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
Hull (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 12 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 12 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.