The soul-destroying thing about being a Public Library campaigner is that you have to fight the same battle every few years and usually on multiple fronts against a multitude foes.
Each time you get a new Libraries Minister in the UK you have to fight to get them to abide by the terms of the Public Libraries Act. Full details here basically the Libraries Minister (and the DCMS) is responsible for making sure that local governments are fulfilling their obligations by providing a full, statutory Public Library service, and if they are not the Minister has a duty to intervene (a duty they always seem eager to avoid)
Each time after local government elections if you get a new local council (and even if you still have the one you had before) there is a constant battle to get them to not try and hand off libraries to volunteer organizations, mutuals (a public service mutual (PSM is “an organisation which was in the public sector, continues to deliver public services, and has a significant degree of employee control.”) or other social enterprises.
Each time you come up against non-statutory groups (see above) claiming they are running a public library and doing it better than the professionals (librarians who needs them) we have to fight to educate local communities about their statutory rights, they are so often being denied a fully-funded library service that they have already paid for through taxes.
Each time local groups stuff a phone box/decorated boxes and so on with books and call them community libraries. The danger with these is that people get upset when library campaigners are seen to criticize ‘nice’ things and people trying to ‘help’ their communities.
The latest “scandal” about adult books being left in a Hampshire Telephone Box Library show that when it comes to Public Libraries staff are a necessity!
Each time a local council tries to run age restricted staffless Libraries, this not only puts patrons at risk but library users under a a certain age would be unable to access the service!
Every year there are fewer and fewer campaigners, we lose so many due to retirement, libraries being closed, burnout and there are an ever increasing amount of confrontations that pop up with tiresome regularity.
Sisyphus had it easy! He had one boulder and a hill! We have boulders of different shapes & weights and often there are people pushing them down as we struggle to push them up.
But the thing about Public Library campaigners is that we believe in what we are doing and will keep fighting to preserve public libraries for as long as we are able!
