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?

I use ours a lot (I'm a SAHM with young children) and it's pretty well used.

It's a pleasant place to be. Rhyme times are very popular (although I've never been to them). There's large children's are, friendly staff, nice atmosphere, and it's open basically whenever the shops are.

They're introducing a scheme to allow Library card holders to let themselves in outside of working hours. I would have found that a great help when I was working.

We can already read and listen to books on the Libby app for free with our library card.

I don't love that they prioritize agenda-pushing books over classic books, so that there's no Beatrix Potter books, but a dozen on trans children/animals.

Overall though, I'm really glad it's there. I started going regularly simply because I believe every should have a library (importance of access to books, and a free place to be). My feeling was that by using it I was voting with my feet for it to be kept. But I now go because we enjoy going, and it's widened my reading significantly.

I’m not sure LAs want to run them down. Our council had to shut 5 of our libraries in 2012 because it’s lost millions in funding from central government.

I used to take my children when they were preschoolers to rhyme time, etc. We occasionally go now for homework books but mostly access information online.

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

No. None of the libraries near me operate this scheme. If the library is closed it's closed there's no way into it.

We don't have this either.

The mums at the bounce time werent friendly.
The librarians are dour.
You have to ask for the key to use the loo.
They don't have a lot of the kind of books I like.
When I have borrowed I've not been able to get back in time so just not gone back.
DS danger a DVD we got years ago so couldn't go back to that one either.
It's too stressful having to remember where a borrowed book is, keep it in good nick & returning it on time is yet another chore.

It's much easier to buy books in bookshops/ supermarkets/charity shops.

Mine is full of people on the computers, watching YouTube as far as I can tell. I'm the only person under 50 that I've ever seen in the book section (which is about one third thrillers, no exaggeration). Surprisingly the opening hours are quite good.

I like going but I have plenty of spare time to browse and make the returns, it might be tricky otherwise. Generally though, people simply don't read anymore. It is what it is.

While I recall using my local library loads when growing up - pre-internet, so often as a resource when writing papers and reports for school (we also had one of those encyclopaedia sets home), I rarely used it when my kids were young. And no, not because I don't read @llamajohn! We had a room full of books, and the kids brought books home from school. We went to an independent bookstore for weekly storytime, which we could walk to.
My DD wanted to go to the library to do some research a couple years ago and found it a poor resource. It was great if, as OP suggests, you need a 'safe' and warm space, if you needed to use one of their computers, but not really for research, though it is a good, quiet space for study. It had a number of people in it, and the children's area seemed the busiest. I can't vouch for the librarians as the check out was automated.
To borrow books for children yes it's good, we didn't need to do that with our own and school's books. For a quiet place to study or write away from noise and distractions- also good.
The most common complaint I hear about some local libraries is the limited opening hours.
My DD is off to uni this Autumn. One major consideration amongst her peers in choosing which uni was the library facilities. Because they are there to study and learn. Most adults don't do this so having a library is of much less importance, but might be very important for a few.

Oh that's a shame about not having access. Some County Councils call it Libraries Unlocked, others have Open Libraries. I didn't realise it wasn't rolled out everywhere.

Use ours a lot.

Bookbug sessions for my son.
Visit every couple of weeks to borrow and return books.
They have craft tables my son likes.
I used it heavily to study for my degree because I procrastinate at home but got on with my work in their computer hub.

We have a brand new library (not in the UK) and I am pleasantly surprised at how many people are using it. The old one was used, but there seem to be many more people in there now.

I see several posters mentioning that their library is only open for a few hours each day, that's really sad. Ours is open seven days a week, day and evening hours during the week, 10 - 4 at the weekends. They need to be open at times to suit working people surely?

I don't use my local library as it doesn't seem to have any books, certainly nothing for an adult bar a few novels in large type.

I once asked to see a copy of the Definitive Map, which is supposed to be accessible to the public. They only had a copy on a DVD, but no way of viewing it and it couldn't be loaned.

