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WALTHAM FOREST: Were 250,000 library books burned?
7:47am Thursday 22nd November 2007
ALMOST a quarter of a million books have gone missing from Waltham Forest libraries amid claims they have been burned or pulped.
That means there are 60 per cent fewer books in local libraries now than there were two years ago.
Library worker Lyndon Holmes told the Guardian: "We have to tell the public we can't get the books for them.
"When we have 15 million Mills and Boon, but no classics, it's just a shame. It's almost impossible now to do the job," the Unison union representative added.
"I know for a fact lots of them were taken to the tip, at least two van loads. There were all sorts, but I know there were brand new books."
All the borough's non-recyclable rubbish is taken to the London Waste depot at Edmonton to be burned. And anything not already sorted for recycling is destroyed along with the rest.
Mr Holmes said the books were dumped to make space in the refurbished Walthamstow Central Library and, by the time work was finished, there was not enough staff left in employment to sort them, give them away or sell them.
According to official figures presented to the council's cabinet in July, Waltham Forest's book stock has fallen from 1,738 per thousand people in 2004-5 to 717 per thousand people in April this year. That is a cull of 229,725 books, based on the current population of 225,000.
Nearly 75,000 books vanished during January and March this year alone.
David Brangwyn, a former librarian at Walthamstow Central Library, said staff had spent weeks packing and labelling books worth thousands of pounds before the library was refurbished but no-one knew where they went.
"They were perfectly good books and there was no reason to throw them away," he said.
Campaigners confronted the cabinet member for libraries, Cllr Geraldine Reardon, at Walthamstow West Community Council on Monday, demanding to know how many books had been destroyed.
"People tell me they've been pulped, burned, put in storage or sold off," said Michael Gold.
Cllr Reardon refused to comment at the meeting and when the Guardian later contacted her. She said she would answer campaigners' questions at the next meeting on January 28.
Your Say Your Guardian
Dave, Chingford says...
9:49am Thu 22 Nov 07
Concerned council tax payer, Walthamstow says...
11:02am Thu 22 Nov 07
Caroline, Walthamstow says...
11:23am Thu 22 Nov 07
.wordpress.com
for more about what the Campaign is doing to try and save both St James and Waltham Forest libraries generally, and how you can help.
Chris, Essex says...
11:54am Thu 22 Nov 07
Rich, Walthamstow says...
12:03pm Thu 22 Nov 07
Darron, Chingford says...
12:34pm Thu 22 Nov 07
I've been a member of my local library for almost 40 years, almost since birth. I've used the books for school, college and university work, as well as research needed at work. I've found books I cannot find elsewhere, usually because they are out of print.
I've got plenty of my own books and wanted to have them left to the libraries in my will. I now think they would just be put on a bonfire with my remains.
Dumbing down is something we've seen happen with television and newspapers. I've never before seen a council actively encourage it.
Shame on Waltham Forest Council.
Steve Knowles, Leytonstone says...
1:00pm Thu 22 Nov 07
Walthamster, E17 says...
1:24pm Thu 22 Nov 07
Why are they dumped when the redesigned libraries are full of empty space? Even if the council wants to demote libraries into all-purpose council buildings, as seems likely, why not just leave the books on temporary bookshelves?
The only answer (and I've racked my brains for any other) is that, as with downgrading the gallery and museum, this council just hates anything that could give people ideas.
Council-tax payer, Walthamstow says...
3:12pm Thu 22 Nov 07
Libraries, old people's services, social and cultural amenities cut, in order to save a tiny fraction of the amount squandered on pie-in-the-sky projects -- which are then dropped without a word of apology millions of pounds later. Now they're literally throwing our assets on the tip! My money has been taken and thrown away.
I want someone to be held responsible for this.
Morris Hickey, Chigwell says...
3:24pm Thu 22 Nov 07
Dave Hall, Walthamstow says...
4:04pm Thu 22 Nov 07
Dave Hall, Walthamstow says...
4:06pm Thu 22 Nov 07
Waltham Forest: 225,000 books, one crime
Graham, London says...
4:27pm Thu 22 Nov 07
Parmo Green, says...
6:01pm Thu 22 Nov 07
mdj, e10 says...
9:24pm Thu 22 Nov 07
Graham wrote:Graham,
Seriously, do people really believe the council is trying to dumb you down? Come on. I expect that conspiracy talk from redneck yanky hicks, not from Londoners. If the conucil is burning books it's a travesty, however, there is no evidence of this and I'd suggest waiting for some to surface prior to convincing yourselves everyone at the town hall is dead set on de-culturing us!
