The Community Library opens on Saturday.
Eighteen months ago our County Council published the results of a study into Buckinghamshire library provision, and decided that some libraries, by a host of criteria, were not performing well enough to justify their continued existence. Ours was one of these. Oh, the anguish, the handwringing, the re-jigging of the numbers to prove that no, actually, we were performing pretty well, actually, the emergency meetings and frenzied letter-writing - what a circus.
Looking back on this, it irks the crap out of me that the Council spent all that money on coming up with reasonable-sounding reasons for closing our lovely little library, instead of having the courage to say, sorry, there just isn't the money. THAT we would have understood straight away. Instead, all their effort and money wasted because they needed to patronise us, and all our time and energy wasted by attempting to reverse what we didn't know was a done deal.
So a group of feisty locals floated the idea of a community library, to be funded by anyone other than the council. Lots more work, involving legal, financial and property management types, then organising and training volunteers, and managing the book collection mean that by this coming Saturday, all systems will be go.
At tonight's committee meeting, we were shown an advance copy of the new county library flyer - locations, opening times, related services type of thing, and noticed a paragraph about the new community libraries. What is the betting that some councillor (she knows who she is!) will stand up at some high level meeting and say, look, we have five self-financing libraries - aren't we doing well!
Bastards.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
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3 comments:
A good way to get the library off to a flying start would be to hand out Special Brew - it worked in our area.
Kentish Town library! Indeed. It's true. The most powerful magnet of Special Brew tins in the whole wide world. I'm sure it'll all be far more toward in Bucks.
Oi! Don't you go bringin' your bright-lights city-slicker ways with you down our way! We loikes urr loibry just foine as 'tis, wi'out yurr faaancy-schmaaaancy tins! We got Loony Jim's home-made prune'n'turps lickewer, which does us proud. Moind yew, since the Mad Cat Lady doid hittin'her head 'gainst the Village Idiot, interruptin' 'im plantin' this yearrrr's crop o' Giant African Waterlilies, it's all we got. BUT WE LOIKE IT, so GET ORFF MOY LAAA-A-AAND!
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