Yes folks! It’s time for – Mock the Week!

BBC2′s ‘Mock the Week’ (Thursdays at 10pm) often has a sketch where one comedian – usually pretending to be a government spokesman – gives the official viewpoint while a second – usually Hugh Dennis – says what the government actually mean. The host is Dara O’Braian.

For the purposes of this item, Andy Parsons, the bald headed one, (or the follicly challenged one if you’re one of those politically correct sorts) is the first comedian. Jerry Green wrote the script:

Dara: OK. Your subject tonight is Upper Norwood joint library. Andy Parsons, you’re the Croydon council spokesman reading the council”s press release, Hugh – you have to say what Croydon council actually mean.

Andy: “Croydon council has proposed an unprecedented joint approach to making Upper Norwood’s library more efficient as part of its ongoing commitment to reduce public spending.”
Hugh: “We want to cut the library’s budget.”

Andy: “The council has asked neighbouring Lambeth – which co-funds the library as part of a unique contract between the two boroughs – to work with Croydon to bring costs down at the library.”
Hugh: “We want to cut the library’s budget.”

Andy: “Sitting on the border of Croydon and Lambeth, Upper Norwood is the only library in the UK which is not under council ownership – instead being run by a completely independent committee, which is funded jointly between the two councils.”
Hugh: “Well…er…up until 26 years ago it was.”

Andy: “Although the library provides the same services as a council-owned facility…”
Hugh: “Waggle and Hum, ABC Club, local studies library, a place for councillors to hold their surgeries….”
Andy: “….it costs almost £100,000 a year more to operate than the average library…”
Hugh: “….but less than Croydon central library…”
Andy: “, with the £400,000 running cost split between the two councils.”
Hugh: “….Lambeth pays more than £200,000. Croydon pays less than £200,000.”

Andy: “Costs have also increased by around £10,000 for each of the last three years, while other library costs have remained static.”
Hugh: “We put in a brand-new self-service machine system in Upper Norwood. “But not in the other libraries.”

Andy: “The saving would be equivalent to extending opening hours at all the libraries in Croydon, or increasing the borough’s stock of books by 25 per cent.”
Hugh: “We don’t plan to extend opening hours at any of our libraries in Croydon. We’ve just shut South Norwood for an extra day. “We don’t plan to increase the borough’s stock of books by 25 per cent. “Think of all the extra shelving.”

Andy: “To ensure taxpayers’ interests are maximised, Croydon has approached Lambeth to seek a cross-political approach to bringing costs into line with other libraries in the area.”
Hugh: “We may not get four Conservative councillors on the committee after all. “We want to cut the library’s budget.”

Andy: “This could involve putting the library under the control of one of the two councils, with both contributing the standard amount of funding required to run a branch library.”
Hugh: “We want to cut the library’s budget.”

Andy: “Cllr Sara Bashford, cabinet member for culture and sport at Croydon, said: ‘Firstly we are absolutely clear that Upper Norwood library is an asset to local people and we want it to stay that way. That’s our aim.’,”
Hugh: “In our council election leaflets for May 6th we issued one headed: ‘Upper Norwood library – only the Conservatives care. We stated that over the past four years Croydon’s Conservative council had increased funding to the library every year. “We pointed out this was in stark contrast to ‘years of neglect under the Labour party when funding was actually cut!’.” “We want to cut the library’s budget.”

Andy: “However with every council currently looking at the way it spends money,…”
Hugh: “We want to cut the library’s budget.”
Andy: “…we can’t ignore the fact that, over the next five years, the current arrangement will cost taxpayers almost £500,000 more than we spend on any other library.”
Hugh: “We spend more than £1 million a year on Croydon central library. “We want to cut the library’s budget.”

Andy: “We know both authorities can operate successful libraries on a lower budget without any damaging effect on what’s provided – so it would be negligent not to consider the issue as we look to get the best value for residents out of every pound.”
Hugh: “Which is why the salaries of the council leader, the two deputy council leaders, the 10 cabinet members and the scrutiny committee chairman’s salaries are all going up next year. “We want to cut the library’s budget.”

