Edinburgh to Fife

To make the list is factual as possible, please email ianlibrarian@live.co.uk with any additions or corrections, thank you.

  1. Edinburgh
    1. 2024: Consultation. (1) Now Fines-free permanently. (5) Library officers push for cuts in defiance of councillor’s expressed wish. (5)
    2. 2023: Replacement Rotho library being built. (4) Blackhall Library remains closed after discovery of aerated concrete (11)
    3. 2020: Proposed £300k cut dropped. £1million cut stays for 2022/3 expected be due to co-location, not move to staffless libraries as first planned.  (2)
    4. 2017: £350k allocated to Open+. IT problems. (8)
    5. 2016: Consultation includes questions on volunteers/community groups doing more in libraries / more colocation / Open+. (10) Opening hours cuts in many libraries. Co-locations. Budget of Lifelong Learning department to be cut by £6.4m. (11)
    6. 2015: Budget review. (12)
    7. 2014: Central Library refurbished: new children’s and music areas (5)
    8. 2012: After public protest, further funding found so there now appears to be no cuts to opening hours (23/2/12) (but this has been disputed – 5/3/12). Previously, £300k cut proposal included existing Sunday opening safeguarded, with more Saturday opening, 10,000 respond to consultation. “Our response has been to propose that £300,000 be allocated in the 2012/13 council budget to retain Sunday opening in all six libraries where it currently exists and that a further 3 libraries will increase their opening hours from 32 to 42 per week. It will also result in longer Saturday service at 15 libraries to reflect customer demand. Opening hours and usage of the other libraries will be kept under review and rest assured we will respond to customer need” (4/3/12). Balerno, Balgreen, Colinton and Gilmerton are still set to see their Thursday service cut, while late Thursday openings will end at all of the city’s facilities. Stockbridge, Portobello and Morningside libraries recently upgraded (16/2/12 and 17/2/12). New Drumbrae Library (£5.7m) opened, inc. cafe, computer classes, police/council services (31/1/12).
    9. 2011: £550k cut proposed which would have meant most libraries will have reduced hours, Sunday opening ended (in all six libraries currently open then), Thursday evening opening ended but Saturday morning and afternoon opening extended to all libraries – however, this appears not to have been enacted (see 2012 links) . Guarantee not to close libraries, self-service being installed. Possible cut in mobiles
  2. Enfield.
    1. 2024: Bullsmoor, Enfield Highway, Enfield Island Village, Bowes Road, Southgate, Winchmore Hill, Oakwood and John Jackson libraries may close in 2025.  (10)
    2. 2023: Cuts expected (12)
    3. 2018: Ponders End library closes as part of development, with temporarily facility to open next Spring, new library to open in 2021.(10)
    4. 2016: Council seeks to lease space in five libraries ( Enfield Island Village Library, Bullsmoor Library, Oakwood Library, Winchmore Hill Library, and Fore Street Library). Ten libraries described as “run by volunteers”. (3) Ponders End Library to include Age UK local headquarters, Enfield Highway Library to include public health services department. (5) £4.2m “transformation” of Edmonton Green Library planned: with added IT Centre, study spaces, local history and museum. (Library closed for one year from September 2016). (5)
    5. 2015: 13 out of 17 under threat: Mobile library service may end.  Four libraries safe (Enfield Town, Palmers Green, Edmonton Green and Ordnance Road, in Enfield Lock) but up to 12 others may be passed to volunteers or closed.  (4) Mobile library confirmed to be closed. 11 libraries to be “community” sharing buildings with other services. (6) Palmers Green Library reopens after £4.4m refurb. (9)
    6. 2014: 4 (out of 5) Early Years Library Outreach Workers lost. (4). Palmers Green Library undergoing refurbishment for more than one year (7) Consultation. “Flagship” libraries like Edmonton Green may expand while “community” libraries support them. (11)
    7. 2013: No libraries will close (previously Ordnance Road, Enfield Highway and Bullsmoor were under threat). 20% budget cut, 17 staff face possible redundancy. Staff 2007/8 143 2011/12 128 (23 prof, 105 other)
      Volunteers 2007/8 31 2011/12 117 (Cipfa). £578k cut 2011, £300k 2012 and 2013. 
