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Service
Point
104
Spring 2010
The Journal of the Branch and Mobile Libraries Group of CILIP:
the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
IN THIS ISSUE:
• Mobilemeet 2010
• The Pupils, The Public and Where Are the Teachers?
• Green Vans
• Quaker Action Van
Front cover: The strangest mobile library in the world the STS Sedov?
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Mobile Libraries Hired, Bought & Sold
Based in Yorkshire we are specialists in the Sale & Hire of Mobile Libraries
We also BUY direct from councils or through leasing companies. If you have
any Mobile Libraries due to come out of service please let us know.
For more information please visit our website at www.joesgarage.info
or contact Joe Mills at
email: joe@joesgarage.info – Tel: (01423) 526250 – Mobile: 07860 444 372
ù Now thats what I call a catalogue. In the Biblioteca Civica Angelo Mai in Italy,
Susana Landaburu, Head of International Cooperation in Madrid, discovers
what catalogues were like.
Children enjoy the library at Kibirigo
ù
Editorial High spot. Being introduced as el Presidente in Barcelona.
Fortunately it translates as chairman.
2
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The IT section is also working on including resources from external
sources in the OPAC search.
I have now finished my placement and am going home not only with
plenty of knowledge but also a lot of motivation for my studies. I could
not have imagined a more diverse and pleasing placement. I am
nevertheless keeping in mind that the image of the library as I got to see
it will change, probably even before the time I am graduating, but from
what I have seen and experienced in the past two months, I got the
impression that libraries are on their way and ready to enter the future.
Therefore I am very much looking forward to working in one of these
places and introducing the public to the universe of information.
Julia Schneiderheinze
student of Library and Information Science
Humboldt University Berlin
The world’s largest boat
Library?
Service Point
Edited by IAN STRINGER
· Editorial ·
IT’S ALL OVER NOW
So after about 20 years this is my last issue. It proved much easier to
take on the post than it was to relinquish it!
I am still going to be our web co-ordinator and hopefully will be able to
put more items on the website. Cilip have just upgraded the site and it
should now take much less time to upload illustrations. As an indication
some of the illustrations on the current page represent half an hours
work for each. http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/special-interestgroups/branch-mobile/picture-gallery/pages/default.aspx
Looking back over 20 years makes me realise how things have
changed. All articles were in hard copy mostly in longhand with some
typewritten. I had to type out all the first issue and then send it to John
the printer publisher. He then retyped and set to print. He also scanned
all photos, and we had to send the proofs back and forth.
During my time as editor I have tried to include as many illustrations as
possible. I have tried to include some unusual ones from around the world
and so for my last cover here is something different.
Andrew Hudson has sent me a picture of what is arguably the strangest
mobile library in the world. STS Sedov, which is owned by Murmansk
State Technical University and provides practical lessons in seamanship
for merchant navy and fisheries cadets, has a library of around 2000
volumes. There again is a library that takes its users with it strictly
speaking a mobile library? Cruise liners carry libraries. The Queen Mary
2 and other large Cunarders have libraries. However Sedov has a larger
library than most cadet ships and it is maybe the largest.
The ship was built in Germany by Krupp at Keil as a sailing ship in
1921 It was taken over by the Russians after WW11.
Editor
See front cover for picture
30
Number 104
Spring 2010
ISSN 0306-0942
Continued on page 4
Contents
5: The Pupils The Public and
Where Are the Teachers?
19: Green Vans
21: Mobilemeet - Library
Spotters Paradise
22: Quaker Action Van
25: Mobilemeet Programme 2010
27: Mobilemeet 2010
28: Scottish Mobilemeet
29: A German student’s visit to
Scotland
Front cover: Andrew
Hudson has sent me a photo of
what is arguably the strangest
mobile library in the world the
STS Sedov
Back cover: Farewell from
Oxfordshire
Pictures are by © Jon
Davis, Ian Stringer and David Bell.
Copyright © 2009 Branch
and Mobile Libraries Group of
CILIP and contributors
Design and production
by Internet@TSP, Ludlow,
Shropshire.
