485 libraries (426 buildings and 59 mobiles) currently under threat or recently closed (List below “News”)

Western Isles – opening hours reductions.

Summary
The “You and Yours phone in” on Radio Four (tomorrow, Tuesday 12 Noon) will feature a discussion about public libraries with Annie Mauger, the president of the library professional association CILIP. CILIP have produced a report stating that Westminster is failing libraries, that fully 20% (600) could close and that charging for libraries (being proposed for volunteer-run libraries) is unlawful under the Act.  CILIP also produce a pile of reasons why closing libraries is a poor idea, such as this report released on Saturday.   
Tim Coates on the MLA
I have recently received this email from well-known library campaigner Tim Coates on the MLA.  He has given me permission to publish it.  The role of the MLA is especially important as the Minister for Libraries Ed Vaizey has said that he will not legally intervene to overturn closures (as is his power under the 1964 Libraries and Museums Act) until after he has consulted with them.  I would be happy to publish a (similarly brief) response from the MLA.

“My impression is that everywhere we have been involved the MLA have been advising councils to close libraries.   They appear to be more interested in how to handle the closures in such a way that such action will somehow lie within the law and they are handing out tens of thousands of pounds to consultants to confirm this view. 

 
Roy Clare has often said that he thinks there are too many libraries and both he and the Minister say that closures do not contravene either the letter or intention of the law. They cite ‘movements of population’ as an Open Sesame to shut buildings  -as if the British population lived on a moving caravan site .- where the law clearly says that libraries should be comprehensive and efficient for those who wish to use them..  Every newspaper I open tells me that those who wish to use libraries want them to be open and well stocked.
 
Even councils which fought off closures last year are asking for help because after their long struggle to keep libraries the MLA are now seeming to be telling them how they can close them without falling foul of the law.  Of course the council officials latch on to this. 
 

My deduction is that the MLA are pushing down the hill the snowball we are trying so hard to roll up it and that they see their role as working for councils rather than for local people. My view is also that during the months since May, when it was so important to get these matters right, the MLA, LGA and DCMS have totally funked the questions about budgets and efficiency, even though the DCLG and Eric Pickles have asked everyone to look at these so closely.” 

