In tonight's Edinburgh Evening News there's an interesting article about WIFI in West Lothian Libraries.
FREE wireless internet is to be made available at four West Lothian libraries.
Wi-fi hot spots have been introduced at Bathgate, Carmondean, Linlithgow and Whitburn libraries, which will allow the public to bring in their own wi-fi enabled laptop, personal digital assistant (PDA) or mobile phone, and access the web for free.
Open information and sign-on sessions will be taking place in each library during the next two weeks - and as an added incentive, West Lothian Council's Library Services will also be giving away a 120 126MB flash storage drives, one each to the first 30 people who sign up for the sessions at each of the four libraries involved.
The scheme has been supported by the Scottish Government's public libraries improvement fund, and each wi-fi user will be asked to fill in a questionnaire
It strikes me that this something we should be encouraging in the Borders? I'm worried that our libraries maybe under threat, they are all over the country. What could we do to come up with innovative proposals to do more things in libraries.
Author readings/talks
Reading groups based on libraries
More talks
What other ideas are there?
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3 comments:
As long as we all remember that libraries are about books, people and community. My 17 year old at Earlston High School informs me that the only reason she doesn't use the library is that the books are too dated, particularly reference books. My 83 year old mother walks to the library every week to exchange her supply of (bloodthirsty) crime novels. When the library transfers to the new Earlston school site, the walk will become too far and she will lose an integral part of her life. Before we try and do anything too complicated, we could start by buying some new books and trying to keep our libraries in the heart of their communities?
I think that's a really good point Sue. The fact that the books in the libraries are not up to date is fundamental. Perhaps we should start by asking the SBC library service to give us a break down of what books they buy each year?
This just in from the Bookseller.com....
The warring factions in the library debate must come together to avoid forcing the public library service into a permanent downward spiral, according to a new report from influential think tank Demos and Hampshire's controversial libraries chief Yinnon Ezra.
The report, "Fact and Fiction: The Future of Public Libraries", divides the library lobby into two camps: the "book lobby", which argues that the solution lies in putting more re-sources into book stocks, and the "diversifiers", who believe that libraries are about more than books and need to broaden their offer. The book lobby thinks the diversifiers are philistines, while the diversifiers look on the book lobby as obtuse.
"Not surprisingly, each side's argument has some merit, but both have their flaws," wrote Ezra and Demos' John Holden. "For the future of the public library service, it is vital that the myths and realities are exposed for what they are, and that the two sides—who both passionately believe that libraries are a good thing—start to find common ground, and develop a common vision for the future."
The pair wrote that it is the "worrying downward spiral", which has seen more than 100 library closures since 2001, that "everyone who cares about libraries must avoid at all costs". "Painful as it is, restructuring and reorganisation needs to take place—it is the only route to the regeneration of our public libraries."
They believe there is not one answer to suit every local library, as then local communities are unable to voice how their local services should be constructed. "Adopting a 'one size fits all' approach would be wrong and patronising," they said. "Put simply, in some places, more books will indeed be what people want; in other places, they may prefer to invest in more computer access."
They called on the libraries world "to move on and move away" from "crude" analyses of footfalls and book stocks, as both are right "depending on where you live".
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