Blackpool Gazette: 26 May
Lytham Library hope leads to new friends group
http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/lytham-library-hope-leads-to-new-friends-group-1-8564102
Borehamwood Times: 26 May
Barnet | FoI data shows increased PR spending by Barnet Council which could have been spent on libraries
http://www.borehamwoodtimes.co.uk/news/15311229.FoI_data_shows_increased_PR_spending/
Ham & High: 26 May
Highgate Library ‘being sacrificed’ in possible merger with Jacksons Lane
Nottingham Post: 26 May
New chapter for Keyworth Library
Refurbished library re-opens, now run by Inspire
The Architects’ Journal: 26 May
A new chapter for Chester: Bennetts’ Storyhouse
‘Off the lobby to the right is the entrance to a children’s library, taking advantage of the smaller scale of linked cellular spaces converted from a row of once-discrete retail units to provide a series of reading, workshop and storytelling spaces. These are kitted out in flexible plywood furniture and fittings and provide an appropriately community-facing street presence for Storyhouse.
The rest of the boasted 700m of library shelf-space is less satisfyingly spread around the edges of the restaurant, upper foyer and glazed capsule of the new ‘secret’ cinema at mezzanine level. While the latter’s rich, cocoon-like interior, lined in crimson velvet curtains and bringing to mind the cabaret space in the dream sequences of Twin Peaks is a reprise of the high-level cultural offer and functional clarity of the theatre spaces, it serves to underline how library users seem to have got the raw end of the deal at Storyhouse. The shelving flowing around such ‘other’ spaces is clearly an attempt to break down the old stuffiness and barriers of the traditional public library and increase engagement and cross-pollination. But, despite a couple of nooks, it represents poor provision for those library-goers who might just want to sit down to concentrated study or to read, in what remain primarily distracting, busy circulation spaces. At worst, the books can appear like ‘storytelling’ shop-dressing.’
Aberdeen Evening Express: 26 May
Capacity issues could see Aberdeen Primary School pupils use janitor’s lodge
Due to continued increases in the pupil roll over a number of years, the library and general purpose room are currently also used as classrooms.
Bury Free Press: 26 May
Suffolk | Mildenhall Hub planning application goes in
Plans for co-located services and facilities, including library, school, job centre, Citizens’ Advice Bureau, leisure centre etc
Wiltshire Times: 26 May
Letter | Library problems
Nottingham Post: 26 May
New £1m library for Sneinton ready to open its doors
Former police station repurposed as a library, to replace two libraries, and to act as a base for community policing teams.
Wakefield Express: 26 May
This town wants its library back
Ossett Library has been closed for nine months after the discovery of asbestos. Replacements facilities are inadequate and not DDA compliant.
