16 Volunteers for each redundant library worker

A Buckinghamshire newspaper reports that 60 part-time library staff may be made redundant in their plans to cut 18 libraries (14 this year, 2 in 2012, plus 2 mobile libraries).  In the same article it suggests that 1000 people are interested in volunteering in the county’s libraries.  That’s sixteen volunteers per newly jobless library worker. It’s a cruel statistic that takes no account of the good motives of the volunteer. But it is how it feels to many working in libraries. The first question asked across the counter these days is “are you closing?”. A further statement sometimes heard is “I’ll volunteer to work here if you do”.  This does not encourage the library worker, it shocks and demoralizes them. It may do so at first due to feeling hurt that their skills and often lifelong commitment to the job can be so brushed over. However, the point here, the big ultimate ironic point here, is that committed library users across the country are inadvertently making it easier for councils to close libraries.  After all, councils (today Warwickshire, yesterday Cumbria) can say they’re not closing them. They’re “divesting” them to community groups.   The Big Society is stealing library jobs and, in so many places, stealing libraries.

News
5 Live and the Cuts – BBC Radio 5 Live “Whatever your opinion of the timing and necessity of the cuts, you’ll find that a lot of things you take for granted, whether or not you use them, might not exist any more.
For me, it’s a small, unassuming building in Brent in north west London.When I was growing up, I practically lived in Preston Library”
Buying a Kindle is like burning books – Telegraph
Council reserve cash reignites debate about politically motivated cuts – eGov
Save Libraries Day and CILIP’s media presence – View from the Hill (see comments too)
Support from broadcaster Jenni Trent Hughes – Voices for the Library

Changes
Buckinghamshire – 60 part-time jobs at risk, compulsory redundances “a very last resort”
Warwickshire – 2 (out of 5) mobile libraries to be cut.

News by Authority
Bradford – “Eat-in” to be staged at Ilkley library to encourage Bradford to rethink cuts – Telegraph & Argus.  Local author Martyn Bedford will lead protest where people eat their lunch and borrow as many books as possible.
Brent – Battle begins, as Brent councillors declare: we are unelectable – Save Kensal Rise Library. Council is spending £100m on new town hall.
Brent – Half of Brent’s libraries to close as residents protest – Willesden & Brent Times
Brent – Brent axes six libraries to save £1m – London Evening Standard “even though a public consultation found that 82 per cent of residents opposed the move”

“The most high-profile casualty was Kensal Rise library, whose supporters include authors Philip Pullman and Zadie Smith. Pullman said: “It’s a sad day for Brent that the council has not been persuaded despite all the arguments put forward.” Anti-poverty campaigner Sam Roddick, who founded Coco de Mer, said: “Cutting the libraries is cutting the poor from the little they have. It will damn our country into the kind of poverty you see in third world countries.” 

Buckinghamshire – Shake-up of libraries in Bucks planned – Maidenhead Advertiser “Community status could see the facilities affected, ‘sharing premises with other local businesses and organisations, increasing community volunteering and fundraising, and self-managed’.
Buckinghamshire – Sixty jobs at risk in Buckinghamshire library cuts plan – Bucks Free Press, 1000 people have expressed an interest in volunteering
Ealing – Northfields Library latest – Ealing Today
Leicestershire – Libraries public consultation on opening hours – Leicestershire Council

Lewisham – Proposals for Lewisham libraries Crofton Park, Grove Park, New Cross and Sydenham on view to public – News Shopper (These libraries and Blackheath to be dropped from council control and offered to community groups).
Warwickshire – [Jeremy Wright] MP: Warwickshire County Council must help library volunteers more – Coventry Telegraph
Warwickshire – Facing the Challenge, Business case forms/faqs, consultation questionnaire – Warwickshire County Council

Worcestershire – Town council considers plan to buy library – Worcester News “Residents and town councillors are considering making an offer to buy their library in a bid to stop it getting moved to another location”