Can you help?

Everyone – Submit evidence/views to Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on Library Closures before Thursday 12th January.
Surrey – Campaigners are looking for someone who qualifies for legal aid (owns less than £8000) in order to challenge council over library cuts.  Must be a Surrey resident.

News

• Campaign for the Book Newsletter – Alan Gibbons.   Looks at the legal actions Glos/Somerset/Brent, closures, Liverpool cuts and National Libraries Day.
• “If you tolerate this …”: Nicky Wire on library closures – Guardian (Music).  “Libraries were my band’s lifeline, writes Nicky Wire of the Manic Street Preachers. We must fight for them.” … “One of the most amazing things about public libraries remains their utter classlessness. You don’t have to have gone to Eton to make the most out of a library. They aren’t inhabited by the kind of people currently damning them.”

“It’s hard not to feel utterly despondent at the current plight of public libraries. Along with the NHS and the BBC, our libraries are some of the few truly remarkable British institutions left. So often absolutely ordinary in appearance, a good library should offer escape routes down the most extraordinary avenues, pathways into different worlds from the one you’ve left outside. Ridding our villages, towns and cities of libraries, which are essential in shaping a nation’s consciousness, seems like a direct attack on the soul of the country.”

• Islwyn MP joins campaign to save libraries – South Wales Argus.   “MP Chris Evans has joined other politicians in campaigning for Britain’s libraries to be preserved. They helped launch the All Party Parliamentary Group on Libraries (APPGL), which will seek to ensure that continued public sector cuts don’t devastate the provision.”
• Library – Rainy Day Mum.   “One of my goals for 2012 is that we make a regular visit to the library. This time last year our local library was under threat of closure – the county were going to close all but 3 or 4 of the libraries – we supported the “Save the library” campaign and attended the Book Start groups for Babies and Toddlers (J was between the two groups at the time), but funding was cut to let the libraries stay open and the toddler group was gone and for some reason we stopped going. Towards the end of the year we started again when I realised that we needed to add books to our collection, so we have decided to make it our goal each week to go and visit the library.”
• Point of View: Why didn’t Harry Potter just use Google? – BBC.  Potter was written justg before the invention of Google. Internet has changed it all: “There is all too little danger of the knowledge currently accumulating in floods – multiply-owned, stored and captured – being lost. Rather, if we are going to make sense for posterity of today’s information-saturated present, one of the things we will have to learn to do is decide how to prune the evidence, and ultimately, what to forget.”
• Universities collected £50m in library fines, figures show – Guardian.   “With fines as little as 10p for each day a book is overdue, it shows that students are returning thousands of books late each year. But many are never returned – more than 300,000 university library books remain unaccounted for.”

Changes 

Calderdale – 1 mobile to end, cuts in opening hours in “Brighouse, Elland, Hebden Bridge, King Cross, Sowerby Bridge and Todmorden from 45 to 37 hours a week.”.
Warrington – 6/1/12 Grappenhall Library taken over by volunteers eight months after it was closed: group: Friends of Grappenhall Library. 

Local News

• Bradford – Extended building would accommodate convenience store – Ilkley Gazette. Plan for Co-op store to open, with library.  “There has been a big response to the proposal from the community, including both letters of support for the development and a petition against the plans. The Co-op already has a store in a former newsagents premises on Station Road, Burley, but wants to move to bigger premises. There has been a big response to the proposal from the community, including both letters of support for the development and a petition against the plans. The Co-op already has a store in a former newsagents premises on Station Road, Burley, but wants to move to bigger premises.”
• Brent – Update January 2012 – Save Kensal Rise Library.   “We may not be given leave to appeal to the Supreme Court in which case we will explore other options, and we have other options. We believe this community needs a library and that is the end we are pursuing.” … public meeting soon, “pop-up” library continuing, business plan for running library created.  Artist Jamie Reid has done poster for campaign, to be launched at start of February.
• Brighton and Hove – An unsavoury morsel – Christopher Hawtree.   Conservative MP called Cllr Hawtree (a well-known library campaigner) the Dr Beeching of library services.  Cllr replies “I have urged a continuing, central place for public libraries despite the fact that Mr Weatherley’s own Government is imposing cuts of up to a third on Council budgets over the next few years.” … “What is proposed is to use the mobile library as a temporary one while the adjacent branch library in Woodingdean is rebuilt. For fifty years Woodingdean has had a temporary one but the new one will be twice the size. Pretty bloody good in these times.”.  Priority will be on bookfund.
• Calderdale – “Drop new library and rescue all the others” – Halifax Courier.   “A total of 2,235 people responded to the latest council survey on opening hours and they were equally divided over whether there should be cuts to the six biggest branches.”