Printed in Great Britain
All correspondence and
enquiries should be sent to
the Hon. Editor, 3 Spring Garden,
Hensall, Goole, Yorkshire, DN14
0QL
Tel: 01977 663143
E-mail: ian_bmlg@hotmail.com
Free to members of the Branch
and Mobile Libraries Group of
CILIP: the Chartered Institute of
Library and Information
Professionals. Details of
subscriptions to non-members
available on request.
3
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Some things have not improved. In the past I could look in my local
pages and find the address of every library. I then sent a letter and got
a reply. Now I look on a website and often my only way to contact is by
e-mail to a machine which instantly replies and says it will be back to
me in 5/6 working days. And sometimes it does. One council has not
replied after 6 months.
However mustn’t end on a gloomy note. Mobile libraries are much
better equipped than 20 years ago. Most have on-line issue and
internet. The colour schemes are much more eye catching and staff
facilities are generally better. All branch libraries are on-line and have
lots of hi-tech facilities.
Fittingly in my last issue I have contributions from John Beedle and
Andrew Hudson who have both been regular contributors over the last
20 years.
So au revoir not goodbye and please send Jon Davis, our new editor
lots of items for the magazine.
Ian Stringer, Editor
Design and production for
web, print and other media
•
•
•
•
Web site design and hosting
Domain name registration
Advice on internet strategies, promotion and marketing
Graphic design and printing – a comprehensive service from
initial concept to fulfilment
• Prices tailored to fit your budget
• Nationwide service
• Specialists in dealing with libraries and local authorities
If you have a project you would like to discuss, phone John or
David Fleming on 01584 874353
internet @TSP
www.internet-tsp.co.uk
4
124 Corve Street
Ludlow SY8 2PG
Tel: 01584 874353
Fax: 01584 874340
e-mail: info@internet-tsp.co.uk
A German Student’s
experience in libraries, in
the Scottish Borders
My name is Julia Schneiderheinze and I am studying Library and
Information Science at Humboldt University, Berlin. After spending an
appreciable amount of time in the lecture halls consuming theory during
the past two years I got the chance to gain an insight into real library
experience when I decided to spend a two month placement in the
libraries of the Scottish Borders. Thanks to John Beedle who was looking
after me I got insights into nearly every corner of library experience. I got
to see numerous different types of libraries beginning from the Public
Libraries in the Borders to a High School Library, a University and College
Library as well as the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh and also
got the chance to attend several meetings.
During my placement primarily based in Hawick Library I really enjoyed
working with the public for which I had plenty of opportunities given the
considerable amount of events the libraries are organising throughout
the year. I joined in several Rhymetime sessions at Kelso, Melrose and
Galashiels as well as in presenting more than twenty successful
Questseekers in Peebles with their deserved medals and certificates.
Another highlight was the visit of the Scottish author Alanna Knight in
Hawick who gave a vivid insight into her life as a writer.
Altogether I regard libraries putting their efforts in modernisation and
therefore not only improving their service but also making it even more
attractive to the citizens of the Scottish Borders. An example for this is
the introduction of the NEC and Young Scot Cards as library cards. As
there is no modernisation without complication, the integration of the
cards is progressing at a prolonged pace due to formalities but I
nevertheless got the impression that libraries as well as the public are in
general embracing this development.
Something that especially attracted my attention in the means of
facilitating internet usage for library users is the recently introduced
online catalogue “Aquabrowser”. With its visually inviting and easy-touse interface it is putting the library community towards FRBR and the
Semantic Web by pragmatically connecting and organising metadata.
29
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He has a BA (Hons) in English Language and a MA in Contemporary
Literature. He has lectured in Creative Writing at the Universities of
Huddersfield and Leeds.
He has held many writing residencies in libraries, schools, prisons,
youth offending teams, hospitals and literary festivals. In 2003 he was
Calderdale Libraries first ever Reader In Residence. He has read his work
on radio and TV.
Amongst other things, Craig has been a stand up comedian, roadie,
heavy metal drummer, window cleaner, humbug boiler, nightclub
bouncer, Butlins breakfast cook and gravedigger.
Craig has published poetry, fiction, non-fiction and children’s poetry.
He has written 5 books. He is currently the BBC RaW Football Stories
Co-Ordinator working alongside the National Literacy Trust setting up
literacy events at football clubs. He has worked with Liverpool,
Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City, Nottingham Forest and
Everton. Craig supports Halifax Town.