Try thinking of a couple of good books you know were in the library a year ago, and try and find them now. Example: Halsbury's Laws of England, the huge multi-volume legal encyclopaedia, value several hundred pounds. Rumours have circulated for months: now however, librarians are telling the inside story. The Council have tried to hide the truth on this and many other things. Perhaps you're a Labour loyalist as I once was, but if you look into how the library manager was appointed by her boss, a former Council Leader, you'll be sickened.mdj
Janet, E17 says...
9:39pm Thu 22 Nov 07
Researcher, Walthamstow says...
9:43pm Thu 22 Nov 07
Flash Bristow, Leytonstone says...
10:55pm Thu 22 Nov 07
Mark Hart, Walthamstow says...
8:32am Fri 23 Nov 07
William Morris, Walthamstow says...
10:38am Fri 23 Nov 07
How can this employee claim their are 15 million 'Mills and Boons' one moment whilst by my own calucations on the figures given, there are only about 160,000 books in total in the Libraries?
Mark Hart, Walthamstow says...
1:27pm Fri 23 Nov 07
A clumsy comment from the librarian should not be allowed to obscure the fact that something is amiss and needs investigating. I believe that this is a matter of public interest and is such a serious allegation that Cllr Reardon and colleagues would do well to respond in a much quicker manner than intended.
Gary, says...
6:39pm Fri 23 Nov 07
book lover, E17 says...
12:46am Sat 24 Nov 07
See the fate of Central and Leytonstone libraries!
Researcher, E17 says...
12:57pm Sat 24 Nov 07
William Morris wrote:Please don't pretend you thought there were 15 million Mills & Boons! "Millions" just means "huge numbers" when people use it like this. The point the librarian is making is that the shelves are filled with cheap easy-reading paperbacks instead of anything that makes people thinks.
Before everyone fans the flames of this 'fire' lets look at some facts.
How can this employee claim their are 15 million 'Mills and Boons' one moment whilst by my own calucations on the figures given, there are only about 160,000 books in total in the Libraries?
ew, uk says...
10:08pm Sat 24 Nov 07
http://www.guardian-
series.co.uk/search/
display.var.1702133.
0.waltham_forest_boo
ks_of_hate_in_our_li
braries.php
I would like to think so. Sadly if valuable reference books like Halsbury's Laws of England are missing then there is cause for concern.
I would be in a sorry state now had Lea Bridge Road Library not been a twice weekly haunt in my youth.
Jose, E17 says...
5:13pm Sun 25 Nov 07
Alex, leyton says...
3:39pm Mon 26 Nov 07
Alex
Janet Wright, Walthamstow says...
1:08pm Thu 29 Nov 07
Like a child caught with a cricket bat under a broken window, the council keeps insisting "I wasn't there and I didn't do it." How many people have to count the few surviving books in our former libraries -- redesigned as multipurpose buildings -- before the council admits it is closing libraries by stealth?
Local resident Kevin Lord told Monday's community council meeting (19 Nov) he had counted about 6,500 books in Walthamstow central library. That may not have included all the non-fiction, because one room is sometimes closed for lack of staff -- another cost-cutting scandal in itself. Mr Lord quoted the Group Manager for WF Libraries as stating there were 37,257 non-fiction and 35,797 fiction books.
My own count, for fiction alone, backs up Mr Lord's figures. I counted well under 5,000 novels in the vast hall that once contained tens of thousands. There are just 192 metres of bookshelving in the fiction hall, on eight wheeled bookcases. (Yes, I took a tape measure, pencil and paper!) If you packed in 40 books per metre, you still couldn't fit in even 8,000 books.
Most of the present novels are flimsy paperbacks that will soon need replacing, unlike the previous sturdy hardbacks. The former collection included everything from popular fiction to English classics and world literature, both in translation and in the original languages spoken by many WF residents. The present collection is mainly chick-lit and thrillers, with very little in minority languages.
I ask our council leader, Cllr Clyde Loakes: where are our books? If they're in storage, let us see them. If they've been sold, show us the receipts. If they've been given away, show us the evidence.
Because Waltham Forest council has failed to do this after many requests, I believe the council has destroyed them.
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Morris Hickey, Chigwell says...
9:08am Thu 22 Nov 07