Andy: “We know that public services are facing unprecedented financial pressures.
Hugh: “Yes. The council leader will be getting £64,824 a year, up from £53,314. The two deputy leaders will be getting £48,618 each, up from £46,494 each;….
Andy: “Therefore it’s absolutely logical that council and political groups work together to ensure taxpayers get the best value for money.
Hugh: “…cabinet members will get £45,377 up from £35,154. The chairman of the scrutiny committee will get £45,377. That’s up from £35,154.But councillors will be getting less. That’s because there’s more Labour councillors than there used to be.”

Andy: “We believe, based on 15 other libraries we run, that local residents can get the same service for less money.”
Hugh: “I have here, in my hand, this piece of paper…”

Andy: “That is what we are all paid to do, regardless of political persuasion.”
Hugh: “So Cllr Bashford gets an increase of just under £2,430 next year.
“We want to cut the library’s budget.”

(Note: The above – as ‘spoken’ by Andy is a full transcript of the Croydon council press release with only the last paragraph removed as it was a repeat paragraph.

On page four of its January newsletter the Upper Norwood library campaign – which puts posters announcing committee meetings around the area headed ‘Save Upper Norwood library’ – states:

“RUMOUR: Upper Norwood joint library (UNJL) will close in 2010.

RUMOUR:If the Tories get in in Croydon and Lambeth UNJL will become a branch library.

RUMOUR Croydon are serious about pulling out of the UNJL joint agreement”.

But Clllr Eddy Arram – vice chairman of the committee which oversees the library – angrily denounced the claims at the library’s joint committee meeting on Wednesday January 27th.

Referring to the campaign newsletter as ‘rags like this’ he called for the rumours to be withdrawn immediately.

“One of the reasons the library is not succeeding as well as it should do is the negativity and the actual lies that are being pushed around. It undermines not only this committee but worse – it undermines the staff”

(At this point Cllr Arram was interrupted from the floor by CPCA chairman John Payne who said: “Arrant nonsense. This is divisive deliberately”)

Cllr Arram told the meeting misinformation about the library which had been going on the Internet for many years was having a negative effect.

He said when he was committee chairman (2008 – 2009) people were reading information which was three or more years out of date – and not joining the library because they thought it was going to close.

“When they found it was open they marvelled at the services and realised the information was negative.

“The resources we have may not be as much as we’d like but this library is providing a good service to all its people and doing it within a financial constraint to a very good level.

“Last year it was only a couple of thousand pounds overspent. This year it’s on target. It says a lot for the way the staff has been working. It’s a pity rags like this don’t acknowledge this and the efforts put in by both councils.”

He said chief librarian Bradley Millington was doing an excellent job with a limited amount of money.

“He has taken the lead over and above providing services in this library ahead of Croydon and Lambeth. We’ve got self service which some people think is shocking – but it allows staff to provide extra services within the library. It’s a positive step forward.

“Every library needs to look at what its neighbour is doing and learn from that. Libraries in Lambeth and Croydon can learn from Upper Norwood” he added.

Library campaigner Pam Gray insisted that what was written was “properly researched”. The rumours were verbal rumours, she added.

She told Cllr Arram: “You obviously feel very aggrieved at these rumours but they come from within Croydon borough. We don’t know if it was Croydon officers or members of the public but we heard these rumours and that’s why they were reported”.

Mr Payne – a co-opted member of the UNJL committee – said there was no shortage of money in Croydon – except when it came to funding the library. “We are not being treated fairly by Cllr Arram and other councillors on this committee” he declared.

Support for Cllr Arram (Con. Ashburton) came from an unlikely quarter. Library campaigner Richard Francis said the front page of the campaign’s newsletter was “extremely positive”. He had opened it with bated breath only to be disappointed from page two to its end. “It was negativity” he added.

CUTBACKS IN local government funding could hit Upper Norwood joint library even harder than other libraries, the meeting was warned.

Cllr Graham Pycock said there was a danger that someone in Croydon and someone in Lambeth could suggest a four, five or 10 per cent cut across the board for budgets of individual libraries.

That would mean cuts in Upper Norwood’s budget being made at even higher levels than other libraries because of previous underfunding.

His comments came as the meeting discussed a written report which showed that in the 2007 – 8 financial year Upper Norwood library’s cost of service per 1,000 population was £12,117 – compared to a Greater London average of £23,534.

