Libraries seem to be hurtling back through time to the Victorian era. Wasn't this how it was then? Subscription libraries and other ones supported by benefactors. It seems that the Tory government wants us to return to this state.

This is clearly not in line with the 1964 Act but nobody who has the power to do so addresses this issue.
The rubbish that is talked about library provision gets worse.
Yes, the country's finances are in dire straits but where is the austerity? Billions set aside for Ireland, more billions on tap for the IMF, an extra £40m for the opening of the Olympics, ratcheting up spending on overseas aid, increases for the EU budget, billions on HS2, and just for good measure QE, which will have to paid for eventually!
So, we'll save a few millions on libraries and borrow the rest to fund all the glitzy plans and policies.
Get real indeed, we are losing what we should value and squandering money we do not have.
What price politicians?

Patricia Pichardson

It's a pity they have to charge, and as the closure of libraries affects the poorest members of the community most this seems harsh. But libraries are left with few options when their budgets are cut, and when librarians lose their jobs, which is happening.

It's not cost effective to close libraries or to try to organise them with volunteers. I didn't realise how serious this was until I spent the past year helping at Swiss Cottage Library in London by volunteering with events. It seemed like a safe library, not at risk of closure, because it's a showcase library. Seeing the librarians interviewed for their own jobs, and the main librarian who has worked with me not getting his job, was a real eye-opener. They are being replaced by a roving small group of librarians going to various libraries while volunteers take on the workload.

How can professionals be put out of their jobs when they're doing them so well? How can they be replaced by volunteers, even though the librarians are trying to help volunteers fill this gap by advertising for them and trying to explain the work (which is impossible in some libraries as the volunteers each do short shifts)?

You may think it's a cost saving but it really isn't. The library is a cost effective way of dealing with work other than the lending out of books. Teenagers go there after school to do their homework and to use the computers and cafes, so libraries double up as youth centres. Parents and childminders take children there. The poorer members of the community often sit there to read the newspapers and have a coffee in the warmth when they can't afford this at home.

It's quite hard for volunteers to deal with a lot of this work. It's not just about handing out books. The librarians have the great skills needed for working with the community. Volunteers aren't covered by insurance for some of the work and events that happen in a library so they can't do them and they will end.

There's far more to say, like the way libraries need to sell books now to get funds, the inability to restock. I don't understand how the government can't see this as a cost effective way to provide such a vital community service that goes way beyond the lending out of books. Something else will need to be provided as the libraries are also community centres and the people who depend on libraries for this will need to go somewhere else. This includes the elderly, the very young, the teenagers, and the poor.

Adele, you raise some brilliant points. Surely, the most salient fact though is that government policy relating to libraries is currently a mess. There are some amazing initiatives in libraries happening at some libraries across the country such as: Get it Loud, Open Mic, Comedy nights etc (which you allude to) and, of course, the brilliant Summer Reading Challenge for children/younger people. However, the bottom line is that unless elected politicians/councillers/officers etc with responsibilities for libraries come out with unconditional support for libraries, then they will continue to be squeezed. Unfortunately, not everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet.

Libraries need funding yet budgets are being slashed so I guess alternative streams of income will always be welcome. Yet, how to reconcile this with the ethos that public libraries are for all? I do think libraries do a brilliant job, considering the circumstances. Having previously worked in the sector for a while, I will ardently defend the many noble values they uphold. But I think that there is another story to be told. The intolerable pressures that are put on staff, the disjunction between image and reality, the discord between those in management and those on the front line. Am a great believer in change but change for change's sake, especially when it hasn't been thought through or consulted with can lead to untold problems.

Books, buildings and staff should be at the core of any successful library service. But if books aren't being bought, buildings not being renovated and staff not being made to feel secure in what they do, what kind of service do these conditions lead to? There are some amazing new libaries which have recently been built (Cardiff,Newcastle,some in London spring to mind)and in the process of being built (Birmingham) but many which are under threat. It's the disparity which is tragic. Maybe such notions of having a universal public library service is a thing of the past. What I do know is that the Manics were right when they sang, "Libraries gave us power" and that Oscar Wilde was perfectly true when he wrote "Success is a success; if you have the conditions, you get the result."