Public library closures: the management of hard decisions

Abstract

Reports on management issues arising when authorities decide to close public library service points. The data come from two British Library funded projects. The first used a questionnaire survey of all local authorities in England and Wales to reveal the extent of reductions in access, followed by “before and after” studies of users affected. The second study investigated what authorities had learned from their experience of closing libraries. Twenty authorities that had closed libraries for financial reasons were surveyed and senior managers interviewed in ten of these. The study concludes that there are no criteria which can justify closure to library users. Consultation is often minimal due primarily to the short budget timescales. The process of closing libraries can be traumatic, the public backlash often deterring local politicians from agreeing to further cuts. A key issue in preventing the closure of libraries is the way authorities conventionally measure their success. Authorities need to recognise that the local library has a wide‐ranging social value, besides being a source of reading material. That value is identified by the research.

Citation

Proctor, R. and Simmons, S. (2000), "Public library closures: the management of hard decisions", Library Management, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 25-34. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120010305609