14/3/2012 3 Comments Post Title.I was very pleased to be able to take part in the speak up for libraries lobby yesterday. The day started in the illustrious surroundings of Central Hall, Westminster with that most English of traditions, a cup of tea. Various organisations had attended to support and they had tables around the perimeter of the room, I was very happy to see old friends such as the School Library Association there as well as getting information about others. Fantastic (brief!) talks had been arranged and these were stirringly started off by author Kate Mosse . Many children's authors were present in the hall, including Fiona Dunbar, Gillian Cross, Philip Ardagh, Lucy Coats, Chris Priestley, Candy Gourlay and of course master of ceremonies Alan Gibbons (apologies to anyone I have missed). The speakers were all wonderful - eloquent, passionate and committed to helping ensure we do not ever lose our libraries. We were treated to two musical interludes too, from Doyle (from Doyle & the Four Fathers) and One Man & His Beard (who bore a striking ressemblance to Mr Ardagh , as evidenced in this photo by Candy Gourlay. Comments from all of the speakers can be found on the Twitter hashtag #LibrariesLobby , my own fingers were sore from tweeting - Storify of my tweets here .
Fired up by the rhetoric of the amazing orators we had listened to we then moved over to Parliament to either meet with MPs (those that had been organised and booked) or to wait to see if our MP would respond to a green card request for a chat. The queues were long but happily moved quickly and I passed the time waiting for my MP, Gareth Johnson having a chat with friends and checking on the Kent Libraries website to see the new charges they are bringing in for schools - although puzzlingly these proved elusive .....have they been buried out of sight? Unfortunately after over an hour's wait Mr Johnson had not come down so I had to leave but apparently I should get a follow up email from him - I await this eagerly!
3 Comments
Caroline Roche
14/3/2012 12:41:25 pm
If you want to see exactly what Kent Libraries are proposing that they charge schools, see this link: http://edukent.kent.gov.uk/pupil_focus/libraries_and_archives_service.aspx Look at the packaged services at the right hand side.
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Bev
14/3/2012 12:47:25 pm
Yes there it is - and did you know that if a school wants to borrow more than the usual allowance of books at a time (up to 50) it will cost the school £150 per annum? So much for community links!
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23/3/2012 12:16:39 am
Hear, hear! I was particularly fired up by Alan Gibbons rabble rowsing speech - here's an excerpt http://youtu.be/Eveb7Zg93FY
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AuthorMy blog is a collection of thoughts and I hope you will learn something about me from the ramblings as well as finding some useful links. I'm Bev Humphrey and I'm a Literacy, School Libraries and Technology Consultant. I am self employed so views expressed are solely my own. CategoriesAll Android Apps Authors Bett Book Giving Day Books Cats Childrens Books Christmas Christmas Challenge Conferences Dickens Dyslexia English Games Geography Graphic Novels Images Inspiration International Women's Day Ipad Ipad For Education Libraries London Mfl Picture Books Podcasts Poetry Poetry Day Primaries Reading Resources Revision Twitter Urls Video Visits Wbd Wordcloud Wordle Workshops Write Path Writers Writing YA Youtube |