As usual the meeting will end with the award of trophies
State of the Art
Concours d’elegance
Best Livery
Best Small van
and most prestigious The Delegates’ Choice now
immortalised in Literature by Ian Sansom
Dewsbury Rams ground is convenient for M62 and M1 being about
5 minutes from either. Southbound vehicles from M1/A1 should join
M62 westbound for easier access.
Editor
Scottish Mobilemeet
Burns Monument Centre, Kay Park
Kilmarnock KA3 7RU
September 11th 2010
Details are being finalised for the Scottish mobile meet to be held in
Kilmarnock on September 11th 2010.
The smal Scottish committee is hoping to finalise the programme in
the near future – the theme being was dual or multiple use vehicles
The meet will be held in the new Burns Monument Centre, which is a
new Archives, Local History and Registration centre. It has an auditorium
that accommodates 85 and plenty of parking for the vans.
28
The Pupils The Public and Where
Are the Teachers?
Serving different client groups in a dual-use
library at The Gateway Library, Theale.
By Mike Brook
West Berkshire Libraries
The Challenge of Creating a new Dual use Library
I first went to the library in Theale in December 1999 when I toured all the
static libraries in West Berkshire - all 9 of them - prior to starting work
there in January 2000. Before that I’d never heard of the place, and would
have thought that Theale was a medical complaint rather than a suburb
of Reading.
Back then it was the smallest and quietest branch in West Berks, yet I
was told that day in 1999 that there was a strong chance that the then
Head Teacher of the adjacent secondary school might get funding to
build a dual use library for his school and for the public of Theale. My
reaction, springing from some limited experience of dual use school and
public libraries in other places, was – “Joint school and public libraries?
If they worked there’d be more of them”.
4 1/2 years on we opened a new library, christened “The Gateway” at
the suggestion of the new Head Teacher. Another 5 years later we have
celebrated the 5th anniversary, we have overcome some big challenges,
particularly on staffing and loans policies, we believe we are thriving, and
I keep finding myself standing next to the current Head Teacher as we
tell distinguished visitors like three local MPs and the Chief Executive of
the Schools Library Association how well we all work together.
One of the first things we did when addressing the challenge of creating
a dual use library was to investigate current provision. There was no such
facility in West Berkshire, so we visited those we could find reasonably
nearby. We took note, learned lessons, but did not replicate everything
we had seen.
One challenge was the difference between the catchment area of the
library and the school. Theale is such a small place; the school has 1400
pupils between 11 and 18. How did we stop the school’s needs from
completely dominating?
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We needed to attract into the new facility what my former Kent Libraries
colleague Anne Hannaford (now setting up the joint library at Worcester
University) has referred to as “new and regained audiences”. We had
to prove ourselves to the school audience and reassure the public.
A professional consultation exercise asked the public already using
Theale Library for their views. Their new dual use library would provide
more books, public access PCs and longer opening hours. All of this they
would be sharing with the school. They welcomed the extra resources
and open hours; they weren’t at all keen on sharing with the school.
As for stock, my public library colleagues think my idea of weeding is
at best enthusiastic and at worst verging on the philistine. I like throwing
tatty books away. The reaction of teachers when they saw us weeding
the school’s existing library was in some cases similar. Indeed we were
to find at various stages of the next five years that wooing the teachers
to the library was a whole different challenge. Some books we wanted
rid of did end up hidden in subject mini-libraries at the back of a
classroom, and this was a discouraging start to the process of
persuading teachers to bring their classes in to the new library when it
opened.
Five Years On
Between 2000 and 2003 the project was firmed up, money from the
Learning & Skills Council, topped up by West Berkshire Council, was
found for the capital project, and we started building in early autumn
2003. We opened the new facility in May 2004 as a school and public
library and also with a learning suite for adult education with input from
the main local provider, Newbury College. At that point there were
concerns around recruitment, role clarification and library fines policy.
My main concern was how we would meet the needs and control the
behaviour of 1400 pupils.
We have survived and thrived, and after a visit from the Chief Executive
of the Schools Libraries Association, we have been invited to be drivers
behind the proposed publication on dual use libraries next year. Our
Librarian is speaking to the SLA conference next summer.