  3. Essex
    1. 2024: £450k refurbishment of Colchester Library.  (8) Harwich Library to be refurbished. (9)
    2. 2023: New Loughton Library planned (11)
    3. 2022: £2.4m for new training, literacy and other initiatives.  (4) Guarantee no libraries will close for four years. (4) New library in Shenfield (4)
    4. 2021: No libraries will close (5)  Traps Hill Loughton Library may be rebuilt as part of housing project.  (7)
    5. 2020: Harlow Library to become “modern learning hub” (10)
    6. 2019: Southminster Library moves from police station to parish council. (2) Wickford Library may receive new library as part of building scheme.  (10) an to close libraries cancelled. £1.9m to convert libraries into more commercial/community spaces. Other funding to update IT inc. possibly as a consortium.  (12)
    7. 2018: Volunteer libraries to be established after cut to mobile libraries (1) Up to £3.7m (one third) cut from current £11.4m budget. Consultation. 25 libraries to close or go volunteer without support, 18 to close or go volunteer with no support under worst proposal.(11)
    8. 2017: Friends groups launched. (1) Wickford Library may be moved into co-location in new build with community centre further away from town centre.(3) Pitsea Library may be closed, moved into new building as part of property development. (3) Silver End Library co-located into village hall. (4)  Mobile libraries to be cut (9) £316k refurbishment of Chelmsford Library: family support services to be co-located in building.(11)
    9. 2016: “The Answers People” librarian enquiries service closed: all calls passes to customer services. 3 library staff now part of customer services team to answer any library queries.  (1) £9m budget – £593k cut 2015/16 £594k cut 2016/17. Registrars to co-locate into libraries. (1) £17.2m budget (-35.5% since 2009/10) (3) Writtle Library hours reduced due to post office move (co-location)(11)
    10. 2015: Adult fiction/non-fiction at £784k (2014/15) with children fiction/non-fiction at £511k (increased from £258k previous year). Number of FTE staff down from 355.8 in 2012-13 to 324.8 in 2014-15. 1 mobile lost (from 11 down to 10 serving 579 stops) (Source: FOI request).  (11)
    11. 2014:  Essex one of ten authorities to share £93k Arts Council England funding for artists/volunteers to boost junior summer library use.  (1)
    12. 2013: Libraries take on role of council information points for Epping Forest District Council (13/2/13) Hadleigh Library may move into new building as part of development plans (3) Springfield Library (first new library in 25 years in Essex) opens with volunteers staffing it from the start, with paid staff support (5). Mark Hall Library to be converted to self-service (12)
    13. 2012: 4.1.12 US debt recovery firm to be used for late fees/unreturned items. No branches to close but 5 managers lost job in 2011, Colchester reduced hours from 67.5 to 59 hours. Cuts to rhymetime (26/8/12). New Springfield Library to be opened in 2013.
    14. 2011: s to 54 of 73 branches, 21 jobs to go, but no cuts to mobiles.  Possibility of community groups being involved in running some libraries. Cuts in spite of Essex having £200m in reserves. No Sunday opening in the Epping Forest area. Two homework clubs in Greenstead and Harlow to be axed (28/2/12).
  4. Falkirk
    1. 2021: Returns to council control.
    2. 2018: Hope Street Library to become “central advice hub”, along with other libraries. (9)
    3. 2017: Modernised library. (5)
    4. 2016: £1.2m cut (1)
    5. 2015: School Library Service to close, £325k cut. (1) Consultation launched. (6) £432k cut.: 17 FTE posts to be lost, mobile library lost, bookfund cut, events at risk. (12)
    6. 2014: During the first quarter of 2014, 25,813 people used the library service, down from 31,199 during the same period in 2011. User numbers have fallen consistently every quarter. Issues are also down, going from 1.1 million in 2010-11 to 927,074 in 2012/13. (4)
    7. 2012: “part-time staff hours have been cut and one professional librarian’s post has been deleted and replaced at a lower wage.” (20/2/12).
    8. 2011: (transferred to Trust), Nine-hour reduction per week in each library.
  5. Fife
    1. 2018: Burnturk and Kettlehill Community Trust receive £12,600 grants to renovate and run Jubilee Hall library. (4) Opening hours review. (9)
    2. 2017: Pittenweem Library closed – volunteer substitute in old town hall will open shortly. (2) Kinghorn Library closed. (2) Burntisland Library to reopen after repairs. (4) Largo Library becomes volunteer. (4) Falkland Library becomes volunteer.  (7) Kinghorn reopens as volunteer. (9) Consultation. (9)
    3. 2016: 16 libraries will change: 8 libraries (Markinch, Pitteuchar, Kinghorn, Falkland, Colinsburgh, Crail, Pittenweem and East Wemyss) to remain open while “alternative delivery models explored”. 2 libraries may move into high schools (Glenwood (Glenrothes) and Abbeyview (Dunfermline)). 5 libraries to close end of March (Thornton, Freuchie, Bowhill, Crossgates and Lundin Links). Townhill will close March 2017. (2) Lundin Links, Pittenweem and Kinghorn to be passed to volunteers (8) 1 (out of 3) mobile libraries closed: stops now fortnightly, not weekly. (8) Glenwood to be volunteer-run. (9)
    4. 2015: Cuts to libraries expected. (2) Sixteen libraries (Abbeyview, Bowhill, Colinsburgh, Crail, Crossgates, East Wemyss, Falkland, Freuchie,, Glenwood, Kinghorn, Lundin Links, Markinch, Pittenweem, Pitteuchar, Thornton, and Townhill) may close over three years. (6) Public consultation brought forward due to protests over proposed cuts. (6) Consultation on closing libraries extended to December due to legal advice. (8) Considering removal of overdue library book fees (£18k per year income). (8) 1 mobile will also be lost (12). 16 libraries confirmed to close. (12) £571 cut p.a. (12)
    5. 2013: Kirkcaldy refurb £2.5m joins library with museum and gallery.  Opened 8th June. (6).
    6. 2012: Burntisland Library to be combined with museum and local studies centre. Inverkeithing and Methil already combined (6/8/12).
    7. 2011: Libraries/theatres/archives/arts/museums to be turned into a Trust. £639k expected to be saved per year due to tax avoidance due to this change.  However, libraries face a £2m cut over three years.
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