Save Our Library meets the C.M

31/01/08 -
Mr Venugopal, K Padmakumar, George, Krishna met the Chief Minister Shri V.S Achuthanandan on Thursday.

The C.M, who has always shown keen interest in the matter, listened to us and promised all help to retain this institution here.

Candle Light Vigil

Last Thursday, some of our members organised a candle light protest at the British Library , Thiruvananthapuram.

Photo Courtesy: 'Mangalam'

See links below for mention about Trivandrum Library closure in the Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Council#Criticism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Council#Historical_anecdotes

"............"In March 2007, the British Council announced its 'intention to increase its investment in the Middle East, North Africa and Central and Southern Asia'. This will largely be funded by cuts in other services, libraries and office closures across Europe. In June 2007, ....."

"..........British Council libraries and offices have also been closed in a number of other countries judged by the British Council to be of little strategic or commercial importance as it refocused its activities on China and The Gulf where it can get a 'bigger bang for the buck'..............."

News that appeared in the "PRIVATE EYE"

BRITISH COUNCIL

WHILE the British Council has been fighting its corner to remain in Russia, elsewhere in the world it seems only too willing to shut up shop. In India the council announced last month that it was closing the libraries it runs in Thiruvananthapuram and Bhopal. The decision came as a complete shock to library staff and the Indian Medical Association described the potential loss of the library’s collection of books and journals as “a major blow” to medical students. The Kerala state government is trying to find a way to keep the library open in Thiruvananthapuram and has said it is prepared to run the library itself, if the British Council will just agree to leave behind its books and equipment.

The council says it “is changing the nature of its work” in the region and instead of the library, it would be sending Education UK councillors “to hold public seminars in popular venues” in Bhopal, Indore and Thiruvananthapuram. The role of Education UK is to attract international students (and their fees) to British universities, so these seminars will be recruitment exercises, not educational events. Meanwhile in Malaysia, the council told readers that the last date to borrow books from its library in Kuala Lumpur was 15 April, claiming that it is no longer needed because residents of the Klang Valley have wide access to information via other libraries and bookstores “as well as the internet”. Not to worry though, the council reassured, it will continue to “provide useful reading materials on UK universities” and tourist information about Britain at their offices.

All this follows the closure of offices in Nigeria (see Eye 1120) and the bizarre move into a reality TV scholarship contest in Ghana (Eye 1196). The British Council continues to declare that its purpose is to win friends for the UK abroad and that its “conviction that cultural relations can help individuals and the world community to thrive, [makes] the British Council a good partner”. But it is becoming increasingly clear its main aim is to sign up lucrative foreign students for UK universities.

Note:'Private Eye' is a is a British satirical magazine-newspaper which is on sale in supermarkets all over Britain and read by most journalists and politicians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Eye

Photos

The 2nd meeting at the Press Club - photos by George..

and by Tarun...

What's Next from Within ?

Events Unfolded as follows

• Helplessness to avoid closure was always projected even to the CM citing BC's policy ?
• ICCR has an important role, But opportunities to save the library were never told ?
• Efforts to prepare an alternate proposal were stalled by incongruous and incomplete reply, even to an RTI petition ?
• In spite of all efforts to save the institution, steps to sell assets and cancel memberships continued. - More loyal than the KING ?
• The spirit behind the urgent notice ordered on 18th January 2008 by the High Court is being disregarded and hasty destructive actions continue ?

Isn’t it appropriate to cooperate to retain the library ? This is what we expect even at this stage.

The High Court Petition

One of our members filed a petition with the Kerala High Court on Thursday.

The Hindu report, given below, has the details.

High Court notice on move to close British Library

Special Correspondent

Kochi: The emotive issue of the prospective closure of the British Library in Thiruvananthapuram has reached the Kerala High Court, with a petitioner pleading against the loss of the “cultural landmark.”

Justice Antony Dominic on Monday issued notice to the Central and State governments and the Director-General of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) on a writ petition filed against the closure move.

The petitioner, Mini Sreenivasan, a member of the library, stated that the British Council had started the library in 1964 along with such libraries in different cities. In 1971, all the libraries except the ones in the metropolitan cities were handed over to the ICCR, an autonomous body under the Ministry of External Affairs. Later, the libraries administrated by the British Council were named British Council libraries and those administered by the ICCR British libraries.

The library in Thiruvananthapuram had around 6,500 members and a collection of around 28,000 books used by a large number of students.

The petitioner said the Country Head of the British Council announced in Thiruvananthapuram the decision to close down the library by March 31, 2008. The move had provoked protests, leading to the formation of a Save British Library Forum.

