As you were

First of all, he's back: http://www.goodlibraryguide.com/blog/archives/2011/01/somerset_1.html

Secondly,'it is unlikely that there is a need to close a library anywhere for financial reasons in order to meet the requirements of deficit recovery'. Oh well, that's all right, then. Tim has spoken.

 

From campaigner to expert

We thought it had been too quiet. In yesterday's This is Somerset we learn that an 'internationally recognised library expert' will be visiting the county tomorrow. Guess who?
Tim used to call himself a campaigner. When and why did he change to being an expert?

Where is he?

The world is abuzz with libraries; one cannot switch on the radio or television without the subject coming up. So where, we feel entitled to ask, is our hero? Awfully quiet. Is he cooking something up with Eric Pickles and Boris Johnson? We imagine them as the three witches on a blasted heath, stirring a pot containing the bones and internal organs of librarians made redundant.

So why has he left us in our hour of need? We're at a loss, and don't know what to think. Should we sack the librarians and send in the volunteers? Should we hand it all over to Johnny Laing, as they did in Hounslow? Should we all become trusts? It worked so well for hospitals, after all. Tell us, Tim. We think the world should know.

In a Pickle

Oh dear. It seems as if Tim has fallen under the spell of Eric, the silver-tongued seducer from Keighley. If libraries can be run satisfactorily at 30% of their current cost, as Eric and Tim claim, could Eric function with 30% fewer of his chins?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picture from Wikimedia Commons

CoatesWatch: we ask the questions on the nation's lips.

I want to get you in my tent

Thus sang Viv Stanshall of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah band all those years ago. The hoarier members of CoatesWatch were reminded of this when we saw an event, an Executive Briefing no less,  in Sheffield entitled Library campaigns. Are we all inside the tent?. Sadly it seems to be a reference to the euphemistic metaphor much used by the CIA about foreign right-wing dictators backed by the USA, covertly or overtly. Anyone who questioned the wisdom of supporting fascist low-life would be replied to either thus, 'better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in', or 'he may be a fascist son-of-a-bitch, but he's our fascist son-of-a-bitch'. Tim appears on the bill. We would not dream of suggesting that he could ever be an embarassing ally, or insanitary in any sense.

The pricing is odd as well. The ordinary public get in gratis, but practicing [sic] librarians have to pay £30. This reminds us of those louche night-clubs that offer free admission for girls, though we hope SINTO do not have the same motives. It's a long way off, but the Yorkshire chapter of CoatesWatch have the date in our diaries. Some of the rest of the team may well find this vaut le voyage, as the Michelin guides say.