*

A remarkable fact of the local by-election this year is that all three of the main contending parties have put The Carnegie Library front and centre in their campaigns and in their flyers. As, Laura Swaffield (Chair of the Friends of Lambeth Libraries) observes:

What the candidates are saying about our library

*

In March, Lambeth Council gave us all a shock by passing a budget which cut £1m from library services (out of a total library budget of about £4.7m, a budget which has been more or less frozen since around 1984). We are still trying to figure out how they propose to make these cuts and keep the libraries open and staffed. They seem to think that cutting £100K from stock replacement (i.e. books) and saving about £377K by not filling vacant posts adds up to £1m. They are apparently counting on making up the difference by creating new revenue streams from the library (£500K+?). This at the same time that they have leased 5 rooms of the Carnegie to the Carnegie Library Hub for a peppercorn (and £500K+ revenue is beyond even the Hub's wildest projections). AND they don't seem to be aware that staff who are retained on a part-time basis (5 hours a week) have been working 35 hours a week to make up for the "vacancies" - and for so long that Unison has been advised they have an implied full-time contract - which means no savings by "not filling vacancies". The Council is adamant that they love libraries. They said this even as they were passing this potentially crippling budget and they say they are fully committed to keeping ALL TEN LAMBETH LIBRARIES OPEN with no reductions in opening hours or removal of professional staffing. The Friends of Carnegie Library are very pleased to hear this commitment. It is music to our ears. And we can't wait to see how they square this circle.

Laura Swaffield was at the Council meeting in March, when this budget was passed and she picked up at that meeting a written statement which was not signed but appears to be a statement from the Labour Councillors setting out their commitment to the library service. She has annotated it:

Lambeth Council Statement on libraries

*

If you have an answer to the question ("Who needs a local library?") please leave a comment, or send your comment by email to the Friends and we will post it here (assuming it is civil and of reasonable length) regardless of your point of view. (Comments are moderated, but only to block spammers.)