Library news

• Singapore Libraries focus

  01-06-2025 12:46 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  EditorialSo many stories caught my eye this week that the editorial is going to have to just focus on the ones that will benefit from being framed. First off, we see the national continuing falling out of the council love affair with arms-length services, with the formal ending of the Suffolk Libraries non-profit and the withdrawal of plans for outsourcing libraries in Derby. I never thought back in 2012 when I was somewhat cynical (perish the thought) that I’d be genuinely regretful of th
  
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• After 15 years, it’s time to do something else

  07-09-2025 12:58 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  EditorialI started Public Libraries News back in 2010, when the word “austerity” was being used for the first time and eBooks were just coming in. My daughters were 3 and 6 years old. Yesterday I took the youngest of them to their new university for the first time and I recently attended the graduation of my eldest. Unfortunately, though, austerity is still with us and does not appear to have changed.Writing PLN, as it appears to have become known as, was at first a professional deve
  
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• The End of August

  31-08-2025 15:32 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  National newsCamilla laments library closures in visit to Edinburgh community hub – Evening Standard. “Camilla told a group of librarians, figures from the city’s annual literary festival and leading writers that she “wished” more people would open such facilities as she officially launched Ratho Library in Newbridge … “To actually see a new library like this… I wish a lot of other people would follow your example and open more libraries all over
  
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• Let’s find out

  28-08-2025 14:53 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  EditorialThere’s a certain joy to working on a project and seeing it come to fruition. I’m in the happy position of being occasionally able to do this for the library service I am lucky enough to work in. This August, a few of our libraries had a mini-festival with the theme of Space. It included the children’s illustrator Nick Sharratt, the author Kate Pankhurst, actual meteorites and samples from the Moon’s surface, a talk on space from the local university and free tal
  
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• The most busy time

  17-08-2025 11:36 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  EditorialHere’s bumper edition of the Public Libraries News, being a summary of the last few weeks rather than just one. This is due to me taking a couple of Sunday mornings off and an unfortunate food allergy attack. Wishing you all the best at this most busy time of year for public libraries.
  Changes by local authority
  Barnsley – Penistone Library refurbished/co-locationBromley – Chislehurst Library refurbishedCoventry – Holbrooks Library closed, moved to Dementia Partn
  
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• Richmond foxes while Suffolk chickens out and a Welsh council prefers being financially Caerphill to keeping library open.

  20-07-2025 16:06 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  EditorialThe first publicised action of the Suffolk Council, after it took back control of its libraries services from the non-profit Suffolk Libraries, is to “postpone” Mama G events this Summer, citing security concerns. This is not something that the non-profit would likely have done itself, after all it was probably the one that booked Mama G in the first place, and it was well known for being forthright and imaginative in its programming. Not so Suffolk Council who appear to be
  
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• As in Georgia so in Kent?

  13-07-2025 13:08 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  EditorialThe thing that most springs out to me this Sunday is that the USA state of Georgia has dismissed a librarian for putting a LGBT book in a children’s display. This isn’t of course what made it stand out to me. Such things have been happening there for years. No, what makes it stand out to me is that this is now, apart from a few differences in labour laws, officially also the policy in Kent.
  Elsewhere, we have lots of news about the Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Chall
  
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• It’s started: Kent bans book from being easily seen by children

  06-07-2025 19:39 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  EditorialThere’s not many inevitabilities in this world but one thing we could all easily have bet on two months ago – if any bookmaker was silly enough to take our money – was that the new Reform-led councils would start interfering in public library stock. Well, it’s started. Kent’s libraries have been instructed to keep Trans books away from easy sight of children. This doesn’t just mean not having any books covering Trans topics in children’s library
  
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• Non-profit libraries in trouble but more are coming, and try not to think about Bradford

  29-06-2025 19:23 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  Changes by local authorityArgyll and Bute – Library closures put on hold, likely to become volunteer in futureBorders – £2.5m cut for leisure inc. libraries, consultation.Bradford – 68% cut in funding and 74% cut in book budget since 2010Isle of Man – Family Library closure confirmed
  Liverpool – Breck Road and Dovecot libraries run by non-profit may closeNorth Northamptonshire – Raunds Library current non-profit arrangement ending, new non-profit soughtW
  
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• A medal for Reading Agency fundraising

  22-06-2025 16:18 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  EditorialThere’s a couple of cases of libraries backing down from closing a library or three due to the public response to the initial announcement and one more realises it hasn’t enough money for its new build. Nationally, there’s a big expansion of the Summer Reading Challenge. This comes at a very opportune time as the once monopoly of the Reading Agency’s offering in councils nationally has reduced over the last few years, with several library services choosing to cre
  
