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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be annoyed that the library turned into a kids play area?

175 replies

Camdenlife33 · 10/04/2018 10:36

My local library went under some renovations and has finally reopened. It’s a small library and the renovations seem to be an addition of a ‘little ones’ cafe and play area.

The only floor of the library, and so the only area with seating/computers, is now shared with a kids cafe and play area. It’s open plan, so the kids area is seconds away from the ‘quietest area’ of the library. The library is filled with under 5s shouting and darting around. It isn’t a general murmur of background noise, it’s actual screams/shrieks and kids running around and playing IN the library. I’m sure you can imagine what 30+ toddlers together in a play area sounds like - I thought I was at the wrong place.

I genuinely can’t focus. I’m in 3rd year uni and I came to the library to work on my dissertation before work. AIBU to find this unacceptable? It’s strange as there is both a university and a level college in walking distance to this library - I wonder why they didn’t take their visitors who would like to work/study/read in peace into account, and instead essentially turned the library into a kids play building.

(I have already left the library btw)

OP posts:
ParisUSM · 10/04/2018 12:01

@EB123 genuinely shocked that your library is used for Health Visitor checks and baby weighing, that does not sound suitable at all. Where will all these cutbacks end?

KittTheCar · 10/04/2018 12:02

Mums with young kids are not "more in need" than other user groups to the point that libraries should be converted into play areas!

I'm aghast at some of these posts.

WhaleTasting · 10/04/2018 12:02

Op is walking distance not three hours away

TomRavenscroft · 10/04/2018 12:03

It seems ridiculous to insist that a library remains as it was when I was a child... when that means they don't raise enough revenue to continue to exist!

What is ridiculous is that libraries are being forced to change because they're so financially strapped.

In the past libraries could accommodate spaces for both. These days they don't, they cannot afford to.

This is precisely the problem, isn't it.

KittTheCar · 10/04/2018 12:04

I suppose this thread shows up why so many councils are able to run their library services into the ground, seems only about 20% of the thread are interested in library provision for the current user groups.

KittTheCar · 10/04/2018 12:06

So if hardly anyone gives a shit it makes it easy for them.

Ours, if you need a carer and your carer is from out of borough, you can't go most of the time.

I think whole thing stinks.

crunchymint · 10/04/2018 12:08

Many elderly people have nothing provided for them.

scrabbler3 · 10/04/2018 12:10

Children need to learn that it's ok to be noisy in some places (parks, soft play) but not in others (libraries, restaurants). I am all for children having access to books, but they still need to be shown how to behave appropriately in various settings.

And there are SN children about who can't bear noise and tumult, their parents need to know that there are places they can visit with confidence. Not everything has to be "a space".

Nothing wrong with serving coffee, snacks etc to people who are reading, using the IT, or studying. I think that's a sensible money-making idea. But it should not be a significant part of the library, it should be secondary.

Rainboho · 10/04/2018 12:10

Running around a library shrieking will not instill a love of books and reading.

I completely agree with this, but this is down to the parents not the library.

ParisUSM · 10/04/2018 12:10

@KittTheCar I know, depressing stuff. In my experience, councils don't have the first clue about the added value of libraries. There are so many stereotypical assumptions made about libraries and librarianship. Unfortunately the vulnerable people who stand to lose the most don't have as strong a voice as other groups in society.

LaurieMarlow · 10/04/2018 12:11

Many people can't work in their uni libraries atm because it's the Easter holidays. I'm three hours drive from my uni library

Point is though, you have designated provision for study. It's not anyone else's fault that that doesn't suit where you want to be for the Easter holidays. You can either stay in your Uni town for these few weeks, study at home or make provision in a local Uni.

KittTheCar · 10/04/2018 12:11

Seems to me that lots of the things that were put in place to try to make a more "civilised" society, a society where you didn't need money to access certain things are being eroded.

Libraries
Open spaces/ parks
Affordable access to basic sports type stuff (they built all the lidos)
NHS is being run down, privatised piece by piece
Welfare state under attack for years

These were all the things that were put in, to try and ensure that even if you were poor, you would eat and be housed, be healthy, and have something to do at leisure, be able to study, learn, grow.

