The
first Agenda item at last night’s Cabinet meeting was the new Library Strategy.
Apparently
a nine week consultation was conducted earlier this year and it has
led to a new direction for libraries. Who saw that coming? No idea because the report gives no
clue as to how many residents may have participated in the survey.
Council Officer Ginny Hyland summarised the Strategy and I learned absolutely
nothing about it. She reminded me of my final months with BT where Colin cigar
chain smoking Sutton had risen without trace on the back of golfing and the
ability to speak management gobbledygook non-stop for hours.
Ms. Hyland said the Strategy was “a bold and exciting vision for the future”.
“Strong foundations.” “Community innovation and success.” “Bexley is a unique
network”. “Strength and Diversity. Fantastic. Ambitious. Dynamic
multi-functional spaces and hubs.” “Key drivers of economic and community
well-being.”
There are six Bexley Council libraries and six “run by incredible Community Partners”.
Membership has grown by 30,000 over the past three years which in a digital age
is undeniably good going. “Together the libraries attract 900,000 visits a
year.” [The actual report says 814,000.] “Our libraries enable residents to live vibrant, healthy, resilient lives
through bold transformative services and programmes.” How do
non-users survive?
In three minutes I learned not a thing of the Strategy except that it
prioritises “Reading and Literacy”. Who could have guessed? Colin Sutton didn’t
have a clue as to how telephone calls were connected around the globe but he rose almost to the top by
his mastery of management-speak. Nothing much has changed in 30 years.
Having been left in total ignorance
I thought I had better read
the
Strategy (PDF) but that too is wall to wall guff. Why did we need one?
Cabinet Member Bishop was, if the tittle-tattle is to be believed, given his job
because there was no other choice. He managed little - correction, nothing - beyond thanking everyone
involved for “the absolutely first class document” which he welcomed. Not a word
of detail on why it was so magnificent.
Cabinet Member Diment said that it was right that libraries evolved and
so they should but I wish Ms. Hyland had told us what
in particular is different to what has gone before. What could possibly improve
on ‘The Lego Club’ in Welling library for example? (With thanks to Councillor
Newton for providing that example.)
It would churlish to suggest that Bexley’s past library strategy which avoided
closures like most other boroughs has not been pretty successful although the
very limited hours are felt to be very unwelcome. A question might be why money had to be spent on a Consultation
and lucrative work for expensive management teams when money is so tight. Who proposed it? Surely not
Ms. Hyland?
DOGE anyone?