to think that Nicky Morgan should check if there ARE libraries before telling kids to join them?

[TalkinPeace]

Nicky Morgan wants all kids to join their Local Library
www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33980452

but does not seem to notice that Libraries are closing all over the country
and the number of actual books some have in stock has halved over the last 5 years.

Maybe if MPs had shorter summer holidays, their brains would get less addled during the long break.

YADNBU.

This was my thought exactly on seeing this news item.
And if they are keen to sign children up, why wait till they are 8?

I can hardly type - this apparent lack of awareness of the desperate state of libraries is almost laughable.

says the librarian

Not going to bother. My son can access a much wider range of reading material which doesn't involve a bus trip to a drab smelly building to look at dog eared out of date books. I really don't get the point of libraries any more, I'd much rather funding went on very basic kindles and wifi points for download for children. They just seem a bit Luddite.

LazyLohan, I'm sorry your local libraries aren't up to much but it's not a picture I recognise.

None of the libraries I've been responsible for, or use now, smell or have out of date, dog-eared books.

Kindles are great, I'm no Luddite, but picture books and anything richly illustrated, with maps, diagrams etc just doesn't translate to e-book format very well yet.

8?! That's 7 yrs too late imo.
we're very lucky with our library but I heard Southampton is losing a couple.

4 more Southampton Libraries to close completely ....
announced by email to consultees within the last few minutes.
and the hours have already been massively restricted
and the book buying budget has been cut

LazyLohan
If you restrict your child to only those books that come out on kindle,

• they will never understand the joy of comparing original reference texts
• the pleasure of a well illustrated book
• the joy of finding something unexpected that went out of print years ago

My 10 year old son & I were told off by a librarian because I allowed him to visit unaccompanied after school to choose a book & do his homework.

We are fortunate in our area that we have managed to keep all our libraries, all be it with a couple running limited hours. However, one of the larger, well staffed libraries is the most child unfriendly place I have ever visited. They have just one event scheduled during the whole summer holidays, its really poor effort. Yet they run a weekly knitting group. On this occasion I have to say that it is not lack of funds but lack of imagination that is letting libraries down.

Sadly, as the demise of the local pub has shown, the needs of society shift and libraries need to keep pace.

I honestly think that years of cuts and restructuring have taken their toll on even the most forward-thinking, community-minded and engaged libraries and their staff. It's been a demoralising and draining decade really. I came out of public libraries because I'd simply had enough - and I was one dedicated librarian. Many libraries continue to do their absolute best with the resources available.

The result of cuts to services/ book budgets is that footfall drops, issues drop, computer use drops and the council gets a bona fide bunch of reasons to close the service completely and save the money. Almost as though they'd planned it that way all along...

It saddens me. I wouldn't be where I am today without the haven of my local library when I was growing up. We were a very low income family and although books and education were valued, they simply couldn't be afforded.

Both my dds joined the library by 6 months because we love books and I can't imagine not having a side selection to read to/with them. Dd1 regularly visits the library alone, I think they're allowed to be there alone from age 9.

Our local libraries are great, loads of really up to date books, nice surroundings etc.

But they have cut back on opening hours to the point where anyone who works during the day would find it hard to access them. No doubt in a few years they will use this as evidence for the declining interest in libraries. And then it will be an excuse to shut them.

YANBU.

We live in Sunderland and our council decided to close NINE branch libraries two years' ago. All of them in the poorer areas, the more affluent areas got to keep theirs, albeit with reduced hours.

Annoyingly it happened just as DS was reaching the age I'd told him he'd be allowed to go to the local library by himself after school. Instead he's having to wait until senior school so that he's old enough to go to the central library instead. He gets to go their occasionally when I take him and his sister, but it's not the same as getting to go by himself.

YANBU.

I'm glad that our nearest library survived the cuts (others were not so lucky) but the opening hours make it difficult to access.

When dd goes back to school, she will only be able to use it on a Saturday morning.

The librarians are great but they're only available for a few hours each week.

My local council (Scotland) have now put in place automatic enrolment in library through the school system - great idea imo. Also not many seem aware that you can do on-line borrowing through your local library.

Agreed some are better than others at being child friendly or having family friendly access times. However we are very lucky to have lots with different specialisms near us. We tend to drop in for reference or a quick story on the way to somewhere rather than borrowing though.

Yanbu she needs to check that they're open too. Ours has lost so much funding they had to get rid of the trained children's librarian and cut hours it's open as there is nobody to man it. Now only open 2 days after school and Sat mornings.

My DC have read all the books in it so I have to order everything they read which is great as I keep regularly up to date with new releases and working in schools know good books to entice them.Other kids won't have parents with a continuous book list to hand or the time to do so. I doubt very much that the children who without a library card will have parents inclined to research and order books.

Children need open libraries and enticing books there in front of them.Trained librarians ready with knowledge and recommendations would be kind of handy too.

And yes when my DC start secondary they'll only be able to use it Sat mornings.

I used to love visiting our big central library in the city centre. Mercifully, it's still open but the hours are such that if you work FT as I do there's just no opportunity to go. I used to walk down after work and spend a couple of hours in there, now it closes at 5.

Probably Nicky Morgan has been a bit more polite about it than her predecessor Michael Gove.

We're lucky here in that my local library is about the only one that will survive with reasonable opening hours. It is only five minutes walk from the local Conservative MPs constituency office, which is of course totally coincidental and any suggestion of a connection would be rebutted immediately.

My town isn't big and it has two libraries. One is in a gorgeous building and is quite big. Kids would benefit a lot from going to such a lovely place.

We are fortunate that we have a great local library with really enthusiastic staff it helps that one of them is gorgeous so local Mums are happy to go as well

YABU great for those of us who have great libraries but not everyone does which is a great shame.

Sorry! YANBU!

Very few actual librarians in libraries these days. Let's face it, some people staffing libraries aren't even paid now! The district I worked in had 6 libraries + a mobile and 3 qualified librarians in total (not including the district librarian). We were based at the main library but regularly visited our 'branch' libraries to support staff there, do stock management, activities etc.

I left because of a restructuring - the district was to merge with another, doubling the number of branches - still only 3 librarians required though... I'd be up against my counterpart in that district for 'our' post, then required to manage twice the workload. No thanks.

Frankly I'm a tad disappointed in David Wallams. He could have used this opportunity to raise the issue. But then I guess he's all right Jack as he can afford to buy any book his son desires.

Good luck with getting board books (or any picture book, popup book) on a Kindle.

My local library has CDs, DVDs, as well as a wide selection of interesting and attractive books, a regular story session for preschoolers, and more. Opening hours are slightly oddly scattered, I think in order to try to get some times during the week for as many people as possible to access them, without having to staff the place for longer.

But about a quarter of my city's libraries are under threat of closure. This is after other cutbacks over the years.

Research has shown that children who read on Kindles read less.There has also been research which has shown that reading Kindles before sleep interferes with sleep patterns( even the paper white). My DC are on screens enough,they love the smell and feel if real books and are addicted to them.