I thought I would add another library note as the Libraries Transformation Project draws to a close in One Council terms.
One of the aspects generally well received in my experience has been the home delivery service. The number of books lent via this service is enormous, although the user number is small. I have always thought it a good illustration of how our priorities accord with Labour Party values.
The reason is that the users of the home delivery services are so disabled as to be housebound. In many party debates on budget cuts, people have said that protecting the most vulnerable is the key priority, and I think this is a good example of us protecting the most vulnerable. The only case I can recall of someone disagreeing with this was when the then Secretary of the Friends of Kensal Rise Library came to my surgery one Saturday, and when I trotted out the home delivery service as an aspect of the Libraries Transformation Project of which I was proud, he told me that in his opinion disabled people did not matter.
That statement left me rather gobsmacked.
Whatever the feelings of non users, the people using the home delivery service appear to be among our most enthusiastic borrowers; each borrowing more than one hundred books a year.
UPDATE
The comment was made in front of a number of people. Of course, as I have pointed out before, I would never publish anything I considered slanderous on this blog.
UPDATE AGAIN
There appears to be concern around who made the comment disparaging disabled peoples' concerns. It was certainly a person who identified himself as a secretary of FKRL and who I know by name, although it may be for all I know that his statement that he was secretary was untrue. He is certainly an active member of that organisation.
Personally, I am far more interested in the success of Brent Library Service overall. Constant queries from a few individuals over a building that the Council has no control over other than as a planning authority seem to me to be only relevant in planning terms. There is a much more exciting story in the success of our library staff in driving Brent libraries forward.
3 comments:
That's a potentially deeply slanderous comment James. I do hope you've evidence for it.
The Friends of Kensal Rise Library has only ever had one secretary and she is a woman.
And really, who would make a remark that disabled people 'don't matter'?
You haven't mistakenly interpreted an opinion against the Libraries Transformation Project as an opinion against vulnerable people have you? It doesn't follow you know. That would be sophistry wouldn't it? And you don't do that do you?
We can safely assume that you will retract the statement about the secretary can't we?
Interesting, indeed. Perhaps Cllr Powney ought to clearly name the accusee, rather than hiding behind a smokescreen of innuendo. It's very unfair to the supposed culprit: others will try and second guess who the pot might be referring to.
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