'Library Review' and possible closures by Southwark Council

[Frankito]

Barber, your opinion, or at least your tone, appears somewhat diluted in your latest post compared to your response to my comment on Kindle.

I love politicians.. >:D<

[dee23]

does anyone have a kindle they want to sell?

[Renata Hamvas]

To remind library users, the final library based consultation is tonight at the Peckham Library at 7-8pm. Users of ANY library can attend and give their opinion.

Renata

[ianr]

The online public review has no specified closing date.

[dukesdenver]

Sign the e-petition in support of public libraries.

[Carol]

Otta Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Not that I want to see any libraries close, but if

> it came down to a choice, I'd rather see a poorly

> used library close, and the home service be

> restarted.

It needn't even come to this. The Homebound Service can be run pretty cheaply if they only keep one van, and even when I still worked there they were cutting back on staff, as they still are. What's awful is that this was the first service Councillor Ward decided to cut, in spite of the fact that there are four libraries in Southwark that are barely used.

Nobody wants to see libraries closed, but many of the 500 Housebound customers are isolated and vulnerable and have little else each month than a library visit by a member of staff who cares. Also they have as much right to a library service as anyone else. It's a shame the Councillor didn't visit or consult any of this customer group, but at the end of the day they were given all the statistics so they could see how poorly used some of the libraries were - which suggests the decision was more political. Hardly anyone actually knows about the Housebound Service and few of the recipients are in any fit state to complain. Also it doesn't fall into any single Councillor's ward.

An easy target?

[Lynne]

Hi. Dulwich library used to be one of the best libraries in SE London. Now I don't bother going, and haunt the charity shops for cheap books instead. They never see to buy any new books, presumably because of the budget cuts, and they threw away all the "not exactly classics but not coloured pink or featuring a family saga" books years ago. The rot really made its presence felt when they re-decorated it. OK, it looks good, but it meant that lots of shelves were scrapped so the book stock really diminished. When I complained about this, I was told that it now provided a better environment for the librarians. Well, as a librarian, I never thought that my job was there just to make me comfortable

Lynne

[zeban]

Why don't you try Peckham library? they have an excellent selection and get new books pretty often. And it's just down the road!!!

[ibilly99]

That 50k on fireworks would have come in handy.

[Google]

Dulwich libary is a landmark i think, that was our hub for learning at st anthonys and research , when visiting parks and museum, but mind you we never had internet then, but i will allways enjoy a book as quick easy relaxing reference than a pc playing up when you need to find something, couldnt the libary be lottery funded in some way , i see the lottery have funded the building in dulwich park for the council?

i bet if you put a cafe in the libary and seating in the green next to it would be deilightfull.

[dukesdenver]

I see that the council isn't planning to close any libraries which is good news:

Library service recommendations

Cabinet meeting agenda 18th October

[Renata Hamvas]

To confirm that the decision has been made not to close any libraries. Thank you to the 5,500+ residents who took part in the consultation:)

Renata

[maxxi]

Good news. Though I notice that the review carries the recommendation that opening hours should be shortened to save money (the reason for the proposed cuts in the first place) so the library service will still be being reduced.

Among the other recommendations are "staff reorganisation" and the "use of volunteers" which sounds like a further reduction of the library service and a growing reliance on unpaid (untrained) staff.

As for the "Co-locating or integrating with other Southwark services" does this mean books alongside Housing Benefit claims? Housing/repair complaints dealt with at the same time as overdue novels?

I know - we're told all this is inevitable as cuts have to be made and this way the libraries stay open - for now. I just wonder whether they are being changed/restructured to the point when we will no longer recognised them purely as libraries... which will make them easier to close.

[Renata Hamvas]

Hi Otto,

The rationale behind reducing hours ia that these can easily be extended again, while it would be difficult to establish a new library from scratch if one was closed. The use of volunteers would be for specific instances eg users of John Harvard Library requested Sunday opening, this is something that possibly may be achieved by volunteers. The possibility of in Library Cafes is being looked at for some of the larger ones.

Renata

[James Barber]

My understanding is the smaller libraries run with 3 staff - minimum requirement of 2 at any one time so third to cover lunches.

I would have thought moving to 2 staff with a part timer to cover lunch times would ensure the smaller libraries make the savings required but keep the same opening hours.

[Masterblaster]

The first thing the barbarians do is to torch the libraries. Get rid of the pointless bribes for rich pensioners. I have no problem with people needing winter fuel money getting it, nor with free bus passes for those that do. However, I know a number of pensioners who get both of these but also own more than 500k of property, and have vast pensions. Young people need to learn to vote regularly.