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• A quiet week

  15-06-2025 14:43 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  Editorial
  Not much happening in libraries this week – just the normal council doublespeak, refurbishments and echoes from previous cuts. And my oldest daughter is home from Bangor, where she has just finished at university, so I’m not going to worry too much about writing too much and going to speak to her instead. Have a good week everyone.Changes by local authority
  Surrey – Epsom Library refurbished.National news
  CILIP responds to Spending Review 2025 – CILIP. “we
  
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• Dictator, Scottish cuts and Libraries Change Lives

  08-06-2025 12:41 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  EditorialSome more information about the awful dismissal of Carla Hayden as USA Librarian of Congress. From what can be gathered the abbreviated timeline went something like this:
  Far right person calls the Librarian of Congress “woke” on social mediaTrump reads this while scanning his phone and immediately tells someone to sack Carla HaydenCarla is dismissed within an hour. She has no other communication or meeting apart from the two sentences in the sacking email.Defending the dism
  
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• Enlightening replies please

  26-05-2025 10:48 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  EditorialThis week, we have the normal mixture of refurbishments (Stockport and Swansea) and cuts (Barnet, Birmingham and the Isle of Man). There’s also the fallout from the Westminster Hall debate, with several news stories appearing, mainly in the South West, about what the local MPs said. Most of this can be summarised as how important libraries are and how worried the MP is about the danger of potential cuts to them. There’s a big announcement of funding for Green Libraries too.
  
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• The future of public libraries

  18-05-2025 10:40 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  Editorial
  The Westminster Hall debate about public libraries this week showed how the sector is currently viewed by MPs. Basically, after one strips out the stuff about how great the libraries are in their own constituency or how the other political partiesare so rubbish, the key take away is that those interested enough to show up to this debate on public libraries, are in support of public libraries. There’s a revelation. Sarcasm aside, it is good to see that there is a push for a more n
  
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• The right kind of book challenge, Westminster Hall Debate, and Carla Hayden

  11-05-2025 10:49 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  EditorialIt’s good to see that there will be a 90 minute debate on public libraries at Westminster Hall this week. While it will likely be nothing more than a few politicians expressing platitudes, it does at least mean MPs will need to think about the sector for a bit. So, well done to CILIP for working with Jonathan Davis MP (Labour, Mid Derbyshire) and let’s hope they’re right to think this may help pull public library investment back into the spotlight. Heaven knows its nee
  
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• Ten Public Libraries Services Are About To Be Reformed

  05-05-2025 14:04 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  EditorialThe local council elections have led to Reform being in charge of ten councils who control UK library services. These are Derbyshire, Doncaster, Durham, Kent, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, North Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and West Northamptonshire. The Reform Party policy document does not mention public libraries but some of the other stated aims may well impact the sector so one can speculate what this will mean. It will be interesting for instance if librarians will
  
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• The Baroness Twycross To Do List

  28-04-2025 19:45 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  EditorialBased on fifteen years of watching the minister vaguely to do with public libraries fulfil their brief, I would like to offer the below list to the new temporary incumbent, Fiona Twycross, as to my expectations. For added fun and excitement to any reader of this other than Fiona (hi Fi!), please feel free to use this to help make your own DCMS Bingo sheet and see how many of these you can tick off in the brief time that she will be in office:Fiona will make an announcement a,bout how mu
  
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• Meow

  21-04-2025 17:26 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  EditorialSo I’ve just had today a couple of Teams meetings with two very different people, one American and one a Londoner, asking in their various ways about the state of English public libraries. Leaving aside the sheer nerdiness of me enjoying doing such things on a Bank Holiday Monday, the thing that united both conversations was both asked how libraries are nationally organised and co-ordinated. When answering the question, I always include the phrase “herd of cats”. I als
  
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• “More than books”

  14-04-2025 09:41 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  EditorialWhen I was growing up, back in the 1970s and 80s, the definition of a public library was a simple thing. It was a quiet building with books in, which meant they were made of paper, they could be taken out for free and there were paid library staff. I think many people would say that role has now radically changed. The book room now hosts a wide variety of, often quite loud, weekly groups and probably has at least some link to other council services. The “paid” library staff
  
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• There’s another word for it

  06-04-2025 15:07 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  EditorialThere was a time when it looked like all public libraries would go fines-free sooner or later. Now, that seems a bit optimistic. It’s sad to see that Stoke on Trent are reactivating fines for the first time since Covid. This appears to be fundamentally an income-generating move. Which is, sadly, fair enough, considering the cuts that many library services are going through. In other austerity news, Leicester have announced that they’re closing, or passing to volunteers, six
  
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• Stay alert to opportunities