“What is the point of spending millions on a new library and archives in Halifax when other library services are being slashed?” said Coun Stout (Ind, Brighouse). “Of course there are some serious decisions to take about cutting costs but it is no good protecting Halifax to the exclusion of everywhere else,” he said.”

• Dudley – Library to close while asbestos is removed – Stourbridge News.   ““Although it is unfortunate the library has to close for one week, it is necessary to ensure the asbestos can be removed safely. The housing office located on the ground floor of the library will, however, remain open as normal while the work is carried out.”
• Hampshire – Cuts in services loom again – Gazette. A further 8% cut to all services, following a previous 8% cut last year.  Cuts of “£4.7m in libraries, museums and country parks.” … “Library opening hours have also been cut. The council is aiming to make the savings it needs to in two years instead of four as a result of the Government squeeze on spending.” [presumably to have extra boasting points while cutting services prematurely by two years? – Ed.]
• Hertfordshire – County Council axe school library service – Advertiser 24.  “A plea to save the schools’ library service has been snubbed after the county council agreed to axe the resource aimed at boosting literacy among all children and young people throughout Herts.”.  Service cancelled because it was not making a profit. 
• Liverpool – Letter from Council Leader – Liverpool Echo. “It is by being imaginative that we have brought forward proposals which will retain 85% of our libraries despite a cut in the budget of a quarter.” … “Cllr Kemp suggests placing libraries in schools. We have done this at West Derby and would have liked to do it with more schools as part of wave six of Building Schools for the Future, but unfortunately his government axed the scheme.”
• Middlesbrough – Thousands sign petitions over Middlesbrough council cuts – BBC.   17000 signed peition against cuts.  “The planned closure of youth centres and libraries has also prompted about 800 letters to the borough council.”
• Nottinghamshire – Kipper the Dog set for library opening – This is Nottingham.   “Improvements include a computer area with free wi-fi, dedicated children’s, local studies and professional gallery areas, a Discovery Room for courses and training, a new theatre space and thousands of books for all ages.”
• Suffolk – Can you help with the future of Suffolk libraries? – Haverhill Echo.   “Community groups are being asked to nominate members to join an organisation being set up to run Suffolk’s libraries.”.. “Mr Fox said: “I’ve taken on this challenge because I believe it is the way forward for public services. To reflect local priorities, communities themselves must be fully engaged and sufficiently empowered to ensure the service delivers what they want. They must take responsibility for shaping their own destiny and making sure the services they receive are right for their communities and not just based on a single, ‘one size fits all’ solution.”
• Board members sought for library enterprise – Bury Free Press.   “Letters went out this week to the county’s 44 libraries plus local groups who had expressed an interest in running them inviting nominations for the four other interim board positions, by January 22.”.  Will be in partnership with council.  “The IPS will be registered and appoint its interim board this month then, between February and May will apply for admission to the Local Government Pension Scheme and consult on and transfer employment responsibilities from the county.”
• Warrington – Grappenhall villagers win campaign to take ownership of former council library – Warrington Guardian.   “A group of campaigners in Grappenhall have been handed the keys to the village library – nine months after it closed. The Friends of Grappenhall Library, a group of volunteers, won the right to take ownership of the building after the council closed it as part of budget cuts.” … “We already have a good mix of 3,500 books to fill the library from fiction to non-fiction and adult to children’s.” 
• Worcestershire – New year timetable for Worcestershire mobile libraries  – Shuttle.   “Rural communities are being urged to make the most of Worcestershire County Council’s mobile library service, with a new year timetable available.”

