Several hundred pupils at Rochester Grammar School are campaigning for reinstatement of their school library after it was closed to make way for extra classrooms.

One Sixth Former told the local newspaper: “She (head teacher Denise Shepherd) has cleared the library to create classroom space….The school now has no central place for students to work or check out books. Instead books have been put in corners of classrooms and department store cupboards.

“I found it surprising that in a top grammar school, which pushes the majority of its pupils to go to university, is prepared to send the next generation of girls who will have no experience of using or studying in a library at school.”

The pupils have set up a Facebook Group-Save the RGS Library. It has 180 members. I have posted on it to clarify the situation and to offer the support of the Campaign for the Book to maintain a staffed school library.

Alan Gibbons

Swindon wilts

The situation in Swindon over planned closures of four, and possibly up to nine, of their public libraries has raised once again the question of what a local community can expect from its council in fulfillment of their statutory duty to provide a universal, comprehensive and efficient library service to the public.

As in the Wirral, local library campaigners have raised concerns about the lack of ‘proper consultation’ and the full facts behind decisions not being made public. And as always, the backdrop to cuts is reduced budgets, increased costs and hard choices between worthy calls on the local council purse.

Providing a public library service though is a statutory obligation, unlike many of the services any Council Tax payer has come to expect.  From CILIP’s point of view, this is a fact that should not be forgotten, and however inconvenient, must be addressed by all local authorities when making their hard choices.

It s not always a bad thing to close a public library branch.  It is important that the physical facilities behind the ‘comprehensive and efficient’ service are fit for purpose - modernisation is often of huge benefit to the local community.  What the public want to be assured of is that there is a good quality service that they can use, and that is as local as possible.  In the physical library branches they want a mix of offerings - especially a good quality bookstock, regularly updated, with friendly and knowledgeable staff on hand to help them. 

That is what the Old Town Library campaigners in Swindon want (see their website: http://www.friendsofoldtownlibrary.co.uk  ).  They are proud of the service that the council has been providing, and they want it to continue.

Unfortunately the waters have become rather muddied politically, and calls have been made for the DCMS to intervene under their duty to ’superintend’ the provision of the library service by councils.  

To try to get the situation sorted out, the library campaigners are now urging the council to sit down with them and other interested parties, such as the MLA and CILIP, to discuss how to achieve the overall budget cuts that are required, whilst maintaining (indeed, improving and modernising) the delivery of a quality library service through the existing branches.

It is to be hoped that a clearing of the air is achieved soon, and that the plenary session does indeed come to pass - it’s good to talk.

Caroline Moss-Gibbons, Leader - CILIP Council 

Alan Gibbons comments: “Caroline is right. The least Swindon council could do, after all the many delays and an unnecessary  £10,000 inquiry, is to sit down and talk to the local campaigners, the MLA and Cilip. It is to be hoped that frank and detailed discussions could retain a functioning branch network staffed by librarians and not volunteers. A self-issue unit can never offer a full service to the community.”

This open letter was sent out today (Tuesday, June 30th).

Campaign for the Book

  Open letter on the future of school    libraries

Dear Sir/Madam,

Question: what do prisoners have that school students don’t?

Answer: the statutory right to a library.

The Campaign for the Book wholeheartedly supports the right of prisoners to a library. It can be part of the process of rehabilitation through education. We are concerned however that school students do not have the same right. Research indicates that many young people who offend have low literacy levels.

In the words of a report by the Every Child A Chance Trust:

“The research reviewed shows that literacy difficulties are linked to costly special educational needs provision, to truancy, exclusion from school, reduced employment opportunities, increased health risks and a greatly increased risk of involvement with the criminal justice system. These increased risks operate over and above those associated with social disadvantage in general, and those

associated with lack of qualifications.”

The UNESCO/IFLA School library Manifesto states that: ‘The school library is essential to every long-term strategy for literacy, education, information provision and economic, social and cultural development. As the responsibility of local, regional and national authorities, it must be supported by specific legislation and policies’. (2000). It is essential that our children learn to use information technologies properly, to be able to carry out research, and, most of all, get the habit of reading books for pleasure. This is the job of libraries and librarians.

Sadly, some of our schools still lack adequate library provision. Only half of all secondary schools have a full time librarian at all and only 28% have a qualified librarian. Many primary schools would benefit from improvements to their libraries and in some areas suffer because School Library Services are underfunded. It would not be expensive to rectify this situation, even in these difficult times. The social costs of poor literacy are significant. Already, in Scotland, school libraries are statutory with their own ‘Standards for school library services in Scotland.’ As a result, 98% of their staff are qualified librarians.

