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T
HIS month we begin with a string of stories about library sell-offs. With councils and other organisations facing
huge budget holes, it seems that many are looking to sell off former jewels.
First on the list is a long-closed public library in Tunbridge Wells, that has been put up for auction with a guide price of £350,000. The library in Southborough was closed in 2021, when Kent County Council opened a new community hub in the area, relocating the library service at the same time. The old library building has remained boarded up ever since and has become a canvas for Graffiti, and the whole site has been described as a “grot spot” by Kent Live (
https://tinyurl.com/MWNov241). On to a more controversial sale, this time in Cambridge where the local council has agreed the sale of the former library on Mill Road. Residents had urged the council to offer the building as a community space – submitting a petition with more than 2,000 signatures, but councillors voted to sell it off for well over its £700,000 guide price. Local councillor for the area Richard Howitt, described the move as “morally and ethically wrong” due to the fact it had been bequeathed to the council for the community (https://tinyurl. com/MWNov242).
Next to Wales, and Abersytwyth where a former university campus – including library building – is on the market for £4m. While Aber’ may be familiar to many of our readers thanks to its renowned library school this particular site may be less recognisable. The Thomas Parry building housed the library for the Welsh agricultural College, and was part of a small campus two miles from the town centre. Anyone interested in putting in a bid can visit
https://tinyurl.com/MWNov243.
Yet another closed library building, this time in Wiltshire and the story of the county’s very first public library. A World War I hut, named Maple Leaf Villa was based on Salisbury Plain from 1914-1919, but following its
October-November 2024
Former library on Mill Road, Cambridge.
decommissioning at the end of the war it was moved and became Wilshire library service’s first headquarters. But being Wiltshire’s first library is not the hut’s only claim to fame, as the BBC points out (
https://tinyurl.com/MWNov244). During its time as an army hut, Maple Leaf Villa housed a Canadian soldier named Harry Colebourn, who arrived on these shores with his pet bear. The bear was also stationed at MLV, as it was known, until Harry and the other soldiers based there were sent to France. Harry’s bear, named after his hometown of Winnipeg was then rehomed at London Zoo. Affectionately know as Winnie, the bear came to the attention of author A. A. Milne’s son Christopher Robin… and the rest is history. Now, to celebrate the story, Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre has created an exhibition at Trowbridge Library – including the original name plaque from Maple Leaf Villa. On now to our regular series of books returned to the library late. And this is the story of the Poetry Of Byron, that was returned to St Bees School, near Whitehaven, Cumbria, more than 100 years after it was borrowed. The BBC reports that the book was discovered in a couple’s collection in Carmarthenshire, south Wales. The book was reunited with the school’s
library thanks to an inscription, which bears the name of former pupil, Leonard Ewbank, the schools address and the date – 25 September 1911. The school revealed Mr Ewbank’s story and the fact he had been killed in the First World War at Ypres, Belgium, on 22 February 1916. The school’s headteacher Andrew Keep told the BBC (
https://tinyurl.com/he8ewy7j): “It’s incredible to think that a piece of St Bees’ history has found its way back to us after all these years.” Finally we have a piece from Cambridge University Student magazine, Varsity (
www.varsity.co.uk/ features/28292), which sheds light on the elusive work of the university’s many, varied librarians. The article features interviews with a number of them and highlights different aspects of the job, but one thing that is repeated is that they all “wish that more students knew about the variety of services that libraries can offer, which include not just support with study skills and signposting to useful material but also wellbeing support. Increasingly libraries are developing ‘support to address student mental health and accessibility needs’, for example, self- help reading materials or standing desk adaptors and writing slopes for use in the library.” IP
INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 57
FOR SALE
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