A digest of today’s news items, reproduced here, with kind permission from Shirley Burnham who collated it. For up to date libraries news follow @ShirleyBurnham on Twitter.
Bitterne Park Info : 3rd January
Chris Packham: cutting library hours ‘short-termist lunacy’
“This place has become a real focus for a rich community of children and adults alike. We need all our libraries to be strengthened, to be better resourced and better funded, we need them open longer hours – not fewer. These proposals betray a serious shortcoming in the reasoning and priorities of those who we have elected to act in our best interests. It is a betrayal of trust and an insult to sensibility. Please oppose it vigorously.”
http://bitternepark.info/
Bolton News: 3rd January
Library closure campaigners fight back over ‘luvvie’ slur
http://www.theboltonnews.co.
Evening Times : 3rd January
Glasgow | Libraries could act as food banks for needy
Glasgow SNP councillor David McDonald has called on the city’s leaders to widen the range of services offered by libraries. He said this could include the loan of electrical goods or small-scale food banks to help families who are struggling to put meals on the table.
Earlier this year the Evening Times revealed how starving shoplifters in the north of the city were being referred to food banks by police. Chief Inspector Ann Hughes, of Maryhill police, said some of the thieves – including a pensioner caught trying to take three tins of salmon –needed help from charities rather than trouble from the courts.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/
Telegraph & Argus : 3rd January
Massive decline in visitors at Bradford Central Library
The true impact of the closure of Bradford Central Library has emerged 12 months after it partially shut when it was condemned as a fire risk
http://www.
Dorset Echo : 3rd January
Volunteers taking up duties in new era for Puddletown library
The task will be aided by a high profile launch today, which will be attended by former BBC chief foreign correspondent Kate Adie.
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/
Kidderminster Shuttle : 3rd January
Worcestershire | Wyre Forest authors fear for library’s archive
A group of of 30 Wyre Forest authors and researchers have teamed up to sign a letter outlining concerns about the future of Kidderminster Library’s “invaluable” archive collection.
http://www.
Chronicle Live : 2nd January
Protesters will take to streets over Newcastle cuts
http://www.chroniclelive.co.
Phil Bradley’s Weblog : 3rd January
3D printing – is it for libraries?
http://philbradley.typepad.
University of Oxford : 22nd December
UK teenagers without the internet are ‘educationally disadvantaged’
http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/