It’s not been a day of library glory for three London councils.
– Brent Council has said that library consultation respondents were likely (shock!) to be those who actually used libraries and thus were biased.  Well, the 82% who said that closing half of its libraries and spending £3m on a big library in the Civic Centre were unreasonable anyway.  Presumably those with no interest in libraries and so had no problem with closing them were far less biased. 
– In Lambeth, the new chief of libraries has resigned after only one day in the job. Family reasons were cited. It may also be possible that his decision was influenced by noticing that Lambeth has one of the worst records of library use in the country and want to further cut their budget by £750k.  That every qualified librarian there is having their job deleted probably did not argue a longer stay either.
– Finally, in Ealing,  the council would much rather spend money on a £5m car park than on keeping the library open that had £610k spent on it four years ago and is right nextdoor to a new £2m children’s centre.  Another library highlighted for closure had a £1m upgrade just a year ago. 

Changes to list
Bolton – Consultation ends 20th May:
Brent – 82% of consultation responders said council plans to close 6 of 12 were not reasonable; £3m new Civic Centre library instead; Decision to be made on April 11th
Ealing – Cut to budget may be 30% over four years
Lambeth – £750k 2011/14 cut; Commission to be set up to consider volunteers/closures/shared service with other authorities
Leicestershire – Consultation into cuts to be launched; Melton library has evening and Saturday openings cut

News
Bunnies , WORDfest and human libraries – Voices for the Library
Cressida Cowell Interview – National Literacy Trust I’m very sad to hear about the lack of funding because like many I went to the library the whole time. It’s such a valuable resource to the country and to just wave goodbye to it… We are not a manufacturing country, we rely on our creativity as a country so much that I think we ought to be valuing the things like libraries that support that creativity.”
Obstacle to the Big Society – Spectator (Shock news – Glenda Jackson is not keen on volunteers taking over entire public libraries)
What the public doesn’t want to see in public libraries and the public library service – Good Library Blog
Zadie Smith – What the blogs said – Journalism.org (USA) Libraries were the second most talked about subject on “Top Stories of the Week March 28 to April 1st”. “the number two story reflected the often international flavor of the blogosphere as commenters responded to a BBC Radio program in which British author Zadie Smith staunchly defended libraries. The famous author recounted her childhood in a flat surrounded by books even though her family was poor, thanks to the library. Smith’s local library was slated for closure for budgetary reasons and she spoke up to explain why this was a travesty.”

News by Authority
Bolton – Campaigners set for Town Hall demo to save libraries – Bolton News
Brent – New report snubs Brent library campaigners – Harrow Observer
Buckinghamshire – County Council set to decide future of libraries – Buckinghamshire Advertiser (on April 11)
Buckinghamshire – Libraries under threat look to West Wycombe success – BBC“We are being contacted by two, three or four groups a week now, looking at running community libraries.”
Camden – Group to defend Queen’s Cresent Library as Camden libraries fight goes on – Camden Gazette
Ealing – Residents rally against Northfields Library clossure plans – Ealing GazetteLibrary has £2m children’s centre built by it, £5.5m car park being built is essential to local economy.
Lambeth – New Lambeth Libraries head quits after one day – Vauxhall Society News
Lambeth – Council proposals – Lambeth Council
Leicestershire – Museum, library face opening hour cuts – Melton Times
Surrey – Council leader [Andrew Povey] dismisses coup threat – Get Surrey “His decisions were said to show a “lack of political savvy”, the roll of scrutiny committees were questioned after Cabinet ignored democratic recommendations to abandon library closure plans and the frequent use of “no comment” as a response in the press were all attacked.” In reply – “With libraries, what we are proposing is very interesting. Bramley Library has masses of volunteers and the people are picking up that challenge.”
Westminster – London borough says merging library services with two others will bring down standards – Guardian “Labour councillors in Conservative-led Westminster say the merging of their libraries will lead to residents losing out because spending by their council on services is more than 40% higher than in Hammersmith & Fulham” “The councillors argue that while it make sense to merge senior library management and to combine the authorities’ book-processing teams and back room finance, personnel and legal services, a single service with local branding won’t work.”