to think that we NEED libraries? This is horrific.

[StuckInTheMiddleWithYou]

Would MN like to run a campaign on this?

www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/terence-blacker/terence-blacker-hands-off-our-public-libraries-2057131.html

I agree with the posters who point out the social role of libraries. Human contact, somewhere warm to read and to develop for all ages. It is an unkind cut and will have knock on effects for people who are lonely and isolated and poor and for communities. They have always been a place of social engineering where poor people can advance themselves

Councils, of whatever party, don't have huge inefficient back offices that they can suddenly save 28% with. They've been making year on year efficiency cuts. Look at any local council budget and see what % of money goes where.

Sadly, some actual services are going to have to go and people are making choices between cutting libraries, cutting support to older people and cutting road repairs. The idea that anyone would cut any of these services to make a political point is repulsive. The cuts mean cuts. They're not efficiency savings. They are cuts to the services people receive and care about. That is what is starting to happen and will continue to happen for the next few years.

Dr Northerner, I have signed your petition (I think? can't see my name on it yet.....)

We still don't know if our library (see waaaaaaaaaaaaay up the thread) will get the axe, after a long and UTTERLY POINTLESS consultation sham by the Council.

Stuckinthemiddlewithyou..... our local library is also the local school library... as an inner city primary school, it doesn't have the space for its own dedicated library, so the one the Council would like to shut down acts effectively as the school library.

lifeinlimbo - so, faced with your last fiver as your family are booted out onto the street, you choose to buy a book?

Libraries are a middle-class luxury, paid for by the working classes and should be privatised.

'If you don't want libraries to close, tell your local council to fire diversity officers, five-a-day co-ordinators, full-time union staff paid for by the taxpayer, quangocrats, and middle management. Urge them to drive up back-office efficiency and make cuts in back-office staff.'

Yup. Agree with you. There is a lot of rubbish. Walk to School week initiatives. Stranger danger. Schools could do some of these things themselves if they really felt they had to.

Our local libraries are fantastic. Most of the staff are very knowledgeable and helpful. To the posters who say they don't have books in stock--why not use the catalogues and order them in? It is easy and quick.

Outragous. I feel so cheated by this government and the last I'm not voting again unless vote green or ukip or other lesser party. My mum lives in a rural village with a mobile library she can get DVDs order books n etc. When she is too old to drive she will loose the ability to get to a bigger town It's a disgrace!!!

"Libraries are a middle-class luxury, paid for by the working classes and should be privatised."

You sad person. The point about libraries is that they are classless and for everyone/anyone who wants to use them.

Are you saying working class people don't read or study?

God this makes me lose the will to live,

pascoe are you actually serious? I know some people have a very dry/deadpan kind of humour- please tell me you are one... privatised libraries? !!!!!!!!!

Someone on twitter the other day mentioned doing a mass withdrawal of books, ie, get every member of the libray to empty the libray on the same day, in protest! sounds good to me!

Thanks Orangina. I think they will send you an email with a like to verify.

The point of a library to me is that I can read a book without having to spend money on a book. I would have to do without reading books completely as I cannot afford to spend that money. I may be low paid but I do pay taxes too.

Gosh, it's so much different in OZ. Doesn't matter what time of day or night I go to my local library it is always buzzing.

They have reading groups for littlies, guest authors as speakers for children and adults.

Different themes for different times of the year.

The library in the next suburb to me has closed but has a temporary one set up for about 8 months, WHILE THEY BUILD A BIGGER AND BETTER ONE ON THE ORIGINAL SITE.

Yes we check out our own books (which is great when we are in a hurry) but still have lots of information desks and staff for enquiries etc.

A couple of months the library had a book sale (5 books for $2) so they could accommodate all the new books.

Sorry have only just come across this thread and not read it all but this made me fume:

"A statement from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) proposed that the MLA ? which works to promote best practice in the UK's museums, libraries and archives ? would be wound up as the department focused its efforts instead "on front-line, essential services and ensuring greater value for money" in the area."

On what kind of fucked up planet are museums and,libraries not essential??!

Another one willing to break out the handcuffs and chain herself to railings here!

'If you don't want libraries to close, tell your local council to fire diversity officers, five-a-day co-ordinators, full-time union staff paid for by the taxpayer, quangocrats, and middle management. Urge them to drive up back-office efficiency and make cuts in back-office staff.'

Ridiculous. Does anyone seriously think any council could save £50million by doing this? People who suggest it have no understanding of how councils receive money and how it is spent. Stop kidding yourselves that getting rid of 'non-jobs' will save enough money. Cuts to frontline services are the only way to make the levels of savings councils have been told to make.

'For the children again mostly common best sellers, they have them all and more at home.'

Wow, fantastic that you can afford to buy ALL the children's books that your library have! In that case, close it down!!!

And while those of you are complaining about library computer rooms as you type from you laptops and your superfast broadband, remember not everyone can afford a computer or the Internet, yet many job/benefit applications are now mainly done or more easily done online. Sorry that libraries have evolved...

Here here bumper

Boris, I also heard about that idea of withdrawing all the books at once. It's a good idea if it could be coordinated.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this idea (just read three pages of this thread)but I once found a book in a bus shelter which had been left there on purpose for someone to pick up, read and leave lying around for someone else. Great idea! Then you can read something you wouldn't necessarily choose yourself and track where it's come from.

Not a solution to the library problem, I know, but fun.

I keep hiding this thread and it keeps re-appearing.

How the hell do I make it piss off for good?

genuinely

why do we need local libraries?

why?

If I couldn't get to the library with my children I very likely would sit at home tearing my hair out and drinking gin.

Visits to the library fosters a love of reading and learning, they are a centre of the community. Dh bought back 4 boxes of biscuits and chocolates from work at Christmas, shared out from the many bought in mainly by older ladies for who the library is their major sources of adult interaction.

Our library has bus timetables

thats about it

I haven't time to read the whole thread now, but my question is what are public libraries for these days? I can only recall one library that I've used - Hull Central Library - that has a decent selection of books and a good reference library. The rest have such a poor selection of books, lots of them maybe but NEVER the standard books in a field that you actually want or need to read, and requesting books from elsewhere costs a fortune. Resources seem to be redirected these days into computers, DVDs to rent, etc. I don't think libraries themselves really know what they're for any more. Many seem like glorified (or not) drop in/community centres.

'For the children again mostly common best sellers, they have them all and more at home.'

Not in my library. The childrens books are mostly ones I've never heard of, for good reason becauise they're mostly rubbish. They have none of the standards, or not enough if they're always on loan. We have to buy decent books for DS as we cannot borrow them.

Well a lot of people do use them, Gaelicsheep, especially old people and those like Bumperlicious, who seems to know what they're about!

Basically, you can make them what you want. If a lot of young mums come along and want a children's reading group, it won't be long before one is formed. If the library is full of older people, more chairs and tables will be provided for them and the books they order will appear on the shelves. Most libraries I have ever known (maybe all?) are particularly responsive to the needs of their clientele - they're like missionaries in a way. They really want us to use their facilities.

My son has a friend who goes there to use the computers and had to book it in advance it was so popular. So they got another two in.

Gyms - a sueful analogy, I find.

If you wanna get fit - pay membership...don't expect others to pay for you.