At the heart of publishing since 1858


Issue 5850


Editor's Letter Taking stock A


n “Enchanted Story Garden” to entice children in to explore the love of reading (Eltham Library); a group of schoolchildren named as Library


Many congratulations to Harrogate Library in North Yorkshire, which takes this year’s crown


Ambassadors by the school’s librarian and encouraged to use a budget to choose books for the school (Arden Academy); and a scheme to supply children in hospices with free audio mini-libraries (Listening Books). While The Bookseller’s news operation has to highlight the many tough stories affecting our public library service—cutbacks and closures, falling book stock spend, job losses—it is a rare treat to be able to focus, as we do this week, on the good work done by commited and successful libraries of all kinds to promote the love of reading, literacy and literature, and to provide a place of information and opportunit, and of shared communit. Many congratula- tions to Harrogate Library in North Yorkshire, which takes this year’s crown as our Library of the Year, alongside a strong shortlist (see pp06–12), also announced this week. Meanwhile, for the first time we recognise the work done by those volunteers who take over a library when a local authorit decides to divest it, with a commenda- tion for Brent’s volunteer-run Preston Communit Library, where agent and former publisher Geraldine Cooke plays an active part. The Bookseller believes strongly that paid, professional librarians are an essential resource, and that handing libraries over to be volunteer-run is an abdication of local authorities’ statutory responsibilit to provide a comprehensive and efficient library


service. But Brent residents fought a long and hard campaign against library closures in their borough, and in an era of hard choices, the Preston Communit Library volunteers are doing a fine job in offering a library service to its communit in the absence of any alternative. They deserve their nod, and hats off to them.


Books a priority Now for a point we’ve oſten made before but which remains vital. Public libraries need to make their book stock an absolute priorit, even at a time of squeezed budgets. Book loans in England have been falling for a long time, and a narrative seems to have become accepted that this is an inevitabilit, reflecting changing priorities among modern library users. Yet figures highlighted by campaigner Tim Coates this week show that this isn’t a patern shared in the US, where loans by contrast have remained stable. Or in Australia, where loans have dropped slightly, but nowhere near at England’s rate. In England, the nation’s book stock has been allowed to fall from 90 million to fewer than 60 million copies. Publishers too should do all they can to support e-book and audio loans from libraries, to ensure libraries can foster and encourage reading in all the ways their users need and expect.


A poor book offer (across p and e) won’t


excite readers, and the expectation of user-decline becomes a self-fulfilling narrative. That must be interrupted: build it and they will come.


In next week’s magazine Country Focus: Ireland; Children’s Previews


Benedicte Page Deputy editor Contents 12th July 2019 06


I rode the trails that the women would have ridden... I stayed in a tiny cabin, seven miles down a dirt track, by myself


Cover story The Bookseller reveals the Library of the Year 2019


TheBookseller.com Books Author Profile 26 This Week


Book of the Month


The Lead Story ................. 06 News Review .................. 14 Children’s News ................ 16 Company Spotlight ............. 18


Books


Author Profile .................. 26 New Titles: Non-fiction .......... 28 Category Spotlight: Religion ...... 44


Books


New Titles: Non-fiction 28


Jobs in Books Recruitment ................... 48 Data The bestseller charts 20 05 This


week’s number one


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12.07.19 ISSN 0006-7539 2 4 At the heart of publishing since 1858. £5.95


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