Cllr Robert Askey (Con. South Norwood) said there was a significant trend across London where library authorities were having to make very, very serious cuts and find very serious savings – and not just in Croydon and Lambeth.

Issues like the housebound service were not provided by Upper Norwood library but were provided in Croydon by Croydon library services. He accepted it was a very small matter but it was one of the factors that had to come into the funding.

“I’m slightly concerned when I hear figures about linking it to what a library authority spends proportionately.

“If Croydon decided to make savings and it was going to cut its library service you wouldn’t want that cut to be replicated – you’d want that grant to be looked at separately” he added.

Cllr Pycock (Con. Gipsy Hill) said: “We are a joint sub-committee of both council cabinets. We’re obliged to say what this particular library needs this year.”

The next meeting of the committee takes place on Thursday March 3rd.

HISTORICAL NOTE: The library, established in 1898 as an equally-funded facility, opened on July 4th 1900. The principle of equal funding was reaffirmed in both the 1922 and 1994 agreements.

In the 26 years since the start of unequal funding in 1984/5 equal funding had been achieved only once. The library currently has 11 staff in full time employment and is currently carrying two vacancies.

A copy of the report can be found by logging on to www.croydon.gov.uk, typing in ‘Upper Norwood library’. The report can be found under the agenda and minutes for January 25, 2010.

His comments came at the latest meeting of the Upper Norwood library joint committee which oversees the country’s only independent library.

His comments came as Lambeth’s cabinet member for culture and communities said the committee which run the Upper Norwood joint library appeared to be “underpinned by anxiety and distrust.”

Cllr Rachel Heywood, Lambeth’s cabinet member for culture and communities, made the comment at the latest meeting of the committee – of which she herself is a member.
Her comments came as members drew up plans to hold a meeting with officers from both Croydon and Lambeth councils – which jointly fund the country’s only independent library – to discuss drafting a new agreement on how the library is funded.
“This committee seems to be underpinned by anxiety and distrust” she said. “This isn’t a good sort of meeting. I’d like us to sit round the table and have a grown up discussion and recognise that this is a very important service. “It seems there’s endless circles to these arguments.”
Cllr Heywood said the idea of the proposed meeting of the two cabinet members and other members reported to the previous meeting in July had gone down very badly. She said she had been “very heavily lobbied” for that meeting not to go ahead.
Cllr Heywood said she had not intended to have a meeting with Cllr Steve Hollands – Croydon’s cabinet member – in front of an audience. The matter should be discussed by the committee, not just the two cabinet members.
“But it has to be done on the understanding people will behave in a way that means we can have a sensible discussion.
“I’m not prepared to invite officers along to sit and listen to this kind of discussion. They are not going to support this library if they hear this sort of nonsense. I don’t think it would benefit the library.”
Cllr Heywood suggested setting up a small working group of the chairman, chief librarian and a member of the library campaign group to discuss how the meeting could be put together and what papers needed to be circulated.
Earlier Cllr Graham Pycock, a former chairman of the committee, said there was a lot of suspicion about both officers and committee members and “a feeling of great frustration this unique library has suffered from inconsistent and insufficient funding.”
There had been years and years and years where both Lambeth and Croydon had failed to increase funding to Upper Norwood in line with their own libraries.
Politicians and officers in both boroughs had been obstructive. “Politicians feel they are the king of the castle – they are very reluctant to concede power and allow administration to a lower level” added Cllr Pycock (Con Gipsy Hill)..
“This library is withering on the vine. We don’t want a meeting for the sake of a meeting The agreement doesn’t work – it hasn’t worked for years. There needs to be a new agreement which allows for funding which keeps pace with mainstream funding in both boroughs.
“The years of not funding Upper Norwood cannot be allowed to continue. In the light of its fantastic performance that’s outrageous. It’s important this library doesn’t suffer more than mainstream libraries on both sides of the border.
“In an environment where both boroughs are cutting where do you think they are going to cut first? We’re in a very vulnerable position.”
Cllr Suzanne Poole (Con Gipsy Hill) said the agreement did not oblige Croydon or Lambeth to increase funding in line with inflation. There needed to be a more specific agreement which required the boroughs to provide a sufficient level of funding and a formula which took into account services provided by each borough with safeguards put in for inflation.

