| Topic: | Re:Re:Libraries under threat | |
| Posted by: | Phil Taylor | |
| Date/Time: | 24/03/11 09:19:00 |
| Nigel, You are right to be furious. Over the last few years the council has spent £10 million refurbishing libraries, including Northfield which is now under threat. The library at Northolt Leisure Centre is brand new. Refurbishing the other threatened libraries will cost roughly £1.8 million, only a fraction of what Labour wants to spend on its car park. There is no capital case to close libraries. Labour has the money but wants to spend it on something else. Simple. On the revenue side it is hard to argue that libraries should be protected but it is very strange that three of the threatened libraries are in the top 4 most efficient Ealing libraries in terms of cost per book borrowed. The least efficient library is Acton but we are not hearing proposals to close that one. Funny that. I am totally for Acton library but it does look like the worst. If that one ain’t closing then leave the rest alone please. Two years ago when I was in charge we made some big changes to the library service’s back office. There is still much further to go there. We are still carrying too many expensive people in the back office and management hierarchy who don’t want to be out front dealing with people. Watch this video if you want to see how things could be done: |