As a dual library we face two ways – at least. Activity for the community
includes children who go to other schools, including of course children
under 11. The creation of the local Extended Schools partnership gave
the Library at Theale the chance to organise author visits, poetry
roadshows and book quizzes for all our feeder Junior Schools. That work
Continued on page 11
6
Mobilemeet 2010
Libraries are Good for You
Dewsbury Rams Rugby Football Ground,
Tetleys Stadium, Owl Lane, Dewsbury,
WF12 7RH, West Yorkshire
Saturday May 8th 2010
I have been going to mobile meets for nearly 30 years and at last one
is coming to the town where I was brought up. Rather fittingly it is also
the first Mobilemeet that I shall attend as Group Chair.
Dianne Hird and Jon Davis of Kirklees Library Service have done a
good job in arranging for an interesting and useful programme. The
opening address is by Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd of
Sandwell, former speaker of the House of Commons between 1992
and 2000.
She was born in Dewsbury, a daughter of textile workers. She was
educated at council schools and went on to study at Dewsbury College
of Commerce and Art. In the 1940s, she enjoyed a career as a dancer,
as a member of the Tiller Girls dancing troupe.
She unsuccessfully contested parliamentary seats in the 1950’s
before travelling to the United States in 1960 to see the Kennedy campaign. She subsequently began work in Washington as a legislative
assistant for an American Congressman, Silvio Conte between 1960
and 1962.
She became a Deputy Speaker in 1987. In 1992 she was elected
Speaker, being the first woman ever to hold the position.
The theme is Libraries are Good for You and so we have bibliotherapy sessions with Catherine Morris of Kirklees Libraries, James Nash
a Northern poet does a session about reading and boys and there is a
session about the home library service.
Over two hours are allowed for viewing mobile libraries and as many
of our recent winners of State of the art hail from Yorkshire it should be
well worth visiting.
The afternoon session is by Craig Bradley a local professional poet,
writer and performer who tours the country sharing his passion and
infectious enthusiasm for words. He performs in schools, libraries,
museums, art galleries, hospitals and literary festivals.
27
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A. G. BRACEY LTD.
(BRISTOL)
Commercial Vehicle Bodybuilders and
Mobile Library Specialists
ù Over the rainbow to Rhondda Cynon Taf. Small vehicle seen at
Thruxton mobilemeet.
ù
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workmanship
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friendly
service
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Fife award winner in Stirling. See more Scottish vehicles in Kilmarnock
this year.
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Tel: 0117 937 2705
Fax: 0117 937 4243
26
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Libraries are Good For You
Mobilemeet 2010
LEICESTER CARRIAGE BUILDERS
Marlow Road, Leicester LE3 2BQ
Tel: (01162) 824270 & 824719
Fax: (01162) 630554
The Mobile Library
Specialists
Saturday 8th May 2010
Dewsbury Rams Rugby League Football Club,
The Tetley Stadium, Owl Lane, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
WF12 7RH http://www.dewsburyrams.co.uk/
Programme:
9.00 Arrival and Registration (Refreshments available)
9.40 Welcome to Mobilemeet 2010 by
Ian Stringer (Chair of Branch and Mobile Library Group)
9.45 Welcome to Kirklees by the Mayor of Kirklees
9.50 Opening Address by
The Right Honourable Baroness Boothroyd O.M., P.C.
Baroness Boohthroyd was born in Dewsbury and went to
become an MP and then Speaker of the House of Commons
10.00 Books and More Brought to Your Door
Partnerships: Giving Value to Your Home Library Service Users
i. Working with Essex Blind Charity Darren Smart, Library Group
Manager, Essex Libraries.
ii. Working with the Benefits Advice Service in Kirklees.
10.45 Coffee
As a major supplier of coach built vehicles of the highest quality for
over a century, our wide experience in the design and construction
of mobile libraries is made available to our customers in the form of
expert advice and guidance.
We also specialise in the refurbishment of libraries of all types, so
enabling your existing fleet to be up-dated in specification to
enhance its operational effectiveness. Justly proud of all our work,
we are pleased to provide Quality Assurance backed by our ISO
9001:2000 Accreditation.
Always available to call upon our clients to discuss their
requirements, we are equally pleased to welcome visitors to our
premises. Our full colour brochure is available on request.
