Save your libraries on February 5th
– plus three – North Ayrshire – now have figure of 3 libraries to close, previously listed as “some”. (S)
One could think one would get past being shocked but … North Ayrshire are to be congratulated. A report says they paid a consultant £100k to decide, amongst other things, that Kilwinning Library should be shut (running cost = £79k).
Buckinghamshire – seven of nine surviving libraries will be in south of county – Bucks Herald (S)
Camden – Council to ask bankers for 5% of their bonuses, first beneficiary libraries – Daily Telegraph
Doncaster – Video for Read-In – YourNews24(S)
Dorset – Lib Dem MP joins fight to save libraries – Daily Echo (S)
Gloucestershire – video of protest meeting “Stroud against the cuts” – Youtube (S)
Hammersmith and Fulham – £700k on consultancy, £310k off libraries – Fulham Chronicle (S)
Isle of Wight – “17th Century Printing Press” prints out pledges to save libraries – Ventnor Blog (S)
Lewisham – Mayor says cuts “unavoidable” – News Shopper (S)
Nothamptonshire – authors show support for libraries, Alan Moore involved – Northampton Chronicle (S)
North Ayrshire – £100k for consultant to decide if libraries are to shut down – s1kilwinning
North Ayrshire – we need fairness – Large and Millport News (S)
North Yorkshire – Residents rally in bid to save libraries – Craven Herald and Pioneer (S)
Suffolk – authorities discuss threat to three libraries – Evening Star (S)
“Burn down the libraries” – Conrad Landin (S)
Libraries are awesome – Wil Wheaton (S)
Libraries for beginners – Did you ever stop and think? (S)
Never mind the old and ill, Pickles thinks the important thing is the bin – Independent (Janet Street-Porter) (S)
Anglesey – 4
Angus – 4 libraries closed this year (April) to be possibly replaced by a mobile. More info here
Argyll and Bute – 3 libraries and mobile library.
Barnet – some – public consultation here
Barnsley – up to 8
Bedfordshire – 1 mobile to go
Bexley – 3 (3 from a list of 5 will go, plus one mobile)
Birmingham – 39 (three libraries lose hours so Tower Hill can remain open) (school library service to close)
Blackburn with Darwen – (reduced opening hours)
Bromley – (KAB talking books cut)
Buckinghamshire – up to 14 to close or be staffed by volunteers (this article says 11)(£688k cut)
Bury – 1 (1 other reduced hours) – Manchester Evening News
Calderdale – Some? (£350k cut inc.12 jobs, £200k stock)
Cambridgeshire – 13 (36% cut in funding, closures down from previously reported 19) (mobile services already “slashed”) (£1.1m cut) (school library service closed)
Camden – several plus one mobile library (£2 million cut)
Central Bedfordshire – one mobile library to go
Conwy – 7 (out of 12)
Croydon – Up to 6 (public gets to choose which), (£619k saving)
Doncaster – 12, (may also be taken out of council control) (over 50% cut in funding)
Dorset – up to 20 (out of 34) to close or be given to community groups (£143k off bookfund). Dorset is the sole council to receive an actual increase in funding for 2010/11. (£800k cut for libraries)
Dumfries – 7
Durham – some (£1.4m cut)(or is it £1.5m?)
East Sussex – (£313k cut) (less books bought)
Falkirk – (transferred to Trust)
Flintshire – 5 and at least one mobile
Gateshead – some (school library service, music library, AIRS talking newspaper under threat)
Gloucestershire – Up to 18 and 6 mobiles – 11 to close or go to volunteers. 7 to close if they don’t find a partner (43% total cut in funding). A further 11 reduced to 3.5 days a week. 100 library jobs to go say UNISON, 40 FTE to go says council, inc 36 managers cut to 9, 3.5 FTE librarian posts cut (to 10)
Greenwich – (could be turned into a Trust) (school library service closed)
Hammersmith and Fulham – 2 and 1 mobile (record office to charge for access) (£310k cut)
Hampshire – 13 mobiles (58 FTE jobs to go) (and mobile libraries cut within two miles of each branch, this report says 18FTE to go)(libraries merged with IT/property etc) Source of number of mobiles is UNISON Hampshire, No extra overtime or weekend pay
Haringey – (staff cuts)
Harrow – (34 FTE to go)
Hartlepool – 1 confirmed to close (another to merge with community centre, all library’s hours cut)
Herefordshire – (new Ledbury Library delayed) (no branches to close but mobile library review)
Hertfordshire – (opening hours to be cut by one third – from 2236 hours down to 1575) (mobile libraries cut) – At least one library (Borehamwood) faces a 40% cut. (£580k cut in first year, £1.4m after)
Highland – (Wick Library to close and merge with school library) (may move to being in a Trust) (this report says no closures)
Hounslow – 8 (out of 11, £870,000 savings this year on top of £1 million in the last 18 months).
