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It seems that the days of the public library may be numbered with a Tory plan to introduce new 'governance models'.  

Don't you just love the euphemisms they come up with.

To be honest they may have been doomed anyway. Most of them look more like CD/DVD rental shops these days and fewer people seem capable of reading actual books. My library does a lot of comic versions for adults who find words without pictures hard work.

There are details here of the future library programme,, but it's very vague and mostly talks of freeing up local authorities to make changes and going boldly where none have gone before.

because they knew it was stupid place to go of course

The Independent talks about it here and if they are right it's not promising.

.In Suffolk, the running of libraries will be transferred to local community groups. In Hereford, they will be run on the same basis as charity shops. Supermarkets will be involved in Bradford. Vaizey particularly recommends the example of Hounslow, where a private company now runs the library service. In North Yorkshire, a pub called The George and Dragon is "delivering a library service and a pint" to the community.
Are we actually going backwards in time?  

My family used to run a mobile library, they would go from door to door with a handcart and it cost 2d to hire a book for the week.  

Then Boots began to have a library section in their stores.  Private libraries were no longer necessary once wonderful state-funded facilities spread all over the country even to the poorest areas.

And now one by one they are going to blot those out until they're all gone, and next they will be run by Boots again (except it wil be Tescos) and finally we will be back to the door-to-door handcarts.
Coronation Street are ahead of the plot on this one.

Ken Barlow's bus has changed its route no longer stopping at the library and now he has to get off at the undertakers and walk up.

I no longer go to the library myself apart from when my PC broke down and I needed to use a PC as I am an addict.
I actually joined my local library once, but the selection of decent novels was poor and they stunk of tobacco. New releases were perpetually out on loan and you had to get on a waiting list to borrow them. These days I much prefer to buy a book to keep and read again.
I am a public library fanatic.

Ours is well worth a ride to Purcellville, which is the nearest branch to where we live. Although Leesburg just expanded its library building, and it's now a grand huge affair.

The lovely thing about our library is they will get you a book you want to read, even if it is by interlibrary loan to Fairfax County or beyond.

I just put a long list of books I'd like on hold and pick up the book I want next when it arrives. Likewise DVDs. And when our power goes out at home or I need a fast connection, the library PC is the place to be.

Also we have meeting rooms that are charge-free for Non profit groups.

I've never been in the library when it wasn't lively with lots of people. It is the single best investment our County makes with taxpayer money. In fact I rank it right up there with the Fire and Ambulance service as the most important priority.  :D
In Hampshire where Me and Creature do live they are turning their Libraries into Discovery Centres, where SUBLs find out that wot used to be the Library Service is part of the renamed department of Communities Culture and Rural Affairs very Stalinist thought Creature when they did that.

People wrote to the local Newspaper some years ago to ask about the provision of Books and the Head of CCRA seemed to think that the desire and ability to read Words on Pages from cover to cover marked you out as Elitist, it much better to be one wot marvels at plasma screens suspended from ceilings etc.

Anyway, now they is seeking 43 redundancies amongst library staff including proper Librarians to cope with a potential £1.3 million overspend in the current financial year.   The idea is to get rid of proper qualified staff wot have to be paid and have volunteers instead.   We will have more library assistants than ever before says Yinnon Ezra but that do miss the point that it a good idea to have people wot actually know something about Books.

And they is seeking to cut well over 100 jobs in Childrens Services.   And that before the 8% cuts in 2011/12 and a further 8% in 2012/13.

Wergh.  :(

Wergh!
Like Eccles I much prefer to own books so I can read them again and I love the feel of a new book. However the only way I ever found new authors was through the library. I couldn't afford to buy a load of unknown books on the off chance one would be worth reading. If I found a good one I'd start buying their other books. I found Asimov that way and Heinlein.  

I started going to the library about as soon as I could walk beside the pram with my sister in it. The books had to be stowed underneath as it was a long walk and I couldn't carry them very far. I still remember one book about dinosaurs that was half as tall as I was. :)

Mostly I remember the excitement of being surrounded by all those books. All those stories just waiting to be read. It was better than Aladdin's cave to me.

I hate to think that today's kids lose out on that, but I suspect many wouldn't know what I was talking about. They go from Fisher Price activity centers to games consoles without knowing what they are missing.
I still remember one book about dinosaurs that was half as tall as I was.


Some dinosaurs is even bigger. :)



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