Hackney Labour Party

Working hard for you

The future of libraries in Hackney

At last week's Full Council meeting at the Town Hall, a petition was presented regarding the proposed restructure of the Library Service in Hackney.

The Cabinet Member for Community Services, Cllr Jonathan McShane reassured petitioners that the Council had taken on board their concerns and pledged to continue to work in partnership with staff and unions in the coming months over the future of Hackney's libraries.

Unlike other London boroughs, Hackney is committed to keeping all 8 of our libraries open across the borough. 

Some changes to opening hours are being proposed - for example, opening an hour later at 10am in some cases. But alongside this, larger libraries will be opening longer - including the new CLR James library in Dalston which opens in September.

Due to Government cuts, it is unavoidable that changes are having to be made, and the proposed restructure does involve reducing staff numbers by 16%. Most of this is accounted for through staff who have expressed an interest in voluntary redundancy, and the intention is to try to cover all of the staff reduction in this way.

As well as the brand new library and archives in Dalston, free wifi will soon be rolled out to all libraries and the number of study spaces and PCs will also increase.