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Squatters Reopen Friern Barnet Library After Council Closes Service

"Squatters reopen Friern Barnet Library After Council Closes Service." Guardian / Diane Taylor.

UK: The Guardian Online, Tuesday September 11th 2012.

"The occupation has the blessing of many local residents who are delighted to see the locked doors of the library flung open once again. It's the first time that squatters have morphed into "community librarians" by occupying and reopening a public lending resource in this way. Book loans will be manually recorded and stamped.

Council officials have been trying for months to persuade locals enraged by the library closure to become volunteer librarians in a room in a nearby council building instead. The proposal has not been well received: residents want to see their much-loved local library reopened and stalemate has prevailed.

All that changed when the squatters moved in and embarked on unprecedented negotiations with senior council officials about the future of the library.

To everyone's surprise, instead of starting eviction proceedings immediately the council agreed to a series of meetings with the squatters to discuss ways to provide a new volunteer-run library. Senior council officials including the assistant chief executive Julie Taylor were invited to the squatted library on Monday for a meeting with the new occupants who treated them to tea and cakes. Another meeting has been scheduled for next week."

Stampin' it to the Man! 

Baffled at a Bookcase Alan Bennett Returns to the Library

"Baffled at a Bookcase Alan Bennett Returns to the Library." London Review of Books / Alan Bennett.
London: London Review of Books 33.15, July 28th 2011.

"I have always been happy in libraries, though without ever being entirely at ease there. A scene that seems to crop up regularly in plays that I have written has a character, often a young man, standing in front of a bookcase feeling baffled. He – and occasionally she – is overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that has been written and the ground to be covered."

Libraries Adapt to Meet Demands of Internet Age

"Libraries Adapt to Meet Demands of Internet Age." Reuters / Richard Chang.
London: Reuters Online, June 23rd 2011.

""The whole thing about the silent shushing librarian is no longer a reality," said Nader Qaimari, of Cengage Learning, which provides teaching and learning materials to educational institutions and libraries.

"The new librarian has been on Facebook or Twitter longer than you or I have. They're the most socially connected people I've ever met."

With so much information online, librarians have become free guides to learning and are often the first people job seekers turn to if they have no computer at home. During the recession libraries have become centers for career counseling, financial literacy and small business development. ...

A 2010 study by the nonprofit OCLC Online Computer Library Center found that Americans hit by the recession are 50 percent more likely to visit their library at least weekly and are nearly a third more likely to visit at least once a month.

"Eighty-one percent of economically impacted Americans have a library card compared to 68 percent of Americans who have not been impacted," the report said."

An Open Book

"An Open Book." The Guardian / Leo Benedictus.
London: The Guardian Online, March 7th 2009.

"Despite the pressures on her time, however, this traditional face-to-face work is still something she particularly enjoys. "It's that idea of librarianship being like a detective role," she explains, her eyes lighting up. "People come to you wanting to find information, and you are able - hopefully - to help them track it down in places, perhaps, that they wouldn't know to look. Or in ways that they wouldn't know how to look."

One slight regret I sense from her, however, is that there is so little understanding out there of what librarians do - or how useful they are. "I think most people think it's probably quite a nice job," she says. "I think they imagine you sit in a room full of really nice interesting books and you get to read them, and help the odd person. I don't think they realise quite how busy it gets, or how much pressure you feel under." "

Shutting Libraries is Child Abuse

"Shutting Libraries is Child Abuse: Alan Bennett Speaks Out as Cuts Put 4,000 at Risk of Closure." Daily Mail / Tim Shipman.
London: Daily Mail Online, May 25th 2011.

Mr Bennett's exact words:

""A child can learn to read at home as I did 70 years ago. But my only access to books, which changed my life, was at the local library. Deprive a child of that and you hinder its development and damage it for life. Closing libraries is child abuse." "

Hear, Hear!

The Secret Life of Libraries

"The Secret Life of Libraries." The Guardian / Bella Bathurst.
London: The Guardian Online, May 1st 2011.

"Collins believes that libraries are just as vital now as they were during the 40s, when Philip Larkin complained of stamping out so many books in a week that his hand blistered. Even so, he spends much of his time in a ceaseless game of catch-up. "Libraries are always trying to prove themselves because what they provide is so intangible. How do you quantify what someone gets from a book or a magazine?""

Libraries Cater For the Middle Classes, Not the Deprived

"Libraries Cater For the Middle Classes, Not the Deprived, Says John Redwood." The Guardian / Alison Flood.
London: The Guardian UK Online, April 11th 2011.

"The twice Carnegie-shortlisted author and library campaigner Alan Gibbons disagreed. "Where do you start? He does a half-hour visit to a library when he's clearly not a library user, and he doesn't understand that 320m visits occur to libraries every year," said Gibbons. "They are hugely used, and when they are not used it tends to be because people don't know when they're open, because of the successive cuts from the 1980s onwards, from politicians like him."

Gibbons was adamant that it is not only the middle classes who are library users. "The vast majority of people use libraries … Public libraries serve nearly everyone apart from incredibly rich people like John Redwood and the culture minister. Everyone else needs a library.""

Taxonomy Doesn't Have To Be Taxing

"Taxonomy Doesn't Have To Be Taxing." Quercus Blog / Quercus.
London: Quercus Blog, December 8th 2010.

"Once upon an earlier time there were folk called Librarians. Librarians had two main jobs 1) only they were allowed to say the magic word shush in the hallowed churches they commanded (known as libraries) and 2) only they were allowed to organize books into categories. Librarians were a sub-species of the magical creatures known as Taxonomists."

