Commonplaces

Abstract

Metropolitan miseries ‐ 1 City of Westminster. We received in November a short sharp letter signed by most of the library staff protesting about cuts in the service. These were attributed to ‘one man's report’, a citation vague enough to account for a mild grumble from Barnes (M). ‘Trouble is’, he said in some sorrow, ‘they think it was my report.’ It wasn't. It was the doing of a councillior now elevated to chair the committee to run (down) the library service. Further misery: Harrison (K C) is reported to have bewailed the disappearance of the title ‘City Librarian’, for when Barnes (M) goes the library service gets submerged in a leisure directorate. Barnes (M) is now (at the time of reading) Guildhall Librarian, City of London. They have their own miseries there, but they are well gilded and guilded by centuries of mediaeval floohflah under a heavy top dressing of well‐established City ways with money and the making thereof. And in case you haven't noticed, the City of London is listed with all those naughty places like Hackney and Sheffield and the glc as an over‐spending local authority. It's enough to make City Common Councilmen stand guard at Temple Bar and turn back ministers and royal persons.

Citation

Dudley, E. (1984), "Commonplaces", New Library World, Vol. 85 No. 2, pp. 30-33. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb060616