please empty your brain below
Funnily enough I went to Croydon library yesterday for the second time this year although I hardly used it at all last year. It a bit sad with empty space on the shelves and boxes of maps filling most of the shelves where the magazines used to be displayed. For me it is almost too late to save Croydon's libraries anyway. All the books seem to be old, and the periodicals practically non-existent. There is no point in saving the building if you can't afford to replenish the contents.

As someone who spent hours in a library as a child and a younger adult I sometimes wonder if it would be kinder to kill them off in this onine information age rather than keep a relic. I suspect we are going to have to seriously rethink their role. Keep the children's section to encourage reading, look into being able to lend e-books and possibly develop some seriously decent nationwide online search and select software together with a distribution system so that you can order your fancied book online and collect it at the library the next day.

Pedantic of Purley | 06.02.11 - 9:58 a.m. | #

They're not closing any around here (sort of - our local one is moving into the leisure centre so the building cna be sold), but Sutton's one of the govt's "Big Society" partners and they probably don't need another black eye on that stupid idea. Not to mention that they just opened two new ones in the past few years. It would look pretty dopey then.

Chz | 06.02.11 - 10:34 a.m. | #

Swiss Cottage library - the main central library in the borough - will certainly not be closing - and if it did would be an immeasurably greater loss than the one at Chalk Farm. The opening hours at several of the libraries in Camden have expanded so much over the last decade (with a couple of libraries that were formerly part-time becoming essentially full-time; and many opening on Sundays for the first time too) that hopefully some economies can be made that won't require any branches to close. But I suppose we'll see...

dg writes: Ah yes, not Swiss Cottage. I've rewritten that bit, thanks.

Dominic | 06.02.11 - 1:10 p.m. | #

I think the Lewisham Council library is officially called Blackheath Village Library.

The "other" Blackheath Library is more or less safe - indeed, it pretty much overshadows its neighbours at East Greenwich, Charlton and in Blackheath Village.

darryl | Homepage | 06.02.11 - 1:38 p.m. | #

Bethnal green is fab indeed - with some great staff who really know their stock and can suggest a book for you.

Richard | Homepage | 07.02.11 - 9:28 a.m. | #











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