Libraries, have they been forgotten?

[Bookridden]

Anyone heard anything about when libraries might open again?

but volunteers were given the option to keep the village ones open. Not just villages - many quite substantial towns have lost their libraries.

At the beginning of lockdown I asked other half (who has worked in a library for over 15 years) how high she rated the chances of finding a bogey in a library book - 1 in 10, 1 in 20? She literally spat her mouthful of coffee morning and said 'a bogey? or blood! 50%'. Just leaving that here...

Every library's different, every library authority is different. Some areas value their library services. Some don't. Some still have professional staff. Some now have very few. All part of David Cameron's Big Society plan. We've all been living some of the consequences of that for the last few weeks, which is probably pretty much a dress rehearsal, in terms of things being cut, for what lies ahead.

As a trained, qualified and experienced librarian (not public libraries though, although I have several friends and ex-colleagues who work in the sector) there are several choice things I could say, so I'll settle for just a few.

1. Libraries don't just do physical book loans, have a peek at the online services, books, magazines and databases your local library offers. For free once you've signed up. You might be surprised.

1. It isn't just Labour who use libraries for "political point scoring". Libraries are generally regarded as fairly neutral and a force for good, even (gasp!) by some Tories. Now all the stroppy socialist liberal leaning professionally qualifieds have pretty much been displaced, obviously, and much cheaper (ie free) volunteers have taken their place. No sign of that trend reversing any day soon although it'll be interesting to see how that's going to work longer-term with the demographics of some of the volunteer cohorts.

1. Scotland and Northern Ireland have been able to fight a little harder and keep a slightly better ratio of professional staff (Scotland generally better overall), but then, to be blunt, the attitude to education for all is very different in both of those countries (I've lived in one and very close to the other) Education is still valued in a way it hasn't been in England for some time. And when I say education, I don't mean passing exams. I mean becoming informed about the world in general and opening your mind. I can't speak for Wales.

As of the beginning of December 2019, the Tory government had closed down almost 800 libraries since 2010 - www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/06/britain-has-closed-almost-800-libraries-since-2010-figures-show. You'll also see the figures for how many paid staff posts had been cut, from 24,000 in 2010 to 15,300 in 2018, and over 51,000 volunteers.

You can find out stuff about your local public library (and others round the world) at www.publiclibrariesnews.com/

Our local library is volunteer run. It was that or closure which is awful. It’s such a lovely library & community hub. Sad they couldn’t be bothered to fund it..

Not just villages - many quite substantial towns have lost their libraries.

I'm sure they have across the UK but I was talking specifically about my county, which has kept the town ones staffed.

the Tory government had closed down almost 800 libraries since 2010

while I am anything but an apologist for the Coalition/Tory governments, the government has not closed any libraries, local councils have, including many Labour-run ones.

Most libraries in England have paid staff but use volunteers for things like home delivery services.

As for the libraries not opening in Wales, they might have redeployed/furloughed staff and need to get them back again.

to be far, i have used the library app to borrow/reserve many ebooks over the last few months, so that has been good!

@cologne4711 So the fact that the government cut the central block grant had no effect on those decisions the council had to make?

www.ifs.org.uk/publications/14563

Lots of (older) volunteers in our area (England).
Click and collect service for July. Looking to ease back to new normal in September.

As far as I know most of the small libraries in my area are run by volunteers and have been for a fair few years. As my local one appears to run in pretty much exactly the same way, though actually the volunteers engage with the children better if anything than the paid staff did, on reflection it's probably quite a good cost saving (I'm not a tory supporter as a rule). Totally horrendous if local libraries can't get enough volunteers in though. Our volunteers are all under 70.