https://www.youtube.com/user/WeLoveLibraries
Look at the talk by Tim Coates.
Great talk. Amazingly, I don't know if it's the same here, but a book costs between 50p and £1 to make. to buy in the shops it costs about 4.99 or 5.99.
Because there is so much administration in the library service, our library books are costing us, the tax payer, £20 each.
73% of women read books every week. Men are slightly less. It's THE MOST popular cultural activity.
The guy in this talk has worked with many bookstores and library services. He has saved millions due to unnecessary red tape while also improving book collections and services. Lewisham has been reducing the amount of books in it's library system for years.
His most famous project was for Hillingdon in West London. They have 19 libraries, 8 more than Lewisham. He saved 20% of their budget, made it better, more efficient and kept all the libraries open. Oh, he even managed to get them all improved.
I hope that Sir Steve Bullock and Cllr Chris Best watch these films before the decision is made to either close libraries or give them to someone else to run. I'd be interested in their feedback and if our books are procured in a similar way to the one shown in the film.
GREAT TALK ON LIBRARIES
Re: GREAT TALK ON LIBRARIES
Very enlightening and empowering. Thanks for that Lee.
However, a significant point that wasn't given enough coverage was in relation to the Library managers increase in responsibilities/workload. Don't get me wrong, I think the idea of a library 'Landlord' is an excellent comparison, but it would be an awful lot of work. A proportionate increase in salary/wage was acknowleged fpr the right person / people
I wonder how many other Council departments have excessive and needless operating costs, and yet frontline staff/services are always the first to suffer.?
However, a significant point that wasn't given enough coverage was in relation to the Library managers increase in responsibilities/workload. Don't get me wrong, I think the idea of a library 'Landlord' is an excellent comparison, but it would be an awful lot of work. A proportionate increase in salary/wage was acknowleged fpr the right person / people
I wonder how many other Council departments have excessive and needless operating costs, and yet frontline staff/services are always the first to suffer.?
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Hill Dweller
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Re: GREAT TALK ON LIBRARIES
There aren't many level playing fields and Hillingdon's a far bigger area than Lewisham with a similarly-sized population. I googled for images of London boroughs 
:
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h ... 29,r:0,s:0
I probably sound as if I'm constantly just sticking a spoke in whenever Lewisham is dissed and I suppose I am. I looked at library charges across Greater London and compared some amenities in them and I thought about business people that get philanthropic when they leave big business and about staffing levels that contribute to the theoretical cost per book. I also speculated about all these people that read books every week ... 73% !
:http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h ... 29,r:0,s:0
I probably sound as if I'm constantly just sticking a spoke in whenever Lewisham is dissed and I suppose I am. I looked at library charges across Greater London and compared some amenities in them and I thought about business people that get philanthropic when they leave big business and about staffing levels that contribute to the theoretical cost per book. I also speculated about all these people that read books every week ... 73% !