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THE MANOR VIEW |
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This is the official Newsletter of The Users & Friends of Manor House Library November 2010 |
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Protest marchers showing their muscle en route to the Town Hall on Saturday 30th October |
This show of ‘People Power’ was an amusing affair in a carnival atmosphere.
Expertly escorted by the police, the marchers chanted “No ifs, no buts, no
library cuts!” as they headed for the Town Hall, solemnly carrying their
coffin marked “Lewisham Libraries”. The message was clear.
But, the whole affair was light-hearted. The “snake” comprising tots to octogenarians,
was an event attracting whole families. Well, after all, libraries are family
venues.
VIEW FROM THE CHAIR |
Well, here we are again. And just when we thought things had settled
down nicely, with Lewisham progressing its library refurbishment plan for
long-term investment.
Remember those words? Lewisham – the best place to live, work and learn……!
We seemed to be on course for some of that, at least. Wavelengths, now in
the process of redevelopment by means of a PFI, Torridon Road, refurbishment
in a joint project with the Children’s Centre. It all looked fine from the
ground.
But then the sky fell in.
Before you could hold your breath, let alone take a deep one, five branch
libraries were earmarked for closure in July to save £830,000 over
three years (plus a little bit more for good measure).
So, out come the box files, and yes, two of those heading for the block had
been picked on back in 1999/2000 because they were “failing”, just like ours
was supposed to be at the time. And that little exercise, doomed to failure,
cost Lewisham’s tax-payers £1.2m. Happily for us all, that money was
ploughed back in to the Library system and every branch (except ours) got
a piece of the action, with a little decoration here and a little improvement
in book stock there. We had to wait some 9 years before we got our all-singing,
all-dancing new throbbing library. But, just look at those statistics. Open
65 hours a week, visits to the library up 500% and our already pretty good
issues are up 300%.Some council officers could spend a year or two trying
to make sense of these stunning numbers, but, I guess a quick look at Manor
House and its opening hours and I’m afraid the ‘Bl….n’ obvious comes to mind.
So how come this message fails to get through to them now? Only the Head
of Library Service has changed since our collision back at the turn of the
millennium.
Oh? So Blackheath Village, Sydenham, Crofton Park, New Cross and Grove Park
are not failing? Oh, no! It’s not that they are failing now, it’s the money,
honey!
And the only way they can think of how to save it, is to close all five libraries
and fire up to 20 trained and competent staff.
Do nuts and hammers come to mind?
Well, try this one. The brilliance of our officer class is truly breathtaking.
Instead of keeping five moderately successful libraries open, fully stocked
and manned by library staff, we shuffle off to ‘off-sites’ cutely termed
“Outreach centres” with a token library presence, manned entirely by volunteers,
with a member of library staff occasionally popping in to change the books
and check on the volunteers.
Summarising, Lewisham will lose 41% of its accessible library provision.
It is not hard to realise that the drop in quality of the remaining provision
will be consistent. So, there you have it folks. Which is next? Manor House
Library?
Well, no… The story goes, that those libraries recently refurbished will
not close because of the high investment and the same goes for those tied
in to PFIs, because they can’t, for contractual reasons.
However, our watchword, has always been “Watch This Space!” And therefore,
we must always be vigilant.
The current dilemma is well documented by Pat on our website www.librarylondon.org
with notes taken at all the consultation meetings covering the proposed closures
to date and the council meetings en route.
However, one question had been raised by ourselves back in July (but naturally
ignored) was “How about reducing the opening hours of all libraries in order
to save the money and so avoid any closures? After all, 3 years is not forever…..Things
might change in 2014.”
No. With medieval thoroughness, the block remains readied and the axe is
whetted. However, there is a “but” coming here.
At the 11th hour, our Mayor has decided to defer the decision on whether
or not to close the five libraries proposed for closure until February 2011.
This could be just a breathing space to allow the cuts decided at the 17th
November Mayor and Cabinet meeting to sink in to the public, and perhaps
suggest justification to follow through and close the libraries in the New
Year. The current proposals to close the libraries are hugely unpopular,
as are the suggested “Outreach centre” provisions for a much reduced library
facility near the libraries earmarked for closure. That suggestion alone
has uncovered massive difficulties, even without the ludicrous idea of running
them with volunteer staff alone!