[Zebedee Tring]

It's very easy for people in London, especially this area, to earn ?500k of property without being rich in any way, and I thought anyone contributing to this MB would know that.

Rather than attack people over 60 who aren't poor, how about having a go at all the monstrously overpaid people in the finance area and those who are avoiding/evading paying tax? If the rich/well off were taxed at a higher rate and the Head of the Inland Revenue wasn't doing deals with the likes of Goldman Sachs and Vodafone letting them off vast amounts of tax and interest on unpaid tax, then we wouldn't have to have all these cuts.

[Zebedee Tring]

Another point that I should have made is that state retirement pensions by European standards are very low and that if they were more generous, there wouldn't be a need for benefits such as the winter fuel allowance.

[i*Rate]

Zebedee Tring,

Good for you for the facts that you have stated about unpaid taxes by the rich and how British pensions are low by EU standards. I would also like to add that for anyone under 40 you will not remember how high income tax was in the past.

I think that I've earned one of my very few benefits - a Freedom Pass - after living in London all of my life, working for forty years and paying as much as 33% Income Tax in the 1970s.

By the way, have you noticed that MPs pensions are not being touched?

[Jennys]

According to a letter in The Guardian earlier this year "A rough calculation reveals that the tax allegedly avoided by Philip Green could, if divided equally between the 481 threatened libraries, provide them with about ?625,000 each. How about it, Sir Philip? Look what philanthropy did for Bill Gates's image?" (Ref below - the farting bit is another story entirely!)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/feb/10/multiculturalism-libraries-farting-tories

Sorry Masterblaster you are attacking the wrong people.

[Masterblaster]

EU pensions are massively unsustainable. Try telling the young, poor, majority that if you own a house worth more than 500k you are not rich in any way. I agree that multi billionaires avoiding tax is despicable, but there seems to be an attitude amongst the baby boomers that they should not pay fair tax, and that they should enjoy pensions which we all know will not be forthcoming to people under 40, whilst enjoying rises in property values which mean that only the select few younger people will ever be able to afford a house. Add in tuition fees for university, voted in by people who received a full grant in the past, and it seems we are accelerating the transfer of cash from the young to the old.

[Zebedee Tring]

The answer surely is not to level down but to level up pensions. Tax the rich and well off at a higher rate so that there can be a rise in state pensions for all (including, in due course, the current under 40s) and require private sector companies to restore final pension schemes - those companies who are now paying megabuck rises to their Chief Executives asset-stripped the pension funds in the 1990s, which they should not have been allowed to get away with.

I am a baby boomer who has paid my fair share of tax during my entire working life, and I share that characteristic with most baby boomers that I know. I have retired on a public sector pension that could by no means be regarded as excessive. The state retirement pension that I will receive in a couple of years time will be low by EU standards. I resent the sweeping suggestion that baby boomers as a whole are unwilling to pay fair tax. The baby boomers who are unwilling to do this are the fat cats who really are coining it and/or using tax havens to avoid paying tax, such as Philip Green.

And if you're worried about property prices, the government should require lenders (some of whom we, the taxpayers, own) to lend more readily once again to first time buyers and for developers to build on the copious amounts of land which they have hoarded. There should also be swingeing financial disincentives for people to leave properties unnecesaarily empty.

[Jennys]

I am a so-called baby boomer. I worked and paid PAYE taxes and National Insurance etc ever since I left school many years ago. My salary was very modest. I obtained my qualifications including an Open University Degree and various diplomas by studying in the evenings. I did not get a grant (except for a one-off sum, I seem to remember, of about ?100 to attend an OU summer school). I am now retired and have a very small occupational pension and a state pension. Because we bought our house many years ago it is now worth much more than we paid for it but as we are still living in it I fail to see how we have benefitted from the increase in property prices. As a parent I am indeed worried how younger people will be able to get onto the property ladder, if they wish to do so. I also fail to see, Masterblaster, how taking away my Freedom Pass will help to keep public libraries open.

[Masterblaster]

Ok, probably going off topic too much now, so I will stop.

[Lynne]

I've just visited the new Canada wharf library and I really think Southwark deserves a commendation for what is an interesting building with a fantastic stock in exactly the sort of area that needs a boost

However, yes, there's always a niggle, it's obvious that this stock has been at the expense of all the other libraries. I realise why, when you open a landmark library you need landmark stock, but can I have some assurance that when the novelty has worn off that the jam will be spread more evenly? Dulwich library really is poor these days, nothing seems to get spent on new stock and they threw away all the old books too

Lynne