Wednesday 7 September 2011

How silently, how silently

Very short blog or rant about paralells between youth work cuts and library cuts.
Youth work should be a statutory responsibility of the state, like libraries.  I can see the parallels between the dissolution of  local youth work and its impact on young people’s moral and the chipping away at the foundations of our libraries with the inevitable consequence that will have on education and culture. Youth work needs professional qualified youth workers just as libraries need professional qualified librarians. Volunteers have their value in both settings but cannot replace the need for trained professionals, to suggest they can undervalues the importance of both services and cripples future development. The youth service in Waveney was dismantled quietly and quickly with barely a whimper. Partly it was our fault because we weren’t watching. My new academic year’s resolution is not to let that happen again. If we lose our libraries it won’t be without a lot of ineffectual shouting and banner waving, but it won’t be silently.
Pam Riley (Signpost Gunton  Trustee and occasional Dreamworx volunteer)