News

• Challenging government cuts: library closures – Law Think.  “Challenging the substance of a cuts decision is difficult for two reasons. Firstly, one has to establish that in making the decision the local authority was either irrational or acting outside of the statutory provision which requires them to provide services. However, almost all such statutory provisions are broad, allowing discretion to the authority.” … “Secondly, challenging the substance of a cuts decision is difficult because the decision on spending is for the local authority and not the court. In the Brent case, Mrs Bailey “accepted that in these times of economic difficulties, economies have to be made and decisions are primarily for democratically elected local authorities”. The court only can ensure the decision was taken by a legal means.”

“With the cuts affecting public services all over the country, this is certainly far from the last decision on the issue. Many of the issues that arise in these cases are similar. However, as long as a local authority follows the correct procedure in making a cuts decision and keeps good records of how that decision was made, then can probably fend off any legal challenges to their decision.”

• Demise of the Public Library – International Herald Tribune.   Writer felt proud of British public libraries when visiting Pakistan where they do not have any and often buy cheap pirated books instead.  “I had no idea then of the crisis facing British libraries. Over the last year or two, you’d have had to be living under several rocks not to notice.” Concentrates on the closures in Brent, highlighting the need for libraries to be local and free, continuing to provide free printed books and internet access to those who would otherwise not be able to access them.
• Retro Library – Annoyed Librarian (USA).  “As the new book world order comes to pass, libraries can make themselves more attractive by obsessing less about the popular. Let’s face it,  the blather about libraries being the cornerstone of democracy and all that is a little hard to take when one of the biggest challenges is making bestselling novels available to library patrons. If the bestsellers aren’t freely available, democracy – such as it is –  will survive, or at least the absence of free bestsellers won’t be the cause of its demise.”  See also If libraries didn’t exist, would publishers be trying to kill book lending? (Tech Dirt).  “A familiar pattern emerges. Small, innovative publishers who are ready to adapt, reap the benefits by meeting the growing demand for ebooks at local libraries – and doubtless picking up knock-on sales as a result. Meanwhile, big, sclerotic publishers resist trying out new business models, preferring to make the use of digital formats for lending as “inconvenient” as possible – in the forlorn hope that readers will just give up and buy something. We all know how that story ends.”
• Thoughts on library membership charges – Information Twist.   “Apart from  Central Government funding cuts, another reason local councils are having to save money is because Council Taxes were capped. This ensured local residents didn’t have to stick their hands in their pockets any deeper to pay for local services. Membership schemes like this mean that residents are still going to have that money taken out of their pockets anyway… If you have more money you’ll receive more library services. This is at odds with the ethos behind public libraries, which provides services for free because it’s recognised that some people can’t afford or don’t have access to these services/resources via any other means”
• Times: Lawyer of the Week Daniel Carey acted for campaigners in case on cuts to library provision – Public Interest Lawyers.  “What were the main challenges in this case and the possible implications? Both councils paid lip service only to their equalities duties but the challenge was to ensure that an effective remedy was granted for this. Injunctions stopped the library closures from taking effect, allowing the judges to later quash the decisions outright. He said that it was important for the rule of law to do so.The case has implications for every local authority in the UK, which must now reappraise their planned cuts to library provision. Since the judgment, the Commons Culture Select committee is investigating the issue nationally.”
• Windsor Public Library eliminates overdue fines in 2012 – CBC News (USA).   “”You don’t want to penalize people for reading. Sometimes you’re really into a novel and it takes you a little longer to get through it. As it happens, you return a book two or three days late. It’s not a big deal. We can get over that,” Maghnieh said. “It’s a way of really rewarding our patrons for using the library.”
• Writer Maggie Gee vows to carry on libraries fight – London Evening Standard.  Regarding Brent. “The 63-year-old, who was the first female chair of the Royal Society of Literature and was short-listed for the 2003 Orange Prize for her seventh novel, The White Family, was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours list.” … “Dr Gee said: “Libraries matter because they are the seedbed of literature. They are where people read our books, it’s where children find out they can read.”

