The Bookseller.com

20th November 2008

Disband MLA, says Brown

13.10.08 Benedicte Page

Labour MP Lyn Brown, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Libraries, has called for a National Library Development Agency to replace the Museums, Libraries and Archive Council's library role.

Speaking at the Public Libraries Association Conference in Liverpool, Brown announced a review by the All-Party Group into library leadership, saying there was "endemic professional uncertainty" about the role of public libraries and questioning in forthright terms the MLA's ability to provide the strategic and political direction needed by the service.

"To whom do we look to represent us, promote us, and, when necessary, defend us? Is the answer to the question the MLA? I think, sadly, probably not," she said. "I would gently suggest that we have had many years now where there has been little leadership role coming from the MLA and perhaps we have created a body that is systemically incapable of delivering a leadership role for the library sector."

Instead Brown wants a National Library Development Agency to offer support, advocacy and direction for the service, guided by a cross-sector partnership board incorporating DCMS, local authority interests and private sector expertise.

At the same conference, culture secretary Andy Burnham announced the widely anticipated government review of libraries, promising a modernisation review to make libraries attractive places for the whole community.

Benedicte Page libraries MLA Home Lyn Brown

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