A Visit to York Gardens Library - this library must not be forced to close

Having heard news of the possible closure of York Gardens Library in the Wandsworth borough of London, I made a special trip to visit when normally I would access Southfields library, 3 miles away.

I immediately warmed to York Gardens Library. Set in a large estate of towerblocks, I can see how vital an asset it must be to the surrounding large community. Looking at the various events, info, and things on offer, it's clear that there's so much more than a mere book-lending facility here. Reading groups of all ages, activities for children, craft activities for young people, even an old memories of Battersea group.

What's more, the library itself is inside a community building with a community centre that offers much to the local residents.

The library offers an incredibly impressive range of items on loan for such a compact space, and is laid out in such a way that it's heartwarming - I feel immediately positive of mood, after what had today been an upsetting morning; because it's simply such a good place to be; good for the mental health.

People think of London as being this big centre, when really there are countless little communities just as cut-off as anywhere smaller. And London does have its tiny communities. York Gardens is beset by what must be council or ex-council (hard to know these days, since it's all changed with the right-to-buy) tower block flats. So gloomy and grey and 60s - 80s era. There are pockets of poverty in all bits of London - and places where activity or centralised amenities are hard to come by. Somewhere like York Gardens needs a community centre/library to lend children a free place to go - to learn, to think. Likewise, with the elderly, probably many of them life-long residents, proud of their locale - there is a "Memories of Battersea" group for them; imagine the socialising and the simple solace and pleasure, not to mention lifeline, that would provide. The elderly are so often cut-off and if I have learnt one thing about libraries it is that the elderly benefit from them the most.

A leaflet on the table of the library revealed all sorts of craft activities for various ages, and there were sing-songs for little toddlers, reading groups for all ages. On walking in the building, there was a sale of books fiction and non-fiction for 50 pence or so.

The range of stock was incredibly impressive for such a compact space. The non-ficiton topics, the DVDs, the foreign literature, the access to local information - and people forget this, just how vital libraries are in providing info on all kinds of local info, be it related to further education, benefits, leisure centres and other amenities in the area, local writing competitions, even the sale of local postcards and local history books. The provision is palpable.

I will make the lengthy journey every week to use this library and make it my regular library. A former Wandsworth resident, I now live in Merton.

The series of public consultation meetings in relation to the closure of York Gardens library as well as the proposal of reduction in hours of every library in the borough of Wandsworth have begun, and will roll into January. Consultation meetings about the future of Wandsworth Borough Libraries. The final meeting at York Gardens will be January 10th.

Correspondence with Stephen Hammond, Wimbledon Conservative MP

A heartfelt letter to make a stand against library cuts addressed to my local MP was met with a very general, off-hand response addressing none of my queries and concerns.

Thus far no cuts announcements have been made or indeed any news whatsoever made public as to the future of Merton Council's libraries. This makes me almost as uneasy as if cuts had been announced because it means there is no transpareny as to where my boroughs' libraries figure in budget plans.

I have simply been told the usual stack of hackneyed soundbites such as how the cuts are "necessary", how decisions are "tough" and how we are "all in it together" and must all take the assigned sufferage as one. It's sickening to be told this by someone on a six figure salary when, as a public sector worker who is very likely to be directly affected by such cuts (possibly losing my job altogether - a job sector that it has taken me four years to enter), I earn just above the national minimum wage, with part-time hours at that (no full-time posts available in my job sector).

The Good Library Blog has nailed some pertinent points in a recent post. Summing things up about library cuts and the way admin and behind-the-scenes activity is afforded opportunity to continue their financial wastages whilst the people on the frontline on lower wages suffer the effects of cuts as do the libraries themselves:

The cuts that need to be made should be taken in the so called 'corporate' structures of local councils, and in the back office and library administration where there is a huge waste of money. But they aren't being, because that is where the senior management work and they are clinging to their jobs. They have been handed the right to decide where the cuts will come and it is they who are deciding it is better to close libraries than lose their own income.

And another quote:

We could achieve all the budget reductions that are needed in the library service and not close one library. In fact with the money that would be available after all the cuts, we would be able to increase book funds and opening hours. There is plenty of capital funding available to refurbish most of the community libraries in the country.

Flyer I have produced to highlight a library service under threat

My flyer isn't really this wonky, just that this is a mobile phone camera photo of the original, due to lack of a scanner!

Feel free to print up copies to disseminate in public places, or to save the image and post it on your blog or other online presence.

Letter to Ed Vaizey, Culture Minister, mailed today

Dear Ed Vaizey,

I write to you with great concern regarding the future of hundreds of the UK's public  libraries. I feel it would be detrimental to communities, and society at large, to impose cuts on libraries; cuts that would see hundreds of branches - including those placed in cut-off areas, deprived areas, or areas that serve the vulnerable - closed permanently; cuts that would see innumerable jobs lost; cuts that would see library hours and budgets slashed; cuts that see staff forced into early retirement or voluntary redundancy under new structures where the word 'library' or'librarian' is no longer in the title, as well as formal training opportunities axed.

I do not want to live in a society where access to libraries is limited. Libraries are places where children first experience books, being read to, reading, and learning for themselves; places where teenagers can develop a sense of self and how they relate to the world; places where the vulnerable or poor can embrace opportunities and feel equal in this world; places where the elderly might ge their sole source of comforting human contact, sense of well-being and community.

It took me four years to get my first library post - the amount of happiness; personal well-being I receive from the job is inestimable. Prior to working in this sector, I was broken in self-esteem and in a state of depression. When I help others, it helps me. To think that unpaid volunteers rather than paid, professional, passionate people could soon be running libraries is an affront to everything people like me have worked towards. The work is physically demanding and the pay is more often than not little above minimum wage; the funds and priority that libraies receive are also low, so it is inconceivable that such drastic and irrecoverable changes are being set out the country over.