Alternatively, they really could be having a rethink, and look at the Alternative
Strategy we have produced and reviewed by professionals for saving almost
twice the amount they said they required, without closing any libraries at
all. We will have to wait and see.
Meanwhile, we remain safe and are very pleased that Manor House Library is
being hailed as a major example of how to run a library successfully.
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Did you know there are two thriving Reading Groups on
offer? There is the Thursday afternoon session run by Ralph Winkler,
who was librarian at Manor House before the refurbishment. It meets at
2.00pm on the last Thursday of each month.
Then there is the Saturday morning session run by our current librarian in charge, Claire Scothern. It meets at 11.00am on the second Saturday of each month. Why not join one, or both??!! |
Peter
Membership and Information Campaign
We decided on a membership campaign BEFORE the Lewisham Council announcement
that they were proposing to cut 5 libraries from the current 12. This was
to meet the expected requirements of Central Government in reducing the
local authority grant by 25%. Consequently the Chancellor, the Right Hon.
George Osborne MP has announced a 7.1% cut pa for each of the next 4 years.
But, these will be front loaded. More details will be published by government
in December.
Such a drastic cut to the service would inevitably have an impact on the
remaining libraries, staffing and stock as well as on-going maintenance.
It was very worrying that no alternative was on offer as this would leave
the library service as a 2 tier service. Some residents would do far better
than other residents although contributing the same taxes. Frequently the
question has been raised of reducing the service across the borough, to make
the cuts fair. Why not cut Lewisham Life (and save the same as cutting out
5 libraries) or reduce the Local Assemblies? The locality funding for each
of the 18 wards is to be reduced by a quarter to £7,500 pa and the
Mayor’s Fund, actually, it is our money, will also be reduced by a quarter
to £18,500 pa. You can do the math. In one year that is £468,000,
more than enough to keep the 5 libraries going!
We wrote, printed and delivered our leaflets locally and were very pleased
with the response. We have also worked with each of the new library support
groups that have sprung up to defend Crofton Park, New Cross, Grove Park
and Sydenham. Blackheath Village Library already had the advantage of a user
group. Lewisham looks as if it is to be the template for all London’s public
libraries. If this domino goes down, the rest will follow! Sounds just like
a banking crisis!!!
A detailed commentary is to be found on www.librarylondon.org
Your Lewisham, Your Say
The consultation exercise held by Lewisham Council, no doubt to pre-empt the fury over local government cuts in services, was not quite what it seemed. Apparently it produced only 2,500 responses. This is about 1% - 2% of the electorate. The campaigning library groups had handed over petition signatures at the Council meeting on 23rd September. At the Mayor and Cabinet meeting on 17th November, even more were handed in from each group. Blackheath added another 2,000, Sydenham another 1,838 (already gave 3,707), New Cross 5,063. Over 20,000 signatures have been collected by diligent, hard working people standing on street corners, in all weathers TO SAVE THEIR LIBRARIES. That figure is more like 10% of the electorate.
Alliance Group
Tim Coates was elected chair for Libraries for Life for London in March
2010, when Alan Templeton stood down after a 10 year stint. Having now
worked with the representatives of the user groups across London he is
planning an independent Library Alliance. It would consist of a Board,
working under a Charter with a website and be comparable to a Consumer
Association for public libraries. Funding would be raised independently.
All campaigning groups would be able to use it as a resource.
We could not have contributed so much to the current campaign in favour
of libraries without his advice and experience.
National Short Story Week
This took place from 22nd November to 28th November 2010. No doubt any
Radio 4 aficionados will have heard that homage to the genre.
Peter and I were invited to attend the launch of the week at one of Charles
Dickens’ houses, in Doughty Street, WC1. Being a delightful Georgian town
house it was perfectly suited
in atmosphere and design to the evening events. Sheer indulgence was listening
to the reading by a professional actor to Dickens’ own ghost short story,
“The Signalman,” in subdued lighting.
Do look for short story collections in our own library service, or order
them and get them into the collection.
The Heritage Board
The funding is secure – it is in the Bank!!!!
The material is assembled.
But, life is what happens when you are making other plans. Life, in the form
of Lewisham Council’s proposed library closures could not be ignored.