Changes

Herefordshire – 20 communities have “expressed an interest” in running their own library.  Garway has new library in its village hall run by residents.
Liverpool – 3 libraries (Edge Hill, Woolton, Great Homer Street) and mobile library service to close (or be taken over by community groups). 76 of 210 jobs (more than one-third of the total, including 27 managers and other senior staff) to go.  Opening hours reduced (inc. 12 libraries to be only open four days per week).  Closed libraries will have stock moved into other council services. 
Torbay – £170k cut (10% off £1.7m budget): possible loss of six posts, opening hour reductions, loss of one library, extra charges, encouraging book donations.  (Somewhat limited option) library consultation here. Group: Friends of Brixham Library, Friends of Paignton Library.   

Local News

• Brent – Is a Rotten Borough 2011 – Preston Library Campaign.   Brent’s “Library Transformation Team” has won a Private Eye Rotten Borough Award for its work pushing the closure of half of the council’s libraries in the teeth of fierce local opposition. There’s a nice picture of the team, with its (presumed) leader, appropiately enough, holding a Kindle at the front, with some remarkably depressed looking team members behind.
• Shamed Council takes down Wall of Shame – Preston Library Campaign.   “Yesterday, contractors pulled down the Brent ‘Wall of Shame’ hiding Preston Library. This follows a sneaky move to empty it of books and equipment last week, before any injunction to stop it could be issued.”
• Essex – Library fines to be chased by debt collection agency – BBC.   Called a “gentle nudge”.  “”To even be approached and warned this company might contact you, you would need to have at least four items out of the library for several weeks beyond their due date. You would have had two warnings as well to remind you to bring them back.” … “Unique Management Services (UMS) said it had recovered about $250m (£156m) in unpaid fines and lost items for libraries in North America, Australia, New Zealand and the UK since 1996.”
• Will debt collection firm be worth taxpayer’s money? – This Is Total Essex.  “Where local authorities are facing significant cuts in funding from central government, any efforts to increase income should be welcomed. However, such initiatives need to be implemented properly, otherwise the promise of additional income will come to nothing. In this instance, only time will tell whether the money the council forks out on UMS will prove to be well spent.”
• Herefordshire – Garway village library to host new library – BBC.  “It is being opened as part of Herefordshire Council’s Future Libraries project, being run in conjunction with Shropshire Council.”… “”Some 20 communities in the county have already expressed an interest in running their own library and we are working with them to see how the library service can support their plans by providing regular stocks of books and simple systems for them to track where any borrowed books are.”
• Liverpool – Libraries in Liverpool to shut and jobs to go in restructure – BBC.   Cuts announced, will soon be formally agreed in council.  Cuts include library closures and opening hours cuts.
• Time to turn the page on library cuts – Liverpool Daily Post (Leading Article).   “Whatever happens, we must hope this is an end to the cutbacks in this particular sector of the city’s activities. The service will take a huge hit, if these proposals are introduced – and so will the loyal clientele from all sections of the community who have patronised the city’s libraries for so many years.”
• Three Liverpool libraries closed, 76 jobs lost and opening hours cut at 17 more as council makes £2.2m savings cuts – Liverpool Echo.  “The council said the libraries earmarked for closure require £3m investment it does not have to bring them up to standards required by the Disability Discrimination Act. It will hand the builings over to community groups to operate them on a voluntary basis if it can find groups willing to run them.”… “More than 4,000 people returned questionnaires and 71% of respondents preferred reducing opening hours to keep more libraries open.Only 19% supported libraries being run by a charitable trust, community group or social business.”
• Libraries are vital to city – Liverpool Echo (Leader).   “But money does need to be saved and nettles grasped, which is perhaps why the idea of community organisations potentially becoming involved could be relevant. To many this might sound, perhaps uncomfortably, like the Big Society – but, in these tough times, if all else fails when it comes to saving libraries then perhaps the Big Society isn’t such a bad idea after all.”
• Cuts to hit Liverpool library service – BookSeller.  “Libraries campaigner Desmond Clarke said he was in “no doubt” a campaign group would rise up in Liverpool to fight the closures as they had done in other areas across the country threatened with library caulaties, such as Somerset, Gloucestershire, Brent and the Isle of Wight. Clarke said: “The agenda is not being set by professionals or the government but by library protestors. The public is saying ‘we are not happy about libraries being closed’ and that is putting it in the spotlight.”

