As you’d expect, things have changed in the 15 years between when the Public Libraries News blog was started in 2010 and this year, when I retired from it. But some things, sadly, have not altered so much. 

Even with the change of government to Labour in 2024, austerity is still with us in the public sector. Taking inflation into account and the cuts that have been announced, public library budgets have halved. That is impossible to ignore.  

The cuts mean that there are no big library building projects in the foreseeable future such as those we saw before 2010 in Manchester, Liverpool and above all Birmingham. There is little money to maintain and refurbish libraries to the standard of their high street neighbours. 

Cuts also mean that many smaller libraries have now closed or turned into volunteer or community led spaces. There were almost no libraries with unpaid staff before 2010. Now there are hundreds. These community libraries have proved themselves to be sustainable. Very few have closed and they appear (as in France and other countries) here to stay. 

Another thing here to stay is technology designed to reduce paid staff time and, if we are lucky, extend opening hours. Staffless or “open” technology is very much established from being non-existent in 2010. Self-service machines are now everywhere, making everything more efficient but at the same time silencing the sound of the date-stamp and making interaction with the public that much harder. 

The big societal changes, caused by digital, did not leave libraries untouched. The numbers of frontline librarians answering enquiries are declining in many services. We must accept that the public has, in large part, not missed their passing. They have been replaced by devices in pockets and on wrists, with the impact offset a bit by library computers. 

eBooks were, at the start of the period, seen by many library staff with dread because it looked like the replacement of the printed book was going to happen. That has proved not to be the case but there are still major challenges to our main stock in trade, with book issues declining significantly, even with the post-Covid revival blip being considered.  Additionally, 3D printers and associated workshops or ‘makerspaces’ entered the decade with much fanfare but have now settled down as part of our offer. 

There were government standards for libraries in 2010. Now they are no more. But libraries, that huge socialist and green community experiment set up by the Victorians, are still here. They have not been massacred, although perhaps they have been starved. They are still used and widely appreciated. They are still amazing places that give free space and knowledge to all, regardless of their ability to pay. And that is why I love them and do not regret my many hours of free time spent chronicling and defending them. May we, and they, never go quietly.