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Hi Nick,

The proposed (already approved?) changes to Barnet Library are much worse than those outlined on the website.

TOILET FACILITIES They are to be closed when the library is open but staffed only by volunteers. Mon-Fri, toilets will be open 12.5 hours total. The Spires closes at 8pm; library is open until 10pm.

SECURITY At no time will there be a security guard. When open with only volunteers on the premises, there will be increased thefts and vandalism. Drug addicts and drunks drinking in the library have occasionally been banned. What now? Is a young trainee supposed to take them on? We have been told that additional CCTV cameras will be installed.
They will be monitored in Wales; I am not being funny. We are told that you need a library card to enter the premises. All it takes if for one person to use a valid card to trigger a beam and half a dozen 'illegals' can walk in with their sleeping bags and carrier bags of alcohol.

MASSIVE SAVINGS TO THE COUNCIL IS A MYTH
Richard Cornelius states that marvellous cost cutting 'improvements' will save the Council more than £2 million a year and will help Barnet Council toward saving some £67 million. Rubbish! How much is Capita invoicing for the work its fee?

MUCH MORE THAN A LIBRARY
Barnet Library is (was?) one of the two largest libraries in London's second largest borough. This proposed action is disgrace and the Council deserves to be thrown out at the next election. I say this as a 42-year resident of Barnet, whose family has always voted Conservative. It would appear that we never will again.

Barnet Library is true community centre. Books, research facilities, CDs, computers, photocopiers, scanners (only one) of course play a major and significant role. But there is a book club, a knitting club, rhyme and singing time for toddlers, a choir. And more. The library is a meeting place for the retired and unemployed, moms with babies and young children. And of course, the library is a must for student study areas; students really do use Barnet Library as more than a place to hang out with friends.

As Ray Bradbury elegantly wrote. Without libraries, what have we? We have no past and no future."