“There is much that can be done other than simply taking the axe to library services. For example, Westminster Council expects to reduce its operating costs by £1.1 million by merging its library service with those of two neighbouring authorities. We don’t need to have 151 separately managed authorities in England, a 50% increase in the number of authorities that existed just fifteen years ago! We can make better use of technology and improve further operational efficiency. And if we need to develop volunteer supported libraries, we must develop a workable model which ensures that the service is sustainable and can be supported by librarians. This is the time for imaginative solutions and making the optimum use of available resources to the benefit of those who rely upon public libraries. Fortunately, there are some councils that are doing just that.”

• Somerset – Councillors say Somerset Library cuts should halt – BookSeller.  “Councillors have told Somerset County Council if it does not halt cuts to its library service it could be held in “contempt of court”.”
• Library services to be reinstated – Yeovil Express.   “users in Somerset are celebrating after council officers recommended that all services which had faced the axe should be reinstated.” … pleased that the council will forget closures rathen than just try again.  ““Our library is a vital community facility. The idea that busy parents would be willing to drive or get the bus into Taunton to visit the library is unrealistic.””
• Reprieve on the cards for Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge Libraries – Burnham on Sea.com.  
• South Ayrshire – Libraries leap into future – Ayrshire Post.   “South Ayrshire’s library team are now working on launching their very own app for smartphones in the early months of 2012.” … ““Times may have changed but people still want their libraries. And it’s not just about reading – you can go in and access computers and get any information you want from all around the world. Our libraries should always be a democracy and that’s the motto we work by.””
• Suffolk – Your library: pain ahead? – Caroline’s Woodbridge page (Liberal Democrats).   Worries about the funding for libraries (only guaranteed for two years), reliance on volunteers.  The Council also seems to suffer from problems in keeping an open debate going.  “It was only opposition councillors who stood up and asked searching questions .  In reply, Cllr Terry directed extremely aggressive and insulting remarks at them.  Sadly, I have heard similarly rude and insulting remarks regularly at Suffolk County Council meetings -not only from Cllr Terry, but other Portfolio Holders too. Why doesn’t the Chairman intervene and stop such objectionable behaviour? “”
• Torbay – Friends step up in fight to save library in face of funding cuts – This is South Devon.   “The local authority has told the library service across the Bay to make 10 per cent cuts to its £1.7million budget which would mean slashing about £170,000. The cut could lead to the loss of up to six library jobs, reduced opening days and some fear even the loss of one of the Bay’s four libraries. Opponents say the cuts could lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy of closures.”
• Wandsworth – Opens the competition to save London’s libraries – Guardian Local Government Network.   “In Wandsworth our big idea is to look at competitively tendering our library and heritage service. We believe a new and competitive market of library service providers has emerged with the potential to improve delivery and reduce costs. If another organisation can do a better job, we will open the door.” … “If an external bid is successful then both councils will remain in control of their libraries. As with all outsourced services the contract specification will tightly define every aspect of delivery including opening hours, free access to books and free IT provision. All of the new ideas and improvements developed during the process will be written into the contract and closely monitored against clear performance targets.” … negative comments, highlighting danger of giving long-term contracts.
• Westminster – One Stop services move into communities – Westminster Chronicle.  “New One Stop Express services are available at 19 locations, including all of the borough’s libraries, and give free access to the council’s website, allowing card payments, for example for council tax and parking permits, and providing more information about what is happening in the borough.”

