WITH town halls under huge pressure to implement savage Government-driven budget cuts, libraries are facing an uncertain future.
All councils are braced for their funding being reduced by up to a quarter as the Government takes drastic action to reduce the national deficit.
Lewisham council officers tasked with making cuts of £60million over three years have suggested closing libraries to save around £800,000.
The five branches facing the chop are Sydenham, Crofton Park, Grove Park, New Cross and Blackheath Village.
But campaigners say by copying the model of London’s only independent library in Upper Norwood, town halls could save thousands without resorting to any closures.
Tim Coates is chairman of London Libraries for Life and a former managing director of international bookseller Waterstone’s.
He told the South London Press: “There are people being paid £80,000 to £100,000 a year who are making cuts to save their own jobs.
“It would be good to explore the option of making libraries more independent. I think they could save more money than they would by closing them and they could make them better.”
Upper Norwood Library is unique in the capital in that it is state-fundedbut independently run.
It sits on the border of Lambeth and Croydon and receives its money from both councils.
Chief librarian Bradley Millington said it was less costly to run because there are no costs associated with a borough-wide libraries department based at the town hall.
He said: “It’s cheaper to run because there’s no corporate apparatus.
“We’re more focussed on the local community because it’s independent and the staff feel it’s their own library.
“Here staff stay, in a conventional library authority staff move around. The public grow up with the same staff – we have someone who has been here since 1959.”
Lewisham is one of the most efficient library services in the capital.
But it still costs each resident £16.10 a year compared with £12.37 for Upper Norwood.
Based on a population figure for Lewisham of around 250,000, if Lewisham stripped down its back-office staff and reduced the cost of each library to that of Upper Norwood, it could save around £1million without closing a single branch.
This is compared with the £830,000 the town hall hopes to save by closing five branches.
Mr Coates said: “They are saving so little because they have such large overhead costs. This is happening all over the country.”
The libraries expert advised Hillingdon council when it began an overhaul of its libraries service in 2007.
A spokesman for the north-west London council said: “We stripped out processes that do not need to be there and reduced costs.
“There have been massive increases in book issues, membership numbers and footfall into libraries.”
Mr Coates said: “If you have to find savings, do it by cutting overheads rather than services.
“Upper Norwood would be a very good model for the rest of the country.”
Asked whether it would consider the Upper Norwood model rather than closing branches, a spokeswoman for Lewisham council said: “Lewisham has one of the most efficient library services in London.
“Our proposals are aimed at improving library services in the most cost- effective ways.
“Models such as that adopted at Upper Norwood Library show there are other ways of providing library services and our job is to find solutions that best fit our local circumstances.”
A public meeting about the future of the New Cross branch will be held in the Moonshot Centre in Angus Street at 7pm on Wednesday.
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