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Libraries are not immune
• GERRY Harrison’s letter in (October 8) sought to equate the dark days of 1998 with the present problems within Camden’s Library Service.
While I do not deny that there is a tremendous amount of anger in the borough about the proposed introduction of self-service terminals into the libraries, it is an extreme exaggeration to suggest that the two situations are similar.
In 1998 Camden had been ruled by one political party for very many years and this group had come to believe that it had a divine right to rule.
To make matters worse it was a party which had lost its contact with its roots and was on a long march to the political right.
It was the party which called itself New Labour and it was a party which was more interested in financiers than ordinary people. With a comfortable overall majority on the council, it is unsurprising that the party firmly believed that decimating Camden’s Library Service was an acceptable solution to a minor funding problem.
The people of Camden proved it wrong.
They forced the council to retreat, not 13 Labour councillors. Most of these councillors initially voted in favour of the closures but, being realists, they changed their minds.
They probably saved the borough Labour Party as a result. Of course, Mr Harrison has also forgotten to mention that the vast majority of Labour councillors voted in favour of the closures. There has never been any expression of remorse from these wreckers.
The 2009 economic climate, both nationally and internationally, is infinitely worse than in 1998. The world has managed to avoid a 1930s-style slump only by a very slender margin.
The private sector has cut back severely and the public sector is about to have the same surgery applied. The public sector may wish to claim immunity from cuts but this is simply not going to have any impact on the Treasury.
The wealth-creating part of the economy cannot carry the burden alone and this is very obvious, even to the national politicians who helped to make the mess in the first place.
There are stark choices to be made in Camden and the library service has to be part of the overall belt tightening.
If self-service is not introduced into Camden’s libraries, where should the cuts be made?
Should libraries be closed? Should libraries only be open for two or three days per week?
Should the service stop buying books and let its present stock slowly fall apart?
As well over 50 per cent of the library budget is allocated to labour costs, any effective option will almost certainly have to involve a reduction in staff. The unpleasant facts have to be faced. We may not like being the victims of greed and incompetence in others, but we have to make the best of the bad situation.
Alan Templeton
Chair, Camden Public Libraries Users Group, NW6
Quiet, please!
• LOVELY, comfortable, quiet places, notes Gene Adam commenting on libraries in Camden (October 8).
Dream on, Gene! Such an idyll is not to be found in Belsize or Camden Town, etcetera. There the children’s section is open allowing their screams and howling to create the conditions found in playgrounds. Don’t blame the toddlers.
Rather rebuke their carer and the authority for allowing the conditions.
Gerry Harrison (former councillor as we are repeatedly reminded) did vote for closures in the past but relented to support users who protested furiously at that time.
That useful book The Uses of Literacy by Richard Hoggart will, on reading by officials, encourage them to write reports in English as she is spoken, and not, as Ruth Gorb noted, in gobbledegook, an alien usage.
The report is not intended for users’ eyes but thanks to a leak we heard of it. Councillor Flick Rea really should be ashamed of herself for this sleight of hand, and reject the ideas now, and restore at least some of the ethos of a library to this public, and much valued, service.
As for labelling librarians as service operatives! Though a rose by any other name... a rose is a rose is a rose.
Agatha Henry
Steele’s Road, NW3
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