Give me books in my library, not coffee, the net and DVDs

My Account
Logout

Create an Evening Standard Account

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Welcome! Sign in here

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Forgot your password ?

Registration

* indicates fields that are mandatory

Email *

Password *

Confirm Password *

First name *

Surname *

Postcode *

Country *

Mobile phone number

Username *

Gender *

Year of birth *

When you sign up...

You will have access to all our online competitions, discounted offers and can post comments on our site.

You will also receive The Weekender newsletter sent every Thursday - it’s full of fantastic offers and ideas for the weekend. You can update your email preferences in your account page when you log in.

Other newsletters and emails

Homes & Property Newsletter - Yes I want to receive the weekly email with all the latest news on property in the capital

Occasionally we would also like to send you relevant emails detailing specific offers either from ourselves or carefully selected partners. If you would prefer not to receive these then please tick the appropriate boxes below. We will never pass on your details.

I do not want to receive additional offers and information from the Evening Standard

I do not want to receive additional offers and information sent by Evening Standard on behalf of carefully selected partners

Terms and Conditions

* I have read, understood and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of Evening Standard

Registration

Mail Sent for Registration Confirmation.

A confirmation email has been sent. Please activate your account by clicking on the activation link sent in your mail box.

Yet again the libraries round my way are being "restructured". According to Steve Reed, the leader of Lambeth council, the final decisions haven't been made yet and - you guessed it - consultation is ongoing. In practice, the notice is already pinned on the musty old corkboard: the plan is to axe the jobs of 23 librarians and have them re-apply for half that number. Naturally, these new posts will be of a more lowly "non-librarian" grade. In a borough that already has the lowest staffing spend in London, there will be fewer staff to deal with the book-borrowing public.

The justification for this swingeing axe to the tree of learning is twofold: on the one hand Lambeth wants to save a measly £200,000; on the other, according to them, the rise of the Great God Google means people no longer require librarians to help them find books or the information they contain. If only the latter were true - but in fact library staff spend a lot of their time helping people to use the internet to begin with, and setting up email accounts for them.

Lambeth may be the most egregious example, but it reflects a growing trend in library services throughout London and the country as a whole. As it happens, I'm actually sitting in a library while I type this. Or rather, I'm sitting in a Costa cappuccino bar inside a library. Should I wish it I can also borrow a "sexy" DVD in this "library", hire a conference room and, of course, surf the internet. Don't get me wrong: there are books available in here, but they look distinctly dull next to the shiny retail opportunities.

Over the past decade libraries have been increasingly driven to compete with web cafés, Borders and Blockbuster in order to guarantee their funding; then they fail to do so and their budgets are still cut. It's not that I'm such a Luddite that I don't think there's place for DVDs and computers in our libraries (although I draw the line at skinny lattes); it's just that the primary purpose of these venerable institutions should always be the provision of books, free, to the community-charge and tax-payer.

The internet is a valuable tool, but Googling Plato can never be the same experience as reading The Republic, let alone being directed to The Republic by a qualified librarian who can also help you to widen your reading in classics or political philosophy. The guarantor of cultured society is a proper storehouse of knowledge, properly maintained - not a cringeing imitation of Starbucks, where the staff are under the lash to "up their quotas" or else.

If people don't want to visit a library as traditionally conceived, that's their loss. There's no reason for local authorities to capitalise on it.