11.00 Boys and Reading
James Nash (James is a writer, poet and a devoted reader. He
reads everything he can get his hands on, from poetry to crime,
taking in contemporary fiction, as well as letters and biography.
Reading has helped him understand his own world, as well as
explore the worlds of others.)
11.45 Bibliotherapy - the Kirklees perspective
Catherine Morris
Assistant Head of Culture & Leisure (Frontline Services).
12.15 Lunch and viewing of vehicles/mobiles.
14.15 Local poet: Craig Bradley www.craigbradley.com
15.00 AGM and awards.
16.00 Depart.
8
25
B
12/2/10
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Page 18
ailey’s
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Ltd
Oxford Award Winning Interior
service point 104 32 pages
ù Bacup (Lancashire) mobile in the 1970’s
Isle of Mull in the 1980’s
ù
BAILEY’S BODY BUILDERS LTD
Tunstall Road Industrial Estate
Biddulph, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire ST8 7BD
Tel: 01782 513671 Fax: 01782 522079
www.baileysbodybuilders.co.uk
info@baileysbodybuilders.co.uk
24
9
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Page 20
Mobilshelves
A New Concept in Library Shelving
ù Requirement at any Mobilemeet? A large grandstand. Aintree 2008
What its all about - Winning at Aintree
ù
BAILEY’S BODY BUILDERS LTD
Tunstall Road Industrial Estate
Biddulph, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire ST8 7BD
Tel: 01782 513671 Fax: 01782 522079
www.baileybodybuilders.co.uk
info@baileysbodybuilders.co.uk
For Your Complete Library Interiors
10
23
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Quaker Homeless Action
Celebrates 10 Years of the
Quaker Mobile Library
On 17th October 2009, Westminster Meeting House hosted the 10th
Anniversary Celebrations of the Quaker Mobile Library, winner of the
Concours d’Elegance at this year’s Mobile Meet. More than fifty Friends
and supporters attended the event, organised by QML coordinator Gill
Lowther, who opened the meeting by briefly describing the history of
the project. Gill also thanked CILIP’s Branch & Mobile Libraries Group
for their public recognition of the QML’s outstanding work, proudly displaying the shield as she spoke.
The meeting included short talks given by QHA Director Kate Mellor,
Park Bench Lending Library Trustee Heather Lister (from Bristol), and
Andy Ryan, from the London Libraries Development Agency, as well as
musical performances by Jennifer Kavanagh (one of the QML founders)
and Brian Palmer.
Each speaker gave a similar message: books are very greatly
appreciated by homeless men and women. The homeless need flexible
libraries without fines because they are so disenfranchised that they
often cannot get a library card and so impoverished that they cannot pay
a fine. Traditional public libraries are working harder to reach out to
homeless people, but have not been entirely successful in any location.
The speakers also reminded the audience that it is the conversations
that come with the books that can be the most meaningful part to the
homeless library users. They can have a conversation with a library volunteer that is about books and not about their service needs, which can
be a refreshing contrast from their regular routine.
After refreshments, everyone was invited to visit the mobile library
van, affectionately called The Phoenix, before the volunteers set off on
their afternoon rounds of hostels and shelters. Former mayor of London
Ken Livingston joined the celebration, as planned, and posed for photos with the Phoenix. Ken Livingston also offered his future support to
the Quaker Mobile Library.
Darren Smart
Essex Libraries
22
Continued from page 6
has so impressed the Primary Heads who control the purse strings that
each year when Extended Schools have set their budgets they have had
to make cuts, but they have always prioritised our programme and never
reduced their financial commitment to it.
Likewise we heard last month that the full Library bid for development
funding has been okayed by the School, unlike a lot of other departments
where projects will have to be curtailed.
The Head Teacher chairs the once a term meetings of the Library
Management Group, which also comprises the Librarian, the Supervisor,
me as their line manager, and the Library Liaison Teacher (the Head of
History). This Group works effectively together, and the Adult Learning
providers have this year flattered us by copying that idea with their own
Management Group – but they don’t get the Head Teacher! The Bursar
chairs their Group. Aside from her formal role on the Management Group,
the Head is actively supportive of the Library, attends our major events
whenever she can, meets with the library assistants once a year, helps
as a conduit to some of her less communicative colleagues, and
generally stands as a key advocate for the Library.
