Suffolk County Council has launched a consultation on the future of rural libraries. 29 libraries in rural areas are facing closure due to limited use - in some libraries, the cost of each loan is more than the cost of buying a new paperback book. The library may as well buy each visitor a book.
The consultation is here - you can share your ideas on how to use rural libraries in another way:
http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/CouncilAndDemocracy/Consultations/LibrariesConsultation2011.htm
The consultation closes on the 31st April.
I am a Suffolk resident and my local library is earmarked for closure. I take my children there, but very rarely - maybe once every two months; maybe less. If there was a cafe there, I'd go every week.
So how can we change what libraries do to keep them open, and make them pay? Why not open cafes in libraries to bring people in? How about using the space to provide retail space for community enterprises - or renting out space to groups to meet.
Why put in a people's supermarket to rural libraries?: http://www.thepeoplessupermarket.org/ Rural communities are sometimes far from shops in town, and village shops struggle to survive. Run it as a collective, not for profit - ask members to work there for a few hours a week and sell food at a discount. Small scale local growers and producers can access a marketplace on a level playing field.
We can use libraries as social hubs, to find out about work, to work in, to volunteer, to exhibit, meet and run micro-businesses.
This place is ours - if we want libraries, we need to go, to use them, to be involved - to value libraries as a part of your community. What is your local library worth?
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