I am sorely disappointed, and dismayed, that National Lottery funds no longer contribute towards the running of any library services. Moreover, I find it unpalatable that the government see fit to continue plunging funds into the Olympics when causes - permanent causes - such as libraries are so much more vital to the cerebral integrity of the nation.

I urge you to action proposals to support and preserve, not destroy, our libraries.

In favour of paid professional library staff

If unpaid volunteers are called into to run libraries, then skilled workers and life-long experienced and qualified professionals will be redundant. This cannot be allowed to happen. As it is, staff at certain levels are on rock bottom wages - some staff are employed by agencies and earn just above the minimum wage, working without sick pay, working unsociable hours and days at a flat rate. Library work is a physically demanding role - long periods of standing, heavy lifting, flights of stairs to climb, shelving and maintenance of stock. The other aspect of library work is, of course, knowledge and awareness - being quick to call to mind the title of the book a customer has only vague recollections of or is describing, ability to signpost customers to appropriate materials to suit their needs/queries, skill and passion in recommending items to customers. Then there are all the interpersonal skills so vital to the library worker's role. The range of customers drawn from all areas of the community is such that a volunteer would not necessarily be equipped to deal with all visitors and eventualities - some library users require extra sensitivity or empathy, this requires great skill and patience; there are users from deprived backgrounds, users with mental health issues, users whose first language is not English, users with learning difficulties. Libraries being such open, public spaces there are multiple anti-social problems that may arise and that must be dealt with professionally and appropriately. Years of working in libraries, of perservering and being impassioned about the job, equip workers with the necessary adeptness to tackle such interpersonal issues and incidents. Library professionals become personally acquainted with users and build a bond of trust and understanding that volunteers would struggle to compete with on the same level.

With the advent of self-service machines, staff are being 'relieved' of duties - when they are not being relieved of their jobs wholesale. Told that the machines are there to help them cope with demands/workload, in actuality, the library professional's role is becoming more and more undermined. Staff even receive training to convince them the good that these machines will play. Staff have in the same instance been informed of the cost-cutting measures that these machines will provide - it is cheaper to buy a machine than to pay the annual salaries of several staff. The message this sends is clearly unsettling and insulting. Innumerable customers lodge complaints verbal and written about the self-service machines - in particular, the elderly find technology not simply daunting but alienating as it cuts off human contact and is a clinical process rather than a meaningful human interaction.

Cuts are being made across all councils the country over between now and the next financial year, so now is the time to consult with your local council and to see exactly what proposals are being made in relation to library services in your local area. Councils such as Camden in London are looking into some of their branches being run by volunteers. Buckinghamshire Council in the south east is convinced that its local people want their libraries to be run entirely by volunteers and setting about to put this into action. Other councils have made mention of the word 'volunteer' but seem to be keeping their plans under wraps. The concept of unpaid volunteers could become a worrying trend. With talk of David Cameron's 'Big Society' centring on everyone pitching in and helping out as one big happy community, alarm bells ring. When job losses are occurring in significant numbers across councils, including within libraries - where staff's roles are often being slashed in hours, put up for consideration of voluntary redundancy or simply made outright redundant, to bring in volunteers wholesale would cancel thousands more jobs and presents the question: will such a job title as Librarian exist in the future?

The argument runs that financial cuts must be made across all services within councils, but if we consider how scant funding - and how low a priority in itself - libraries can be, and also how gargantuan top-end salaries at the decision-making level of the council can be; why should libraries, library workers, and crucially the general public, suffer so dramatically?

Useful links for news on potential Library Closures and Job Cuts

http://publiclibrariesnews.blogspot.com/   
Lists public libraries and numbers of library jobs under threat

http://www.librarycampaign.com/Home   
Supports library user groups and library users

http://uklibrarywatch.pbworks.com/w/page/31643455/England   
Lists library cuts

http://www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk/wordpress/   
The value of public libraries

http://libraryweb.info/   
Source of links to libraries in the news

http://falseeconomy.org.uk/cuts/sectors/type/communities-and-local-government

Why the cuts are wrong - useful list of updates across the UK, including list of local protests

Why libraries are important to society

The campaign is on to save hundreds of the UK's libraries from closing, resulting in colossal job cuts and the devastating loss of vital cultural assets. Libraries serve communities in innumerable ways. They are places of education, entertainment and so much more; areas where:

• Children have their earliest experiences of books, reading, being read to
• Teenagers can develop their sense of self and how they relate to the wider world
• The elderly can engage with staff and not feel so alone in an increasingly alienating and daunting world when they might not otherwise feel valued or part of their local community
• Adults can take up computer courses, become computer literate and get online with confidence
• Adults whose first language is not English can take up courses to improve their skills
• The unemployed can use free PC terminals to search and apply for jobs
• Children can encounter people of their own age and become more sociable with reading and singing sessions
• People can access local information
• Tourists and those who are new to an area can feel welcomed and can seek local information on a variety of topics
• People can research local history and archives
• People can get access to books, CDs, DVDs, language courses, spoken word audio, magazines, newspapers, council information all under one roof and all for free or at an affordable cost
• People can attend events such as book readings, book clubs, live music concerts, sports, creative activities and so on
• Anyone can use the free space on offer for quiet study, or even contemplation and haven from the increasingly noisy, aggressive world

Libraries are also often architecturally outstanding and historical buildings and must be preserved at all costs for future generations. Do you really want to see libraries being turned into luxury flats or chain stores?