News

• Library book is 123 years overdue with £4509 fine – Mirror.   One has to laugh at these articles, especially the bit with the notional “fine” that no authority would dream of charging and in a world where almost all authorities have maximum fines anyway.
• LSSI gets its first contract in Florida – Library Journal.   “Under the terms of the five-year agreement, the county will pay LSSI just over $24 million; LSSI will collect $4.7 million the first year, and that amount will rise slightly over each of the following four years. The county will also spend from $580,000 to $670,000 annually on library costs not covered by the LSSI payments.”.  $6m cut in funding expected over five years due to deal. “According to the agreement, operation hours will “initially” remain unchanged. LSSI will offer positions—at the current base salary—to all current 76 library employees who must reapply for their positions, and compensation levels will remain unchanged for at least six months.”
• Scrooge starves the shelves – Independent (Boyd Tonkin).   “Against stiff competiton, this year’s prize for the most purely Scrooge-like behaviour among cost-cutting library authorities goes by acclamation to Redbridge council in east London. Via the Vision agency, a “charitable leisure trust” which now manages the borough’s libraries, the council made 15 library staff redundant on the Tuesday before Christmas.”
• Six things that must happen to reverse this headlong rush to an illiterate British generation – An Awfully Big Blog Adventure.  The six things are (a) occupy libraries to protest, (b) stop closing libraries, (c) books should be cheaper, (d) ebooks should be much cheaper, (e) reading must be made cool, (f) be involved in advocacy work.

Changes

Nottinghamshire – Mansfield Library: new building officially opened on Tuesday 3.1.12 after £3.4m refurbishment inc. wi-fi, local studies expansion etc.
Stoke on Trent – Promised Blurton Library cancelled due to cuts. 

Local News

“Police side with council as it empties the library. Brent takes advantage of the holiday shutdown to pre-empt any intervention from the Supreme Court, where an appeal was lodged two weeks ago. Campaigners expect the council to rush through the sale of the library in the coming months, depriving the area of its last local service.”

• East Sussex – Staff celebrate 10th anniversary of library – Eastbourne Herald.  “Eastbourne MP Stephen Lloyd donated £100 to the celebrations to show how much he valued their efforts. He said, “It’s great to see that this community project is still going strong and providing a much needed service to the people of Old Town for almost 10 years.””
• Hertfordshire – North Herts library group bids to prove service worth – Comet.  “The We Heart Libraries group, which was founded this year, has a number of activities lined up for the first ever National Libraries Day … users to sign up to one of several pledges, such as borrowing a book a month, signing their children up for library cards of visiting a new branch.”.  Group unhappy with closure of school library service and renting out of libraries to voluntary groups in times when branches were previously open.

415 libraries (323 buildings and 92 mobiles) currently under threat or closed/left council control since 1/4/11 out of c.4612 in the UK, complete list below. Librarian professional body CILIP forecasts 600 libraries are under threat (inc. 20% of English libraries).  The Public Libraries News figure is obtained from counting up all reports about public libraries in the media each day.

News

• Big Society – “You and Yours” BBC Radio Four.  An hour examining the push towards volunteering in local services, which has had great implications for public libraries.  Lewisham libraries are mentioned (5.50 for a couple of minutes). Professional trained library staff are being removed there, being “dumbed down” and staffed by volunteers.  People are not going into profession as they don’t see a future in it, retired staff are volunteering and thus removing the need for staff.  Agreed that an open volunteer library is better than no library at all.  £400m from dormant bank accounts to be used to fund Big Society bank.  A good strong and relatively neutral look at the subject, including aspects from all sorts of areas.
• Careers service and literacy hit by schools funding cuts – Guardian.   Does not mention school libraries, strangely, but does include details of other cuts.
• In praise of public libraries, and librarians – What’s Next: Top Trends.  “Whether or not we will want libraries in the future I cannot say, but I can categorically state we will need them, because libraries aren’t just about the books they contain. Moreover, it is a big mistake, in my view, to confuse the future of books or publishing with the future of public libraries. They are not the same thing.”

