In the wake of dwindling circulation and an apparent decline in the quality of public library service, the British government is publishing new, qualitative standards intended to give librarians some clout in resisting the attempts of local councils to reduce hours or close facilities entirely.
For the first time, local authorities in England and Wales will have to meet national standards for library service—including longer opening hours, Internet access, and collection depth—or face the withholding of government funding, according to the January 8 Independent newspaper. The standards, to be issued later in January by Secretary of State for Culture Chris Smith, will also make it more difficult for town councils to move libraries from central locations to less accessible areas.
Guy Daines, the Library Association’s principal policy adviser, said in the January 9 Guardian that the public response was “highly positive” in towns where the library was open Sundays on an experimental basis. “In two or three years, it will be unusual for an authority not to have at least one library open on Sunday,” he said.
Posted January 15, 2001.