*The current agreement runs until 2014. The committee’s next meetings are scheduled for Wednesday January 27th 2010 and Wednesday March 3rd 2010.

CAN YOU HELP?

The library is currently looking for outside funding to help with its information technology.
Half the IT capacity – which is five or six years old – has already been lost, chief librarian Bradley Millington told the committee.
There might be a small amount in the coffers at the end of the financial year in March – but that was partly on the basis the library had been carrying additional vacancies which put a lot of pressure on people.
A report to the committee said a capital bid to both parent authorities would be required for 2010-11 with replacement ICT public access and staff networks costing £25,000 to £30,000 one of the main priorities.
Other priorities include provision of improvements to ensure 24-hour access to library services.
This would include web access to the library catalogue and the ability to self-renew and self-reserve library items from home etc – a system already implemented by other local library services.

SPENDING PER HEAD LOWER THAN AVERAGE

Estimates for 2010-11 show that revenue expenditure on library services at Upper Norwood would be £18,840 per 1,000 population. This is substantially lower than the average Greater London revenue expenditure on library services per 1,000 population served – which stood at more than £28,000 per 1,000 population in 2007-8.

The committee which run the Upper Norwood joint library appears to be “underpinned by anxiety and distrust” says a leading councillor.
Cllr Rachel Heywood, Lambeth’s cabinet member for culture and communities, made the comment at the latest meeting of the committee – of which she herself is a member.
Her comments came as members drew up plans to hold a meeting with officers from both Croydon and Lambeth councils – which jointly fund the country’s only independent library – to discuss drafting a new agreement on how the library is funded.
“This committee seems to be underpinned by anxiety and distrust” she said. “This isn’t a good sort of meeting. I’d like us to sit round the table and have a grown up discussion and recognise that this is a very important service. “It seems there’s endless circles to these arguments.”
Cllr Heywood said the idea of the proposed meeting of the two cabinet members and other members reported to the previous meeting in July had gone down very badly. She said she had been “very heavily lobbied” for that meeting not to go ahead.
Cllr Heywood said she had not intended to have a meeting with Cllr Steve Hollands – Croydon’s cabinet member -  in front of an audience. The matter should be discussed by the committee, not just the two cabinet members.
“But it has to be done on the understanding people will behave in a way that means we can have a sensible discussion.
“I’m not prepared to invite officers along to sit and listen to this kind of discussion. They are not going to support this library if they hear this sort of nonsense. I don’t think it would benefit the library.”
Cllr Heywood suggested setting up a small working group of the chairman, chief librarian and a member of the library campaign group to discuss how the meeting could be put together and what papers needed to be circulated.
Earlier Cllr Graham Pycock, a former chairman of the committee, said there was a lot of suspicion about both officers and committee members and “a feeling of great frustration this unique library has suffered from inconsistent and insufficient funding.”
There had been years and years and years where both Lambeth and Croydon had failed to increase funding to Upper Norwood in line with their own libraries.
Politicians and officers in both boroughs had been obstructive. “Politicians feel they are the king of the castle  – they are very reluctant to concede power and allow administration to a lower level” added Cllr Pycock (Con Gipsy Hill).
“This library is withering on the vine. We don’t want a meeting for the sake of a meeting The agreement doesn’t work – it hasn’t worked for years. There needs to be a new agreement which allows for funding which keeps pace with mainstream funding in both boroughs.
“The years of not funding Upper Norwood cannot be allowed to continue. In the light of its fantastic performance that’s outrageous. It’s important this library doesn’t suffer more than mainstream libraries on both sides of the border.
“In an environment where both boroughs are cutting where do you think they are going to cut first? We’re in a very vulnerable position.”
Cllr Suzanne Poole (Con Gipsy Hill) said the agreement did not oblige Croydon or Lambeth to increase funding in line with inflation. There needed to be a more specific agreement which required the boroughs to provide a sufficient level of funding and a formula which took into account services provided by each borough  with safeguards put in for inflation.

