Our December bulletin has been published, with updates on Lambeth Council's plans for the library, and our alternatives: December Bulletin

A new site has been launched for the Lambeth Libraries campaign:
Defend the 10

This term was introduced by Lambeth in its Culture 2020 Report, which is available at
Cabinet report
in the Full cabinet papers.

The report uses the following key definitions :-

"Healthy Living Centre" is a gym which has a lounge. [1]

"Neighbourhood Library" is a self-service facility in the gym's lounge offering "a small selection of books," [2], Wi-Fi access and computers. [3]

In other words a "neighbourhood library" would not be a library.

[1] Page 45 paragraph 7.9

[2] Page 154
[3] Page 30 paragraphs 5.21 and 5.22

Thank you to the 80 members who attended the Friends’ AGM on 18 March. Sorry the Gallery was so crowded; the number was even more than we had hoped for. With only a couple of dissenting voices, the meeting was overwhelmingly in agreement that we must keep our public library professionally staffed and continue all the activities which make it the successful hub of our community.

The following were elected to serve for the coming year:

Chair: Jeffrey Doorn
Vice Chair: Stephen Carlill
Secretary: Nicholas Edwards
Treasurer: Bob Goodrick

Committee members: Elizabeth Ochagavia, Jackie Plumridge,
Helen O’Rourke, Gulnar Hasnain,
Laura Swaffield, Olga Stelmakh,
Gordon Harkess, Dalvir Kaur.

I am grateful to Bob, Nick, Liz and Jackie for continuing to serve. It is a pleasure to have Stephen and Helen back; and we warmly welcome Gulnar, Laura, Olga, Gordon and Dalvir. Their wide interests, knowledge and skills will be invaluable.

As agreed by the meeting, we will press ahead with the arrangements for a consultative body for all library users, working in cooperation with our library staff.

The committee has met informally to sketch out the way forward, the first priority being our submission to Lambeth’s Culture 2020 consultation.