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New library lunacy
• REGARDING our declining public libraries, I simply quote: “At times lunacy undoubtedly ruled but though creaky, the service was well-loved and well-used.
“By the beginning of the 1980s, however it began to look as if public libraries might have survived the cranks advocating community librarianship, who wanted to turn librarians into book-wielding social workers and to hell with the loyal 30 per cent of readers, another spectre loomed.
“One word sums it up – management… the aim now was to be all things to everyone – records cassettes, videos, computer games, cuddly toys, paintings; there was nothing you couldn’t borrow from the library... it was time for me to leave.”
That was written by Alan Taylor, editor of Long Overdue: a library reader in 1993
Eileen Earnshaw
Librarian of the old School
Oriel Place, NW3
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