In the first years after 2004 there were some difficulties with how Theale
should relate to the rest of the public library network. Other branches
don’t automatically understand the needs of a school library. Much good
integration work has taken place and fences have been mended.
Measuring Success
I’d like our success or otherwise to be judged by how we impact on
people and their lives.
We have an integrated service; we have the same opening hours for
school and public during term time, and the same staff serve everybody.
As a customer it makes no difference if you are from the school or the
general public.
This means parents have ready access to their children’s school
library and are able to judge it accordingly.
Pupil behaviour, always a worry for us generalist librarians (I only know
about children because I used to go to school with them), has been largely
acceptable and mostly commendable.
In 2008 our new Supervisor introduced a Student Library Assistants’
programme which has made a huge difference to the lives of some pupils.
Eric (not her real name) was a timid girl, whose home language is not
English, and who found the school environment as a new Year 7 terribly
11
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Page 24
challenging. As she started on the Student Assistants programme she
was always wanting her work to be checked. Now she is more of a self
starter, works with confidence, and next term she will be a mentor for a
new Year 7 Student in the library.
The students do a variety of jobs, not necessarily associated just with
the school. Madelaine (not his real name) analysed the feedback forms
from some of our local history talks for the public. This programme takes
some time, but it reaps rewards. We get some useful work out of them.
We get feedback from real students on our services. We are seen to be
contributing to personal development. And individual children get new
joy out of coming to school.
The public support a regular programme of talks on Local History,
including two occasions when our capacity of 55 in the main room was
breached and we had to run a talk again a week later, and got another 50
people in!
There have been some wonderful examples of older people and
students interrelating in the library. Recently a couple new to the area told
staff how well behaved they found the students.
The extensive outreach work to feeder juniors through both extended
schools and through visits to promote the Summer Reading Challenge
built links which encourage primary children to use the library, and their
familiarity with this most public part of the school is a major benefit when
they join in Year 7. Our youngest users are the babies and toddlers who
attend twice weekly rhyme times that are a tribute to the ingenuity and
talent of our library assistants.
We know take up among teachers varies. Some are more library
focussed than others. Some departments use us a lot, others hardly at
all. The Development Plan targets those where work is needed, and we
have run one special evening after school for new teachers joining the
school last September. With tea and cakes.
Like many libraries we take in students on work experience for a
week at a time. The long opening hours make Theale one of our best
branches to do this. Last year our new Supervisor designed a welcome
pack and work programmes for all these students, some of whom are
from Theale Green School and others are from elsewhere.
So, we have satisfied parents, satisfied pupils, local public, younger
children, teachers and work placement students. What about the job
satisfaction of the library staff themselves?
Whilst many public library staff would list teenagers as the group they
are least comfortable with, all the staff at Theale joined since 2004 and
have thus opted to work in a library that specialises in teenagers. They
all want to work there.
12
Branch and Mobile Libraries Group
PUBLICATIONS
STRINGER, Ian
Nostalgia Road Number 8: Britain’s mobile libraries. Trans-Pennine Publishing Ltd.
– ISBN 1 903016 15 0
MOBILE LIBRARIES
ORTON, G. l. J.
An illustrated history of mobile library services in the U.K. £1.00
(plus postage). – 0 85365 640 1
CAMPBELL, C.
Mobile library route planning £3.00 (£2.00). Basic Guide 5 – 0 853 659 15x
PYBUS, R. L.
Mobile libraries in England and Wales: a guide to their construction and use.
2nd edition. £4.50 (£3.00). Basic Guide 6 – 0 946 461 031
PYBUS, R. L.
The design and construction of mobile libraries. 2nd edition. £5.00 (£4.00).
– 0 946 461 090
PATEMAN, John and McMURRAY, Nigel
Mobile library staffing. £3.00 (£2.50). – 0 946 461 112
McMURRAY, N.
Publicising and promoting a mobile library service. £4.50 (£3.00). – 0 946 461 074
GENERAL
JORDAN, P.
Managing a public library team. £1.95 (£1.50). Basic Guide 1. (A guide to the operation
of team librarianship). – 0 853 656 029
BUNCH, A. Switched on. £3.00 (£2.00) – 0946 461 139
BUNCH, A. More than just books: community information in libraries. £3.00 (£2.00).