Undermining all this makes me so terribly sad. Idea now is very traditional right wing/ individualist. If you want to read, you should buy your own books. If you can't afford to then you are obviously at fault in some way, so why should society pay for you to read etc etc

KittTheCar · 10/04/2018 12:13

"Running around a library shrieking will not instill a love of books and reading.

I completely agree with this, but this is down to the parents not the library."

????

The library has created a children's play area! They are supposed to be running around and shrieking!

Lol some people.

LaurieMarlow · 10/04/2018 12:13

Mums with young kids are not "more in need" than other user groups

I think they are definitely more in need of the space than the OP who has her own university library to use or an alternative university library. It may not be so clear cut with other user groups.

KittTheCar · 10/04/2018 12:14

ParisUSM totally agree.

eddiemairswife · 10/04/2018 12:15

It seems that the child is king, and the noisier and more boisterous the child the better. They should be allowed to shriek and run about whenever and wherever they like, be it church, library, busy cafe.

KittTheCar · 10/04/2018 12:16

?Laurie

Op is not only person who uses library for library things.

Reading your post one would imagine she had decided to go and study at the local soft play and then was complaining about children making noise!

CuriousaboutSamphire · 10/04/2018 12:17

This is precisely the problem, isn't it. Yup! There has been a VERY big change in how libraries are run. I doubt many people are aware of the changes!

www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2017/oct/19/uk-national-public-library-system-community

I am lucky in that being very rural our library service, well, the building, is seen as a valuable resource. There is a part time police station in one office!

To justify it remaining open as a library the local council agree to fund it to be used as a community centre as well as a library. Given that I use the library as a borrower 2 or 3 times a week, for PC training sessions once a month or so and as part a not-for-profit local community group twice a month, I see the value in it from different perspectives.

Yes, the children's groups are a bit loud, but our library is always in use, it is never empty and it manages to cater for all ages and all needs. Including teenagers revising for exams - they all had headphones on, all 4 of them.

ParisUSM · 10/04/2018 12:17

@KitttheCar

I really want to live in the kind of community that wants all of that. It's part of the reason I voted for Scottish independence, a wish for a new way of living. Naive probably, but when you step back and think of these endless cutbacks while the 1% get steadily richer and inequality grows it makes your blood boil.

BitchQueen90 · 10/04/2018 12:18

Seems like some people don't want children anywhere. Cafes, restaurants, public transport, libraries. Where CAN we take our kids where people won't complain?

LaurieMarlow · 10/04/2018 12:19

Op is not only person who uses library for library things.

I know. If you actually read my posts, you'll see I'm responding to her situation only. I have more sympathy for other user groups.

As she has other (perfectly good) provision, I don't think her requirements are more important than the kids.

windchimesabotage · 10/04/2018 12:21

The layout planning is quite poor if they have put the play area directly next to the computers... however I do think YABU because public libraries are community spaces and need to be designed to serve the needs of all the community. They arent just for students. Its good for mums to have somewhere to take their kids for free or the price of a coffee... places like softplay actually cost money and theres also the transport to get there. Low income families are often faced with no where to go. Loads of sure start centres got shut down.. playgroups often cost money now days. Story time at the library and just letting your kids play and read books for free is actually really good.
Its also good for the library itself as it makes some money and is more likely to stay open long term.

BigBookOfNonsense · 10/04/2018 12:22

The OP is probably home from university and so doesn't have access to her own university library. She said there is a Uni library very close. her SU card would get her access to it.

Not all universities are part of SCONUL - which is the name of the scheme which allows access to different university libraries. The university I worked for until recently is not a member, so those students cannot access the libraries of other universities.

LaurieMarlow · 10/04/2018 12:22

Seems like some people don't want children anywhere. Cafes, restaurants, public transport, libraries. Where CAN we take our kids where people won't complain?

Well exactly. The message seems to be hide out in your house or crawl under a rock.

The library was a lifeline for me as a small child and again as the mother of a small child. Uni students have their own well equipped campuses to hang out and study in.

KittTheCar · 10/04/2018 12:22

What point are you trying to make, Laurie?

Do you think library should have part of open plan area turned into children's play area, or not?

Clearly op is not only user, you think it should be if she wants to go, but not when other people do? Your view is not clear.

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