Why no #library is an island, a thread.

The phrase "local libraries for local people" keeps coming up in my discussions about a better future for public libraries. It describes a dominant contemporary view that the overriding design principle is "meeting local needs". 1/n

2/n In this view, the nature of each individual library as part of a national or even global network, it's connection to the ethos and practice of librarianship, is subordinate to its ability to respond to local needs. This is the ultimate expression of 30 years of fragmentation.

3/n It's also a reasonably logical response to the dominance of a sort of hamstrung localism in our national (English) politics. That there is a policy of local empowerment without adequate resources, which ultimately is a policy of abandonment.

4/n And it is understandable that local leaders, tasked with winning daily local battles, would come to see the context of a networked library sector as an irrelevance. I have seen this view expressed at dozens of meetings in the last 4 years. And yet...

.. "leaning in to localism" is a fundamental mistake. Our public library network is designed as a network for a reason. I believe that public libraries are, to steal a phrase from a colleague "A national service, delivered locally" - we are strongest when networked together.

6/n We see this policy of localism everywhere. Its in the sector's resistance to standards. It is why we struggle to develop a national dataset for advocacy. It is why we can't deploy national campaigns swiftly as they have in Scotland, Wales & NI. It is why our digital offer...

7/n ..feels so fragmented and incoherent. Unfortunately, it has allowed the Government to play "divide and conquer". It is also the reason why we have found it so hard to take "good ideas" like Idea Stores and incorporate them into the DNA of every library service.

8/n And sadly, this fragmentation extends not only to venues, but to staff. Our belief in a coherent profession is not driven by self-interest, it is driven by a vision that we are stronger when the whole profession can benefit from the skills and expertise of each part

9/n So in much the same way that no library should be an island, no library worker should be either. And ultimately, the shame of it is that the local needs of local communities are best met, not by a "dumb" platform but by an active service that is demonstrably a #library.

10/n I don't know how we resist the Govt impetus to fragment and disempower local provision, but I do believe that one way is not to be complicit in it - by standing together as a profession and actively investing in public libraries as a national service, delivered locally

11/11 That,'s why it is vitally important to rebuild and defend the concept of a national public library service, developed, funded and overseen using quality standards and data - because that is really how we will deliver the public library service that every locality deserves.