Bookmaster2

Head down to your local library on Saturday 5th of March for a Sheffield-wide read-in! Friday 4th of March will see Sheffield City Council finalise its budget. The proposed cuts to Sheffield Library Service will mean a massively reduced mobile library capacity, reductions in opening hours at most branches and the loss of around 33 full-time staff posts. In small service points many of the activities will have to go - this include...s babytimes and storytimes. Linked in with proposed cuts to Surestart this is a double whammy to parents of under fives. Despite the fact that we have been assured that no libraries will close this year, there is still another £1.1 million to come off the library budget in 2012/13 and 2013/14. It is hard to see how this won't lead to closures. We have to make our voice heard now! Get down to your local library (that includes the Central Library too!) for 11am on Saturday 5th March, grab a book and start reading. Make signs and banners to explain why you are there, why you value your library service and why you are opposed to ALL cuts to public services. Not sure where your local library is? Go here: http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/libraries/find We are also looking for volunteers who can take photos and/or film the event in their local library. Please contact us at [email protected] if you think you can help out.

Go4it makes some interesting points but so much of what he says is wrong that I suspect he does not understand how public libraries operate. Yes, academic libraries provide specialist services and need specialist staff, but he is wrong to suggest that public libraries are just “full of Jilly Cooper” and do not require professional skills. A public library SERVICE provides a wide range of leisure reading, literature, reference materials, specialist collections (local history, archives, business services etc) and support for lifelong learning. Just because you are not a member of a university does not mean that you should not have access to specialist resources. In addition public librarians promote reading and information literacy with people of all ages and backgrounds. This is a complex and very professional task. Then this service has to be delivered to the community. This may involves a central library, branch libraries and service points which may be co-located with other services. Front line services will be provided by library assistants and perhaps, just possibly, by volunteer staff. He criticises the protest by suggesting that the mass borrowing will lead to books not being available on the shelves for other borrowers and that books may be damaged or lost. I was there and I think that most people were borrowing books that they wanted to read but were just taking more of them. Everyone taking out books was a supporter of libraries and of the principle that these books are a resource for the whole community. The suggestion that they would damage or lose books is ridiculous. If he is really concerned about books not being available in libraries then he must admit that the greatest threat comes from cutting the library budget by £2.5m pounds and not from supporters of libraries exercising their right to borrow what they want.

We are on You Tube It was a fantastic event. Thanks to everyone who attended.

We're on You Tube!

Thanks to everyone who atended the Shush-In for Sheffield Libraries. It was a great event!

Did anyone catch my interview on Sheffield Live community radio Communities Live programme? The podcast is at http://www.sheffieldlive.org/podcast/ My bit starts at 14.39

Yes, there is a poster about the Nutters of Beauchief. The original is in the Beauchief Muniments in Sheffield Library BM33-22. It's reproduced in M Jones Sheffield's woodland heritage http://www.heritagewoodsonline.co.uk/wood/ref.html The full text is reproduced at http://www.treeblog.co.uk/viewpost.php?id=145 but I have not found an image of the poster itself on line

As Blackbeard shows, this event was "banned" by Sheffield City Council. It was to have been a creative writing workshop with no propaganda - the sort of thing libraries do which may go if libraries are cut. The council have not reached a decision on cuts so why can't the people of Sheffield debate the issue?

Yes, things have changed and librarians are debating the most cost effective way of delivering the service so perhaps we don't need so many branch libraries. Bit as for the "decline" in usage. People will stop using a poor quality service but build a new library or refurbish one then usage leaps. Also many people now use libraries on-line. You can consult high quality reference material on line from Sheffield Libraries and in some areas people were using libraries on-line on Christmas day to download e-books to their new iPads! They are still a central store for quality information. You can get a million + hits on Google for a subject but how much of that is reliable and how do you tell the difference?

See the thread http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=714937 for the latest on Shh4sheflib on Saturday.

Sheffield City Council banned an event at Hillsborough Library because it was too political and banned Radio Sheffield from recording an item in a Sheffield Library. Please don't attend the Shh-in at the central library on Saturday at 11am in case it upsets the Council again.

If you are a regular user of this forum you may have noticed that the HelpYourself service from Sheffield Libraries often answers enquiries from people looking for clubs, groups etc. Or you may have used the sports collection in the Central Library. The City Council is looking at cuts in the libraries budget. Saturday is national Save our Libraries day. Please ahow your support for Sheffield Libraries. http://sinto.wetpaint.com/page/Save+our+Libraries

Do you ever use your public library for information about your hobby or craft? Have you found inspiration in a book you have borrowed? This Saturday is national Save our Libraries day. If you value the public library please show that you care. http://sinto.wetpaint.com/page/Save+our+Libraries

Its not just this service. Sheffield Council is looking at cutting the library budget as well. Children's services and information serviceswill be affected. It's national Save our Libraries day on Saturday 5th Feb. See http://sinto.wetpaint.com/page/Save+our+Libraries for details.

Only old people and small children!! And one person on their own responsible for looking after everyone, dealing with queries, answering phones, lunch breaks etc?