock falling with an equal consistency.
As an example, in 2004/05 an above-average number of books (53,816) were purchased, but this did not stop the book stock decreasing by over 18,000 volumes.
The book acquisitions number is only one element in the book stock equation and its use in isolation is misleading.
Nevertheless, Cllr Rea has clearly said that the library book stock has increased in the four years since she took over the Camden culture portfolio. She is in the position to know. The rest of us will have to wait for the data to be published (in about a year) to find out how large this increase is; but anecdotal evidence suggests that, if there is an increase, it is very small.
Even a small increase is a cause for celebration.
So, perhaps Cllr Rea would let us into the secret and tell us the size of the Camden library book stock on March 31 2009.
She obviously has the number at her fingertips. Therefore it would be very easy to do so.
Cllr Rea also claimed significant success for the recent increase in library opening hours. Of course, increases in opening hours is a motherhood and apple pie subject and it will not be a surprise that CPLUG is, generally, very much in favour of such changes. However, when the details of the Camden changes were made known, CPLUG expressed deep reservations about the new arrangements.
Far from the even-handed application of the available hours, as implied by Cllr Rea’s comments, many libraries only received a token allocation. The reservation of the majority of these hours for only two libraries ran the risk of forcing some of the other libraries into further decline. The figures quoted by Cllr Rea are unlikely to have any real meaning as the visits and issues data for the libraries have a wide, erratic, short-term variability (the changes were only implemented on January 19).
CPLUG has looked at what has happened to these performance parameters and found that there is a very confused picture, with some libraries apparently actually suffering a decline in performance. Only the long-term trends can accurately show the effect of any policy change. We will be able to judge properly in six to nine months time.
For decades Camden’s Library Service has hardly changed, while the outside world has changed out of all recognition. Some of London’s boroughs have managed to move with the times and have even improved their service in some instances. There is much to do to rectify the deleterious effects of the long-term neglect in Camden. A lack of clarity and even the dissemination of misleading information is not the way to go about it.
ALAn TEMPLETON
Chair, Camden Public Libraries Users Group,
NW6
Help to read
• I AM a regular user of the Belsize library and much appreciate its helpful staff.
However, I have a severe visual impairment called macular disease which makes reading impossible without considerable magnification.
Consequently I am dependent on Talking Books from my library and other Camden libraries for my entertainment.
I am sure that the self-service machines of which they speak will be impossible for me to use, as would be the case for the many older users of Camden libraries who are increasingly becoming victims of macular disease.
It is now estimated that approximately 800,000 older people in the United Kingdom are affected by the disease.
Who is to help us take out Talking Books, large print books, music CDs etcetera if such mechanisation continues?
ATHOL HUGHES
Antrim Grove, NW3
Jobs fears
• I LIVE in Camden, and work in the libraries.
We, the staff, fear for our jobs. It is a terrible prospect to be added to the dole queue in these times. It is understood that the staff who remain will have to walk up and down continually and ask people if they need help.Usually, the public like to browse and will approach us if they need assistance.We fear we will not be able to sit down.
name and address supplied
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