We, the undersigned, call on Her Majesty’s Government to accept in principle that it will make school libraries, run by properly qualified staff, statutory and to prepare the necessary legislation in consultation with the appropriate professional associations and trade unions.

Yours faithfully,

Alan Gibbons, organizer, the Campaign for the Book

Signatories (2,363 so far) include:

Michael Rosen, Francesca Simon, Beverley Naidoo, Philip Pullman, Dave Gibbons, Beverley Naidoo.

Dave Prentis, General Secretary, Unison.

Christine Blower, General Secretary, National Union of Teachers.

Fiona Kennedy, Publisher, Orion Children’s Books, Philipppa Dickinson, Managing Director, Random House Children’s Books, Barrington Stoke pubishers and numerous staff at Hachette, Walker, Penguin and Littlehampton Book Services.

Tricia Adams, Director, School Library Association.

Joy Court, Chair, Cilip Youth Libraries Group.

Federation of Children’s Book Groups.

Miranda McKearney, Director, the Reading Agency.

The on-line petitition can be find via this link:

   http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/literacy/

How important is the Campaign for the Book, and what value do you place on libraries, especially for young people?
Kate Garnett, Guernsey, UK

It’s very important. Books should be at the heart of every place of learning, and every community should have a library where children are welcome.

Philip Pullman

Gibbons calls for school libraries to be made statutory

11.06.09 Caroline Horn

The Bookseller

A new initiative by the Campaign for the Book, spearheaded by author Alan Gibbons, will call on the government to make school libraries statutory,  as is already the case in Scotland.

Gibbons said the initiative will help to galvanise the campaign’s work in support of school libraries. He is gathering signatories for an open letter to the press demanding that school libraries become statutory. 

He said: “The campaign has already had an impact on the debate around public libraries but it is much harder to achieve a coherent response for school libraries and school library services.” Gibbons added: “Decisions about these services are made by individual heads who are influenced by school budgets.”

The open letter stated: “We, the undersigned, call on Her Majesty’s Government to accept in principle that it will make school libraries, run by properly qualified staff, statutory and to prepare the necessary legislation in consultation with the appropriate professional associations and trade unions.”

Gibbons added: “This is only part of the issue. We also need to look at the requirement for book stock, library budgets, how professional librarians are considered in schools, and other issues. But we need to establish a statutory requirement first.”

Caroline Horn libraries children’s academic Alan Gibbons

The petition to make school libraries statutory now has over 2,000 signatories but we need more.

You will find the link here:

Your petition has been approved by the Number 10 web team, and

    is now available on the Number 10 website at the following

    address:

    http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/literacy/

    Your petition reads:

    We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to make school

    libraries statutory

    We, the undersigned, call on Her Majesty’s Government to accept

    in principle that it will make school libraries, run by

    properly qualified staff, statutory and to prepare the

    necessary legislation in consultation with the appropriate

    professional associations and trade unions.

Saturday’s Campaign for the Book conference was a resounding success. Some 200 delegates packed into King Edward’s School in Birmingham for a day of inspirational speeches, evidence-based research, workshops and debate. There were public and school librarians, School Library Service staff, authors, publishers, library campaigners, academics, teachers and book lovers. Here is a blog diary of the day:

10.30am

Chair of the Society of Authors Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group (CWIG), author Celia Rees, opened the conference by introducing Chief Master of the host school KES John Claughton. In a witty introduction, John welcomed the delegates.

Birmingham school student Charlie Alcock spoke next, detailing his love of books. He went on to describe how his family had initiated the Cystic Fibrosis Cookbook. To date, over 1,000 have been raising £6,000 for the charity.

Celia concluded her comments and left the stage in preparation for the Question Time session.

11 am to 12.30am

Six speakers took to the stage for a panel discussion based on BBC’s Question Time.

Performing the role of ersatz David Dimbleby was author Steve Skidmore.

The panel were: Ed Vaizey, Shadow Culture Secretary; Richard Younger-Ross, Lib Dem Culture spokesman; Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust; Miranda McKearney OBE, Director of the Reading Agency; Roy Clare, Chief Executive of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and children’s author Alan Gibbons.

Lyn Brown MP had been scheduled to speak for the Labour Party but was promoted to the Whip’s Office. Notice was too short to find another Labour representative but Jonathan Douglas stepped in and made a terrific contribution. Thank you Jonathan.

