Library clears its shelves in protest at closure threat

Users urged to take out full allowance of library books in campaign to keep Stony Stratford branch open

• Maev Kennedy
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 14 January 2011 17.47 GMT
• Article history
  
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• Stony Stratford library is one of two branches being considered for closure by Milton Keynes council. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian
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• The library at Stony Stratford, on the outskirts of Milton Keynes, looks like the aftermath of a crime, its shell-shocked staff presiding over an expanse of emptied shelves. Only a few days ago they held 16,000 volumes.
  Now, after a campaign on Facebook, there are none. Every library user was urged to pick their full entitlement of 15 books, take them away and keep them for a week. The idea was to empty the shelves by closing time on Saturday: in fact with 24 hours to go, the last sad bundle of self-help and practical mechanics books was stamped out. Robert Gifford, chair of Stony Stratford town council, planned to collect his books when he got home from work in London, but left it too late.
  The empty shelves, as the library users want to demonstrate, represent the gaping void in their community if Milton Keynes council gets its way. Stony Stratford, an ancient Buckinghamshire market town famous only for its claim that the two pubs, the Cock and the Bull, are the origin of the phrase "a cock and bull story", was one of the communities incorporated in the new town in 1967. The Liberal Democrat council, made a unitary authority in 1997, now faces budget cuts of £25m and is consulting on closing at least two of 10 outlying branch libraries.
  Stony Stratford council got wind in December and wrote to all 6,000 residents – not entirely disinterestedly, as the council meets in the library, like many other groups in the town. "In theory the closure is only out for consultation," Gifford said, "but if we sit back it will be too late. One man stopped me in the street and said, 'The library is the one place where you find five-year-olds and 90-year-olds together, and it's where young people learn to be proper citizens'. It's crazy even to consider closing it."
  – they should be finding ways to expand its services and bring even more people in."
  Emily Malleson, of the Friends of Stony Stratford Library, said: "I was lucky, I got in early, so I got some nice children's books – and my children came along and took out all their books too. I had to bring the car to get them all home.The late-comers just had to take whatever was left."

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• http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/14/stony-stratford-library-shelves-protest

Yawn...

Don't know about you, but this is me this weekend!

The Versatile Blogger Award pt. 2

Close on the heels of the Versatile blogger award from Donea, I received another Versatile Blogger award from Talei at Musing from an Aspiring Scribe. It was lovely and I was very moved by it-- trust me- having been the girl who was the last one chosen for kick ball on a regular basis, it does the ol' ego good to have a few awards coming her way! So thanks again Talei!

I would like to pass the award on to:

©     LadyFi at Lady Fi 

©     Sarah at The Unwrapping 

©     Brigitte at Brimagination

©     Marcy at Mainewords 

©     Clarissa at Listen to the Voices
©     Roxy at A Woman’s Write

 And as I have been around long enough to have a 23 year old daughter I think I can come up with seven more weirdnesses about myself to entertain you with (although why you care...):
(Drumroll please)

v     My first kiss was on stage (does it even count?!?!?)

v     I travelled to India and within the first few days I saw 120 degree temperatures, a typhoon and flooded roads in Bombay, rode on a train as full as the one on Gandhi (the film), and a body floating on the Ganges. Talk about culture shock!

v     My best friend in high school arranged a song especially for me to sing for a concert which included the Jazz Band.

v     On our last trip to Key West I was snorkeling a FEW FEET away from a small nurse shark! It looked at me, I looked at it and it swam away.

v     I can do a pretty good Cookie Monster imitation. The kids loved it when I worked at the daycare… although my Grover isn’t bad either. "There's a monster at the end of this book..."

v     I once spent $7000.00 in books in a few weeks. Okay, I’ll confess it was for the library not for me… but I did save up my graduation money and spent $200 on classic titles that I wanted to take with me to college—Dickens, The Bronte’s, Hawthorne, Fowles (told ya, I’m a BOOK NERD!)

v     In 11 years I lived in 15 different apartments or houses. (And the moves were made, generally, with 1 or 2 little ones in tow! Yikes! This is another thing you don't want to do!) 

An anniversary of sorts

Today is the anniversary of the show that has meant a great deal to Mo and I-- it is the show that he first saw in 1993 on this day (but I missed!) and which got him to first visit Key West. And because he loved it so much he shared it with me five years ago just after we started dating and several months later...

I was taking my first steps onto the island! (And the perfect time of year too, because it was February and that means there is always the potential for blizzard and 0 temps in Denver!)
We had a lovely time... (of course!) but the real meaning of the show has surpassed the visits to the island. It has been an inspiration for my writing and a cause for celebration of life! So on this the anniversary, I will share with you my favorite quote from the episode that aired on January 19, 1993...

Key West

The main character, Seamus O'Neill has come to Key West after winning the lottery to be a writer just like his favorite writer Ernest Hemingway. He is sitting in a bar when Jennifer Tilly, the main female character named Savannah arrives. She is the Moon Goddess personified. Sexuality incarnate. She sees Seamus and instantly sizes him up.

"A writer? Having a little trouble getting that first novel between the covers? ... You've come to the right place, you pretty thing. It's magic here. There are Angels in the Spray, Wizards in the Palm Trees, and Elves in the Sea Shells, and they all look very favorably on struggling young writers."

As you can see, she knew her island well. 

(More to come! I'll be posting a favorite Quote from an episode each week... so stay tuned!)