Libraries Seen As Easy Touch When It Comes To Balancing The Books

"Libraries Seen As Easy Touch When It Comes To Balancing The Books." The Guardian / Alexandra Topping & Benedicte Page.
London: The Guardian Online, January 7th 2011.

"Brent is one of hundreds of councils planning to close public libraries in an attempt to meet huge cuts imposed by central government. Nearly 400 are threatened with closure, and with half of councils yet to announce their plans, the final number could be as many as 800 – a fifth of all libraries. One of those earmarked is Kensal Rise library. Housed in a comfortingly solid Victorian building, near a primary school on a quiet residential street, it was opened in 1900 by Mark Twain.

Caroline Bottomley, 49, has been going there for 12 years. "I walk down the road on my way home from the tube, and when I see those brass chandeliers twinkling in the windows, it feels like a homecoming," she said. "It's not just a library, it's such a big symbol of the community."

It is homely, with dark wood parquet floors, old-fashioned bookshelves, hushed voices. Students ploughing through their books, an older woman slowly turning pages of the Daily Mail.

Sara Levy, 39, sat with three-year-old Ella, colouring in Spot the Dog on a computer screen, with three-week-old Ava asleep on her chest. "It's the only local place you can come without spending money," she said. "It's local and friendly. And it's classless."

The Internet In A Cup: Coffee Fuelled the Information Exchanges of the 17th & 18th Centuries

"The Internet In A Cup: Coffee Fuelled the Information Exchanges of the 17th & 18th Centuries." The Economist / Not Attributed.
London: The Economist Online, December 18th 2003.

"WHERE do you go when you want to know the latest business news, follow commodity prices, keep up with political gossip, find out what others think of a new book, or stay abreast of the latest scientific and technological developments? Today, the answer is obvious: you log on to the internet. Three centuries ago, the answer was just as easy: you went to a coffee-house. There, for the price of a cup of coffee, you could read the latest pamphlets, catch up on news and gossip, attend scientific lectures, strike business deals, or chat with like-minded people about literature or politics."

The Rights & Wrongs of Digital Books

"The Rights & Wrongs of Digital Books." BBC / Bill Thompson.
London: BBC News Online, November 4th 2010.

The Librarian's Tale: Too Much Demand For Too Few Terminals

"The Librarian's Tale: Too Much Demand For Too Few Terminals." The Economist / Albuquerque.
London: The Economist Online, October 21st 2010.

"Almost all of America’s public libraries provide free internet access. Over the past two years, hard-hit Americans have been economising by cancelling their broadband contracts at home and looking to public libraries to fill the gap. ... The best way for America to ease the new strain on its libraries is by closing the digital divide."

Come for the free Internet, & stay for the value.

Ebooks Don’t Cannibalize Print, People Do

"Ebooks Don’t Cannibalize Print, People Do." Black Plastic Glasses / Evan Schnittman.
London: Black Plastic Glasses, September 27th 2010.

"I was given two free print books and I wound up purchasing them on my Kindle anyway!

Why did I do this?  Because ever since I started using a dedicated ereading device and platform I have found the convenience of having all the books I am reading and want to read all in one device far more convenient than toting around one print book at a time. In fact with the Kindle platform, I can read on my MacBook Pro, Kindle, iPhone, iPad, or Blackberry. I read on these devices when I have spare moments, when I travel, when I am in the doctor’s office waiting room, when I don’t want to think about work for 30 minutes and I want to escape. And since they all synchronize to the cloud, I am always exactly where I left off on any device I want to use.

As a result, I read and purchase far more books than I ever have before (save when I was in college) because I now have my books —and the ability to get most any book I want — at all times and in all places. And because I am an ebook reader, I shop for virtually all of my reading in ebookstores.

Therein lies the rub." 

International Number Ones

"International Number Ones: Because Every Country is Good at Something." Information is Beautiful / David McCandless.
London: InformationisBeautiful.net, May 2010.

Pope Benedict Wanted to Be A Librarian

"Pope Benedict Wanted to Be A Librarian." The Telegraph / Simon Caldwell.
London: The Telegraph Online, August 5th 2010.

Neil Gaiman Says Closing Libraries Would be 'A Terrible Mistake'

"Neil Gaiman Says Closing Libraries Would be 'A Terrible Mistake'." The Telegraph / Stephen Adams.
London: The Telegraph Online, June 24th 2010.

"Accepting the award in London yesterday, Gaiman said: "Libraries are our future – to close them would be a terrible, terrible mistake – it would be stealing from the future to pay for today which is what got us into the mess we’re in now.  In this austerity world it's incredibly easy if you are a local authority and you are looking for cuts, to say 'Let's cut libraries'. But that's borrowing from the future." 

The Death of the Library: Read It & Weep

"The Death of the Library: Read It & Weep." Politics Daily / Delia Lloyd.

London: Politics Daily Online, June 6th 2010.

"...more than 25 million Americans reported using their public library more than 20 times in 2008, up from 20.3 million Americans in 2006. Particularly in the wake of the economic downturn, more and more Americans are turning to public libraries for such things as job hunting or to seek government services and continuing education -- not to mention free books, DVDs and CDs. And yet, according to this same study, a majority of states report cuts in library financing. In short -- much like the post office -- we seem to be losing these iconic communal institutions of our youth....My librarian friend reminds me that President Barack Obama obtained his first job after attending Columbia University by going to the New York Public Library.... In short, libraries are vital to creating an informed citizenry that is the hallmark of any democracy. So what do we lose when we lose libraries? We lose a lot."

The Power of Parametadata

"The Power of Parametadata." VocabControl / Fran.
London: VocabControl Online, May 2nd 2010.

Library Use #9: Intellectual Freedom