February 2013
1 post
SAVE SHEFFIELD LIBRARIES
Do you care about your library?
They should not be shut.
They cannot be run by volunteers.
They are not businesses.
Libraries are a public service
and they need your support
Tuesday
19th Feb 6.30pm
United Reform Church
(Norfolk St/Chapel Walk)
Join us for a public meeting:
SAVE SHEFFIELD LIBRARIES
Library Workers For A Brighter Future
Email: lwfabf@gmail.com
Twitter:...
February 2012
2 posts
Save Sheffield Libraries campaign meeting
Love your library? Think any cuts are bad? Feeling overwhelmed and not sure what to do about it? Come and talk about what we can do to protect libraries in Sheffield, at the Quaker Meeting House, Wednesday 29th Feb, 6.30pm onwards. (Donations for room hire very welcome!) Just because there are no libraries closing doesn’t mean that there aren’t problems - the cuts are affecting the...
#NLD12 - UNISON "Save Sheffield Libraries"...
As part of National Libraries Day UNISON Sheffield will be launching a petition against cuts to library services outside the Central Library on Saturday 4th February. The text of the petition (which can be downloaded and printed from here) reads as follows:
We the undersigned oppose the cuts to library services in Sheffield. A well-funded library service is an integral part of a functioning...
April 2011
1 post
Libraries Uncut!
Mayday! Mayday! Save our libraries! To celebrate International Workers’ Day Library Workers For A Brighter Future and Sheffield Uncut would like to invite you to the opening of the Sheffield Peoples’ Library. The exact location is yet to be confirmed, but we will meet in Cathedral Square at 1pm and proceed to the venue which we will occupy and transform into a library.
Bring a...
March 2011
2 posts
Private Finance Insanity
In the second of our series of blog posts about cuts and and savings that can truly be called progressive we look at Private Finance Initiatives.
Private Finance Initiatives (PFI’s) were introduced by John Major’s government as a way of funding public works such as schools, hospitals and new roads through the use of private capital.
In practice this meant contracts were handed out...
The budget (at last...) and 'Rage against the Lib...
The budget was finally passed by Sheffield council at a meeting last Friday. We’ve had a quick read through and extracted some of the sections that deal with libraries. From the main budget report (pages 34-35) we have the following: Libraries 138. The Council currently spends £8.5m providing a central library, 28 local libraries, and four mobile libraries. We are currently considering what...
February 2011
8 posts
Posters for the Read-in...
…are available to download here and here.
Download, print and put up everywhere!
Read-in for Sheffield Libraries!
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 (not without a protest outside the Town Hall though…). 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...
What Price A Life
In the first of new series of blog posts we look at a series of cuts and savings that can truly be called progressive.
Our first topic is the massive amounts spent by our NHS on patented drugs each year. Like the current government we too believe that the current healthcare system is in need of a major overhaul, but one that results in a diminished rather than greater role for the private...
Not "the end of the world" apparently...
Last week Councillor Paul Scriven, Leader of Sheffield Council, went on the World at One on Radio Four and announced that there would be no library closures in Sheffield. In the rush to announce to the nation how great the cuts will be in Sheffield (despite the pay freeze, job losses, etc., those of us on under £21000 are being offered a £250 pay rise - crumbs from the table), they neglected...
For those of you who can't make it on Saturday
Here’s a great idea from the blog of artist, writer and illustrator Jackie Morris for those of you who can’t make it to Saturdays ‘Shhh!’-in…
In support of this I would like to ask all those who read this post to send to the library in Sheffield a short piece of writing about why it is that they love libraries, what the library meant to them when they were young,...
Guardian map of library protests
Go here to see the Guardians map of protests planned at libraries across the country.
‘Bard’ barred from Sheffield library?
Here’s a great article from Wednesdays Sheffield Star:
‘Bard’ barred from Sheffield library?
Sheffield library workers campaigning against feared budget cuts have been banned from holding a children’s creative writing workshop featuring ‘Bard of Barnsley’ Ian McMillan amid concerns over “political comments”.
Read on
Media coverage of 'Shhh'-in and banned Ian...
Have a read of these pieces in the Guardian and the Sheffield Star covering the planned ‘Shhh’-in and the banned Ian McMillan event.
January 2011
6 posts
Council ban children's creative writing event
Sheffield City Council have informed Library Workers For A Brighter Future that a planned event at Upperthorpe Library, a children’s creative writing workshop to be run by poet, broadcaster & comedian, Ian McMillan, will not be allowed to go ahead due to concerns over possible ‘political comments’. The event, conceived as a fun and creative way of highlighting the value of...
'Shhh!'-in at Sheffield Central Lending Library...
Saturday 5th of February is the national day of action for libraries and Library Workers For A Brighter Future would like to invite everybody to a mass ‘Shhhh!’-in at 11am in the Sheffield Central Lending Library on Surrey Street. Shhh-In rules…
Finger to lips.
At 11am say ‘Shhhhh!’
Finish off with three cheers for the library!
Finally, borrow lots of books –...
And when the deficit is gone, what then?
At the moment we are an embattled country all fighting towards the same end- reducing the deficit. Time and time again the government justification for the current cuts is that the nation’s finances are in such dyer circumstances, that we are going to have to take some severe pain. According to David Cameron its not going to get any easier in 2011:
“The plans we have in place are...
Cut One and We All Bleed
Library closures are politically unpopular in any area as the general public tend to see such measures as hugely regressive step. Any Sheffield Councillors who were any doubt of the strength of feeling against library closures will no doubt have been convinced after the public reaction to the proposed closure of the children’s library at Hillsborough. Its also hard to make such cuts on the...
