Local residents will protest outside of East Finchley library this afternoon to object to cuts made to their local library services.
Baby
It’s the 20th anniversary of World Book Day and many children will be celebrating by dressing up as their favourite character. But, for some children in Barnet, the day has more of a significant meaning.
The cuts were decided upon on 25th February by the Children, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee. All 14 libraries in the area will remain open but the changes will include the following:
Reduction in the number of staffed hours
Self-Service Opening
Smaller libraries with more commercial space for hire/rent
Changes to fees and charges
Save Barnet Libraries are a campaign group who are lobbying to prevent these cuts which they say will cause permanent damage to children.
We spoke to Labour Councillor for East Finchley Arjun Mittra who has referred to the cuts as “ludicrous”. He expanded: I personally think that the party who made the decision are the ones who need adult supervision. That’s not a working library – you would almost think that they were trying to run down the service and make it virtually unusable so they can cut the whole thing altogether. That’s certainly the opinion of a lot of the residents here. But it comes from the fact that they don’t value the service, they don’t value libraries.”
However, Conservative Councillor, John Hart who voted to make the changes, defended them by saying: “The printed book takes up a lot of room and is not really as well used as it should be. It’s a change – so the libraries are being adapted to be more digitally conscious and more technological – people want computers and want to access information – they don’t necessarily want to read a book which is a pity, but it’s reality. So we’re keeping all our libraries. we’re saving money – nearly £2.5million. The London borough of Brent and the London borough of Harrow closed half their libraries. I’m saying, adapt, evolve, improve, move on – the complaints were: ‘you’re closing the libraries’ – no we’re not, there’s a library there – it won’t be quite the same as you like.’
You can see more of what John and Arjun had to say in their exclusive interviews with City News at 4pm.
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HeadlineWorld Book Day: Barnet children dressed to protest
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Local residents will protest outside of East Finchley library this afternoon to object to cuts made to their local library services.
Baby
It’s the 20th anniversary of World Book Day and many children will be celebrating by dressing up as their favourite character. But, for some children in Barnet, the day has more of a significant meaning.
The cuts were decided upon on 25th February by the Children, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee. All 14 libraries in the area will remain open but the changes will include the following:
Reduction in the number of staffed hours
Self-Service Opening
Smaller libraries with more commercial space for hire/rent
Changes to fees and charges
Save Barnet Libraries are a campaign group who are lobbying to prevent these cuts which they say will cause permanent damage to children.
We spoke to Labour Councillor for East Finchley Arjun Mittra who has referred to the cuts as “ludicrous”. He expanded: I personally think that the party who made the decision are the ones who need adult supervision. That’s not a working library – you would almost think that they were trying to run down the service and make it virtually unusable so they can cut the whole thing altogether. That’s certainly the opinion of a lot of the residents here. But it comes from the fact that they don’t value the service, they don’t value libraries.”
However, Conservative Councillor, John Hart who voted to make the changes, defended them by saying: “The printed book takes up a lot of room and is not really as well used as it should be. It’s a change – so the libraries are being adapted to be more digitally conscious and more technological – people want computers and want to access information – they don’t necessarily want to read a book which is a pity, but it’s reality. So we’re keeping all our libraries. we’re saving money – nearly £2.5million. The London borough of Brent and the London borough of Harrow closed half their libraries. I’m saying, adapt, evolve, improve, move on – the complaints were: ‘you’re closing the libraries’ – no we’re not, there’s a library there – it won’t be quite the same as you like.’
You can see more of what John and Arjun had to say in their exclusive interviews with City News at 4pm.
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