TIM Coates was head of Waterstones, WH Smith in Europe and YBP, the international book provider in the UK, and an accomplished author.
He has worked in the library sector since 1997 and currently leads a project to improve the supply of digital content to international academic and public libraries. He says: “About 80 per cent of users are seeking reading material or information in some form or other.
They do it for their own perceived benefit. They do not use libraries for the good of society, their community, the economy or any other collective good. They use them principally for themselves and their families.
“That is the need that was foreseen in the 1964 Libraries Act and it was correct: ‘Libraries are provided for the benefit of those who wish to use them.’ They are not provided to benefit the policies of central government or the strategies of local councils.”
The following blog was recently brought to my attention and makes very valid points: thebookseller.com/blogs/simple-publiclibraries/638716.
The library is the hub of Darlington culture and should be promoted as such in Darlington Borough Council’s Experience Darlington strategy.
Christine Fishwick, Friend of Darlington Libraries
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