Pay freeze - "Happy New Year" from Sheffield...
This week many council staff will have received a letter from their employer asking them to agree to a freeze on incremental pay increases over the next two years. After failing to reach a collective agreement with the trade unions, the council has decided to seek individual agreement from its employees. It claims that the sole reason for this action is ‘to safeguard the employment of as...
Map of public library closures →
Very useful map featuring information on proposed closures of public libraries in the UK.
December 2010
8 posts
Day of Action Against Library Cuts
LWFABF fully back the day of action called by library campaigners in February. We hope to co-ordinate an event in Sheffield so do keep a close watch on the blog for more details.
Save Doncaster Libraries have held a number of “read-ins” in the past which are descirbed as being;
“…like a demonstration but friendlier, with story readings and someone there to entertain the...
Myth-busting: UK Uncut Actions in Support of...
UKuncut has grown rapidly over the last few weeks. The group was conceived as a way of highlighting the weakness of the arguments advocating the necessity for huge spending cuts to reduce the national deficit. The group decided to do this by drawing attention to the huge amount lost through tax evasion and tax avoidance each year. According to HMRC’s own estimate £42 billion each year is lost to...
Why the Bail-Out Did Not End in 2008
Campaigners against public sector cuts are rapidly coming to grips with complex economic concepts for the very simple reason that it is too important to leave to others. Traditionally the reporting of economic affairs have been left to ‘embedded’ journalists reporting directly from the city of London or Wall St, responding to questions about how the ‘markets’ will react to this or that...
Concerns over the future of Upperthorpe Library
Concerns are being raised over the future of Upperthorpe Library. The library is situated in a complex along with a swimming pool, café and gym run by Zest. Talks are currently under way between council managers and Zest executives concerning cheaper ways to run the library.
To say anything more about what is planned for the future (e.g. use of volunteers instead of trained library staff) at this...
Campaign group ‘to speak up for libraries’ - Local... →
Great piece in this week’s Sheffield Telegraph about Library Workers For A Brighter Future. To read click on the link above or visit:
http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/news/local/campaign_group_to_speak_up_for_libraries_1_2818949
List of Predictable Anti-Library Comments
Excellent article about familiar arguments that library campaigners are faced with and why it is important to debunk these myths.
2 tags
Framing the Debate: The argument against opposing...
How many library users have found their ideal job advertised in jobs papers or one of the many trade journal’s available to read for free in references libraries across the country? They may even have applied for the job online using the library computers. How many entrepreneurs made their first moves into business by checking out the current state of the market by using one of the online packages...
November 2010
12 posts
2 tags
Library Campaign Pressures Vaizey to Stay True to...
Friends of Gloucestershire Libraries have put Culture Minisiter Ed Vaizey, the MP for Didcot and Wantage in Oxfordshire, under considerable pressure as it emerged that the proposed cuts to the library service in Vaizey’s area may be illegal.
Earlier this month the Culture Minister appeared supportive of libraries when he faced difficult questions in Parliment concerning the effect the...
Public Library News blog →
The Public Library News blog is keeping count of which local authorities have announced cuts. Not happy reading, but a reminder of why we have to start fighting back now before it’s too late.
200 job losses at British Library
Message from the British Library’s Chief Executive Following the initial announcement in the November Reader Bulletin, we promised to keep you up to date with our plans for implementing the reductions required of us in the recent public sector spending review settlement. I cannot hide from you that the level of cuts presents us with a huge challenge. The settlement for the next four...
Why not volunteers? Or, isn't this just about...
As part of the ‘Big Society’ the government has announced its desire to see public services run by the communities they serve. An interesting idea. No one can reasonably oppose the principle that communities should have a greater say in how their local services are run. But what do these proposals really mean for the public library? We have already seen what this amounts to in...
Sheffield Anti-Cuts Alliance Campaign
Wednesday (24th November) saw the inaugural meeting of the Sheffield Anti-Cuts campaign. The room was packed. All 154 seats were taken and many people were crammed in round the sides of the meeting room whilst others were craning their necks at the entrance.
Spirits were high following the huge national day of demonstrations, walk-outs and occupations that students and pupils had been taking part...
1 tag
UK Library Watch →
Interesting site with links to news articles about the threats to public libraries and the growing fight back against the cuts.
Solidarity with students occupying Sheffield...
We’d like to express our solidarity with students currently occupying the Richard Roberts building at Sheffield University. They’ve laid out their demands as follows:
Sheffield University has been occupied by students opposed to the increase in tuition fees and education cuts.
All the proposals below were decided by majority vote.
· We demand that the University does as...
So What Can I Do? →
Click the link above for some ideas as to what we can be doing now in our workplace.
The alternatives →
Click the link above for a brief discussion on the alternatives to public sector cuts.
Contact us →
Click the link above to talk to us. What’s going on in your workplace?
Five points →
Five key points:
1. Libraries are an essential part of a vibrant community.
2. The cuts announced by the current government, and supported to a large extent by the opposition, are a threat to the future of libraries.
3. This effects everybody who works in libraries, both temporary and permanent staff.
4. This threat to libraries is a threat to our communities as a whole, including other...
So now we know (…kind of)
The Government has announced its intention to cut local authorities budget by a massive 28.4% over the next four years. So if the government’s plans are successful what could this mean for our libraries in Sheffield? Despite a dire warning from the Chairperson of the Local Government Association, Baroness Margaret Eaton that this will mean “fewer libraries”, we are still none the wiser. While we...