Basic Guide 2 – 0 853 655 928
BUNCH, A. Sources of community information £3.75 (£2.50). Basic Guide 8. – 0 946
461 066
MILTON, I. S.
Changing faces (A practical guide to reader interest categorisation and library facelifts).
£3.75 (£2.50). Basic Guide 11 – 0 946 461 04x
MEADOWS, Jack
Performance assessment in public libraries. £1.50 (£1.00). – 0 946 461 104
BETTS, D. A. Borrowing and the fiction reader. £3.00 (£2.00). – 0 946 461 082
WALLACE, V. Who manages the Library – The role of the paraprofessional. £2.50 (£2.00).
– 0946461 120
Prices in brackets are those for individual members. All overseas orders are plus post and
package.
Available from: Anna Strange Staff Development Officer
Gallery Suite, County Hall, Walton Street, Aylesbury, Bucks HP20 1UU
Telephone: 01296 383377
21
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Even after saving as much as possible through good planning and
preparation, there are still more ways you can economize.
Time and fuel can be wasted by the driver who thinks he knows a better
route or who wants to get home earlier than scheduled. This can be
avoided by new technology.
•
Fifth Green Point. Fit GPRS and ‘black box’. These use satellite
navigation to check vehicle route and position at all times. The ‘Black
box’ indicates all speeding and all braking when downloaded at the
end of the day. The driver who consistently speeds, or does harsh
braking, both of which waste fuel, can be given ‘care of vehicle’
training.
Much of the fuel burned on a vehicle is not actually to move it. After all,
the good mobile library earns its keep when it is stopped. However when
stopped the vehicle batteries are hard at work powering the heating, the
air conditioning, the lift, the onboard computers etc. Give the batteries
all the help you can.
•
Sixth Green Point Keep the inside temperature steady. Use an
automatic door to keep out the cold (or heat). The power used for this
should be less than the power saved.
•
Seventh Green Point. Make the vehicles open to as much daylight
as possible using windows and skylights. Some vehicles have
windows all round and shelves just go across them. Potential readers
see inside the vehicle and users have natural light to help see the
books clearly. Less energy is consumed in lighting the vehicle.
However there is now a way to harness that sunlight as well.
•
Eighth Green Point. Use a solar panel
•
Ninth Green Point. Use a fuel additive or product such as ‘Green’
Diesel or a green additive. (hydrogen and urine are the basis for some
of these). Vegetable oil may also be used.
• The Tenth Green Point. The mobile library can save many journeys
by readers who would all otherwise be travelling into the city to choose
their books.
Ian Stringer
Editor
20
Our Working Principles
We have worked to certain underlying principles. One was that we
wanted an integrated service, blending as much as possible the service
to the school with that to the public.
We value senior managers’ support highly both from the school and
from the Library service.
Role clarification is something we have had problems with and have
developed as we learned the lessons along the way. When the posts of
Librarian (Strategic Manager) and Supervisor (Operational Manager)
were first advertised, a Branch Supervisor from another library told me,
rather unguardedly, “I wouldn’t want a Librarian based in my library!”
We thought there was going to be a problem over the roles of the
Librarian and Supervisor, and we were not wrong. At first there was
vagueness and duplication in our Job Descriptions. Later we introduced
rigidity that risked opening up two separate services and two battling
empires. It was our toughest challenge. Now we think there has at last
emerged an approach that combines the best of clarity and flexibility.
Librarian and Supervisor are thriving in their roles and working effectively
in mutual respect.
Theale Green is a Community School and we are a library service that
seeks to serve the community. Our targets are all about developing
audiences and attracting people from hard to reach groups. Theale has
for five years now set an example to the rest of the area. Some of the work
done with their own Extended School has been copied wholesale to two
of the other Extended School Partnerships in the east of the authority,
and there’s no reason we can’t get similar things going in the west too.
I take it for granted that a project like the Gateway needs blue sky
thinking and a mindset to see through existing protocols and
procedures, and that we have to balance this with what is practical,
workable and sensible. We have had to be flexible in our thinking to
respond to needs, such as the frightening scale of our overdue book
charges on pupils who were not used to their school library books
attracting fines. We hammered out a compromise policy. There have
been other examples where a West Berkshire wide initiative from
Libraries and Cultural Services has had to be adjusted to apply to the
unique circumstances of our dual use library.