The petitioner said the library management was going ahead with membership fee refunds and introduction of voluntary retirement schemes for the staff. There was a move to sell the books. If it was closed, Thiruvananthapuram would lose a cultural landmark, she stated.

The petitioner said the Central government had a constitutional duty to avert the closure. The public, who were the direct stakeholders, had the right to know the reasons for the closure. In spite of requests, the management had not provided any reason.

The management’s argument that the County Head of the British Council had the right to close down the library was not reasonable. The British Council could only close the British Council libraries administered by it and not the libraries administered by the ICCR since 1971. The petitioner said the closure decision was illegal.

Original article - http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/22/stories/2008012256632200.htm

End of the road..?

I feel very guilty about writing negatively about what might be our collective failure...my own life is so consumed by my work as a clinician that I barely see the sun. I end up doing precious little of anything else. But are we giving up? Is there a way we can request a moratorium on closure so that we can look at alternative arrangements- for the library and its staff now that they also are apparently in the lurch?

BC in Malaysia

David Blackie's excellent blog has this post on the situation in Russia.

In the comments to this article, a reader has posted up a leaked internal memo from British Council Malaysia setting out the secret strategy for closing BC libraries in South Asia (apart from Burma) .

Email to staff
Dear Colleagues

This is to inform you about major changes in our library provision in KL next year and the impact on staff.

The British Council continuously reviews its services against demand and value for money as the world changes. As part of this we are reviewing library provision worldwide, as in many countries costs are going up, membership is falling and there are many other sources of books and information for people – public libraries, bookshops, internet. In countries where this is the case, we are redeploying our money into other activities – mainly regional projects – which can provide more impact for our target audiences.

In East Asia we will only continue with libraries for the general public in Burma. In other countries – including Malaysia – we will restrict provision of information services to members of our teaching centre. We need more discussions with staff and customers to work out exactly whether these services are just the current ones provided by our ELLZ or whether they will include some magazines and English readers, and how we best use the space released.

We will make an announcement for the public later this month and will not accept new members from the general public by the end of November. We will stop the service to the general public at a date to be fixed in April or May 2008.

We have explained to staff in the library that their jobs are unlikely to continue beyond next May and they have the option of taking a redundancy package or of applying for vacant jobs during the next six months. We currently have four vacancies at grades H and J and will provide coaching for library staff in applying for jobs and doing job interviews.

I would be grateful if you would not talk about this to the public until we make our public announcement. If you have any questions from the press at any time please refer them to Reezal Esa and do not answer them yourself.

We will be keeping you updated as we plan these changes in more detail. In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to write or speak to me.

Best wishes

Gerry( Country Director BC Malaysia)

YMCA owns British Library building

I am quoting here the full report by "The Hindu" special correspondent:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) has clarified that, while the land occupied by it in Thiruvananthapuram was on a special lease granted by the Travancore Maharaja in 1917, the building housing the British Library in the plot was constructed by the YMCA itself.

The YMCA issued this clarification here on Thursday in the context of a remark in the report titled “Forum steps up ‘Save Library’ campaign” published in The Hindu on January 7, which stated that “the library is functioning in a heritage building on lease from the State government to the YMCA and thence to the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.”

“The building in question was constructed by the YMCA and commissioned on October 29, 1928, by the late Sir T. Vijaya Raghava Charya. In short, the said building is fully owned by the YMCA,” YMCA general secretary Thomas Abraham said in his clarification.

© Copyright 2000 - 2008 The Hindu

Source The Hindu dated 18/1/2008

St Petersburg and Ekaterinburg - British Council opens Office challenging Russian Government - Official detained - http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,2241651,00.html

Trivandrum - British Council closes Library – Indian Council for Cultural Relations supports


Perhaps this is what happens when Marketers turn to policy making hiding under "diplomacy" and "cultural relations" pretext -
http://dblackie.blogs.com/the_language_business/2007/11/linguistic-goog.html


Don't miss the below Post

British Council - Why this discrimination??

A member, who came across this press release of the British Council on its Official website
(http://www.britishcouncil.org/press-notices.htm ) , points out the British Council's blatant hypocrisy, discrimination against India, and asks the following questions.

The full text of the British Council's press release is given below , with the reader's comments marked in bold.

