526 libraries (465 buildings and 61 mobiles) currently under threat or recently closed/left council control (List below) out of 4517 in the UK

Darlington – some under threat, consultation may take one year.
Durham – decision on closures put back until 2012 (£1.5m cut by 2015)
North Tyneside – no closures
Sutton – plus one – 1 mobile library under threat, possibly others.
Worcestershire – plus 4 (previously “some”) – £1m (plus) cut, libraries to close based on their usage “score”. Under threat inc. St John’s, Warndon, Pershore and Broadway

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Summary
“Privately, some councils admit they have been surprised by the public outrage sparked by the threat to lending libraries. And staff who fear they may lose their jobs say libraries are now busier than they have been for years after people woke up to the danger.”  (Northern Echo)

Why the surprise? Do some councillors actually don’t know about libraries?  Do they think that no-one uses them any more?  That those people who use them do so only out of habit?  The massive variation in council responses to the cuts detailed in this blog can only mean that some councillors understand the importance of libraries and some, simply, do not have a clue.  This may not be their fault.  After all, people are busy and there has (apart from these last couple of historically unparallelled months) been precious little about libraries in the media.  You had to use them in order to know who uses them.  It’s clear that we (and by this I mean everyone who uses and works in libraries) should do all we can to never let this sad state of affairs happen again.  Be loud and be proud.  Or, willing or not, if not this year then next year or the year after, you may have to find yourself another job or travel across county lines to a place that understands the importance of the public library.

Local News – all news is representative and not comprehensive
Cambridgeshire – scorn for plan to run library with volunteers – Cambridge News
Croydon – decision to close 6 libraries waits until July after 20 000 (!)  respond to consultation – This is Croydon Today
Gloucestershire – children express their concern over library cuts – FoGL “Do you really want us to become illiterate?”
Gloucestershire – When councillors lose control, MPs need to show leadership – FoGL (from Parmjit Dhanda, former MP for Gloucester) “The plan to effectively force ten libraries in to closure and to water down the service of the rest – is soiled. Cllr Hawthorne and Cllr Noble’s own body language, behaviour and rhetoric no longer even tries to defend their policy.”
Gloucestershire – “Downfall” video clarification – FoGL
Haringey – library “all nighter” for World Book Night – Net-Lettings
Isle of Wight – Chief Exec writes about the public consultation – Ventnor Blog ( comments include “delusional”, “politburo”, “beam me up Scotty”)
Isle of Wight – Council considers new libraries – BBC
North Tyneside – no closures – North Tyneside Council
North Yorkshire – support grows for libraries rebellion – Northern Echo ( council describes numbers of consultation replies as “phenomenal”, includes Durham and Darlington news)
National News

Capita buys Talis for £21m – London Evening Standard (Talis made a profit of 50% last year)
Do libraries have a future? – Talis (Alan Gibbons)
Ed Vaizey defensive on arts funding – Guardian
Friendly books fall on Slough – Independent
Library News  – Private Eye (via Alan Gibbons, regarding Roy Clare head of MLA insulting schoolchild)
Our view of libraries is sepia tinted – Independent
Philip Pullman “Cameron and Clegg have probably never been inside a public library” – London Evening Standard ““The decision to close so many libraries so quickly by so many councils must be ideological”
Public Knowledge: An Event Series – CUBITT (16 March – Film Salon: Libraries; 19 March – Public Knowledge; Panel discussions about the library’s role in using knowledge)
Ten things to know about library closures/campaigns – Voices for the Library
Universes waiting in those lumps of glue and stitched paper – Voices for the Library