Category Archives: politics

Librarians Take to the Streets

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Residents in Lambeth, London, protest against library closures. Photograph: David Rowe/Demotix/Corbis

As Alison Flood reports in her recent article in The Guardian, “Shaking off their traditional reputation as lovers of peace and quiet, librarians are preparing to take a loud battle for Britain’s libraries to the door of the culture secretary.”

She reports that the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (Cilip) is challenging the government over its “failure to carry out their legal duty to the public” and keep branches open using the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act (stating that the public has a statutory right to a quality public library service.)

“We’ve had enough. We’ve marked our line in the sand here. The government is behaving as if it doesn’t have a duty of care and they do, under the law. We think it’s time to be clear about what that means,” said Nick Poole, the chief executive of Cilip.  More than 100 library branches were shut last year, and further branches up and down the UK face closure.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/17/librarians-take-legal-fight-against-library-closures-to-government?CMP=share_btn_fb

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/17/library-closures-campaigns-fights-cuts-uk

 

 

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Russia, free librarian Natalya Sharina

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Natalya Sharina, director of the Library of Ukrainian Literature in Moscow, was arrested in October after police raided her workplace and home looking for ‘extremist literature’.

After they allegedly found work by a banned writer, Natalya was forced to spend two nights in a prison cell and now faces up to five years in jail – simply for exercising her right to freedom of expression.

índice

 

from Amnesty International

sign petition here:

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/russia-free-librarian-natalya-sharina?utm_source=FBPAGE&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=20151215173100&utm_campaign=Freedom_of_expression

 

 

Guide to fictional Libraries #16 A Madrid Summer Night´s Dream pt 2 Sci- Fi

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Madrid, the town I have chosen  to call home for the last ten years, has a multitude of libraries that might well have fallen straight from the pages of a fantasy or science fiction novel. Despite drastic cuts carried out in the name of austerity, most of the libraries included here are open to the general public and I encourage the Madrileños to support their local with a visit.

For Sci-Fi  we should start with my local, Pedro Salinas, in Puerta de Toledo, constructed in 1992 by Juan Navarro Baldeweg, zapped out of Terry Eagleton´s discworld.

pedro-salinas-library5.1navarro-toledoLa biblioteca Ana Maria Matute in Carabanchel, by RSP architects, like some crazy glass headed dinosaur.

ana maria matuteamatutefachadaNoname aaThe Rafael Alberti Library by Andrés Perea Ortega with its magnificent Mies van der Rohe facade:

7a1 d885c2358f7119b7f830ccebb6298d2d1307964258_740215_0000000000_noticia_normalThe Gloria Fuertes public library whose cyclopian facade stares out over a bleak Barajas.

gloria fuerThe Luis Martin Santos Library in Vallecas created by architects Mario San Juan Calle, Ángel Sevillano Martín e Iván Carpintero López enjoys some fantastic reading spaces:

luis martin-santos vallecas07 descarga 02The Jose Hierro library in Usera (Ábalos y Herreros, 2002) functionally designed to act as a “catalyst” in the local community.

useraThe Mara Moliner Library by Miguel Cabanes Ginés, Elena Robles Alonso, Pedro Gambín Hurtado (2013)

Mara MolinerThe ESIC Library of Marketing Finance and Economy

esic marketing finanzas economiaRather more well known is the library of the Reina Sofia modern art gallery by Jean Nouvel.

robinson4-18-12images (4)images (3)bibliotecaLeon Tolstoi in Las Rozas seems to have simply appeared out of nowhere since no reference to its construction can be found.  An invisible architect?

leon tolstoi majadehondaOr how about the polytechnic University library, below?

politecnica-madridAnd near to the Retiro these two gems:

Casa de Fieras:

descarga (1)Biblioteca Retiro in the Calle Doctor Esquerdo:retiroRetiro 300x300These and other gems in the Community of Madrid have suffered cuts to services, budgets, opening times affecting users, collections, reading groups etc

Support your local library to avoid situations like this one (Bilblioteca Publica Joaquin Vilumbrales, Alcorcon) where local protest was necessary to restore their access to something like approaching a good library service.DSC00453

Guide to fictional Libraries #15 Almost Fiction: Grayling’s Prison Libraries

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Voices for the Library reports that Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, plans to restrict prisoners’ access to books and prison library services as part of changes to the punishment and reward system.

39624369_97a3f4a515The move reinforces the idea of a prison system that is merely punitive rather than playing a rehabilitative role, preparing many citizens for reinsertion.

travels-of-marco-poloAccess to books and reading extends opportunities for social participation, encourages reflection and helps develop a sense of social responsibility. It expands our ability to think about alternatives and evaluate our options, which for some may lead to strategies for avoiding criminal behaviour.

images“Prisoners see themselves differently; they gain confidence and self-esteem. They talk about having hope for the future, often for the first time. They feel able to envisage a different future and develop new aspirations for themselves.” (Prisoners Education Trust 2008, p.2)

index1Furthermore where would some of our greatest literary works and writers be without access to paper, pen and reading material? To list but a few books at least partly written in while in prison:

The Travels of Marco Polo

Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes

A Hymn to the Pillory, Daniel Defoe

De Profundis, Oscar Wilde

Our Lady of Flowers, Jean Genet

Justine, Marquis de Sade

portrait-of-sir-walter-raleigh-1554-1618-title-page-from-the-historie-of-the-world-by-sir-walter-raleighThomas Malory, Richard Lovelace, Walter Rayleigh, Chidiock Tichborne, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jack London,      Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela…screen-shot-2012-06-10-at-09-39-22(Oh and Mein Kampf by a certain Adolf somebody or other, but that doesn’t really serve my point so…)

Read more about this at:

http://www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk/2014/03/grayling-ban-on-books-oin-prison/

A reputable and satisfied client!

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Dear Archibald Lib and Ignatius Rary,

Thank you for taking the time to find me an appropriate alibi in recent weeks*. I sincerely appreciate the time you spent reviewing my predicament with me and recommending strategies for reaching a satisfactory outcome.  Your advice was of great assistance and gave me a new perspective on available opportunities.

I especially appreciate your offer to connect myself with others working in your network. I plan on following up the contacts you furnished me with right away. I also hope to use the networking resources you recommended to avoid future complications.

Any additional suggestions you may have would be welcome.  I’ll update you as to my progress.

Again, thank you so much for your help. I greatly appreciate the assistance you have provided me.

I am very much in your debt.

Yours,
Rt Honorable    XXXXXX   XXXXX   MP

Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland*

* The date and the name of the correspondent have been withheld for reasons of privacy, but should be noted that they do not refer to the present incumbent of this post or indeed to any recent events.