Why aren't the remaining public libraries used more?

[rzb]

I love our local library.

It's not lovely - it could do with a bit of fresh paint, new carpets and so on.

But:

• It's warm in winter, dry during rain, and cool(ish) when it's stinky hot outside.
• It always has seats (even comfy ones), and doesn't require an expensive coffee to be purchased in order to use them.
• The children's section has an open area with space for young kids to toddle and crawl around safely.
• Their adult and baby / toddler rhyme and story sessions are a great place to get some adult conversation / solidarity with other parents of babies/toddlers.
• It's conveniently located within our local shopping area, so exchanging library books fits in with regular errands and becomes an easy habit to maintain.
• It has amazingly helpful, knowledgeable and approachable librarians who discreetly ensure that kids who come in alone are safe, and who are a super source of suggestions for different books to try.
• In a place that doesn't have a bookshop, it's the only local provider of the 'book browsing' experience which is available to everyone (yes, schools have their own libraries so kids aren't denied this, but books deemed to be age-appropriate aren't always accessible or of interest).
• Its online services and app are simple enough to use that my kids could manage their own accounts online from around the age of 8.
• It has offered my kids a sense of accomplishment and independence when they were old enough to research and reserve the books they wanted to read and visit the library independently to exchange books.
• My kids have read lots of books, and genres of books, that they wouldn't otherwise have picked up, enabled because there's no cost to picking up and trying a book from the library, and they can browse for as long as they like (within the library's opening hours).

It's brilliant, and I love having and using our local library, but it seems that lots of local parents and their families don't use it. If books / reading come up in conversation with other parents, e.g. at my kids' activities, and I mention that my kids use the library a lot, it gets a response along the lines of, 'That's a good idea, but my kids don't have library cards' or 'We don't use the library, which is a bit silly really when we're buying all these books,', or 'I hadn't thought of taking them to the library.'

I know I'm lucky to have access to a local library, and perhaps now in a minority of people who have easy access to one. If you have a local library, do you and your family use it? Why/why not? Is it well-used by other families? If you don't have a local library, would you use one if you did?

Mine is only ever open when I'm at work. Occasionally I commission my husband to borrow a book for me.

I don’t go to my local library because I just don’t want too. I don’t think I have any other reason other than not wanting to go and not needing to go

I use local libraries to me loads, I take my daughter once a week at least l, she's 3

I do often wonder the same as you tbh, I know so many parents that have never even been and I can't understand why! Free activities, toys and books for kids.. you can't go wrong

Because a fuck ton of people don't read or encourage their kids to read.

So many libraries now are shabby, downtrodden and lacking in actual librarians (volunteers don’t count). Local authorities have been running them down for the last 10-15 years.

They're open at strange times. The collections don't reflect the local community. The staff is unwelcoming.

This is a side issue, but I find libraries have gone so noisy now! There's nowhere for a quiet read...

I loved the library as a child, and took my children to rhyme time as babies / toddlers. But every time I walk past our local one now it’s shut. It’s sad but reading books is an instant easy online thing now. I wonder how long libraries have left?

We used to go to the library after the school pick up (next door) but not so much now as children are older. The main library in town feels a bit soulless. I recently went in and they had changed the checkout machines, had to ask for help three times. Very grumpy lady on the desk who wasn't particularly helpful in showing me how the machine worked 🙄

I used them a lot more when I had young children and didn't work. I could get there during its opening hours and it was a no-cost activity when we were at a loose end.

I'm too badly organised to use them these days. I forget to collect and return, it's open only in work hours and tbh the librarian is quite unpleasant. I use charity shops to buy books for next to nothing and then pass them back when I'm done, that just works better for me.

My local library doesn't really work for me tbh. They don't have many books and it's noisy. It's more of a community cafe type place now with a strong presence from the local evangelical church and I don't have need of that. I'm sure the people who use it like it.

I liked libraries back in the day when they were quiet places with lots of books.

ETA: also the opening hours are very restrictive.

I want to use mine and in theory I'm the perfect target audience. I currently work part time and have a young child but out of the 4 days a week I'm not at work (including the weekend) our local library is only open on Saturday. Instead I go to another library further away.

