[Publib] Re: Libraries around the World

[loganrb at sbcglobal.net]

The following is based  mainly on
hearsay and personal observation (I visit the UK annually). I freely
admit that this is not an unbiased account of the present situation
of UK public libraries. These are seriously underfunded, and have
been for years now. But to be fair, this problem is not limited to
libraries. 




You should know that UK local
governments (cities, boroughs, counties, etc) have never been
self-supporting in the way that political subdivisions in the USA
normally are. UK local governments levy a  property tax (formerly the
“rates”, now called “council tax”). So far as I know, the
value added tax payable (at up to 15%) on most goods and
services is collected  by the national government and none of it is
passed back to the local governments in whose areas it is collected.
Local governments' needs beyond the amount of their council tax
collections are met by grants from the national government – this
has always been the case. In the 1980's there was considerable
ideological conflict between the national government and some of the
larger cities; in consequence of this, the national government statutorily
reduced the powers of the larger units of local government and
imposed greater control on their spending (the government of Greater
London was abolished altogether, with most of its powers being
devolved to its constituent boroughs). The result is that local
governments (which control public libraries) have seen a decline in
their resources in real terms, and their freedom to allocate these
resources has been restricted. Although the political color of the
national government changed in 1997, it is notable that the party in
power since then has not seen fit to loosen the restrictions placed
on local government by its predecessor.



Since the 1980's local government
services of all types have declined  quantitatively and
qualitatively. Especially in rural areas, the lack of policing is a
scandal, as is the decline of publicly funded bus services. As for
libraries – the community in which my sister lives is comparable
both in population size and its socio-economic breakdown with the
central Texas city in whose public library I recently labored. Both
lie on the outer edge of a metropolitan area (to whose center neither
contributes, nor do they receive support from it). However, the Texan
city's library collection is growing, its circulation is increasing,
and the number of users grows every year. (A British visitor was
astonished at the large number of patrons in the Texas library on
what was, for that library, a quiet morning). By contrast, my
sister's home library (which she rarely uses) is housed in a 1930's
building shared with the Town Hall and other departments. It looks
old-fashioned, is not well provided with computers, and last time I
looked, its collection needed serious weeding (but I have no idea
what their materials budget might be – not much, by all appearances). The
library looks dowdy (like those shown in the BBC clip), and this in an affluent community – no wonder,
perhaps, that people are not using it much. Certainly a library such
as  that would have little appeal to the smart folk at the BBC.
Unattractiveness > less use > lower funding > more
unattractiveness > even less use > even lower funding ad
infinitum.



I believe that the national legislation
which defines the powers of local governments requires local
governments to provide “an efficient library service”. Funding,
however, is another matter. Even worse, unlike in the USA, there seems to
be no public lobbying effort in support of public libraries.  I do
not have the impression that the Library Association has been a very
effective advocate for better library funding. Perhaps someone can
enlighten me as to what the LA (or anyone else) is actually doing to be an effective advocate for  public libraries in the UK.
Robert LoganAustin, TX

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