AmericanRam Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 Thanks for the erm...responses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanRam Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 off screen you mean? You can't do that in a library! Not during the busier hours at least.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 I trained as a librarian and took a degree in Library Science. I worked for some years at the Wardwick Library and at Littleover branch Library. Then I moved to Central government and ended up here in London Though there's still a place for public libraries things are very different in government. Most government departments had large libraries but with the rise in IT, staff no longer need to use the services of a library as they are in effect their own librarians and can access all the information they need from their workstation. In my department there used to be a big library with 20 staff but now there's no library and no library staff. The professional librarians have moved into information management. IT has also meant that civil servants are their own records managers, their own trainers (no more classroom- based training it's all online modules) and their own post room staff as there is little paper based mail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanRam Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 I trained as a librarian and took a degree in Library Science. I worked for some years at the Wardwick Library and at Littleover branch Library. Then I moved to Central government and ended up here in London Though there's still a place for public libraries things are very different in government. Most government departments had large libraries but with the rise in IT, staff no longer need to use the services of a library as they are in effect their own librarians and can access all the information they need from their workstation. In my department there used to be a big library with 20 staff but now there's no library and no library staff. The professional librarians have moved into information management. IT has also meant that civil servants are their own records managers, their own trainers (no more classroom- based training it's all online modules) and their own post room staff as there is little paper based mail. Great info mate thanks.I love working in libraries and just hope the field continues on and stays relevant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Yep that's me - Conan the Librarian Dewey? Yes we do. (That's a librarian joke) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shuff264 Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 off screen you mean? At 3am trying to do work, the distraction is always welcome... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanRam Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 My penis was once in the Guiness Book of Records. The librarian made me take it out, and I haven't been allowed back in since. Lol...thanks for your...erm...input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanRam Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 Never been to a library in my life Sorry to hear that.No worries though I am sure you have a...video library of some sort on your computer.No details please though on what those videos contain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoetheRam Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 They are pretty unnecessary nowadays. The internet and the wide availabilty of cheap books should see them go the way of Blockbuster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanRam Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 They are pretty unnecessary nowadays. The internet and the wide availabilty of cheap books should see them go the way of Blockbuster. Valid points mate.Obviously I hope not,but am quite worried about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Normanton End Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 I've only been to two American libraries and I was surprised by how good they were compared to British libraries. These two libraries were both in small towns and yet they were almost as big as British university libraries. The average library in the UK is really just a place for students to do their homework while chatting to their friends. The only other people you really get there are tramps and old people who want to get out of the cold. I love books and reading but I don't want to sit next to a load of noisy and ignorant students. They take all the seats anyway. I don't mind the tramps and the old people. This is a very cold and wet country and these poor people have to go somewhere. Littleover had a very nice library. The better off parts of Derby had better libraries. In the 1960s at Littleover library you could sit on a comfortable armchair in a clean bright room but in the Peartree Library they had very few chairs and windows. I think it was standing only in the newpaper section. If there was a chair there then it would be occupied by a tramp reading the Urdu equivalent of the Derby Evening Telegraph upside down. I can only remember seeing tramps and Asian immigrants in the newspaper section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Day Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Same as newspapers, outdated by the internet and will die out over the next 10 years or so with everything already going digital. Also computer services, printing etc. internet cafes will take over eventually, ok they won't be free but a library won't run just on free internet use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RamNut Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Ashbourne library is the Scala civic building of the year. People can go there to wipe their feet on the carpet or fall over the steps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TigerTedd Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 I've been working on the project in Leicestershire to make libraries more efficient. We've already shut a few, and reduced te opening hours of others. The ones that are doing well have diversified into providing a venue for sure start groups and training for the 3rd age (old people). I did a degree in information science which contained a lot of library stuff, and managed our departmental library at work for a hot, but we must have had 4 books borrowed in the 5 years I worked there. And I spent 6 months converting our database onto a new system. But, I find libraries are their things that you don't really give a toss about until you need them. If you're not a trampoline or an older person, then you can't really appreciate how much they mean to those people. In particular, now my daughter is getting into books, we've been going to the library once or twice a month for new books. Before I was a parent I would never have thought of myself setting foot in a library again. However, she's now started school and they go to the school library every Friday, so we'll probably stop ping to the local one. I must say I also used the local library when I was traveling, an lived in Melbourne for a bit. The place I was staying didn't have a printer or very good internet, so it was handy for that. But, having said all that, I think I could live without a library. I would be sad to see them go, but I consider it a bit of a luxury that I could live without. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanRam Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 Same as newspapers, outdated by the internet and will die out over the next 10 years or so with everything already going digital. Also computer services, printing etc. internet cafes will take over eventually, ok they won't be free but a library won't run just on free internet use. I am afraid you may be right mate.Thanks for your input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanRam Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 As some have noted libraries future do not look as bright as I would like.I love working in them,but most do not use them as they should.However,I will fight with whatever tools I have to keep them open.Alas though only so much I can do by myself. Here is a great list of why libraries are important: http://savelibraryjobs.blogspot.com/2012/03/over-100-reasons-why-libraries-are.html?m=1 Thanks again for the replies on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shuff264 Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 I'm sure libraries are great, every one I've been in was ****. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanRam Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 I'm sure libraries are great, every one I've been in was sausage. Just because you tried to make a love connection and failed doesn't make them sausage... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shuff264 Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Just because you tried to make a love connection and failed doesn't make them sausage... No way to make a love connection when its 50oC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Surprised no one has mentioned the new multi million pound public library in Birmingham opened this year and designed as a people's palace and harnessing new technology. Check it out. Fantastic place Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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