Do you use your local library? If not why not?

Yes, I have several libraries near me and I am a member of all of them!

I would love to be able to hold a book but my hands don't work properly and a kindle is much more comfortable for me . If I could would love to use my local village library.

I have just rejoined. Although the wait for online orders can be long, I have so much to read at home as well. I use the library to not buy new books I would only read once anyway. Just loving it.
We also have short loans on popular books, but so far that hasn't been a problem.

@Cherrypi I guess they evaluate the area.

I'm in one of the top 20 most deprived local authorities in the country, and people here would (could) not pay and therefore the libraries would most definitely decline.

The library service is actually brilliant here and probably the best thing the council provide for those that use it.

Yes ours has one week loans for the most popular new releases. Great for Marian Keyes, less useful for the new Salman Rushdie or Babel.

The library I use has shorter loan periods for new books (and no renewals allowed for them). Only paperbacks though for some reason. Hardbacks go in the general stock.

I use mine. Saves me a fortune. Especially on kids books.

My local small library is open at odd times which are published but includes, morning, afternoon, all day and one evening until 7.

I use mainly their online services as their hours do not really work with my work times. However I do call in when I am on leave etc.

The staff our library are so lovely and helpful and go way beyond what they are paid to do particularly with people who now have to access services online where they haven't the knowledge how to do so.

Ours seems to only be open at times that suit non working people. Why can't they close on a Wednesday and open at the weekend so that those of us with jobs can use them? I only use Borrowbox nowadays.

Yes, frequently. Currently have 5 books on loan. I don't have much time to browse these days, but reserve what I want online and either collect them in my lunchbreak, after work (they are open until 6pm some days) or on a Saturday morning.

Use it all the time and it’s the most wonderful resource. Amazing staff, so helpful and knowledgeable.

I used to but ours has been closed since last September due to RAAC in the building. There's talk of finding a temporary home but nothing has been announced so far!

My local library is open 7 days a week and one at a week it opens until 7. Rather than closing libraries our council is trying to make them more like drop in centres and offer warm spaces for people (so they can cut services elsewhere). This has a downside, it is more noisy and has some anti social behavior issues at times which the staff have to deal with. When the same space is supposed to offer a place for study and 'a place to come and have a warm and a chat' its not ideal.

Yes I try to use my local libraries as much as I can as I would hate for them to be shut down. I find them better for my DC to be honest as I don't find the adult selection great at mine and any current book seems to have a long wait list

It seems unfair it varies so much by postcode. Reservations are £1.50 in my county. They also got rid of the mobile libraries for rural areas years ago.

Yes, usually once a week. I order the books I'd like online. Always love to chat with the staff too. It's about a 30 minute walk so I combine my visit with some exercise.

I notice a lot of people are complaining that their library closes at lunch and as a librarian, I have to comment.

Most of the libraries in my area are extremely short staffed and have had funds drastically cut by the council. In libraries that are run on two or three staff, it is simply not safe to open at lunch with only one or two members of staff on the floor. There are all sorts of H&S implications - it's not just that the library is being run to suit the staff, rather than the customers, as some previous posters seem to think!

I absolutely love our library - our customers are, on the whole, mostly fabulous, chatty and interesting people. I can only hope that the libraries continue to stay open as the financial situation with councils across the country is not looking particularly rosy...

We also have a local "book swap" which I do use where people take anything they've read and swap it for stuff other people bring in. It started in a carpark during lockdown and now they hire a hall once a month and run it.

I don’t use the local library anymore. It’s a twenty mile round trip to get there and in a town I rarely visit.

I use the Libby and BorrowBox apps as I work on the days they are open

The proper library closed. The council are now selling off the building.

It opened up in one of the shop units in a small, local run down shopping centre. Very few books, limited opening hours (in line with the shopping centre). Dreadful.

I used to use my childhood local library for studying and research in the evenings. It was marvellous and a lovely quiet place to work.

I've put in stock requests for two books I want to read as they only have electronic copies, and I can't comfortably read a book on my phone.

Ours has 15 copies with a waitlist of 60. Some of the books on the longlist don't even have a single physical copy. Yet there are 10 of a new Barbara Taylor Bradford book with only one reservation.

I used the library once a week as a child. I took my own children when they were little but it was because 'we should go' rather than it being enjoyable. We were lucky enough to have lots of books at home and the children's activities felt to be an extension of school. I work in an FE college and we have two fantastic libraries with really helpful, knowledgeable librarians and a really good range of books from text books to the latest fiction - our town library just doesn't compare.