Customer-friendly features

Oh, dear. Even the press release leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

According to a big research study published today by the UK's MLA, "while books remain at the core of the public's expectation for the service, there is clear demand for customer-friendly features such as online book lending, children's facilities, adult classes, helpful staff, convenient opening hours."

Whoa. Didn't realise that children's facilities and helpful staff were considered extra, "customer-friendly features." I kind of took them as a right.

It's interesting to note that current and lapsed users rate coffee shop on site, longer opening hours, and children's activities as the top three things that "would encourage them to use libraries more."

It is alarming to see that only 14% of those surveyed view the library as somewhere to take their children, but heartening to see that even non library users see the value in library service.

England, I do hope you realise I pick on you because I love you... and because I know you can do better.

And maybe a little because I miss you. It's a passive-aggressive thing, you see.

Saving public libraries in Britain

Interesting post over at The Guardian online about public libraries in Britain. Critical of the amount of $ being spent on buildings, when collections seem to be dwindling and some libraries are closing outright. Rachel Cooke writes that "expenditure on books in our libraries is below 8% of the total public library funds, and in inner London that figure is just 5.7% (across the country, councils spend just 1.6% of their funding on children's books; several councils, Hackney and Doncaster among them, spend less than 1%." Disturbing stuff! Cooke also has an interesting perspective on the Idea Store (having not yet visited one, I can't say if she got an accurate picture, but it's certainly not the picture painted at conference sessions I went to about Idea Stores! They neglected to mention the waifish book collection!)

Fun stat: "1.5 million visits to Norfolk and Norwich Millennium library last year makes it the UK's busiest library." I'll be putting that one on my list for December.