Camden’s Labour party are this weekend rather naively claiming that their “local action teams” have won a fantastic victory in the battle to save Camden’s libraries. Or is it really a victory? Perhaps they should check their facts - on a closer look this self-proclaimed miracle may simply turn out to be a clever conjuring trick!
After months of talking and costly consultations (which only proved what everyone already knew – no-one wants libraries closed) a paper on the future of Camden’s libraries has been produced with a flourish – like a rabbit out of a hat! Abracadra!
Top line - - no-one’s local library will be closed tomorrow, next week or even next month, but maybe next year or …? This sleight of hand has allowed the Labour Council to claim they have listened to residents and are NOT closing your local library! They have even produced leaflets to claim it is all due to them and are briefly basking in the sunshine of what they hope will be widespread public approval.
But hang on a minute – like all conjuring tricks – it is the quickness of the hand that deceives – there’s a great deal up the sleeve. What can be spotted behind the hype and spin is that at least five libraries will not exist in the long term as they do today whilst several more are only hanging on in there on a temporary basis.
Clearly the long term agenda of cutting down Camden’s library service by 50% is still on the cards but instead of taking the way of sudden death, this will be a creeping extermination. Not with a bang but a whimper! This is obviously the intention – maybe a gullible public, battle -scarred and existing on false hope will finally give up their protests. In which case the opposition will simply dwindle away. Or will it? We suspect they are underestimating the strength of will and the long memory of Camden’s residents and will live to regret their false promises and clever tricks.
Just in case anyone might think we are being cynical - this is the fallout:
From 2012 Camden will be withdrawing from the provision of a public library service in 3 areas of the Borough – Chalk Farm, Hampstead and Belsize. They will allocate “transitional funding” to enable local volunteer groups to see if they can manage to run their own library.
The mobile library will be killed off and the premises they share with Highgate Library may be reallocated for some (unspecified) joint provision.
Regents Park Library will be closed and replaced by what sounds like a Homework/study centre.
Camden’s celebrated archives will be disappear from Holborn Library and may be jointly sourced with some other archive.
This leaves Holborn unviable and the building is scheduled for redevelopment with no hint as to its future. The same applies to Camden Town library in the Crowndale building while St Pancras will move to the new Kings Cross site.
So no closures? Camden’s residents could eventually be left, if the volunteer libraries fail, with libraries only in Swiss Cottage, West Hampstead (for the time being) Kilburn (which also largely serves Brent and Westminster,) Queens Crescent, Kentish Town and a new St Pancras (Six left out of thirteen).
These remaining libraries will have 10% fewer hours, 25% fewer new books and under current proposals, there will be a loss of at least 45 staff.
Not a happy future! And a somewhat Pyrrhic victory. But heighho – no closures this week as a rather bedraggled rabbit comes out of a very shiny hat!
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