• Ministers under fire for campaigning against the cuts – Telegraph.  “Sarah Teather has been applying pressure to save several local libraries in Brent, writing to the Culture, Media and Sport Secretary to ask him to “intervene and instigate an inquiry into the closures”. Her spokesman said it was “perfectly within her rights to criticise the council for making a decision to restructure to libraries which she feels will provide a significantly poorer service to local residents.” Meanwhile, Jeremy Browne has also campaigned to keep local libraries open and launched an attack on cuts to recycling services in his Taunton constituency. On his website, he criticises said “the long term consequences of the Conservative Council’s cut in funding.” He defended his stance by saying Britain has to tackle its economic problems but he still wants to see “money spent efficiently on valued local services in Taunton Deane and elsewhere.””
• Publishers versus libraries: an e-book tug of war – New York Times (USA).  Library ebook lending is “…a source of great worry for publishers. In their eyes, borrowing an e-book from a library has been too easy. Worried that people will click to borrow an e-book from a library rather than click to buy it, almost all major publishers in the United States now block libraries’ access to the e-book form of either all of their titles or their most recently published ones.”

Changes

Brighton and Hove – £150k budget cut 2011/12, mobile library to close.  
Gloucestershire – Moreton Library to reopen in April 2012 incorporating volunteer services/registration/police/self-service.
Milton Keynes – Consultation ongoing.
North Yorkshire – Hunmanby library to close due to failure to gain enough volunteers/retain funding: library services likely to be moved into community centre or be served by a mobile library.
Oxfordshire – Police offices now in Deddington Library.
Slough – Britwell Library to move into new upgraded building,  Central Library to move into new “flagship” building, Chalvey and Colnbrook to have new libraries based in children’s centres, new library planned for Wrexham Lea.  22% increase in opening hours 2008 to 2010.  Service run by Essex on behalf of Slough.
Warwickshire – Bulkington Library to be run by volunteers “in weeks” (28.12.11). 
Worcestershire – Co-location increasing: Stourport Library to be moved into Civic Centre after three months consultation, Bewdley Library may move into town’s museum, Kidderminster Library may have other services using its space.

Local News 

• Bolton – Fight to save libraries is taken to top – This is Lancashire.  “Save Bolton Libraries Campaign has submitted a weighty dossier of evidence to Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt urging him to intervene in the town’s library closure row.” Council says ““We have been in constant contact with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport throughout our review and kept them up to date with our progress.””
• Bradford – Addingham Library volunteers want to hear your ideas – Ilkley Gazette.  “Villagers quickly got together to form a charitable association to manage and staff the library for the benefit of the community, still making use of some library services provided by the district authority. The day-to-day running of the library has proved a success so far, and the association feels it is time to look at how services and facilities could move forward.”
• Brent – Council blew £15,000 on awards ceremony which honoured library closure team – Preston Library Campaign.  “The night cost taxpayers around £50 for every person who attended, the council said. The Libraries Transformation Team, which was behind the project which closed half of the borough’s libraries, was named Team of the Year.”…”The council’s chief executive, Gareth Daniel, said: “The awards provide a fantastic boost to staff morale in what are very challenging times for everyone working in local government.”
• Preston Christmas carol (or two) – Preston Library Campaign.  A specially written carol highlighting the library closures.  Seriously … and here’s another one to the tune of “O Tannenbaum”.
• Brighton and Hove – Fines not paid at Sussex libraries – Argus.  “In this month’s budget announcement, the Green party proposed saving £150,000 over the next year by reducing library opening hours and scrapping the mobile library.”
• Derbyshire – How libraries help bring race hate to book – Buxton Advertiser.   “Libraries in Derbyshire are offering the charity Stop Hate UK telephone and computer services to victims of hate crime by providing an alternative place where a victim, or someone concerned about a victim, can report hate crime incidents without having to speak directly with police. The service is victim led and library staff can help discuss the options with those wanting to report a hate crime, and can support them in which option they take.”

