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15 library jobs to go – more could be shelved next year
IT’S official: 15 posts in Camden’s libraries are to be axed with more staff cuts set to follow in the near future if plans are approved next week.
Growing Your Library, a council report on the Town Hall’s efficiency programme, shows how it wants to cut just under £2million in spending on libraries over the next four years.
The overhaul will include the introduction of self-service machines.
Lib Dem leisure chief Councillor Flick Rea will decide on Tuesday whether to sign off the report, posted on the council’s website this week.
In press briefings this week – organised in response to overwhelming public interest in the plans – library chiefs Fiona Dean and Mike Clarke outlined the proposals and confirmed once and for all that the savings will be made through staffing cuts. They warned that more jobs are likely to go under a further review beginning in April next year.
Ms Dean said: “There could be further efficiencies. Our job is to provide the best service we can for the public. We need to challenge those things.”
Campaigners have pointed out that more than half a million pounds has been budgeted for redundancy pay, indicating that management appear to be planning for experienced and long-serving librarians to leave the service.
Malcolm Holmes, the former archivist at the local studies and archives department in Holborn Library, said staff were essential to putting the archive online.
“Camden used to be one of the leading authorities,” he said. “I think the future for the service is mediocre.”
Mr Clarke and Ms Dean said they had taken on board criticisms of their earlier plans to cut the post of archivist – and axing management posts is now regarded as a better solution.
“I want them using it not just for reading but also as a place where they can learn new skills and where the staff have time to talk to people,” Ms Dean said.
Cllr Rea has insisted she has to justify spending on libraries by getting more people through the doors.
Mr Clarke went further in the press briefing, warning “the way we consume books is already changing” and citing “ebooks” as a potential threat to the books on the shelves. |
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