In a letter to a constituent, Frank Field has uncovered the unwelcome news that the Government could indeed use its current review of legislation to amend or abolish the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act and thus remove all statutory protection from public libraries.  Make sure to put your views on the government website, making sure – if you are against closures – to say that the current law is not a “burden”.

Changes 
Barnet – Council papers on cuts, 
Blackburn with Darwen – Darwen library to close every Tuesday and Thursday, newspapers/magazines no longer stocked
Warwickshire – Warwick Library may move to Shire Hall and have its hours reduced to 35 hours per week.

News
4 in 5 town halls plan cutbacks on libraries – Daily Mail (83% plan cuts to libraries, 16% said libraries would be the first to be cut, a quarter will transfer them to “community or mutual ownership”)
Big Society Blues: the stuttering of David Cameron’s vision – Eurasia Review “British libraries are set to fall into the hands of American companies. LSSI, the key participant in what will become an important feature of Cameron’s Big Society program, has a goal of taking control of libraries across eight districts. What exactly this means for services is a big mystery.
Budget Survey 2011 – LGA
Campaign for the Book April Newsletter – Alan Gibbons
DCMS Taking Part survey shows another decline in library use – Good Libray Blog
Frank Field response to constituent – Alan Gibbons
Future Libraries Programme Final Report – MLA
Lefties not Etonians are closing libraries – Telegraph
Loud Library Voices: Campaigning, the web, journalists and the offline world – (slideshow)
Michael Gove should become “champion for libraries” says Patrick Ness – Guardian  “Children, especially poorer children, rely on libraries as not just places to read, but to see possibilities for the world ahead,” he said. “Libraries are vital gateways to future education and future careers, as places to learn to wish and dream and strive and achieve. I hope that the minister for education recognises this and will become a vocal champion for libraries and library services.”
Natalie Haynes: I hope this generation doesn’t notice it deserves our sympathy – Independent “Then there’s the Local Government Association survey released this week, showing how cuts disproportionately affect young people: closed youth clubs and libraries and parks and Sure Start groups, for example.”
Ness and CILIP in school libraries plea – BookSeller
Nine leading poets call for Arts Council rethink on Poetry Book Society cut – BookSeller
Public libraries and services for young people at the sharp end of cuts – CILIP “we’re in danger of failing the next generation.” “Public library services and services for young people are set to see the greatest budget cuts of all frontline services, according to the Local Government Association (LGA)..”
Read and Shout – Voices for the Library (about the Read and Shout gig) 
Replying to Zadie Smith on the Today programme – Telegraph (cuts to public services are, apparently, 3%)
We must teach children to love books again – Telegraph (by Education Secretary Michael Gove – there is not a single mention of libraries in the article)
Young people bear brunt as councils reveal cuts to services – Guardian “Dramatic reductions for libraries and children’s services will take effect at start of new financial year”, cuts in grants this year alone of up to17%. LSSI has “set up in Liverpool”.
Zadie Smith writes in defence of libraries – Mirror

News by Authority
Barnet – Strategic library review report – Barnet council
Blackburn with Darwen – Darwen library to close two mornings a week – Lancashire Telegraph
Buckinghamshire – Over a third of people in Bucks don’t want community libraries – Mix 96
Cambridgeshire – Have a say on plans to save cash at libraries – Evening Telegraph
Dorset – Give your views on library cuts – Salisbury Journal
Gloucestershire – Hawthorne Hypocrisy – FoGL (Councillor Hawthorne will be speaking against the WI motion that “This meeting urges Her Majesty’s government to maintain support for local libraries, as an essential education and information resource”)
Gloucestershire – Lifeline for Hester’s Way library and youth centre? – This is Gloucestershire
Lewisham – Ed Vaizey’s letter to Lewisham campaigners – Alan Gibbons
Lewisham – legal letter, what to do – Alan Gibbons
Oxfordshire – Councillord complete fact-finding library mission – Oxford Mail (visited Hillingdon)
Oxfordshire – authors support Oxfordshire libraries – Alan Gibbons
North Yorkshire – Bentham Library march to Settle – Bentham Library
Redcar and Cleveland – Minister refuses Redcar Library’s Grade II listing – Gazette
Richmond – We put new Heathfield library “access point” to the test – Richmond Twickenham Times
Richmond – Library Story – Youtube (short video, no words, about cuts in Richmond)
Shropshire – Shrewsbury libraries to be “under one roof” – BBC (reference library and central library to be merged)
Suffolk – Ipswich [300] march over Suffollk library closures plan – BBC
Suffolk – Public foots bill for top hotels – EADT (for library-closing chief exec already under fire for £220k salary, counselling sessions, PR shoots …)
Surrey – “It will be the death of the [Warlingham] community” – This is Surrey Today “”Supporting the Big Society should include supporting and campaigning for the survival of our local library.””
Surrey – Cobham library set for complete overhaul – Elmbridge Today (Surrey has applied to knock down existing library to make way for houses, build new library)
Warwickshire – Council is accused of trying to close Whitnash Library – Courier “staff now leaving had to sign confidentiality agreements and said the service wanted to close Whitnash library”
Warwickshire – Bridget cuts leave Warwick Library with an uncertain future – Courier