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Around 50 demonstrators, including women with children, are gathering outside Kensal Rise library in Brent this afternoon (13th October) as workmen prepare to board up the door and windows.
The library was closed this morning, with a notice on display saying it would be closed until 2pm to allow for a staff briefing. But when demonstrators returned from today's High Court verdict, a further notice stated the library would be closed "until further notice." Workmen have measured the building's doors and windows and are preparing to board it up.
It is thought that the same measures are also being employed on the remaining five libraries due for closure by the council following the judge's dismissal of the campaigners' claims this morning.
Meanwhile reaction to this morning's judgement has come in from CILIP. Chief executive Annie Mauger said: "We will be studying this judgment carefully for its national implications. However there can be little doubt of the immense disappointment thousands of users in Brent and elsewhere will feel. Once again this has shown how much libraries mean to local people and once again both national and local politicians need to understand the depths of this feeling. Libraries should be seen as part of way out of the recession and not as an easy service to cut".