This is the advise of The Telegraph. Their transformation, they note, from fusty institutes to hi-tech hubs has resulted in a schism in local libraries.
From the story...
The recently released Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) review ring-fenced the Libraries Act 1964, effectively preserving libraries as a cornerstone of our culture. However, its talk of free e-books, social networking use, community diversity and commercial links has fuelled a fierce debate about the purpose of a library in the modern age.
Talk to both sides and there is a clear schism between traditionalists and modernisers. For one it is about books and silence, for the other it’s about community usage, Facebook and cups of coffee or, in the words of Andrew Motion, the former Poet Laureate and now the chairman of the Museums Libraries and Archives Council, “shhh and fining or Starbucks and PCs”.
While lending increased marginally last year for the first time in 20 years, visits to the 3,500 public libraries in England have been declining for a decade. According to provisional figures for the year 2008-09 from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (Cipfa), the overall numbers of active library users dropped by 2.1 per cent to 12 million, with young people the least likely to use them.
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