Local News – this is representative and not comprehensive – (S) shows items added on Sunday evening
Hounslow – wonderful support for Brentford Library Read-In, inc MP Mary Macleod – Hounslow Chronicle
National News
500 plus messages of support for libraries – Voices for the Library
Alan Moore shares the importance of libraries “If my work means anything to anyone out there then should not thank me for it, they should thank the institution of libraries that created me” – Bleeding Cool
Library helped me believe in myself – Voices for the Library
Make way for the new in the book world – Guardian (see comments section too)
Public libraries being failed by Westminster, set of actions for Jeremy Hunt – CILIP (estimates 20% of libraries – 600 – could close: charging by any library is an unlawful act)
Read-Ins to stop closures – Herald Scotland
Why libraries must be saved – Mirror “Libraries make the world fairer. They are the place where a child with no books at home can go to discover, learn and dream.” (Tony Parsons)
List of cuts by authority (click on name of authority for link to relevant report)
NB. From 2012, the MLA will be abolished – the Arts Council will take over its role for libraries with a budget of £3m rather than £13m.  Therefore, libraries start 2012 with £10m less, regardless of any further cuts.
Aberdeenshire – some, (brief mention here seems to suggest all but this very unlikely)
Anglesey4
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) (this is the five)
Birmingham – 39 (three libraries lose hours so Tower Hill can remain open) (school library service to close)(all branch libraries under review, £200m super library being built)
Blackburn with Darwen – (reduced opening hours)
Blackpool – 2
Bolton10 (out of 16)
Brent – 6 (out of 12) (talking to private company LSSI)
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)
Cambridgeshire13 (36% cut in funding, £3.2m, 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)
Cornwall – (23% cut, 102 hours opening lost)
Coventry – (opening hours cut, more fees)
Croydon – Up to 6 (public gets to choose which), (£690k saving)
Cumbria – (review under way, no closures yet, 3 of 6 mobile libraries closed in 2010)
Derbyshire – (Opening hours to be cut)
Doncaster – (one final step needed on 21st Feb before officially confirmed) 14, (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
Dundee – (to transfer to the same trust as swimming pools/basketball)
Durham – some (£1.4m cut)(or is it £1.5m?)
Ealing – some
East Sussex – (£313k cut) (less books bought)
Essex1 mobile (extensive opening hours cuts, 21 jobs to go)
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  – 10 to close or go to volunteers. 7 to close if they don’t find a partner (43% total cut in funding). (Cinderford saved)(revised proposals here)  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 2 (out of 7) 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)
Hertfordshire5 mobiles (2011 Confirmed – 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) (cuts confirmed)
Highland – (Wick Library to close and merge with school library) (may move to being in a Trust) (this report says no closures) (suggestion that professional staff are being lost – a source is needed).
Hounslow – initial plan to close 8 cancelled after public consultation, £300k cut in bookfund, some libraries may still be at risk as cuts “postponed”.
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)
Kingston – (50% adult bookfund cut)
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).
Leicestershire – (£250k cut in bookfund and hours)
Lewisham – 5 (41% cut – £800k)
Liverpoolsome
Milton Keynes – 2
Newcastle Upon Tyne – 8 (to be unstaffed, entirely self-service quasi book stacks)
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
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 Yorkshire24 (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. (£2.3m cut from £7.5m total)
Nottinghamshire – (22 out of 28 libraries to have their opening hours cut, 80 FTE jobs to go, 50% off bookfund, 1 library already closed.
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)
Rochdale1 (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 (consultation here)
Sheffield – (30% cut expected, £2.5m)
Shropshire – 2 and 3 mobiles(reference library to merge with central library)
Somerset –  11 (out of 34) will be closed/offered to community groups over 2 years. 4 (out of 6) mobile libraries will also go.  25% cut in funding. Full (revised) plans here (20% cut in opening hours). Rethink on mobiles may happen – article here. Public will be asked for “voluntary contributions”.
Southampton – 2
Southend – some
Southwarkshire – (school libray service closed)
Stoke – 2 and 1 mobile library, (ends RNIB service)
Suffolk – 29 (out of 44) – (consultation here, £2m cut)
Sutton – (school library service to close)
Swansea – some
Thanet – some
Thurrock – (RNIB subscription ends)
Tower Hamlets – (staff made to reapply for their own jobs -23 library staff replaced)
Trafford – (mobile library to be staffed by volunteers)
Wakefieldat least 2 , new central library but local closures
Walsall – 6 (30 FTE)  Count cut from 8 to 6 due to article here
Waltham Forest – some
Walthamstow – some
Wandsworth – 1 (mention in Guardian here) plus reduction in hours in others.
Warrington – (2011 Confimed)  2 and 1 mobile library confirmed . More info here. Journals stopped also, £25k off staff. £10k off reference.
Warwickshire – 16 (out of 34) (30%, £2m cut) – official report from council herespecial county map of closures here.
West Dunbartonshire – 3 (some staff losses too)
West Sussex Some (5 FTE lost, some librarians pay reduced to library assistant)
Western Isles – (cuts in opening hours by one day per week and during Summer)
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)

Coventry (but less opening hours, fees to rise)
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(but other cuts – see list above)
(number of libraries actually increasing here)
Leicestershire (but opening hours and bookfund cut – £250k)
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)
Newcastle
Norfolk – (no closures but staffing cut, bookfund cut, opening hours cut, less mobile visits)
Nottinghamshire  – no plans to close any branches but massive reductions in opening hours.
Poole
Trafford – (but mobile library staff will be replaced by volunteers)
Windsor and Maidenhead
Wirral