Among the points raised were:

*should school libraries be statutory? Ed Vaizey thought this might run counter to Conservative policy to devolve responsibility to the local level. Several of the other speakers countered to this saying that the right to read was basic and that Governments intervened centrally in many other areas of cultural and educational life. Richard Younger Ross indicated that the Lib Dems were sympathetic to the idea of statutory school libraries.

*how can we protect public library services from spending cuts? Issues of leadership and advocacy were discussed as was training of elected representatives, something Roy Clare said was being addressed by the MLA.

*what is the future of School Library Services? The problem here, some of the panel said, was that the SLS often sat uneasily between the DCSF and DCMS. Speakers argued that the DCSF should make it clear that the SLS was the main delivery mechanism for putting books into schools which needed support and book provision.

12.30pm to 1.30pm

KES’s excellent caterers provided a great lunch.

1.30pm-2.30pm

Facing the Challenges.

Clare Broadbelt began the session. Clare told the story of how she was made redundant at the Meadows School in Chesterfield. She received a standing ovation.

Cath McNally, a Wirral librarian, then spoke about the situation in the Merseyside authority which is being investigated after attempting to close half its branch libraries. Her moving speech was met with prolonged and enthusiastic applause.

Joy Court rounded off the speeches with an authoritative exposition of the challenges facing School Library Services. She also highlighted the fact that the new school Report Card doesn’t include reading.

2.30pm-3.30pm

Seizing the opportunities

Author Gillian Cross chaired the session, speaking about the need to recognize the new world in which we find ourselves. She challenged delegates to recognize that we couldn’t hark back to a ‘golden age’ of reading but had to meet the demands of a changing world.

Miranda McKearney outlined the new Creative Reading Strategy, which could be important in drawing together good practice.

Marilyn Mottram of the United Kingdom Literacy Association, revealed some stimulating research on how to establish communities of readers.

Martyn Coles, Head teacher at the City of London Academy, demonstrated how the senior management in schools can combine with a professional librarian to improve reading standards and the engagement of students in their learning.

Finally, Andrew Coburn from the Library Campaign spoke briefly about the work of local friends of the library.

3.30pm-4.30pm Afternoon tea!

4-5pm

Workshops led by Miranda McKearney, Christine Lewis (Unison), Tricia Adams (SLA), Marilyn Mottram (UKLA) and author Bali Rai who spoke about Identity and Race in Young People’s Fiction.

5-6pm

Author Beverley Naidoo spoke on Literature and Freedom, outlining how reading was vital in the struggle against apartheid for example. She asked why we didn’t drop books rather than bombs.

Author and screen-writer Frank Cottrell Boyce also spoke brilliantly to close the conference, telling the audience how he asked a young woman in the Balkan conflict how she knew there could be a better world. She said, quite simply, ‘books.’

Thanks for a brilliant day go to host librarian Jean Allen, host headteacher John Claughton, the catering team, Steve Dent who designed the Campaign banner, the school students who guided us to our places and Ben the technician. We should also pay tribute to all the speakers who donated their services for free because of their committment to reading and libraries.

Here are some of the issues resulting from the conference:

*the need to broaden the campaign to make school libraries statutory. The need to approach Head teachers and Governors’ organizations. The Early Day Motion sponsored by Unison.

*the speakers’ tree of authors to support local campaigns

*the possibility of authors adopting local public library services, school libraries and SLSs.

*the need to campaign both locally and nationally

*the proposal to hold local Campaign for the Book meetings to broaden support.

*the need to put forward a positive image of reading and libraries in advance of cuts.

*the need to develop national and local relationships with elected representatives

*the importance of developing the coalition between all pro-book and pro-reading organizations

*the importance of balance between the new and old information and story-telling technologies

*the proposal to trial a Reading and Writing Roadshow at KES next academic year. Political representatives will be invited to demonstrate how such events could create enthusiasm for reading across the country.

And finally…

Beverley Naidoo’s words inspired me to write this poem:

Peace

                                         By Alan Gibbons

Peace is when you can lay your head on the pillow

And never be afraid to sleep.

Peace is when you can cross the street

And know that the stranger coming the other way

Will do you no harm.

Peace is when you look in the mirror

And the only thing you can do is smile.

Peace is when there are no mirrors

And you look into someone else’s eyes

So you can give away your smile.

Peace is Shalom, Salaam Aleikum

And may your God go with you.

Peace is the good man or woman who,

Without faith, holds that all men and women

Are their brothers and sisters.

Peace is the moment when the fog of war

Burns away to reveal that, when you drop

Books instead of bombs words grow…

Like flowers.