Report to the People
17th November 2003
150 Years of Service
Well
I was hoping to give you an account of
the dazzling speech I made in last week’s debate on public libraries.
But,
despite some opposition MSPs muttering about it not being a subject worthy of
discussion, it in fact generated a huge amount of interest and, hence, was
heavily oversubscribed. While this
popularity was undoubtedly encouraging to those who work in, support and use our
libraries, it sadly meant the Chamber was denied the benefit of my own pearls of
wisdom on the subject.
Not,
of course, that I am annoyed or upset about this. (It would just be churlish to point out that this would never
have happened in my days as Chief Whip.) And I did have the consolation of being able to intervene on
the Minister and put one point to him which local library staff had raised with
me.
At
the moment, as they celebrate their 150th year, the face of public
libraries is changing. Gone are the
places I remember from my youth, where horn-rimmed harridan librarians tried to
put you off reading for life by making the place as joyless as possible and
shouting “shh!” at the patrons.
Today, libraries are
brighter, more friendly and much more accessible. And, thanks to an £11.5 million
free Internet access scheme, they are offering access to everything from
lifelong learning to almost unlimited online information resources.
The scheme – known as the People's Network – is apparently the
largest ever investment in the history of public libraries.
However,
while this one-off capital investment is welcome, if the new services now on
offer are not properly supported in the longer term, their future cannot be
guaranteed.
So
I was glad, when I asked the Minister if local authorities should not meet their
responsibilities and provide the necessary revenue funding, that he agreed.
Public
libraries are a valuable community resource.
For 150 years they have opened the door to new worlds and new ideas
through the magic of books. Now,
they are opening the door to lifelong learning for many who would not normally
have taken advantage of it and are providing a level of access to information of
which the philanthropists of 1853 could only have dreamt.
If
libraries are to continue to update and refresh the services they offer for
another century and a half, they cannot be seen as a luxury item or an add-on.
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