Equally, we have done things which many other School Libraries have
shied away from, such as the Student Library Assistants’ scheme. And,
whisper it please, when we started a number of other libraries thought it
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absurd that we were not planning any security for stock. We didn’t, and
still haven’t, installed any gates. RFID tags have arrived, and the self
service kiosks are coming, but with service, not security, in mind.
The green green vans of home
Ten ways to make your
Bookmobile GREEN
Achievements
One of our most successful events was a “Question Time” for the 6th
Form with local MPs from the three main parties. This was the brainchild
of our Librarian and she organised it from start to finish. However, within
the Council there was concern at the sensitivity of such an event, and we
were asked to label it clearly as a school event not a libraries one.
The Head Teacher chaired, questions were put by students on a range
of issues of importance to them and the three politicians seemed to
thoroughly enjoy it. A repeat next year will involve not MPs but leading
figures in environmental affairs.
This is just one example of a range of many and varied events dreamed
up and carried out by our Team.
Strong Partnerships have been established with Extended Schools,
Health Education, Local Authors, other Council departments and across
the School.
The Librarian leads on developing the School’s information literacy
policy, and leads on delivery of a departmental development plan,
whilst also having targets set by me as her line manager. Her annual
appraisals are held jointly with the Head Teacher.
Use of the library by the public has gone up now that we have such a
new and impressive building. Total issues topped 50,000 last year for the
first time. It is good to see the library continuing to improve its
performance five years on from its regeneration.
The strong support of the Head is vital to what we have achieved and
to where we go next.
Vital to us too is the strength of the staff, who are the people who make
it all happen on a day to day basis.
I was recently commissioned to do an article for the American Library
Association outreach section. I feel it is worth sharing with UK readers.
I’ve left in the first paragraph which set the scene for the US readers.
Home in my case is England. I live in the North East of England, which
is where the original Pilgrims came from. I am only an hours drive from
Washington, Philadelphia, Boston and York (real York, that is, not a New
imitation!)
The famous Jeremiah Dixon was born and trained in the area before
being sent by King George with Charles Mason to the USA to settle a
dispute on the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Mason and Dixon solved the dispute by drawing a straight line between
two points. This is well worth bearing in mind when setting up routes for
your vehicles. The shorter the route, the less fuel burned.
•
Bizarrely Mason and Dixon took stones from England to the USA to mark
their route. This is bad practice.
•
Second Green Point. Don’t make unnecessary journeys. Try not to
go across the county for fuel or for restocking with new books and
stationery. Make such halts part of your route planning.
•
Third Green Point. Don’t carry unnecessary loads. Can the
children’s books be replaced by large print books when you visit
old people’s residences? Do you need to carry lots of boxes of
reserved books for the whole week?
Conclusion
I used to think, “Joint school and public libraries? If they worked there’d
be more of them.”
Now I think, “If we make them work, there will be more of them.”
Mike Brook,
West Berkshire Libraries
14
First Green Point, economic route planning. Good route planning
can save far more fuel than any mechanical or electronic device.
Make routes teardrop shaped in geographically linked lines to
minimize travel. Don’t zigzag back and forth across town.
Accuracy was most important for Mason and Dixon.
•
Fourth Green Point. Have the engine, chassis, brakes and tyres
accurately set up by regular servicing and daily checking.
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ù
12/2/10
ù
18
Ken Livingstone
at the 10th
anniversary of
the Quaker
Homeless Van
Happy staff in Hawick say farewell to Julia Schneiderheinze on her last
day at Hawick Library. In the pictures are Kate Telfer (Library Assistant),
Caroline Little (Library Assistant), Julia, Patrick Carlin (Caretaker) and Ryan
Barker (Library Assistant).
ù Tampere (Finland) on the road in Europe.
ù
service point 104 32 pages
Inside the Tampere van.
15
service point 104 32 pages
12/2/10
11:30
Page 32
ù Bexley Beauty at East Riding Mobilemeet.
ù
Two views of the Slough mini-mobile Suffolk Mobilemeet 2009.
ù
ù
16
All smiles in Staffs East Riding 2005.
17