The “Love Libraries” campaign (UK)
Libraries in the UK have been in a state of crisis for the last decade or more far beyond the degree of troubles we’ve seen in the U.S. Library use is way down and so are budgets, and the cutbacks in hours and the closures of branches have been much worse than here. Part of the reason is the stronger tradition of public library service in the U.S.; that is, public libraries are more integrated into normal social life in the U.S. than in the U.K. Librarians in the U.K. are responding to the crisis in interesting ways, and we can probably learn how to deal with some of our own library issues a little better by observing them deal with theirs. So, to that end, here’s a link to a U.K. campaign to promote libraries to the public, called, “Love Libraries”.