Are libraries outdated?

My local library service celebrated it's 100th anniversary last year: https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/news/happy-100th-birthday-to-our-west-sussex-library-service/

As others have mentioned there is far more about them these days than just books, although I can assure you they still buy plenty of them (I share an office with their bibliographical service who take in and index all the new ones!) One thing I haven't seen mentioned, I'm guessing other local authorities may have something similar, is the mobile book buses which go round local schools helping young children learn to read, a vital life skill. Even though our county isn't particularly deprived, when compared nationally, I think many people would be surprised at the number at the number of children who struggle. There are also many for whom English is not their first language. I know, because I have an aunt who's worked on them for many years, how much this service is valued.

So keep the libraries :)
 
I think someone mentioned how useful libraries were when they were young and poor and couldn't afford books. I don't think this has changed, the poor will still find books expensive and there should be provision to give people the access to the joy of books. It was one of the things that once marked us as a civilised nation and should remain so.
 
t2na said:
Used to go all the time when I was a kid because it was a great way to get books that I wouldn't have been able to afford/read otherwise. I think I read all 100 odd of the 'Biggles' books from our library when I was 10/11! Stopped going at around 16 (outside of the uni library for studying) - but now I'm 35 and have a 3 year old we go probably every single Saturday.

For me, the only 'outdated' element of the library is that the opening hours just don't work for a working person. Our local library's hours are 9-5 Monday to Friday and 9-4 on a Saturday - then closed on a Sunday. It's just baffling to me. I'd love to go on the way back from nursery collection some days but not a chance - and if we have something planned on a Saturday we can't then go on a Sunday because 1 of the 2 non-working days at the weekend it's fully closed.

It'd be a huge shame if we lost libraries, . I'd rather a larger % of my council tax went towards the library than on some of the other slightly ropey council choices.
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You're not the target audience. The ones here are used primarily by mums with kids - its a free activity and there isn't much to do outdoors at the moment. Kids after school doing homework, local activity groups and pensioners. For a knitting or craft meetings etc. Activities for kids with drawing, lego, etc. The kids area even has visits from children's authors which are very popular.
 
Blackjack Davy said:
You're not the target audience. The ones here are used primarily by mums with kids - its a free activity and there isn't much to do outdoors at the moment. Kids after school doing homework, local activity groups and pensioners. For a knitting or craft meetings etc. Activities for kids with drawing, lego, etc. The kids area even has visits from children's authors which are very popular.
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I think you’ve missed my point. When I was a kid growing up, my mum or dad would take me and my sister a few nights a week after school to grab books and they had ‘late’ hours where the library was open till 9.

I’m not saying daytime hours should be sacrificed at expense of having support for evening hours - but just because more and more families now have 2 working parents shouldn’t mean that they aren’t the target audience. It’s a public library, it’s for the public. Why should it be that we had better library hours 30 years ago than we have now?

I honestly think that our local library having one day a week that it was open until 8 or 9pm would be a massive benefit.
 
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Rroff said:
I've not had anything to do with a public library since the late 90s. From some Googling the one in the town I work in seems to be combined with providing some social care services which would make sense as a way to combine costs.
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That's common now - they're more like advice hubs & community centres with activities etc.. kids have story-time sessions to encourage them to read, elderly people having a social group - knit and natter etc.. or the library being a designated warm space in winter.

The computers are often used by benefits claimants to fulfil work search requirements, also advisors on hand to help with things like PIP forms (those are quite popular these days!)

dave28 said:
There are mobile Library's which are fantastic in my opinion, one parks about 50 yards from my house every Friday and I can get them to bring me any book in the County area Library system ( I think the entire UK if you search the database of other Counties and get the code for the book you want )
I find that incredibly handy personally since I can order a bunch of nice hardbacks that would have cost a fair bit in shops.
I dont want to see them end.
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That's probbaly the sort of thing that might well get phased out - you can "borrow" a bunch of ebooks from libraries these days so no need to have them physically delivered, or at least not for adult readers and a van doesn't exactly provide the other facilities that keep libraries relevant.
 
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Diddums said:
We went a couple of months ago to print off some stuff.

I don't want them to go anywhere, they're very useful places, particularly for the elderly. It gives them a reason to leave home and go read, keeps the old grey matter going. It's also a social space for a lot of people, to have a chat and catch up on who's curtains have been twitching the most in the 'hood lately.
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Spot on. But 5% if that is true for one council maybe others are more, it feels like something dodgy is going on in the financial books… siphoning money off some how.
 
bigmike20vt said:
what with youth clubs taking a battering over the last 20 years library's are really the only place left where people can go if they want to get out of the house somewhere safe and quiet to meet friends actually in the real world and not get up to mischief. it would be a travesty for them to go.
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This, kids/teens need more things to do to keep them out of mischief, not fewer!

I'd rather councils spent more on these kind of places, e.g. youth clubs etc. than stupid waste of money projects like installing bollards in the middle of a field, making an already perfectly adequate road 5cm wider or repaving an entire street because the slabs are the wrong shade of grey.

Wouldn't surprise me at all if that gave a better ROI in terms of reducing anti-social behaviour than the same spending on policing
 
I use every few months to print something, and Ill use of the PCs for a bit too. I enjoy looking through the books sometimes, but it seems like they are more of a legacy thing now and the amount of space they take up I'm sure is disproportionate to why most people go there. 5% of council tax does seem like a lot, but my local one certainly does serve a brilliant communal function. Noise levels and finding a space can be a problem but that does mean people want to use the space.
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They are more than just books. For me they are useless, but my partner took our baby there at least once a week for the events they do, often multiple times. I went twice and wasn't for me, but it the whole place had people all over it, so I figured there's a lot of people that find them useful for whatever reason.
 
Our local library is inside the new leisure centre they built. It's open 9-6 mon-fri and half day on a sat. I haven't used a library in over 20 years but I used to get taken to one for books as a kid.

And no they should not be closed down. That's the problem with this country, the continuous race to the bottom as long as someone somewhere is making a profit.
 
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