View from the Hill

... it's for you

I came across this story last night and was struck by the sentiment, as a community revives its book lending, while at the same time observing the mantra Renew-Reuse-Recycle.

Maybe there is a lesson here for all of use to think about what resources we have at our disposal, even those right under our noses.

Enjoy!

- Jeremy Clarke

Beg, borrow and steal

Calling all researchers and info pros, here is a Friday challenge for you all.

As this is the week of the Public Library Authorities Conference I have a topical question for you and the first person to post a comment to this blog post with the correct answer (and quoting your source) wins the prize at stake, in this case, a limited edition Sue Hill Recruitment mug.

Question:
On the topic of public library lending in the year 2007/2008, put the following loan categories into order of most issues (most to least):

Language, Literature and Biography

Humanities

Sport, Travel and Leisure Interests

Is anyone up for the challenge?

- Jeremy Clarke

SCL says libraries are for everyone

Weren't they already? The Society of Chief Librarians has today announced that we, the library card-carrying public, can now use any of 4,000 libraries across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This initiative aims to make local facilities available to everyone, to encourage visitors and to make the library the community centre. There are calls by government ministers for coffee shops to be opened in our libraries and even for a postal delivery service to be in operation. Already there are lively debates opening on this topic, one comment is about book-drops being installed similar to those at your local video store. I'd like to add that my favourite library, the brilliant Barbican library (particularly excellent for music) has a great drop off facility which saved me some late fees the other day!

What are your thoughts?

Striking a chord

Calling all researchers and info pros, here is a Friday challenge for you all.

As it is the season to be striking I have a topical question for you and the first person to post a comment to this blog post with the correct answer wins the prize at stake, in this case, a limited edition Sue Hill Recruitment mug.

Question:
In thousands, what is the the difference between stoppage days lost due to strike action in the public sector throughout 1998, compared to those lost in 2008?

Is anyone up for the challenge?

- Jeremy Clarke

Pop up Restaurants, Pop up Museums - why not Pop up Libraries?

Why do I never have the good ideas first?

Last week I went to a pop-up bar, and have been hearing wonderful tales of pop-up restaurants.  I even contemplated having one in my house to raise funds for charity.

I belong to the Guerrilla Gardening Group who brighten up those dull bare plots on road sides, roundabouts and in Council estates with glorious flowers.  This is a cause I support with all of my heart.

Today I see that at the Musuem Association's event for emerging museum professionals(now there is another great idea) a Dragons' Den type event was won by a team whose one minute pitch entailed setting up Museums in the many vacantshops that blight our town centres.  Bringing exhibits that otherwise languish in basements straight to the eye of the public can only be a good thing. More can be read at the Museum Association website.  A brilliant idea and well done the winning team.

Now - come on Libraryland.  Let's get out there and have pop-up libraries in the vacant shop next door to our museum colleagues.  Perhaps even put the mobile library in the car park (I know some of you do already).  Sell off your excess books - raise funds.  

Friday to day so off to the pop-up cafe bar on the top the multi-story car-park in Peckham again tonight to admire the sunset while sipping a welcome Campari. Plenty of room there for some books. - Sue Hill

Get It Loud in Libraries

Is it me? Don't get me wrong, I love reading about creative uses of libraries, encouraging and enticing new folk through the doors. But I do wish journalists could move away from the tired old stereotype of librarians telling everyone to be quiet. Yes, I remember being told to be quiet - but I was 14, at school, sniggering over a slightly naughty passage my friends and I had found in a book. It was right and proper that we were disciplined!

In this article on the BBC website about Morecambe Library hosting a rock gig featuring Juliette Lewis, the journo writes:

"Morecambe librarian Wendy Pollard describes the show as "wonderful" and was not tempted to tell anyone to "shhhh""

Really? Did she actually say that? I suspect not. But I bet the writer got a giggle out of it. Let's be proud of the innovative ways our libraries are being used. Surely the journos should match that innovation? Maybe it's something The Borough Market Twelve could add to their agenda?

- Suzanne Wheatley (aka Disgruntled of SE1)

All library users welcome!

Some lunchtime fun, courtesy of Kent public libraries who seem to be working overtime to get new users into their libraries. It puts a whole new complexion on describing a book as slightly foxed.

Lost list discovered in Australia

What treasures await librarians when sorting through boxes in dusty old vaults? Dr Olwen Pryke at the State Library of New South Wales in Australia discovered a carbon typset copy of Oskar Schindler's list. The German industrialist saved Jews from the Nazi death camps during World War II by forcing them into labour.  The newly discovered list was amongst papers acquired from the author of the book Schindler's Ark, Thomas Keneally, and is one of very few surviving copies of the original list, compiled by Schindler in an effort to persuade the Nazis to save his Jewish workers. One copy is housed in Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem, but the whereabouts of the original list is unknown. It is thought that Schindler wrote several lists. This particular copy of the list came into Keneally's possession after a chance encounter with survivor Leonard Pfefferberg, worker number 173 on the list.

It must have been incredible to find such an important historical document. "The original list was hurriedly typed on 18 April 1945 in the closing days of WWII, and it saved 801 men from the gas chambers," said Dr Pryke. "It's an incredibly moving piece of history."

Happy 10th Birthday E-Government

So the concept of e-government is 10 years old this month.  An article in the Guardian points out that a blink-and-you-could-miss-it section in a paper called "Modernising Government" highlighted the beginning of citizen-centred, joined-up e-government.  10 years eh.  Doesn't time fly.

Who do you borrow?

The Public Lending Right (PLR) has released details of the UK's library borrowing statistics for 2007-8, celebrating its 30th year. US write James Patterson remains top of the chart for the most borrowed author and is one of only 4 writers to be borrowed more than 1 million times in this period. The statistics make for interesting reading and also show the influence of TV culture through Richard & Judy's Book Club and JK Rowling's ever popular magical creation Harry Potter.

What was news to me was the money. For each loan, the writer receives 5.98 pence. This goes directly to writers, not publishers or agents. The PLR clearly plays a very important role for authors. Of course the cynical side of me wonders if, as a writer, you would ask your nearest and dearest to continue to borrow your books from their local libraries. The cynical part of me is very small, I might add. But it does bring another question to mind. Do statistics like this help promote the less-borrowed authors? Or does it perpetuate the popularity of the most-borrowed?

Is a popularity poll likely to influence your next choice of library book? Or does it make you shy away from the most-borrowed, picking a book that looks a bit dusty and unread?