Community Libraries

[Aprilsinparis]

AIBU to want to know what happens to the staff who were previously employed by the council to run these libraries, once they are handed over to be run by volunteers.

Sorry, should explain that we don't work on a daily basis beside trained staff, only that there is a librarian who is the contact for the community libraries who trains us and helps us as we need it.

longwayoff The library buildings are still there, but they are looking pretty run down. Volunteers are probably doing a very good job, but you can see that it won't be long before it is decided that the buildings themselves are not worth any outlay, and will be sold to make way for any money making venture the council sees fit.

Yes, thats probably the way it will go. Very depressing. All that Victorian philanthropy. Buildings to last forever. Mechanics Institutes. Huge schools. Carnegie buildings. Peabody buildings. Cottage hospitals.etc. who needs em? Books? Who needs em? Good luck. I hope you find a few old colleagues to meet up with.

Where I lived before the old library moved a good few years ago. Then the registry office moved into the library so I think it's good for a while now. I hope so. I was disappointed when it was thrown out by the local toffs as they could hire the old registry office as a wedding venue for more money moved but in terms of keeping the library it did make sense.

Where we live now, I have yet to explore the full services but they have conference rooms upstairs, are easy to park near, town centre location and the staff are very friendly and helpful. They have machines for things like bus passes and blue badges.

Same is happening with parks. No money, no maintenance, merely Council encouragement of "Friends" groups to fundraise and to carry out the maintenance that would previously have been done by paid Council workers. And even if those workers are redeployed rather than made redundant, it's yet another area where jobs are lost, where there are now no job opportunities for the young.

Oh no MereDint, I'd forgotten about the parks.there will be nothing left in 10 years

Trumps, where did you study?

I was at Manchester Poly.i now work in a school library - part time and badly paid but I do really love it. I wish I could find a well paid full time job but they are so scarce.

There is a glint of hope for the libraries in the success of the judicial review brought against Northamptonshire council who tried to shut down 21 of the county's 28 libraries. We'll see if it makes any difference to their plans...

I'm one of these crappy volunteers who gives up my time, along with about 20 others, to keep our local library going.
It wasn't the choice of running with paid or voluntary staff. It was the choice of voluntary staff or closure.
For the record, we can order books from anywhere in the county, most of which come within the week. We buy our own stock with donations and fines/ reservation money and have PC's to loan. We also have a cafe with homemade cakes, unfortunately sitting near them is deleterious to my waistline but hey ho....
And any mess ups are pulled up on by our ex-army manager .
So please don't tar us all with the same brush. If we didn't do what we're doing there wouldn't be a service in our village.

I do wonder though if the councils actually had to close libraries if the public outcry would make them rethink the budget cuts ? I do really appreciate volunteers keeping them open but it does let the council off the hook - I'm torn over it all as hate sounding critical of volunteers as I volunteer for a number of things with the kids but I'm not sure if volunteering to fill a previously paid job is right

It isn't right Thirtyrock39 What councils are saying is that although you have worked hard, and more than earned your qualifications for doing the job, we would like you to do it for bugger all, or we will get volunteers, who are more than willing to do it for nowt!

Anyone remember trade unions? Those loathsome organisations that protected workers rights and public services. But who needs em? Not us with our gig economy and free labour from volunteers, away with grasping TU bosses, welcome the freedom of working for Uber and others offering zero hours contracts for reward that barely covers extortionate rents. Ranting. Need to shut up.

Maggie "It was the choice of voluntary staff or closure"

yes, but here they are going to close them anyway, plus there was a period where staff were expected to teach volunteers. I actually would have preferred it if no one had volunteered. I think they would have closed totally but then it would have become an election issue and we might have had them reinstated.

the volunteers from mine, from what I can see, are people trying to get work experience to put on a CV, so I totally get that people have a range of reasons for doing it. No one is personally criticising volunteers. Just wondered if it's a different path to the same outcome.

Trade Unions, ooh I loved them but I actually have a couple of friends who really disapprove of them.

Hi womaningreen, have those disapproving friends still got jobs?

