There's been considerable press coverage of a supposedly new initiative, by which people can use public libraries wherever they may be, even if they don't live or work in the area. But what's new? This has always been the case. The very first public library I worked in, over thirty years ago, was Child's Hill in the London Borough of Barnet, which was close to the boundary with Camden and Brent; neither of those authorities had a library nearby. Camden and Brent residents of both used us, with the minimum of formality. And in every other public library I worked in always offered membership to anyone. If you did not live work or study within the authority's boundaries, all we would ask for was a ticket from your home authority, and proof of address. And I have often joined a public library while on holiday in this country, though I must confess I have never tried while abroad.
Some of the press exaggerate the initiative, and hint, incorrectly, that this means there will be one interoperable library ticket for the whole of England and Wales. Still, it's good publicity for public libraries, and may bring the service to wider attention. I'll buy a bottle of champagne for the first person to join every library authority in England and Wales, scan or photograph all their cards and put them up in Flickr. What I'd really like to see is a better way of opening up the rich collections held in our to everyone, without the need for travel. Investment in catalogue and library management system interoperability would be much better than rebranding an existing service.
For some of the coverage see
Curiously, there's no mention of this on the Society of Chief Librarians website. The latest news is a story from July on the Libraries Change Lives awards
More curiously still, an article on this from Tim Coates' blog the Good Library Guide showed up in my feed reader, but has been taken down from the web version. I don't know if this is for technical reasons, or Tim thought better of it. I can't see anything defamatory in it. In his account of Tony Durcan of SCLs interview on the Today programme, he claims that Durcan was 'evading questions about why the library profession don't campaign to save libraries'. I would never expect the SCL to campaign: they're the servants of their political masters, the councillors who, whichever party wins next year's election, will be trying to cut public library services. The profession, and indeed everyone who works in public libraries will be in the forefront of campaigns to keep public libraries open and free.