Sunday 7 May 2017

Lewisham, Little Free Libraries & GLL/Lambeth/Bromley/Greenwich.

Lewisham

Surprise surprise book lending stats for Lewisham Libraries have fallen by 45% (1,146,461 books issued in 2009/10 and 635,065 in 2015/16), this is what happens when you hollow-out, deprofessionalise & privatise/amateurise your service.

Little Free Libraries

Two Canadian Librarian/academics have just published a very interesting paper on the trademarked 'Little Free Libraries' (LFL) movement/business, apparently they're not just innocent little 'twee' book boxes, well who would have thought? Well me for one as their take on things mirrors my concerns about and experiences of the LFL movement in the UK. Oh and I even get a mention at the end of the paper, which is nice :-)
And before you read it (and please please read the whole thing) remember that it was published in 'The Journal of Radical Librarianship'!

GLL/Lambeth/Bromley/Greenwich

Ah! GLL again, don't you just love this cheeky charitable SocEnt! Private Eye report that their Lambeth 'library/gyms' plans were at an advanced state only days after the official consultation finished!
GLL are also trying to sink their teeth into Bromley Libraries but Unite Regional Organiser, Onay Kasab along with community activists have got them in their sights and are leading a spirited fightback against proposals to privatise libraries there.
And GLL/Greenwich Council again with another article about footfall figures, i'm afraid i tend to take these kind of stories/figures with a pinch of salt especially when it comes to GLL/Greenwich as you can see by my blog post from a couple of years ago.



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