To be depressed that in my town I can get a pint at 00:01 but the library has no plans to re-open anytime soon?

[AmyByTheTrain]

I just want books for my kid. But no, the library won't open tomorrow, even though they are allowed to. The pub up the street, however, is taking customers starting one minute after midnight.

"Fine" to be fucked off.

Obviously I need to spend more time down the local library.

Could be worse you could live in Scotland and have neither open.

This

I had so been looking forward to today, thinking that my baby groups would restart, my favourite indie shop would reopen and the library would start doing Rhyme Time again. It's a no on all counts, though the shop opens tomorrow. Yay...

Ours is opening, thank god! It has had click and collect for a while but I don't choose books, I just take the next 3 on the shelf - one librarian was happy to do that for me, the other said no! So I have been wthout a new book since just before Christmas. They all go back today and I get new ones YAY!

Our public library is open from this week but v. limited hours and no PC access. I wanted to use ancestry.co.uk. I work in a library in a different field, where we've been open for book loans and PC use since October, so it's odd that public libraries are being so cautious but I guess a lot are volunteer run, who are often older and so at greater risk. Have you asked when they're planning to re-open?

YANBU. Ours has offered click and collect throughout and is open properly today. I really miss the rhyme time session there though, I hope that returns this year but feel doubtful. My DS absolutely loved going every week, he was about 15 months when covid hit and he couldn’t even walk yet. He’s now 2.5 and he loves singing, also have an 8 month old who would adore it. Such a shame.

Ours has been completely closed during this lockdown. Today they are re-opening for click and collect, which would be great... except, they aren't accepting any returns and I maxed out the kid's card before the November lockdown. So, he's had the same 12 library books for 5 months and he's read them all multiple times. I was really, really hoping to be able to get some new ones today. The one good thing that happened during all this was that he discovered reading for fun. The ironic thing is that it got so hard to get library books.

It's find to be fucked off that libraries aren't opening, but it's wrong to compare it to XYZ other business being able to open when they are not a fair comparison.

I don't agree.

There's absolutely no reason libraries can't do click and collect, and it's very easy to isolate returned books for three days.

There's been huge disparities between what things the government has prioritised and what things the government has ignored.

The government doesn't care about anything except money. They want to idiots like Tim Martin happy at any any cost. Public services like libraries cost money; the Tories would be perfectly happy if every library in the country shut down.

Plus as BlackCatsRule88* pointed out, there's a huge gender component.

I'm sorry but anyone who thinks this decision was made based on the practicalities of cleaning mugs vs cleaning books is simply naive. It's obviously more risky to have groups drinking together in a small space, even though being outside mitigates the risk somewhat (drunk people don't socially distance) than to have libraries offering click and collect which could be done easily and very safely.

I don't know why (and am disappointed myself). But I work at a council and it is very difficult to get in-office working agreed at the moment. So maybe it is an employee H&S thing? Not sure though.

Ref. all the closures, library staff desperately want libraries to be open, as do councils, but every few years since 2010 they have had to make massive cuts to their budget and need to prioritise social care and other essential services. Its sad.

Other than the central library in town, our local libraries have 1 peripatetic paid member of staff per 4 libraries, with the rest of the “staff” being volunteers. Some have been open for C&C, some are opening this week, but for a few, they don’t have the people to open. The library service near me is very dependent on volunteers.

Also, library books don’t contribute much to the exchequer!

Public services like libraries cost money; the Tories would be perfectly happy if every library in the country shut down.

Just after we moved here Torry council wanted to shut many if not all the smaller branch libraries and labour did whole popular campaign to keep them. Since labour got in they've been same talking about shutting them despite them being mainly voluteer run apparently it's due to really tight bugets.

I'm increasingly wondering if they'll just open the main central one and leave it at that.

Not a pub goer so not been following the dates. Are they open to customers indoors or is it just outside?

If outside, I guess that’s the answer 🤷‍♀️

Perhaps if you have council elections on May 6th the local councillors might be worth lobbying?

@ohforarainyday my local library is ran by Better too and they’ve been open for click and collect for months

People are always so keen to make political points - our libraries have been open for click and collect during the second lockdown and are open today. Our local one on the outskirts of town, and the County library in the centre of town. Tory City and County Council - easy to blame central government but look at your council's spending priorities before generalising!

You're extremely lucky, wigornian and Dungabees

I live in London and none of the libraries in my borough nor either of the two neighbouring boroughs are open for click and collect, and there's nothing on the Better website to even give an indication of when they might re-open.

Our library reopens tomorrow but used to be open 9-6 every day and now it's only open 3 days a week. I assume the staff are furloughed - council pushes wage bill onto central government. It's all wrong. If your sector is allowed to open then it should be open.

I suspect the council will get on with closing some of the smaller libraries it was threatening to close before lockdown.

And yet it is advertising for new staff for libraries. It's all a bit odd - on the one hand closing libraries down but on the other recruiting new staff. People like their local libraries, they don't want to have to go to the big central ones if there is a small one they can walk to.

Library services have been hollowed out for years. I am guilty of using Kindle Unlimited but libraries aren't just about books and are, for example, a place to work if your broadband at home is rubbish or you only have your bedroom to work in.

@AmyByTheTrain Has the library authority not authorised an increase on book numbers? My local library authority (N.I. - so it’s a countrywide policy) has tripled the book allowance so that books can be returned and left aside for a few days before being issued again. They’ve also had Click and Collect in all libraries since Aug/Sept.
Zoom activities are ongoing too - baby groups, reading groups etc.

It might be worth an email to the library authority - if they have lots of people clamouring for their service, they are more likely to put different options in place. In the meantime, have you tried Libby or Overdrive for some new ebooks for your child? (It’s the library’s ebooks service)

Everything is still closed here in NI, click and collect for non-essential services are just starting from today, hospitality is still closed. (I believe Libraries were classified as essential services this time round, hence allowed to click and collect throughout and offer internet access). I hope you get new books very soon!

Can you post on your local Freecycle OP? Someone local to you will be desperate to get rid of the right kind of books!

YAB bit a U, sorry.

Our country is slowly opening back up while the rest of the world is entering a 3rd wave. When the library does reopen, then great, but meanwhile you could have used e-Books (Amazon Kindle) or audio books (Audible etc).

The pubs opening at 00:01 is irrelevant.

I live in a true blue council with a fantastic library service despite forced closures. But massively slashed council budgets every few years are a reality for whoever is running a council. Councils have been forced to prioritise the most essential services and those are also creaking under the weight of continued (Tory) austerity measures.

@TrainWhistleChoir

Our public library is open from this week but v. limited hours and no PC access. I wanted to use ancestry.co.uk. I work in a library in a different field, where we've been open for book loans and PC use since October, so it's odd that public libraries are being so cautious but I guess a lot are volunteer run, who are often older and so at greater risk. Have you asked when they're planning to re-open?

This is entirely the profile of the volunteers who run our library. We open today and we can't bloody wait to have people back in! Also been open for pc use for those who don't have any other access the whole time, though on fairly limited hours.

It's not impossible. It's about the will to do it.

it's really frustrating.
locally we were subject to enhanced restrictions for most of 2020, so libraries only even did click and collect for a few weeks. Even then, you couldn't choose a slot. You were allocated one, and only between 1pm and 4pm, on a Tuesday or a Thursday. So no use to those of us at physically out work (ironically in my case for the same council)!

You can buy cheap 2nd hand books on line, or do a book swap?