Hull – some (to merge with “customer service centres”)
Hounslow – 8 (£869k p.a cut – reduction in hours,12 FTE to go, 1 IT skills suite closed)
Inverclyde – some
Isle of Wight – 9 (out of 11) – most serious cuts I am aware of (consultation ends 7 Feb)
Kent – some (volunteers to be asked to run some) (83 FTE to go as self-service comes in)- Isle of Thanet one of areas hardest hit (School library service closed)
Kirklees – at least 1
Lambeth – 2 mobiles (setting up a trust “which will give you a chance to run libraries”)
Lancashire – 2 mobile libaries (plus 16% staffing cut)
Leeds – Up to 20 (out of 52) – council says 20 closures are not about cuts but to make service viable.
Leicestershire – NB This information is under doubt. I have received a call saying this article relates to Leicester. Article, though, seems to be indicate it is Leicestershire. No libraries are down for closure according to his article, although they could all/some be transferred to a trust or privatised (merge of lending/reference- 14 FTE jobs lost).
Lewisham – 5
Liverpool – some
Milton Keynes – 2
Newport – 7
Norfolk – (£1.5m over 3 yrs proposed cut inc opening hours cut, staffing cut, bookfund cut, less mobile visits)
Northern Ireland – 10
Northamptonshire – 8 out of 38 may close, 2 mobile libraries to end. Cuts to management and support also.
Northumberland – some
North Ayrshire – 3
North Lanarkshire – 1 (closed March 2010)
North Norfolk – some (c. £1m reduction)
North Somerset – 1 closed, 2 proposed, volunteers may run libraries. Weston Mercury update
North Yorkshire – 24 (out of 42) to close or be staffed by volunteers, 9 mobiles to go off road, surviving libraries could have funding cut to share out with any community-run libraries established. (£1.1m cut)
Oldham – (increase in volunteers, merging, cuts)
Oxfordshire – 20 – list of those under threat here, Oxford Central hours extended to 7 days per week
Redbridge – 5 out of 12 may close, another may relocate.
Renfrewshire – 1 (1 library to move into smaller sites in community centres)
Richmond – 1 (£351k cut) (service may be privatised)
Rochdale – 1 (some library managers to to go in first phase of cuts)
Rutland – (6 libraries to have reduced hours, staff cut)
Salford – some
Sandwell – some
Sefton – 3
Sheffield – (30% cut expected)
Shropshire – 2 and 3 mobiles(reference library to merge with central library)
Somerset – 11 (out of 34) will be offered to community groups over 2 years. 4 (out of 6) mobile libraries will also go. 25% cut in funding. Full (revised) plans here. Rethink on mobiles may happen – article here.
Southampton – 2
Stoke – 2 and 1 mobile library, (ends RNIB service)
Suffolk – 29 (out of 44) – (consultation here)
Swansea – some
Thanet – some
Thurrock – (RNIB subscription ends)
Tower Hamlets – (staff made to reapply for their own jobs -23 library staff replaced)
Wakefield – at least 2 , new central library but local closures
Walsall – 6 (30 FTE). More details here . Count cut from 8 to 6 due to article here
Walthamstow – some
Wandsworth – 1 (mention in Guardian here) plus reduction in hours in others.
Warrington – 2 and 1 mobile library confirmed . More info here. Journals stopped also, £25k off staff. £10k off reference.
West Dunbartonshire – 3 (some staff losses too)
West Sussex – Some (5 FTE lost, some librarians pay reduced to library assistant)
Westminster – (Marylebone may never reopen)
Wigan – Up to 15 out of 17 (£1.1m cut off £4m budget)
Wiltshire – 10 (plus reductions in hours in all but one of the others) (26 FTE posts have gone in Dec 2010 inc. 9 out of 13 community librarians)(cuts include a £940k library opened Dec 2010)(self-service in all)
Worcestershire – some (Pershore library to move out of town centre) , contact centres may combine with libraries
Authorities which have announced there will be no library closures (2011 financial year)
Anglesey – 4 libraries earmarked for closure have apparently been (temporarily) saved
Brighton
Barking and Dagenham
Cornwall – (one stop shops moving into them, book supply being done differently to save money, no guarantee for 2012) (23% cut in library budget, 102 hours p.w. cut)
Devon (may have reduced opening hours, less mobile stops, no new Exeter Library – although this article suggests mobile library service has improved). BBC article confirms no closures. (“brutal” cuts to Exeter Record Office)
Essex
Hillingdon
(number of libraries actually increasing here)
Lincolnshire
Merton – (£118k cut – 2 libraries will have reduced hours but reprieved from threatened closure)Moray – (may move to being in a Trust, another article here)
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about 13 years ago
In many towns, thanks to local councils, it’s cheaper to buy a discounted book on Amazon than it is to park in a town centre to go to the library.
about 13 years ago
True for one, but not 8 or 10 for one’s child or for a family. Also, with the demise of bookshops, libraries are often the only place where one peruse a wide selection of books.
We could be in a position in the near future where Amazon have a virtual monopoloy on book sales. A monopoly on anything is not good, least of all on books.