At the same time as we're pissing billions upon billions of pounds up the wall building weapons capable of incinerating entire cities and cremating millions of innocent people alive.

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"Even when you're a super-computer with an IQ of 2000 it's brown trousers time."

Reclaiming "methinks" for the nation

Latest blog post - 2011 - a review (updated 07/10)

That would be fair enough, except that the old library was more convenient for bus passengers and for the centre of town. The new one's okay, so it's not a total scandal, but it's a bit further from the centre and for people with mobility issues it's not ideal, as the pavement is extremely narrow either side of the building.

The point is that offices and luxury properties don't need to be in the centre of town. Libraries, on the other hand, must be accessible to people who use public transport (pensioners, disabled people, schoolchildren, etc).

This is what's happening in Chester, to make way for yet another gigantic indoor shopping precinct. This is right next door to another one which has several empty units, and hasn't been refurbished since the 1990s.

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Soppy anti-British, pro-crime, anti-education, pro-immigration, anti-family nonentity

The usual argument for sharing space with, say, leisure centres or other spaces (e.g. a neighbourhood health centre in Jubilee Gardens, Greenford) is that aas well as sharing overheads (true), libraries can tap into potential customer bases that they may not otherwise get. Face it, not everyone will by choice visit their local library, but pretty much everyone will get sick at one point or another. Good, sound reasons. The parking and access at health centres and leisure centres tends to be quite good as well. And yes, money has to play a part in decision making. We're not communists, after all.

That said, there's a very good reason why libraries in their own buildings is an excellent idea - particularly in more deprived areas. The more cynical of you may want to prepare a sick bucket. Others may want to be quietly inspired.

Picture a run-down estate. Grilles on what shop fronts remain, barbed wire on the roofs. Everywhere the presumption of guilt and the expectation of crime. Then you get a library. Somewhere that is not only open and accessible, but says "Here, take these items, and just promise to return them to us in 3 or 4 weeks time".

From over 10 years working in the public library business (and in some pretty shitty areas) I can assure the cynics that there is a respect for library premises, even in the shittest of holes. Partly a case of not crapping on your own doorstep, partly people responding well to being treated like a human being.

I'd love to know what experience of public libraries - both as user and staffer - a certain Liz-Jizzer can bring to this discussion.

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Ten seconds... the pain begins.

Fifteen seconds... you can't breathe.

Twenty seconds... you give up and turn off the Jeremy Vine show.

I read Dan Brown's Angels And Demons a couple of years ago after it was recommended to me by a relative. Yeah, it was absolute tosh and I won't be trying any more of his novels again in a hurry.
Some people, however, lap them up - and other books of that ilk.
Who are we to belittle other readers' choices? Not everyone fancies having a crack at bloody War And Peace!

Absolutely. And even being the sort of person who reads James Joyce doesn't mean you won't enjoy reading Star Trek novels and Simenon in French. All of which I get from my local library.

Ah not that "why do we pay the licence fee, when they produce East Enders?" argument.

Luckily in Tower Hamlets, we have conveniently located libraries, which are well used. Unlike the town hall, which is in the arse end of Poplar.

Hey, I think Gloucs might have been outdone by Brent. 6 out of 12 to be shut.

Not even the heavyweight presence of Sarah Teather was any help.

Are you quite certain they're going to be shut?

Weren't the words "relocated", "new" or "improved" employed?

What about "These are exciting times for libraries."?

No?

Tsk, they're slipping!

Library Transformation Team, wasn't it?

Gloucs will be thinking "we should have called it that! surely Harperson couldn't have said that was sexist!"

Heady times down there. What with the butchery of libraries, the Cotswold Water Park fraud and the attempt to flog off the Forest of Dean, the Tories haven't been particularly popular. Still, if an election were held tmrw, they'd probably gain a seat over the election, Cheltenham, where leftists won't bother with tactical voting again.

That's a good one! "Transformation" eh?
I bet "enhancement" is in there somewhere too.

Libraries just don't suit everybody.
Particularly the ones who find books a bit challenging.

According to Private Eye, it is, lambswool.

Actually, Somerset have beaten us. 11 to close there.

But we get a bonus point for the claim that apparently Gloucs residents have told the council they want the libraries handed over to "community groups". Whose funding will no doubt be cut in a couple of years.

I see they closed Painswick Library a couple of years ago over health and safety.

I bet that broke their hearts. They must have been arguing the toss like Littlejohn over that one.

What, you mean like libraries?

<facepalm>