We are hoping our resident Graphic Artist will enable us to have the material
organised for the board before Christmas.
PLR plr@ukgateway.net
Normally this means Peter Laurence Richardson. In the library world it means Public Lending Right. You will be aware that authors are paid a tiny amount (6.29p per issue from public libraries.) This was administered by a quango with 9 employees, to be abolished. The budget of £7m paid out over £6m of the money to the authors, but there is a ceiling of £6,000 per author. The payment is to be reduced by 1% so it will be 6.00p per issue. Other overall reductions are in the pipeline but, on balance The Society of Authors were relieved it was not worse. Future administration will come from elsewhere. At present the PLR is not extended to e-books. There is a considerable question mark over how e-books will be dealt with as they are not printed matter as stated in the Public Libraries Act. But that is for another day.
Sir Thomas Lawrence
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Harriet Baring (c.1807) |
If you have completed the tour of the Manor House you will have seen 3 copies
of works by Sir Thomas Lawrence – Harriet Baring, daughter of Sir Francis,
Francis Thornhill Baring, as a boy and grandson of Sir Francis and Sir Francis
himself – the originals are held in the Baring Archive. Until 23rd January
2011 there is an exhibition of Sir Thomas’s work in the National Portrait Gallery.
One canvas is the striking portrayal of Sir Francis Baring, his brother John
Baring and his son-in-law, Charles Wall, who was married to his eldest daughter,
Harriet (Pictured). All were closely involved in the Baring Bank. This was
painted to capture the times (c.1806/07) and eminence of Baring’s Bank on the
world stage. Sir Francis stayed at the Manor House, Lee, regularly during these
years.
On an artistic note, even without the Barings, the exhibition is stunning and
intoxicating.
Comments and/or wish list …..
The newly refurbished Manor House has been open for 18 months. Various remarks
have been made about the stock available, the noise, use of mobile phones
etc. The visits and issues statistics show the library has been phenomenally
successful. In fact Lewisham seems to have bucked the national trend, although
there is a national increase in numbers of children attending libraries and
borrowing material. Maybe that is what happens when money is invested. That
takes us back to the current proposal to close 5 libraries.
What do you have to say? Please e-mail your opinions and suggestions to plr@ukgateway.net
Those without e-mail drop off written comments to 18 Manor Lane Terrace.
We know how difficult it is for the user voice to be heard, but persistence
and perseverance has paid off in the past.
MLA – the Museums, Libraries and Archives quango
This is set to disappear under the so-called bonfire of the quangos. It
may re-emerge as a “committee of experts” within the DCMS, or something like
that. In general it has not favoured library users but gone along with trends
(where do these fashions and trends come from?) Prior to the appointment
of Roy Clare, as CEO, even the library person in that position did not really
help.
The truly worrying aspect is that Roy Clare supports the Community Library
model. But beware the interpretation of community. It is not benign, or in
favour of your service. That is the bandwagon Lewisham council has jumped
aboard in order to divest itself of proper libraries. “Fake alternatives”
is the name of the game.
Merry Christmas!
The sketch below was drawn by William H. Kerry, M.B.E., a local artist
who worked as an illustrator for a Government periodical about 1960.
In February 2001 we wrote to St. James’s Palace in an effort to locate
the artist. The Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood kindly forwarded
our
letter to the Executors of his will. Subsequently we received an email from
his son, granting us authority to use the copy as we wished.
We do have limited numbers of mounted prints for sale (a framed sample of this was given by us to the library on loan and is mounted in Meeting Room 2 on the first floor). Also, a stock of Postcards are available, as are greetings cards showing the picture on the front and our logo and the back. The cards are otherwise blank and may easily be used as Christmas cards.
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Prices:- Mounted Prints* £5.50 each Postcards cards A5 £0.50p each Greetings cards A6 £0.25p each or £1.00 for 5 |
Please telephone your order to Pat or Peter on 020 8852 9301 alternatively, post your order to:-
The Users & Friends of Manor House Library
18 Manor Lane Terrace, Lewisham, London SE13 5QL
* Overall size 41.9cm (16½ ins) x 27.5cm (10¾ ins) approx with
a 3¼ inch border at either side, and a 1¾ inch border on top
and bottom.