British Council - Press Statement

STATEMENT ON BRITISH COUNCIL RUSSIA

London, 15 January 2008 : The British Council is an independent cultural relations
organisation. We are dismayed that we have been embroiled in what is evidently a political dispute. (We are dismayed about the British Council policy of closing down its library in Trivandrum in India, which is administered by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations) The British Council is entitled to operate in Russia in accordance with both international law and Russian law under the 1963 Vienna Convention of Consular Relations and the 1994 Russian/UK agreement. (Who cancelled this entitlement in India??) The British Council is registered for tax in Russia, its name and logo are registered, and it has complied with all the requests of the Russian authorities in respect of tax and other legislation. We are a not for profit organisation and do not carry out any income generating activity in Russia. (The closure of the libraries in India is in spite of the profits earned from Library operations and profits from Educational services marketing )


In light of this, and in response to the high demand for our educational and cultural programmes from Russian partners and people, staff returned to work as planned in St Petersburg on the 14th January and in Ekaterinburg on the 9th of January. (Why is the demand of library members and people in India not considered!!?? )


At 12.00 yesterday the British ambassador was summoned by the Russian Authorities where he was handed a Memorandum which noted that our decision to re-open was viewed as a “deliberate provocation, aimed at raising tensions in Russian-British relations.” Contrary to these claims, the re-opening of our offices was not intended as a provocative or defiant act on the part of the British Council, but rather was done in good faith with the intention of continuing discussions with the Russian authorities and finding a swift resolution which will allow us to continue with our work in cultural and educational links. (Why was a request from the Chief Minister of Kerala(of which Trivandrum is the capital) , along with an offer of teh present building and any other support required for the library to continue, turned down???)


The British Council, in consultation with the Embassy, is now studying the points raised by the Russian authorities and the implications these have for our staff and operations. We hope that we will be able to resolve this situation with the Russian Authorities and that our work in cultural and educational links will be able to continue. (Why was the implication on staff in Trivandrum not considered? It is learnt that they will have to move out of their present positions.Why is it important only in Russia and not in India? )

There are no winners in this situation.(In Trivandrum, it seems the British Council has won, and the library members and the city of Trivandrum have been cruelly defeated) Our dedicated and skilled Russian staff will lose their jobs, our Russian partners and customers will lose the opportunities to engage with the UK and learn from each other, and young people and professionals in Russia and the UK, the next generation of leaders in business and other walks of life, will miss out on the opportunity to build friendships and develop relationships which ultimately increase long term understanding between the UK and Russia. (Doesn't Trivandrum and India have youngsters, professionals and next generation leaders???)




If you have any queries please contact Clare Sears in the British Council press
office on + 44 (0) 20 7389 4872 or email: Clare.Sears@britishcouncil.org


Notes to Editors:

• The British Council works in 110 countries worldwide to build intercultural understanding between the UK and other countries through the arts, education and training, science and technology, sport, good governance and human rights. Our income in 2006/07 was £551m, of which grant-in-aid from the British government was £195m.

For more information, please visit: www.britishcouncil.org

technology helps!

This is the exact situation that I have been blogging about...Congrats to the members who took the photos of the loose situation in the library...it's very obvious now that there is no longer anyone to crack the whip. I guess they are all too busy in the business of closing, packing and moving!

Arent we entitled to see the library in its normal face at least till the date it is going to be wrapped up?

Photos from the library

A member sent us the following photos...

Representations to Union Ministers, M.P , Principal Sec ...

On Dec 31st , 2 sets of representations were handed over to the Defense minister A.K Antony and Panniyan Ravindran, M.P from Thiruvananthapuram, at the venue of the handover of Keltec to Brahmos Aerospace.

The petitions are given below.

I)

Subject:Prayer for continuance of the British Council Library TVM

The decision to close down the BCL,Tvm by march 2008 was a shocking news not only for the academic and student communities but also for the professionals of Kerala. The service of this model library was of immense help for the betterment of quality education from growing children to the grownups.this immensely rich house of knowledge helped a lot in exposing as well as acquiring better jobs inside and outside the country. The role played by this library in the field of environmental education is also commendable.

The BCL Tvm came into being on the first of April 1964. The library is run in partnership with Indian Council for Cultural Relations.even after disposing old titles the lib retained minimum 27 thousand new editions in almost all disciplines. It also maintains a full-fledged children's lib.every year 5000 new titles are added to the stock.

It has undoubtedly helped to improve the quality of education and opened up prospects for better jobs.let us not break this link between the two cultures of the East and the West maintaining mutual relationship better and more informed.

let the international centre of cultural and educational asset continue to function.the intervention of the Union Govt is humbly sought to solve this issue of public interest.

Expecting your kind intervention.

yours truly

dvcyril

for and on behalf of the Forum Save British Council Library,tvm

Tvm, 30 .12 2007

____________________________________________________________________


II)


To Your Excellency the Hon. Defence Minister

On 9th December 2007, the British Council announced its decision to shut down the Trivandrum British Library on the 31st of March 2008. The members of the library and the public of Kerala were devastated by the news since the Trivandrum library was one of the best run British libraries in India. It has brought enormous goodwill to Britain and contributed significantly to Britain's culture and economy by enabling thousands of professionals from different fields to go to Britain.

