Joining in the Campaign to Save Stony Stratford Library

The purpose of Wednesday was to get to Stony Stratford library and join in the borrowing campaign - to take the maximum number of books (15) on my library card; the end result being rows of empty shelves to show the council how the library would look if barren.

I travelled up to Wolverton, part of my hometown of Milton Keynes, and visited the library there first. This was the library I did my Work Experience at, aged 15. To my surprise the library was no longer there - in its place, a dental surgery. I was informed that the library had been rehoused in the town hall. What a beautiful transition and a worthy site for Wolverton library.

I stepped inside to hear the eager clamour of children involved in singing rhymes with the library staff.

I enquired as to whether my old supervisor from 1996 still worked at the library. To my surprise, all these years on, I was told she is still very much with Milton Keynes library services, albeit at another branch. No reunion today, but it was heartening to hear - it hit home the fact that this is a job that has been "for life" for so long, and that is all set to change with the new government proposals, with so much uncertainty and precariousness int he sector.

I became emotional when I asked how the campaign to save both Stony Stratford library and the other Milton Keynes library under threat - Woburn Sands (a tiny vilage library in a house). I was told that "progress" was being made with the proposals and things did not look positive.

With tears in my eyes, I made my way on the bus journey to Stony Stratford.

It struck me what a pretty little town Stony Stratford is - so untouched in its old, traditional shop fronts and historical pubs, with such quanity of architectural awe. The grand church that marks Church Street was an impressive, towering sight. I turned the corner and found the little library. I had passes many local shops that had posters displayed prominently in their windows supporting the library's continued opening. It was very clear that here is a town whose locals care about their library.

Stony Stratford library is a cosy and welcoming place. The childrens' library is on the ground floor and I was heartened to read many emotional comments of praise from children of all ages about what their library means to them.

Upstairs, there were already completely empty shelves in some cases. I was told by staff that there wasn't much left to take and it was true.

The quiet ambience and lack of self-service machines lent opportunity for me to talk to a member of staff sat by a computer. He told me a personal story of how he came to work in libraries quite by accident as it was a job that would suit his health problems - one temporary post of 8 weeks started him off and here he was about to retire. He was full of praise for the job and the relationships he felt it enabled him to build, and the value the job generated, since it felt to him very much about offering a community service.

(View of residential street from library entrance)

Stony Stratford is clearly a community library - clearly vital to the community it serves. In just a short visit, I saw droves of young children encountering playmates, or exploring books, and their mothers were talking away to each other too. In fact, everyone who entered the library was greeted warmly and it was as if everyone knew each other, or if not, they were keen to get to know those in their neighbourhood. Library users were exchanging talk about the book borrowing campaign, holding doors open for each other as heavy loads were carted away, and there was a great deal of enthusiasm, smiling, and sense of well-being about it all. The staff were very pleased to help and were happy to answer my many questions.

I learnt that the library used to be housed in the old fire station building nearby but had been in its current home since the 70s.

I have been a user of Milton Keynes libraries since my mum first introduced me to the service at Wobrun Sands when I was 2-years-old.

I paid £2.00 to get my replacement card, pay off old fines, and staff got me up to date on the system. I bought a jute bag to carry some of my haul of 15 books home in - in total I spent about £10.00 and I felt good about this branch getting my money as I would hope it would add to the cause.

It struck me that users were not just borrowing books willy-nilly, but carefully choosing their 15 nominations. I did the same, coming away with a book about the history of Top of The Pops, books on job searching and how to bolster your income with odd jobs, plus a stack of biographies (okay, the Eamonn Holmes one was a joke - of course!).

Soon my parents arrived in their car with their library cards and they too went about enjoying the library building and in selecting some stock to take home.

I am delighted to have just read that the campaign has worked in its first stage - all shelves were emptied, and even supportive councillors missed out on getting their share of books to loan as it was too late to grab what was left! Excellent work from everyone involved, and proof that a community can come together and act in positive force. Here's hoping it will make a mark, make a difference, and achieve a permanent library for the residents of Stony Stratford.

Link to the existing petition to Save Stony Stratford Library

Link to public consultation for Milton Keynes Council.

Save Stony Stratford Library - excellent campaign idea!

From Wednesday 12th to Saturday 15th January, local residents are invited to take part in the 'Wot No Books' campaign to help save the Stony Stratford Library.

All you have to do is go to the Stony Stratford Library and take out the maximum of books on your card (15) and keep them for one week.

The aim is to empty the library by Saturday the 15th January, when the press will be invited to witness the level of support being shown for the library by the local population.

Please help us Save Stony Stratford Library.

I certainly aim to get down to Stony Stratford library and do my bit. This is an excellent campaign idea that has put a smile on my face. I think it would be savvy to take this idea and run with it across many other libraries in a similar situation. I also like the idea of an amnesty on fines and a day or week of widespread library joining as a show of strength too.

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.