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Clive Bingley, Edwin Fleming and Sarah Lawson
IT IS BY direction of NLW'S Subscription Department—to whom I have the good fortune to have been married for nigh on 16 years—that I open my first column of the new year with a…
Abstract
IT IS BY direction of NLW'S Subscription Department—to whom I have the good fortune to have been married for nigh on 16 years—that I open my first column of the new year with a lot of gubbins about subscriptions and their administration. Do please read it and, if appropriate, take action, or I'll never hear the end of it.
Sir, We need idealists like Elspeth Hyams (Proceedings, September 1996), but sometimes idealism obscures hard reality. At least she has the grace to say that she is optimistic…
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Sir, We need idealists like Elspeth Hyams (Proceedings, September 1996), but sometimes idealism obscures hard reality. At least she has the grace to say that she is optimistic about the future contrary to some colleagues in the public sector (my italics). Her public library colleagues do not lack idealism or enthusiasm, but do very often find themselves the victims of local party‐politicking, obsessions with fashionable management theories and, in some quarters, a blatant disregard for professional qualifications and experience. It is only too obvious in libraries where qualified librarians have been replaced by unqualified staff or those without relevant experience that the quality of service has suffered alarmingly. The parameters of a question and the scope and potential of available resources are simply not apparent. Recently I read in a local paper that protests about the redundancy of the borough's music librarian (‘our wonderful music librarian’, one correspondent said) were ill‐founded because music enquiries would continue to be answered by other members of the library staff! Adequately? I doubt it. Another borough as a matter of policy (and, no doubt, in the questionable interests of political correctness) appoints non‐librarians to work in its reference libraries. It is clear that the scope of the role and the skills necessary to handle enquiries have not been appreciated by those who formulate such policies. Unfortunately the public too readily accepts such standards as no more than they would expect, with the double result that qualified librarians are insulted and frustrated (what was the point of all the training and experience?) and confidence in the library is not enhanced. (For more in this vein, see my keynote address to the ISG's 1994 Study Weekend in Refer, 11(1), Winter 1995, pp.1–8.)
THE new chief in our parish, the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in succession to S C Holliday is to be Melvyn Barnes, Chief Librarian of Ipswich in East Anglia for the…
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THE new chief in our parish, the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in succession to S C Holliday is to be Melvyn Barnes, Chief Librarian of Ipswich in East Anglia for the last couple of years. The Kensington post offers a spacious central library of recent vintage, with particularly good reference services, though an over‐preponderance of student pre‐emption of table space. There is a strong local history interest in the borough, keenly fostered by Chief Assistant Brian Curle. We use central ref a good deal and have always found them very helpful, though some of the branches are a shade parochial. We look to the youthful Mr Barnes to blow a little fresh air into the system, and hope his salary covers the difference between the cost of houses in London and Ipswich.
Not many weeks back, according to newspaper reports, three members of the library staff of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London were dismissed. All had…
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Not many weeks back, according to newspaper reports, three members of the library staff of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London were dismissed. All had refused to carry out issue desk duty. All, according to the newspaper account, were members of ASTMS. None, according to the Library Association yearbook, was a member of the appropriate professional organisation for librarians in Great Britain.
Clive Bingley, Edwin Fleming and Sarah Lawson
THERE MUST BE, I think, some sort of automatic professional override‐switch which cuts in on lawyers and slows them down to a pace not exceeding two yards per hour whenever two…
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THERE MUST BE, I think, some sort of automatic professional override‐switch which cuts in on lawyers and slows them down to a pace not exceeding two yards per hour whenever two parties to a proposed agreement indicate that they wish to complete a deal with extraordinary swiftness.
Malcolm J. Campbell, Guy Daines, David Ruse and Christine Wise
And for this relief give much thanks. A certain buildup of copy requires me to be brief.
Verena Thompson, Ruth Kerns, Edwin Fleming, Allan Bunch, Rachel Adatia and Tony Joseph
Time to Move On After 15 years working within the profession, eight of which were spent as a chartered librarian, I am completing my first month as the Senior Information and…
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Time to Move On After 15 years working within the profession, eight of which were spent as a chartered librarian, I am completing my first month as the Senior Information and Advice Officer for the London Borough of Newham's Youth Service.
The first consequence of the admonition (see page 34 quickly!) from the Persons of Wembley, that it is objectionable to seek to entertain or amuse you, is that I have spent 45…
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The first consequence of the admonition (see page 34 quickly!) from the Persons of Wembley, that it is objectionable to seek to entertain or amuse you, is that I have spent 45 minutes of a bright Boxing‐Day morning wondering how the hell to begin this column. Then I reflect that the only effective cure for women's libbery is a happy sex‐life, and I raise a glass to the abolition of earnestness, to the defenestration of unisexuality, and to the abomination of wopersons in 1983. ‘Sexism’‐blathering dotties steer well clear of me this unfolding year!