To think wanting to close almost all the libraries in a county is not acceptable?

[WhirlwindHugs]

www.theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/28/northamptonshire-may-close-up-to-28-of-its-36-libraries

The basic gist is Northamptonshire County Council is in a huge financial mess so it wants to close 21-28 out of 36 libraries. Including the children's centres that run from those buildings.

Obviously libraries did not cause NCC woes and closing them isn't going to save that much money.

AIBU to think NCC are utterly shortsighted?

Cuts during economic slow periods kill growth dead.

I totally agree with you, OP, on all fronts.

I’m in the north of Northants and some of our poorest communities will be affected by this.

I don’t know if you saw the state of the nation report today but Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough and EN were all on the shit list when it comes to children from deprived backgrounds who manage to achieve mangerial positions. There is little to no aspiration in terms of university education. Corby in particular has one of the lowest numbers of children who go on to university? Library access in early years is such a big part of this.

There’s worse to come in January. Heather Smith has already said that many of the deepest cuts are being saved until next year.

Only 5 libraries in my city will be run by librarians. The rest of them will be ran by volunteers so a lot of people are losing their jobs.

Our fight to keep our local library is over. The building is being sold and the library itself is moving into a room in the fire station and will be staffed by volunteers, No parking, on a rat-run, narrow pavements, out of the centre and will be closed at a moment’s notice if there’s a 999 call! Obviously! The firefighters aren’t too happy either (only one entrance) You know that in a couple of years it will close because no one will be using it any more. So frustrating.

@JaniceBattersby it's shocking isn't it? Taking away free education services isn't going to help anything! Inequality is just going to get worse...

Unbelievable, I love libraries so would be really upset

I don't have a computer or a printer. The job centre is in town so have to pay for parking. When I lost my job I went to the library to print out an application form and ended up crying.
Next minute I was sat down with a brew in hand and forms printed off free for me. I use it for books every week as I couldn't afford the book per day that I read
They make me cups of tea, offer empathy, a computer, help with job sites, a quiet place to sit and fill forms in etc etc

No, we don't have a job centre or higher education centre in our town either. The job club runs from the library, they can help with applications and your cv. They have the only public access printer in town. It houses the food bank twice a week.
Lovely to read how nice your library is Ollivander!

We really will be stuffed without it.

Someone up thread said that councils don’t have to fund libraries, actually they have a statutory duty to do so.

But schools don’t! Many schools are also closing their libraries and, where they have them, making professional school librarians redundant.

So, when literacy levels in this country continue to fall, just think about the positive part that libraries and librarians might have played to counteract this.

I am a retired librarian and it makes me weep to think how low my profession has fallen. Also, as a bedridden and chronically ill person, I reply on books from my library to fill my days and fight off my depression. If I couldn’t read, I don’t think I could survive.

The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 still applies:

[[https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-libraries-as-a-statutory-service/libraries-as-a-statutory-service]]

Campaign for higher council tax to cover the cost? Given the strength of feeling I'm sure that everybody would be happy to pay a bit extra to keep their libraries open..

I saw a twitter post that one of the libraries earmarked for closure had surveyors in today measuring up, before the consultation.

More people visit libraries each hour than go to premiership football matches each week

Libraries are very important for people for a variety of reasons, but it is the poor and vulnerable that will be hit the most. Broadband and access to pc is a large part of library facilities for vulnerable public

milliband, what a farce! do you know which one?

The Tories have taken out 40% out of local authorities. They are on their knees.

Plus the Tories continue to screw them on housing eg not letting them keep all the money from sales to build.

The Tories have screwed local authorities on education - taking control away via academies yet local authorities have a legal responsibility to provide School places.

It’s absolutely fucked.

Our local library is now staffed entirely by volunteers. I would happily pay more council tax for services like these to be kept open. We love the library and for many they are a real lifeline

Also local authorities were restricted for raising council tax because the Tories were worried about the general election.

It’s awful.

Why the Tories have a rep for economic competence I do not know.

Then what will happen will be a repeat of the late 1990s. Public services run into the ground and they’ll have to be built back up again. Which costs infinitely more than if a decent basic level was maintained.

This enrages me.

And furthermore we have politicians blithely talking about £59bn divorce settlements when the NHS isn’t given the extra 2-3bn it needs.

For

Fucks

Sake

Google Lincolnshire libraries. This happened a few years ago there. There was a court battle ovwr it too.

Although our village library became a community hub so is independently run by volunteers and it's positively thriving. It's even open for more hours now than it was when it was council run and easy to hire and run groups from.

ivykaty someone wasted time and money working out the library/football ratio? where did you read that?

Runningoutofchange

That’s a matter of opinion

I’d rather waste time in a library than at a football match and it seems I’m not alone...

Wonderful and inspiring post Lovelibraries. Thank you

We use our hub more now than when it was a library although granted they are really visionary board of volunteers who really pushed it forwards

Sorry, got your name wrong, librarylove,

Given that many council and government services are online and people without the internet are expected to “just use the library” for a computer, how can the council justify this...?

Its not so much justification but awful decisions on a ever smaller pool of money.

It's coming to what's the minimum by statue a council needs to provide without getting in government bother - pretty sure if memory is correct with regards to libraries - its a library not libraries.