I think that libraries are simply not up to date enough to compete with AI and the internet. Their computers are pretty archaic and the system isn't very precise and is slow. It's under investment really, but if people can do things from their own home more efficiently they won't go into town. I needed to use the library several times when internet connection for my road went. Our building is all strip lights and cheesy carpets, the mouse was sticky and had grey dirt in the wheel, sticky keyboard and men who looked like they were searching up something neferious all around...It was a bit like going back to the late 90s.

I've never heard of the open library system, I'm sure we don't have that. We do have the external returns box but again as the library is a bit out of the way you have to remember to go there specially. And the amount of times I've searched on a book I want to read and it's either not available at all or reserved for the next three months, it is off putting. The reservation fee is almost as much as it costs to buy a book in a charity shop now as well. I want it to survive, I think they are really important for the community but it's an effort to support them.

Ours is:

• Open at inconvenient hours for anyone who, you know, works
• A 5-10 minute walk (depending how fast you walk) from the main high street and parking area, and because all the car parks in town only give 1 free hour it makes fitting a library trip in to that hour impossible
• Noisy and unwelcoming because it also houses the council one stop shop for bin bags etc plus the Jobcentre outreach desk several days a week (rural area, the nearest actual jobcentre is 20 miles away so they do this outreach thing in local libraries). This means they have security on the door on those days who eye everyone up and ask why you're there before letting you past.

Opening times can be a problem for workers but we have always had the odd late-closing-evening (different libraries doing different evenings). We now have the open library scheme where you can use your library card as a swipe card to open the door, up until 8pm. Also, everything is online so you can renew online (and are sent a reminder email) and also reserve.
There are rather too many Mills&Boon type books for my liking but they are quite good about buying-in on request. I've got a few Gender Critical books into the stacks this way.

Mine is never open

This is an interesting thread as I’m part of a group trying to save our local branch library.

We have the non-staffed access but it’s still only 9-12 twice a weekday and on Saturdays.

This is an interesting thread as I’m part of a group trying to save our local branch library.

We have the non-staffed access but it’s still only 9-12 twice a weekday and on Saturdays.

Oh yes and the children's section is basically the top 20 bestsellers for 3 different age groups. Nothing to stretch their imaginations or introduce new authors. Just the same old boring crappy selection that you'd see in a train station branch of WHSmith!

My nursery age child and I use it weekly and we request books for my older child and she has just started using BorrowBox app. I rarely take my older child as she is at school during the week, is tired after school and our library is only open on Saturday morning when she has another comitment.

Or local libraries are brilliant. We have an excellent newish one in the middle of the town and lots of satellite ones. Librarians are all really friendly and helpful, they don't care about library fines (kids books don't even have a return date, you keep them as long as you want) Coffee is provided free. They have lots of different activity groups, good opening times. I love them.

We use ours a lot. Dd's both have 15-20 books on their ticket currently. They are 11&13. They can order in any book on the library catalogue to our local library for free. We probably go about twice a month sometime more. We went to the rhymetime sessions regularly when the were younger.

Our local library doesn't have amazing opening hours but is open until 7 two evenings and on a Saturday morning. We have a library in town which is open 7am-10pm every day.

It’s absolutely a useful resource, in that it offers key things like computer access to migrants, citizen’s advice/employment advice/meeting venue for various groups etc etc, but it doesn’t meet my needs for silence and literary fiction.

Our local one (one of the few remaining suburban libraries) is lovely. It's attached to my child's school, in a good state of repair, and is welcoming and cosy (although some of the staff can be a bit unfriendly). However, it's only open three days a week:

Tuesday and Saturday 9-5
Friday 9-7

We use it fairly often - more in winter.

But the reality is that libraries have been very low on the council's priorities for a long time. They're not essential like care services, so they get cut. The blame lies entirely with the Tories.