Hackney's Libraries - continuing to invest

The council recently ran an extensive consultation on the future of Hackney's libraries.

As you will have seen from the discussions about how councils make their budget fit with the cuts agenda, lots of councils in London have been cutting opening hours, or the number of libraries. Hackney currently has 8 libraries, including the large Hackney Central library beside the Town Hall.

As a result of the consultation, the new provision has been outlined. The great news is that none of our libraries will close and the opening hours will actually be extended - so more people will be able to access our libraries.

Our own library in Hackney Central will have new opening hours in future:

Monday - Thursday 9am-8pm

Friday 9am-6pm

Saturday 9am-5pm

In addition, the new CLR James library in Dalston will also be open between 1pm and 5pm on a Sunday, so our residents will have easy reach to libraries seven days a week. The new hours will begin when the new CLR James library opens later this year.

There is some more work to do on increasing access to the computers in our libraries and we'll wait to hear what proposals are coming forward on these. Events will continue in all of our libraries and we'll keep you informed of good ones in our own in the future - also check Hackney Today.

We're delighted that despite the pressures of the cuts that the government is passing to us, we continue to be able to keep all our libraries open, increase opening hours, invest in new books and other materials and maintain a superb service.