““Victims may find it easier and more comfortable reporting hate incidents at their local library, which can offer a supportive and confidential environment. This means that the police can take action and help stop offenders from getting away with crimes which may previously have not been reported.””

• Doncaster – Council cutbacks “turning village into a ghost town” – Doncaster Free Press.  “In the week the village’s library was finally closed, Doncaster Council chiefs announced the opportunity centre, which provides training and advice to the unemployed and houses the South Yorkshire Credit Union- is under threat of closure.”
• Gloucestershire – Hours extended at Moreton Library as Gloucestershire County Council services expand – Wilts & Glos Standard.  Despite headline, this is due to council needing to reinstate services due to legal action by library campaigners.  Council is moving Registration service intro library as well as Cotswold Volunteers North, volunteering information point, and refreshments, self-service.
• Halton – Books to stimulate people with Alzheimer’s – Runcorn and Widnes World.  Special sets of books now available to borrow.
• Hampshire – Library changes – Heart.  Aiming to cut opening hours “consistently” across the county by 7.5%.  11 key “hub” libraries with others having a set number of opening hours and being closed at least two days (inc. Sundays) per week..
• Herefordshire – Management of cultural services under the spotlight – Ledbury Reporter.   “New ways of managing” services like libraries are being examined.  Possibility of moving libraries to a management of a Trust (Halo) discussed, although other services included within the Trust have so far been non-statutory.
• Hertfordshire – North Herts and Stevenage Book Trail – We Heart Libraries.  “Would you like to celebrate National Libraries Day and beyond by reading your way around the district? Now you can do that with our purpose-built North Herts Book Trail.”
• Milton Keynes – Have your say on future of library service – MK News.   15 meetings have already been held in preparation for report on what the borough’s libraries will look like in the future … “this is the final opportunity for people to comment on the review findings and future plan. All the documents are available on the Council’s Consultation Finder at www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/mkcconsultation together with the online comment form. The final review report and proposed way forward is to be considered by cabinet on February 28.”
• North Yorkshire – Vow on village library services – Mercury series.   Hunmanby Library, previously to be run by volunteers, due to close in March due to failure to get enough.
• Oxfordshire – Public sector cuts: one year on – Witney Gazette.   “Libraries: The county council’s announcement that it wanted to stop funding 20 of its 43 libraries to save £1.7m a year prompted unprecedented uproar across Oxfordshire. Urged on by figureheads including Philip Pullman and Colin Dexter, thousands of book-lovers campaigned to save their local branches. The council was forced into a U-turn. All the libraries will now be saved, but volunteers will be needed to help run half of them.”

• Wandsworth – York Gardens Library Christmas Fayre 2011 – Battersea People.   Selection of pictures showing raffle prizes etc.  Local MP Jane Ellison attended.  
• Warwickshire – Bulkington Community Library to open “in weeks” – Coventry Telegraph.   “The library will continue to loan stock from the county council, and there are plans for an internet cafe with free wi-fi access, and to hold children’s parties and quiz nights. The children’s library is to be relocated to the rear of the building, alongside the toy library.”
• Worcestershire – Changes to Wyre Forest libraries approved – Shuttle.  Several measures approved by council which concentrate on co-locating libraries into other services or moving other services into the libraries to save money and to create bigger “community hubs”.

See also “Special Report: A vision for a 21st Century Library?” post below.

News

• Corporate profile: LSSI – Canadian Union of Public Employees. The most comprehensive report yet noted on the private libraries company LSSI.    Although an obviously biased source, the document provides much useful information and confirms the accusations of many that LSSI reduces staff costs.  Interesting piece on its political donations too.
• Happy ending predicted – Courier.   “Goole and Brigg MP Andrew Percy proved the future of libraries was no laughing matter when he joined comedian and best selling author Tony Hawks and Libraries minister Ed Vaizey at the launch of the new Libraries Group in the Houses of Parliament. The Libraries All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) was launched in the House of Commons with Andrew as the group’s Vice Chairman.”