Libraries have been the closest place to a sanctuary for me, sacred in their own way, welcoming and safe. It is unthinkable that many councils will have to make such decisions as they struggle to survive.
We’re fighting the closure of our local town library after the smaller village libraries have been gradually eroded. Cuts upon lies in the Scottish Highlands as well as Birmingham. Libraries are a sanctuary for so many.
Our previous mayor spearheaded a project to revitalize our town and built this new library with amazing public facilities, like a computer lab, a filming studio and 3D printers. During lockdown she was ousted and a right wing administration moved in, now that facility is facing permanent closure.
I remember reading the entire Sandman series from my local library when I was a teen.
It helped me so much to have such easy access to so many little worlds I could escape to. Where I could retreat & find a place where things made sense and breathe for a minute. I hate how it's being stripped away.
They have a £760m equal pay claim against them. Years of paying women less than men on the same grade.
They got taken to court and lost. It is monstrous, but the self inflicted cause was as well.
I was a latch-key kid. My saving grace, my aunt was a librarian, so I went to her library after school. In those two hours waiting for my parents I went to Narnia, lived in a wall with Borrowers, and read a letter from a jail cell in Birmingham. My heart breaks for your nation's loss.
I grew up in Birmingham. The libraries were wonderful places that inspired me to read and helped me study and research as I got older. This is at best a knee jerk, short term, Ill thought out and idiotic decision which will have dire ramifications for future generations in the city.
Oh, I see the UK is following the US model. Welcome to hell. Coffee and tea in the break room, 2 fifteen minute breaks per day and a half hour for lunch. Enjoy your stay.
Just horrible. My sister teaches in a school in New Jersey and she floored me when she told me the SCHOOL did away with their library. Just gave all the books away and closed years ago. What ARE they teaching them in these schools?
For profit National University has some encyclopedias. They sell the printed Learning Packets to students, which are little more than Internet content.
It's hard to settle on conspiracy; less access to free, verified, information for all levels of society. Or plain greed for cash & power; we can cut libraries to lower tax bills & there'll be no major fuss.
Yeah, I remember after Proposition 13 passed in California, we lost our school librarian. She was replaced with parent volunteers, but not enough signed up so the library wasn’t open every day for about a year.
In the school where I was teaching last year (here in Italy) there wasn't a library because the former headteacher closed it saying that students don't need books.
Me and other teachers gathered a little library buying books of any sort. Students began taking books and sharing them.
I’ve noticed libraries are starting to loan all kinds of things. Tools, sewing machines, lawn care equipment etc. Useful items, in their continued effort to help the community. AI bulletproof too!
No. This is an individual liability. The reason that Birmingham City Council is unable to meet this and other liabilities is that its funding from national government has been cut by over 40% in real terms since 2010.
I get that, but you, and the coverage, are confusing the liability that they've incurred with the reason for their incapacity to settle it. Like, if I take out a loan to buy a car because I've crashed my previous car, I'm not taking out a loan because I've crashed my car. 1/2
Yep.
Ruzzians installed monsters/mobsters in the US Congress, in UK Houses, in Bundestag, on Italian parliament, in every former Yugoslavia parliament, in the EU parliament.
The circumstances that have led to a Section 114 notice have been unique to each local area… However, all… have faced the same underlying pressures - councils’ core spending power falling by 27 per cent in real terms from 2010/11 to 2023/24…
This is on top of previous closures around 2013-14.
We also completely rebuilt the city's library and then the funding for it was cut drastically meaning reduced opening hours and a reduction in services (although some of that was clawed back)
Too bad there isn't an institution in the UK that can hold Charles accountable from pilfering all of those estates to pay for his property maintenance.
I'm at a University library close by and we are a week away from a total restructure to prioritize digitization and AI over librarians and books. Half of the books have already been discarded and pretty soon half of us librarians will be gone as well! We're all being gutted.
So strange the parallels happening in US and UK. It’s like it’s being orchestrated by someone or something. Is it illegal to say Putin needs to be assassinated?
What we hold in common is under attack everywhere. Read this person’s response to the people trying to close our small high school so that they can have “choice”.
Pls encourage your followers to make sure they have an up-to-date account at their local library & are using it. Libraries will only continue to exist for the folk we imagine need them if they’re also used by the people we imagine don’t need them (ofc everyone needs them whether they know it or not)
My local library narrowly avoided closure due to the city's funding cuts (they cut opening hours instead). I made it a point to get my 11 month old daughter her own library card.
Among other things, they host figure drawing classes, musical workshops, all sorts of things that keep a community alive!
especially because Libraries have kept up with the times and offer so much digital content too that anyone can access on their devices! Audiobooks, graphic novels, ebooks, etc!
Ours was incorporated into a community hub which includes health screening. Lot's of books still and you can always order a book so not all bad and a good solution for the council undergoing huge funding cuts
I use the NY Public Library (which is truly a wonder of Western civilization) so much it's borderline comical. Currently 2 overdue books, 2 more books to read, 2 books on hold. I've checked out 60+? More? (I moved here 3 years ago)
And unnecessary. My local council slashed libraries years ago and is flirting with bankruptcy + shifting to ‘legal essentials only’. It’s a Tory council. And Con candidates for county and district (which isn’t Tory) bang on about how only they can make things better. While Tories wreck it all.
That thing about madness being doing the same thing over and over and hoping for a different result – I hope people recognise that in the next GE and give the Tories a thorough kicking everywhere. Turf them out for Labour – and Libs where Labour can’t win. Would *love* to see Con in double figures.
My worry is that the Tories take such a battering that they bring Farage and the "Reform" mob into the fold... That will be bad for our national politics, giving that shower "legitimacy".
I mean, maybe? Perhaps ‘probably’ if Labour doesn’t heed the warnings and enact electoral reform. Then again, we basically have a UKIP/Reform govt now in all but name.
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"What does the money machine eat? It eats youth, spontaneity, life, beauty and above all it eats creativity. It eats quality and shits out quantity."
It helped me so much to have such easy access to so many little worlds I could escape to. Where I could retreat & find a place where things made sense and breathe for a minute. I hate how it's being stripped away.
They got taken to court and lost. It is monstrous, but the self inflicted cause was as well.
@alt-text.bsky.social
https://www.readby4th.org/blog/phillys-public-schools-have-1-certified-librarianparsl-is-working-to-change-that
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.”
Me and other teachers gathered a little library buying books of any sort. Students began taking books and sharing them.
Ruzzians installed monsters/mobsters in the US Congress, in UK Houses, in Bundestag, on Italian parliament, in every former Yugoslavia parliament, in the EU parliament.
What we all need is to get rid of them.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/12/library-campaigners-1000-closures-2016
https://www.local.gov.uk/about/news/section-114-fear-almost-1-5-council-leaders-and-chief-executives-after-cashless-autumn
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-for-local-government/about
Oflog’s approach is delusional
https://www.lgcplus.com/politics/lgc-briefing/oflogs-approach-is-delusional-11-07-2023/
We also completely rebuilt the city's library and then the funding for it was cut drastically meaning reduced opening hours and a reduction in services (although some of that was clawed back)
I guess a similar question is, “why be British?”.
WE elected the Tory government.
To get something "done".
It’s a measure of what we can lose.
https://bsky.app/profile/coconnor8.bsky.social/post/3klsde27bgp2m
Among other things, they host figure drawing classes, musical workshops, all sorts of things that keep a community alive!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c06mej6d7ero