There's an interesting article at www.thisiskent.co.uk/Grieving-families-caused-distress-new-death/story-14985441-detail/story.html concerning problems relatives are having when registering the deaths of loved ones in local libraries. Kent County Council recently changed how births and deaths should be registered.
Aren't libraries where you are supposed to get books and knowledge from?
(With thanks to Rosemary Morgan @rosemarymorgan and @UKpling)
Chris
Not if more local authorities get their way! Ours is actively determined to integrate registration with town hall offices and libraries. The new service will happen fairly soon and then be rolled out council-wide. I should hope that privacy will be properly catered for. Sorry for remaining anonymous but I work for the council concerned.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to have been involved in the "pilot project" - it's so stressful to do death registrations. I can't imagine just dropping into my local library to manage this process. A weird decision.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for your comment, and I completely understand your need for anonymity!
ReplyDeleteCelia - it does seem fairly horrendous.
ReplyDeleteForgot to mention Chris that the council I work for is in Scotland :-(
ReplyDeletePlease do let me know when it is publicly announced. I think I could understand a registrar being based in a town hall office, but asking people just to register a death by computer, without the help of a registrar, and in a library of all places, seems bang out of order. Can't imagine anything worse than trying to register the death and there being a glitch in the software, or something stupid like that, with no-one to help.
ReplyDeleteWe had to register my mother-in-law's death in Gravesend. My husband was rather brusque with the Registrar. She recognized that it was grief talking and that was not how he was really. She said so but was very kind with it,then said, "Let's all take a big breath and start again." We did and my husband actually smiled. From then on everything went quite smoothly and amicably. Now, how on earth could a scene like that happen again in the hurly-burly of the Gravesend Public Library? I'm sure that like funeral directors, Registrars learn how to deal with people in grief. That is not a librarian's job. Theirs is a highly skilled profession, but it does not include that.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree. And we don't exactly have a growth going on just now in the library sector.
ReplyDeleteMy mother was the registrar for our small town when I was growing up. She knew well through the local gossip who would be in that day (happy or sad events). I often used to come and wait for her after school but if there was a death registration expected I was turned away from the office and sent to wait in.........the local library!
ReplyDeleteWhen we had to register my mums death, the office was by then only staffed part time and you had to make an appointment. Making the appointment was awful as it was via the all-purpose council call centre - "press 1 to register a death" did not strike me as the right approach. However, when we saw the registrar everything was given the level of service my Mum would have given - but that is only possible in a quiet private place.