491 libraries (430 buildings and 61 mobiles) currently under threat or recently closed (List below) out of 4490 in the UK.
– plus one mobile – Bexley article mentions mobile could be cut, not previously listed.
– minus 3 – North Ayrshire – no libraries to close 2011.
– minus 6 – Walsall – no libraries to close 2011.
– Newcastle – £245k cut, 12 jobs lost.
– plus some – – £935k off £6m p.a. service
– plus 1 – Nottingham – one library closed in Sep 2010 (S)
– plus 2 – Ealing – Hanwell and Perivale are feared to be under threat (S)

Summary
Strong rumours in the Sunday Times and other sources are circulating that Jeremy Hunt is taking over the control of the Libraries brief with Ed Vaizey taking a more junior role. The Government may step in and take over libraries in areas where the councils are not showing “restraint” with cuts in libraries. Libraries are, due to massive national protest and media attention, now firmly on the news agenda and the Government is taking note.  Who would have thought that three months ago? (S)
Unsurprisingly given his previous inaction, Ed Vaizey said recently he cannot call a national public inquiry but he will look into challenges after councils have their final meetings.  He appears already to have let pass the cut in Hertfordshire’s hours by one third – this has not made the headlines (much) as no libraries would close but it’s still a cut of one-third.  Two legal challenges to the cuts have been agreed to be worked upon by solicitors. We need to be aware that with the concentration on keeping libraries open, it is easy to miss other cuts to them.  In the Wirral, 50 library staff are to leave (nearly one-third of workforce).  That’s going to have to hurt the service to the public, even though some are going to be replaced.  All around the country, bookfunds and opening hours are being cut.  In Newcastle, none may close by some definitions but some appear to be about to open unstaffed. So, the headline figure at the top of the blog is eye-catching but deceptive.  Only a fully funded national public library service can, after all, tell the whole story.

Local News – this is representative and not comprehensive (S) shows item added on Sunday
– News Shopper
Doncaster – How libraries can help the Mayor – Save Doncaster Libraries 
Gloucestershire – library users fight cuts – ITV Westcountry Regional News “Up until the age of 19 I couldn’t even read.  I taught myself to read in this library”.  Library about to close.
Gloucestershire – libraries packed with campaigners – Wilts and Glos Standard
Greenwich – Protesters take to the streets – News Shopper (S)
Lambeth – Read-In – Friends of Minet Library
Lambeth – library where “John Major did his homework” is facing closure – BBC News (S)
– Manchester Evening News (S)
Newcastle – city council looks at major cuts to libraries, libraries to lose staff – Chronicle
Oxfordshire – council “wins more money” for libraries – Oxford Mail “None of us have ever known a budget process whereby central Government is still informing councils of funding updates in February.” says Leader.
Sheffield – 800 job losses “not the end of the world” says Leader – Library Workers for a Brighter Future
Somerset – protests to save Watchet library – This is the West Country (S)
Stirling – how the library saved her life – Voices For The Library
– This is Local London
Wigan – Library opens early for DJ Shaun – Bolton News “It’s about community, it’s about inclusion”.
National News (S) shows item added on Sunday
Authors call for moratorium on library closures – BookSeller 
Bad week for the big society – Mirror – ““helping ourselves” has become in the eyes of many “fending for ourselves” (S)
Bloated councils are cheating democracy – Daily Mail
Book-Rap by Maria Tolly “We all agree that the place to be is the library”
Britain faces closing the book on libraries – National Public Radio (USA)
Britains’ do-it-yourself government – Globe and Mail (Canada) “the inexpert but enthusiastic will take over libraries” (S)
Britain’s PM is killing his country” Star (Canada) “He is closing libraries and making university unaffordable. He is hacking at the BBC and cutting its worldwide audience by 30 million listeners. He is destroying the literacy that is one of the few attractive things left in this country.”
Ed Miliband – Big Society: a cloak for the small state – Independent on Sunday “Mr Cameron should visit the local libraries in my constituency. These are not some monolithic institutions of crude Conservative caricature. They have classes for new mums and babies, after-school activities for young people, clubs for the elderly. They are owned by government but they nurture community. And now many of them are threatened with closure.” (S)
In it together – BookSeller “the next few weeks are the most crucial. During February, most LEA consultation periods come to an end and council budgets for the year ahead will be finalised.”
Libraries survive on borrowed time – Scotsman (partial paywall)
Lisa Nandy MP “Bring the tories to book over library closures” – Tribune
Ministers may grab control of libraries if councils fail to act with restraint – Sunday Times (S) behind paywall.
PM says “libraries should wake up to new technology”, commenters point out they have– Public Service
Politics UK – BBC World Service (9:35 to 19:00) featuring Kate Mosse “the library is the heart of the community … the one free space”. Adam Smith Institute say its “nostalgia”, “we’re all connected” and “we have huge access to books” and advocates private company control.  Two different worlds (S).
Two legal cases under way to save libraries – Good Library Blog
Unhappy ending for books – Express (Comment) – “we should be wary of creating a world in which the younger generation has no real access to the written word” (S)
Why save libraries? – Telegraph “at their best, they set the tone for what I suppose Kenneth Clark would have called “civilised” values”
Withdrawal Method – SchNews