National Library of Wales

Friday, November 14th, 2008

This place is located in Aberystwyth which is on the mid-Wales coast. If you look it up on the map, you will find it is miles from pretty much anywhere of significance. I live in Wales but I would regard a visit there to be something of a journey rather than a trip. I suspect it does not get many school outings from East Anglia and fewer still from Berlin.

Today, it has been announced that it is to be closed on Saturdays to save money. One historian has asked why it cannot be open 24/7 like the shops. Someone should tell the fool that people want to shop 24/7 in busy accessible areas but there ain't much call for libraries at the seaside at 3 am in the morning. The same clown notes that many American libraries are also open 24/7 and that may be so. But where are they? Washington DC, New York, Chicago? I doubt if they in the middle of bloody nowhere like Monument Valley for example.

My gripe with all this is the choice of Saturday, a day when the workers would be free to visit. The mayor and Dafydd Wigley share my view but offer no counter proposals.

My view is simple. Why not shut on Mondays instead? I can just imagine the answer -'Oh, we would not save so much money with that for the staff get a premium for working Saturdays.'

Well sod them. If you work in public service, then you are relatively immune from the economic ups and downs and by definition you are there to serve the public. Now look you, you get better job security and you don't get a weekend premium. You can't have it both ways.