Simply put I can't use it if it's not open!

Ours is a bit out of the way from where we live and hardly ever open when I'm not at work. I did make the effort to use it when I could when the DCs were little but it never really got to be a regular habit, it was always a bit of a tumbleweed zone with very few other families there. One of my DCs studies there when home from university and I use the apps a bit but the wait times for books, limited selection and poor functionality of Borrowbox mean I don't use it as much as I'd like to. It's a shame because the staff are lovely and it's a great facility.

Some are shadows of what they once were. The library in the town i grew up in was a happy and busy hub stuffed full of books. Now it's got a few pamphlets and computer terminals and precious few actual books. The result of funding cuts?
The one in the town where my children spent their early years - Teddington - was gorgeous and anther busy hub. We went every saturday morning in the early 2000s. i wonder if it's still as lovely?

Goes back far longer than that. Our village library closed around 2007, the library in the next closest village closed a couple of years earlier. Both during a Labour government with a Labour county council, so please don't try to score political points. We lost our village bus service around the same time!

Our nearest is now in our nearest town but it's only open ridiculous hours, something like 10-4 just 3 weekdays a week, nothing at weekends, no evenings and closed for lunch for 90 minutes! It's barely open!

Our opening hours are scatty here too. Only until 12pm on a Saturday and obviously not on a Sunday. We still go but if we have a Saturday activity I find I sometimes just can't return the books for over a month because of this. They've recently started doing one late opening a week (until 7pm) but this often coincides with after school activities.

Only open when I’m at work, poor book selection, unpleasant staff, too noisy.

I didn't enjoy the library as a kid. Too quiet and the staff were snooty. I've taken my dc a couple of times and they like looking at the kids books but they're not interested in reading and the books get scattered over the house and it's a trauma to find them all and return before we get a fine. I don't read for pleasure so don't expect my children will either.

So sorry to hear of negative experiences in libraries. I do like them and have always used them. So much so that I have now been working in one for the past 4 years. (Paid, not volunteer).

As a team, we are really passionate about books and customer services, and we help a lot of customers with a range of issues ( mainly digital queries).

Our books are in great condition and a far cry from the tatty old library books when I was a child. New stock is added regularly and considering its free, it is a great resource. I really hope enough people will continue to use the libraries, as it is the only way to keep them open.

Another thing - the one local to me is incredibly 'dumbed down'. I suppose it's meant to make it accessible, but they have things like, for biographies, labelling the shelf 'Stories about real life people'. I find that irritating because the larger one in town isn't like that, it's as if the local one has been designated the 'library for thick people'. If they want to be accessible, why can't they have dual signage including the standard terminology?

I was always in the local library as a kid. A proper little matilda with my backpack at about 7.

Took my kids a few times when they were very small and I was on maternity leave. Now they are older we can't go because it's only open 9-1 Monday till Friday and 10-2 on Saturdays. We have other commitments so library is super low on the list.

There are also now many more interesting entertainment options at home and I read on my kindle.

@Trainstrike It's a pity about not being able to return books. I know some libraries have a returns box that's externally accessibly - you post the books though the oversized letter box and they're processed then next day the library is open. It's a simple solution (but costs money to install, which is maybe why more libraries don't have them).

I don't go because the place is aways mobbed!

Noisy and dirty. Ours now holds the Job Centre on site which is fine but as PP mentioned, it feels like a Community Cafe.

It used to have an Art Gallery and a quiet study section but that has long gone. It also has lots of mums, who think it is a play centre and don't even try to keep the noise level down with their offspring.

Do your libraries that are only open during work hours not have the open library system?

Mine does, so you can go in at the weekends using your library card as door access. It's not staffed, but you can self checkout books, help yourself to free tea and coffee, use the computers etc. This is important for survival as loans and footfall are measured.

I used to work in the library and what I would say is that it is very well used by those who you might not encounter at your other activities.

It is a very egalitarian space and I found the ones who used it most, or who were most careful and loyal to it, were those who did not have many other options. Make of that what you will.