800 to 1000 libraries may be under threat.
311 libraries plus 20 mobiles currently under threat or recently closed.
Being the list below of individual authorities represents around one-third of those in the UK, that could mean perhaps 800 to 1000 libraries could be under threat when all budget proposals are announced*. Tim Coates today announced he was in “despair” at this news. CILIP have been active behind the scenes and have promised action in the next week to publicise the plight of public libraries. Ed Vaizey, the minister responsible for libraries has written this week to each council to remind them that libraries are a statutory service.
Most councils decide their budgets for 2011/12 in February so, if you too are concerned by a proposed cut in funding for libraries in your authority, there is not much time left to let your councillor/MP/Minister know.
*Thanks to Desmond Clarke for pointing this out.
Birmingham – Tower Hill library may close, protests begin – Walsall Advertiser
Doncaster – reaction to the cuts – Save Doncaster Libraries
Dorset – Public consultation on closure of 20 (out of 34) libraries – Dorset Echo
Gloucestershire – campaign to save Matson Library – This is Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire – local council meetings fail to sell the message of closures – Friends of Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire – deathblow to libraries? – Ruscombe Green
Gloucestershire – messages of support for libraries, inc. video – Friends of Gloucestershire
Highland – Wick Library to close, new one in school outside of town centre – John O’Groats Journal
Leicestershire – privatisation for libraries and/or co-location – Lutterworth Mail
Leicestershire – Concern at cuts – BBC
North Yorkshire – Gargrave and Grassington could be community-run, only big towns to have a library – Craven Herald and Pioneer
Oxfordshire – the news on libraries is awful so how bad will cuts be for other services? – Oxford Mail
Oxfordshire – more cuts to be announced (goodbye Oxford Literary Festival?) – BBC
Oxfordshire – Campaigners, including MP and Phllip Pullman, protest at cuts – Oxford Mail
Sandwell – doing well – Halesownen News (yippee!)
Wandsworth – your chance to take part in consultation – Wandsworth Council
Warrington – Phone Box as Library – Warrington Guardian
West Sussex – Cuts to libraries to be discussed next week – Argus. This article suggests at least some libraries will be either closed or given to volunteers – Chichester Observer.
Wigan – did you know our library is in danger of closing? – Standish Talk
MLA “It’s not the libraries that matter” Future Libraries Programme Newsletter – MLA
Tim Coates despairs – Good Library Blog
Reading Agency shows power of youth volunteering in libraries – Alan Gibbons
Arts Council (soon to be responsible for libraries) under fire – London Evening Standard
Plea for councillors not to cave into “middle class lobbyists” in favour of libraries – Public Finance
Councils to be told how much their funding will be cut early next week – Daily Telegraph – libraries mentioned several times in article as amongst those services most likely to close.
Eric Pickles seems more concerned about Winterval than the cuts – Guardian
Localism Bill – closed library? community groups may get first right of refusal on the building – BBC
Choose a library for the Guardian to look at and, possibly, save – Guardian – A significant proportion of the comments after the article are in favour of closing libraries.
Kate Mosse in defence of libraries – Guardian
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about 14 years ago
The last time that this country suffered destruction of our heritage on this scale was the sacking of the monasteries under Henry VIII so as to raise much needed cash for his grand plans. Any likeness between the two periods is, of course, only fictional and any resemblance to persons alive or dead is totally coincidental.