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.

THE GUARDIAN : 12th April
Julian Barnes criticises Britain’s ‘philistine’ approach to arts
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/apr/12/julian-barnes-britain-philistine-arts?INTCMP=SRCH

DAILY TELEGRAPH : 12th April
England is a ‘comparatively philistine country’, author Julian Barnes claims
… the “mass closure” of public libraries is a “shocking act”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9988365/England-is-a-comparatively-philistine-country-author-Julian-Barnes-claims.html

Alan Wylie 
Gagged Library Workers
http://dontprivatiselibraries.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/gagged-library-workers.html

Alan Wylie | Library Safari anyone?

A ‘Library Safari’ is something offered by Red Quadrant and their partners Konvergence to Library Authorities in order that they can:

  • Evaluate the current customer experience
  • Assess this against experiences in other environments, specifically retail

http://dontprivatiselibraries.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/library-safari-anyone.html

Keighley News : 12th April
Bradford Saved Wilsden library is flourishing
“The library is only open one day a week, which is what we had when Bradford ran it. But although it’s run by volunteers, it’s still part of the Bradford Libraries system ….”
http://www.keighleynews.co.uk/news/news_keighley/10350282.Saved_Wilsden_library_is_flourishing/

This Is Local London : 12th April
Harrow Public Library User Survey shows 85 per cent of people are happy with service as
90 new machines installed in 11 libraries

http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/10352719.New_computers_installed_across_all_libraries/

telephone box libary