Public Libraries in Northern Ireland: The New Situation

Abstract

IN THE UNITED KINGDOM the reorganization of local government has been the subject of public discussion and of central government consideration for the last thirty years. During the lifetime of the recent Conservative Government it became clear that new legislation would be enacted and overdue reforms at last take place. ‘It would be nice to be able to give three cheers for the Government which has carried through this local government reform,’ said K. C. Harrison in his Presidential address at the 1973 Isle of Man Public Libraries Conference, ‘but, looking at the effects of the reshaping on the public library scene, few of us would be disposed to give more than one and a half cheers. What most librarians will never be able to understand is how any Government could possibly countenance four different solutions to the place of public library organization under the reforms—one arrangement for England, another solution for Wales, a third answer for Northern Ireland, and yet a fourth alternative for Scotland.’ The English and Welsh acts came into operation in 1974, Scotland's changes will take place in 1975, but the ‘third answer for Northern Ireland’ has been functioning since October 1973. It is quite different from the other parts of the United Kingdom for, to express it in the simplest terms, public libraries in Northern Ireland are no longer a local government responsibility and the librarians and staffs have become virtually civil servants overnight. The rest of this article is a brief account of how this happened.

Citation

Stockham, K.A. (1974), "Public Libraries in Northern Ireland: The New Situation", Library Review, Vol. 24 No. 6, pp. 263-265. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb012605