A large section of Kerala's society has benefited from this excellent knowledge centre. We are dismayed that even as efforts are on to retain the library in some form or other, the Council and ICCR are going ahead with the cancellation of memberships and retrenchment of staff. It is also understood that the British Council has not responded to a request from the Hon. Chief Minister of Kerala to examine options for retaining this library, citing their policy constraints.

May we bring to your kind notice that the 'British Libraries' in Thiruvananthapuram and Bhopal are in fact, administered by the ICCR, and not by the British Council. These are being closed down, while the four "British Council libraries" in Metropolitan cities owned and administered by the British Council are still kept open in spite of their reported change in policy. The seven "British Libraries" , which include the libraries in Thiruvananthapuram and Bhopal, belong to the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR), a Government of India body. Hence, even if a collaborator, namely the British Council backs out, other partners can be easily identified.

A well run institution should not be destroyed.

We earnestly appeal to your goodselves to sympathetically examine the matter and to exert pressure on the ICCR and British Council to freeze all activities connected with the closing down of the library.

Update:

Copies of the 2nd petition have been faxed over to Vayalar Ravi (Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs ), E. Ahamed (Minister for External Affairs), T.K.A Nair (Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister) too.

2008: National Year of Reading in UK

I am not sure who all sees this blog...but I sure hope at least one person from Britain does...

The UK government kicked off a National Year of Reading for 2008, and called upon parents to read to their kids for at least 10 minutes daily...

See this link for the news straight from the source...

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_066880

The government obviously means to encourage reading Books, and not any e-form of it...its plain printed matter that matters...How come nobody is bothered that a well run, obviously much used British Library in another corner of the world is under closure orders?

A right to know

Yesterday, a request was made under the 'Right to Information' Act to the ICCR.

ICCR was asked to provide the following details, with copies of relevant documents.

• The nature of entity, organisation, governing and management structure of the British Library , Tvpm (with detail of any changes between 1964 -2007)

• The role of ICCR in the library

• The British Council's policy on libraries, being a collaborator of ICCR

• Details of the 1971 agreement between ICCR/Govt of India and the British Council for managing the British Libraries.

• The ICCR website states that the BL, Tvpm comes under it. That being so, the reasons for closure of the library being decided by the British Council rather than the ICCR

• It is reported that the closure of the library is due to a shift in policy of the British Council. But, the 'British Council Libraries' , which come directly under the British Council, are still functioning while two 'British Libraries', which come under the ICCR (a Govt of India body) are being closed down. Why is this?
  

• The difference between 'British Council Libraries' and 'British Libraries' in India.

• The reasons for selecting BL Tvpm and BL Bhopal for closure.

• Details of any correspondence between the British Council and ICCR related to the closure (proposal from BC and response of ICCR)

• Details of Income, expenditure and revenue streams for the past 3 years and 2007 -2009

• The details of ownership of assets

• The process for staff recruitment and who appoints staff.
  

• The salary of each employee (CTC) , and the compensation package offered on voluntary retirement.

• The process followed in implementing staff attrition

• Will the ICCR and Library Management go ahead with the steps for closure making the information requested above irrelevant, when it is received in 30 days.

From the start, a lack of transparency and undue haste was felt in the closure of the library.

It is hoped that the answers to the questions above, will provide us with an insight into how the closure can be avoided...

At the Library again

The downward slide continues!

I was reminded of the umpteen pre-closure scenes in the shops under threat in the city...The staff still maintains a stiff upper lip, British style, but the younger among them are closer to a rather bewildered but resigned expression. The first sight that greeted me at BL today was a lady sitting down in front of one of the staff at the desk and filling in a form, once a familiar sight...she was filling in a refund form. I peeped over her shoulder but my couldn't see much, I am as blind as a bat without my specs. ..then I noticed the sign boards of refund...the exit post where they check your date stamps, has a stack of request forms piled in front...I too took one, not to to put in a request of course but just felt curious...

The other day when I mentioned that the books looked to be disappearing slowly, there was a note of dissent...perhaps I was over-reacting a little, I too felt later on...but this time I am sure that there is a slackening of pace in replacing books. I cannot confirm the disappearence of any books, but to be sure they are NOT being replaced...AJ Cronin's omnibus edition of novels is placed in exactly the same position in the make shift shelf where they put in books from the returns section. This is the third day that I have observed it there...it's too much of a coincidence to say that every time I drop in at the library, someone places it in my way!

I was there today to have a peep at some Shakespeare, usually I get a good choice...but today the library yielded no gems...I guess they have all been borrowed before the library shuts down....it's terribly sad, just being there, but I keep going, and will do so till the door is barred...I do hope it will never be...