*The current agreement runs until 2014. The committee’s next meetings are scheduled for Wednesday January 27th 2010 and Wednesday March 3rd 2010.

The library is currently looking for outside funding to help with its information technology.
Half the IT capacity – which is five or six years old – has already been lost, chief librarian Bradley Millington told the committee.
There might be a small amount in the coffers at the end of the financial year in March – but that was partly on the basis the library had been carrying additional vacancies which put a lot of pressure on people.
A report to the committee said a capital bid to both parent authorities would be required for 2010-11 with replacement ICT public access and staff networks costing £25,000 to £30,000 one of the main priorities.
Other priorities include provision of improvements to ensure 24-hour access to library services.
This would include web access to the library catalogue and the ability to self-renew and self-reserve library items from home etc – a system already implemented by other local library services.

Estimates for 2010-11 show that revenue expenditure on library services at Upper Norwood would be £18,840 per 1,000 population. This is substantially lower than the average Greater London revenue expenditure on library services per 1,000 population served – which stood at more than £28,000 per 1,000 population in 2007-8.

A mutiny which occurred at Upper Norwood library was among the historical gems revealed to members of Norwood Society’s local history group at their latest meeting.
Jerry Savage, the library’s reference and locaql history specialist, told how the first chief librarian William A Stobie was challenged for control of the library by his senior assistant George Churchill and two junior assistants George Stevens and George Allard.
Stobie was told his behaviour was being monitored and written records kept.
“Effectively they started to blackmail him and warn him that if he did not like the new regime they would go to Mr Jast, the chief librarian at Croydon”said Jerry – even though, strictly speaking, Jast did not have jurisdiction over the independent Upper Norwood library.
Stobie was accused of being overly strict – an accusation he rejected. “All I have done is to encourage them to be more industrious in their work” he said.
Jerry Savage told the meeting at the Phoenix centre, Westow street: “I suspect that Churchill was someone who would have been an awkward employee anywhere. Churchill had a total lack of interest in his work. What he did like to do was disappear off to the basement to read books like Moll Flanders.
“What I think is the clincher for me is that Stobie altered the staffing timetable so Churchill could have two-hour breaks to travel to Croydon and back for hot dinners which I think we can consider to be bending over backwards!”
Churchill and Stevens were sacked by the library’s joint committee – but allowed to work out their month’s notice.
Stobie – who had been chief librarian from the start, left shortly afterwards – possibly quite traumatised by events – to become chief cataloguer in the public library of South Australia in Adelaide. In the same year – 1906 – he was succeeded by Walter Henry Ransome from the Lambeth library service.
The other chief librarians have been Dorothy Owers (1925 – 1952) and the library’s first female librarian . A flamboyant and well-known figure in Upper Norwood she did a lot to expand the library, making it a place where lectures were held after the library had closed its doors for the night and a place where exhibitions were staged.
Owers had joined the library as an assistant in 1916 although there is some doubt she ever became a qualified librarian, he added.
The 1930s saw the opening of the children’s library by W C Berwick Sayers, chief librarian of Croydon for many years and author or co-author of two books on Croydon in the First and Second World wars. The guest speaker was A E W Mason, author of ‘The Four Feathers’.
Among the regular visitors to the library during this time were William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) who lived in Farquhar Road and actress Margaret Lockwood who borrowed ‘The Wheel Spins’ by Ethel Lina White – the book on which one of her best-known films ‘The Lady Vanishes’ was based.

During the Second World war the library basement also housed a 14 -strong team of fire watchers who worked on a rota made up of 117 people.
The other chief librarians have been Lawrance H Cuddy (1952 to 1977); Pat Scott, the second lady librarian (1978 – 1990) who was succeeded by her deputy Christopher Dobb (1990-2000) who standardised the library’s name as Upper Norwood joint library after noticing people giving the library various names and Bradley Millington (2001 – present).
The idea for the library began in 1895 when representatives from Croydon and Lambeth – then the Lambeth Vestry – met to discuss the possibility of setting up a library to serve the border area where the two boroughs met. The contract to build the library was awarded to Henry Leney, an Anerley builder.
Opened on July 4th 1900 it had a ground floor lending library with 8,500 volumes and a newsroom. The first floor was left unused until 1903 when the reference library was established.