  30-03-2025 16:27 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  Rather than have an editorial this week, I was grateful to Dr Anjna Chouhan of Warwickshire Libraries for giving a few lines on being an NPO Creative Producer and on how she became a board member of the Arts Marketing Association.
  A Few Questions with Dr Anjna Chouhan, NPO Creative Producer (Area Librarian). Warwickshire County Council and new board member with the Arts Marketing AssociationHow did you get into working in libraries? I stepped into libraries after working as an academic in a muse
  
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• No Safe Place for Trusts

  23-03-2025 12:55 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  EditorialThe rubber-stamping of the return of libraries in Suffolk to direct council control is full of controversy. We have of course seen many other non-profits (Falkirk, Flintshire, Merthyt Tydfil, Northamptonshire, Peterborough, Warrington – ish – and Wigan) losing public library control over the last few years. But Suffolk stands out, not just because of the unexpectedness and tone of the decision, but because Suffolk Libraries were largely seen as being highly successful.So for
  
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• Decision day for Suffolk and the Library of the Year

  15-03-2025 15:29 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  EditorialGood grief, there’s a lot going on in Suffolk. You’ll remember that the council there has decided to bring back libraries into full council control, after it being run by a non-profit, Suffolk Libraries. Well, it looks like this is not the most popular decision, with over 20,000 signing a petition in protest and existing library volunteers declaring they will not continue helping out if the non-profit goes. Also, it turns out the change will cost £1.8m, which Suffolk L
  
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• Suffolk, Lambeth and free food

  09-03-2025 13:01 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  EditorialThe reaction to the move by Suffolk to cancel its long-running contract with Suffolk Libraries has been happening this week. More than 15,000 have signed a petition against the move and the councillor in charge has been online defending the decision, with Suffolk Libraries answering back. It’s highly unusual for such disagreements to be made public and shows the strength of feeling on the issue.Also strong on feeling were the protests against Lambeth’s decision to cut £
  
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• Surprise ending of Suffolk Libraries contract

  02-03-2025 15:54 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  EditorialThe big news is this week is the shock decision of Suffolk Council not to renew the six-year contract of non-profit Suffolk Libraries. And I mean “shock”: the trust found out only 15 minutes before the public did and there was apparently no consultation with them or the many Friends groups beforehand.So, what’s at play here? The libraries will again be part of the Council from 1 June, there are 45 libraries in the county, with 364 “frontline” posts and 56 o
  
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• £5.5m grant, Library of the Year shortlist, PhD in libraries and the normal mix of news

  23-02-2025 16:54 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  EditorialThe £5.5m announced by the Government to aid libraries is welcome but, basically, chickenfeed compared to the funding she announced for the Arts at the same time and, more seriously, the funding needed for the public library sector. Just one example, Lambeth this week is contemplating cutting it’s libraries by a further £1m. To reinstate just that one service to the level it was, even without this further cut, it would need around twice as much as that national grant.M
  
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• The Cuts Cycle and Hurricane Trump

  15-02-2025 12:06 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  EditorialThere’s a classic progression that happens when a council announces library service cuts:
  Cuts are announced, normally involving lots of library closuresProtests against these cuts occurCouncil reduces cuts, often changing closures to being run by volunteers or reductions in hours.Cuts happen, with sometimes the protesters being co-opted as volunteers.And, sadly, if you have stuck around the library scene long enough, as I have, then you see the cycle repeating.So, this week, Aber
  
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• Some folk can’t be satisfied

  09-02-2025 11:13 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  EditorialOnce upon a time I was very hesitant about librarytrusts. This was back in the early 2010s when deep cuts led councils to experiment with many different types of library delivery. But, like (it or not) volunteer libraries, and often, unlike leisure-and-libraries-trusts, library trusts have proved resilient. And thay have also proved remarkably entrepreneurial and innovative. Suffolk is one of these and I have been quietly impressed for the last decade on the sheer amount of events and s
  
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• A little bit optimistic

  02-02-2025 12:43 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  EditorialIt’s worth bearing in mind what the fears for public libraries were back slightly more than a decade ago. There were people seriously thinking that there would not be British libraries in 2025, due to deep cuts in council budget and, perhaps even more worryingly, the advent of eBooks and the continuing impact of the digital revolution, not least the Internet. Well, the worst did not happen. The public library sector is still very much around. But it has changed. Printed books are
  
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• It’s still austerity, but now with less champagne

  26-01-2025 12:56 via publiclibrariesnews.com
  
  EditorialThere’s a lot of news this week. On the plus side, we have a few libraries completing refurbishments and, a really big one, a U-turn from Bristol meaning that all of its libraries will remain open. On the downside, there’s fears over the continued operation 3 Argyll libraries and 3 Havering libraries. And then we have big cuts to opening hours at Nottingham (which, to be fair, is an improvement on the original plans to close 12 out of 15 branches), 39 hour lost at Wakefield
  
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