Qualified librarian here who is so sad about what has happened to public libraries.
I am so angry about volunteer run libraries - where are the volunteers pretending to be doctors, teachers, solicitors or other graduate professions.
I worked bloody hard for a degree in library science but now an unqualified volunteer gets to do the job and people like me are forced out of jobs.
I would rather see a library close and the council deal with the community wrath than keep the doors open with a crappy partial service.
So sad.

I'm a volunteer at such a library myself, and the council here have palmed the "management" off onto a local charity who are supposed to recruit volunteers

Except we can't even access the systems because the council have fouled up the GDPS requirements. This means that all their own staff are still there, the charity are still getting their generous grant, the hours spent training will have to be repeated and the volunteers are leaving in droves as they have nothing to do

In other words, yet another typical local council cock up

I'm not sure if volunteering to fill a previously paid job is right

I used to feel the same way myself, until it became clear that the council intended to close them anyway - as so often, the "consultations" were a mere pretence over a decision actually made

A cynical view might be that they fully intend to close them even with volunteers coming forward, since they're already being set up to fail

I find it a bit sad people are advocating that it's better the libraries are closed, I doubt there would be enough uproar for them to be reopened which would be a lot more complicated than just keeping them ticking over and it's the most vulnerable that would suffer most.

I honestly couldn't afford to cover 1/3 of what my son usually reads so even if just facilitates access to the existing stock, then it's better than nothing.

And by not using them, you're giving the council more reasons to shut them...

This isn't to say that trained librarians aren't great and they're not dearly needed, but by keeping the libraries open in the interim and fighting to bring paid positions back seems far more likely to succeed than allowing them to be closed.

DuelingFanjo I was at Manchester, 1994/95!

I think the whole idea of volunteer-run services is going to implode anyway, it's just unsustainable. I volunteer in my local museum, which is now run by a charitable trust because the council closed it. A handful of us aren't retired, but the vast majority are. But as the retirement age creeps up, the retiree's won't be physically or mentally capable of filling the roles. I know that if I began to work full-time I would need to think about the few hours I give. It makes me very angry to think of the disrespect being shown to the cultural and intellectual heritage in this country, that services that doesn't make a financial return are dismissed as irrelevant. In my more conspiracy minded moments I think it's intentional, the creation of an ill-educated, ill-informed workforce, open to the exploitation.

Services that don't.

I got made redundant and now do some part time admin in a school for less money. I have an Msc, but so many highly qualified people lost their jobs it’s near impossible to get another. Someone else I know did another masters and works in ergonomics.

Our library is still going but qualified staff largely made redundant and replaced by temping staff who are paid but have no idea how to run a library beyond the basics. Very sad. I no longer bother to go as they stopped getting new books and don't accept donations.

You're right trumps. So short sighted and depressing.

Crusoe I think I feel a bit like you - I would have rather seen what the fall out would have been.

I also do silently think to myself - ‘fuck of and volunteer for a charity, don’t prop up the councils questionable decisions’ but I also know the volunteers are doing it with good intentions, tough when it’s your job though.

@longwayoff

yes, they have. I don't really get the disapproval. one day I pointed out that membership of a professional organisation giving legal advice etc was the same thing and there were some "oh hang on, WomaninGreen has a point".

I know one of them disapproves because his parents spent several years in the civil service shuffling paper; they admit that freely, that they had no stress and nothing to do. But the fact that some things are badly/oddly organised should not put the kibosh on basic workers rights!

to those saying they would rather the library was kept open - I don't have children, but as I said upthread, the libraries in my area removed more than 75% of the books. The rest is "meeting space" for the council. There clearly is no plan at all to keep the libraries open and this is after we had many demos, objections, FOI requests to show how much they paid consultants to suggest closing the libraries.

also, as I said, having had friends working there, I just couldn't walk in with the place staffed by volunteers. I'm not having a go at anyone still using the library, just that I don't want to do it and there's nothing there for me, they are not bringing in new books or anything, just carrying on with the limited stock. It's mostly not staffed by volunteers - you now need to apply for an entry card thing?

And I heard it's not terribly safe for teens to go without their parents anyway because with no staff it's a haven for dodgy blokes.