1) Unfortunately, because of our licence, we are restricted as to where the films can be advertised so at present the only way to know which specific films are being shown is in the library

2) The toilet you will be pleased to note has now been fixed

3) We do allow users to eat 'light snacks', such as crisps and chocolate, mostly because they are available in the vending machines. Other foods such as chicken and chips are not allowed.

4) Staff should be wearing name badges at all times. I will check that they all have them.

5) We have had a problem with our newspaper supplier so availability of daily papers has been a bit sporadic recently. This should be resolved shortly. Evanick, I am sorry that you were given the wrong information by staff on this matter.

Hello Everyone

Just a quick post to invite you all along to the first meeting of the Forest Hill Library Users Group since the refurbishment. The initial meeting will take place on Thursday 23rd of October. Coffee and tea will be available from 6.30pm onwards with the meeting due to start promptly at 7pm. Lewisham Libraries Head of Service, John Hughes has agreed to attend as has Glenys Englert, District Librarian.

If you need any information or would like to let us know of any issues you would like to discuss on the night, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Sorry, could not attend the meeting tonight but would appreciate an update. If I had attended I would have brought up the following;

1) Request to have a nappy changing table in the toilet.
It is large enough to accommodate a proper one and they are not expensive to provide. Its very hard on the knees, let alone unhygienic, to have to do this on the toilet floor! I know some other mums have taken to doing this in the children's library area out of lack of alternatives- practical but not that desirable for other people.

2) Bad behaviour of some children of late and apparent tolerance of staff to same. Most children who use the library are delightful and well behaved however some, ie the teenage boys playing computer games in the main area who were there last Friday afternoon, were very disruptive, using their mobile phones loudly, swearing at other users, and running around. The staff could not have missed this but did not make any attempt to remonstrate. I know the objective is to encourage library use by all sections of the community however there should surely be limits and some attempt by the staff to maintain at least part of the library as a quiet area for reading, research, and study.

3) Where are the books!
I know that libraries are changing and are no longer dank dusty places however it is still a little too light on books for my liking ( the exception being the childrens section which is very well stocked , well designed and managed.) The main objective of any library is surely to encourage a love of reading . Any chance of more books arriving?

4) Overall, its great to have the library back in action and looking so good!

I had a suggestion. Which may strike some as extreme laziness on my part (which in fairness it is laziness).

I have three overdue books to return. Mostly because I have been too lazy to walk down Dartmouth Rd to return them (I should really say I haven't had the time)

How about a Library 'book drop' by the station, where people can drop off their overdue books in a secure box--like a post box. The library in the town I grew up in had one near the centre of town. My mom used to use it frequently.

I totally agree with Roz on all the points she has raised but mainly 2 and 3. After the schools empty it seems to be perfectly O.K for kids to use what I consider a place reserved for quiet reading or study a place to muck about and be quite rude. This is by no means an attack on the staff at Forest hill library but I think it should be made clearer to the younger members using the facilities that a noisy and disruptive attitude wont be tolerated and that if persistent the facilities wont be available to them.

I echo that - call me old fashioned, but shouldn't books be the whole point of a library? I belong to a book group and (even before the refit) almost without exception they have had to order titles in from other Lewisham libraries. I'm mostly
talking about mainstream novels, nothing esoteric!

Hmmm........what we could really do with is an empty, Council owned building as near as possible to the library that they could fill up with old-fashioned shelving and lots and lots of stock. If only there were such a space available.

I would shove the kids in the empty building !
wonder if the parents of these children really know what they are getting up to ?

i know these children do need somewhere to go but i have to agree some of them swear and are just plan rude and don't seem to care they are upsetting everyone else around them.
when i was young your were not rude to staff if you were that was it out on your ear.
But to be honest can you blame the staff ? i don't, you so much as tell a child off these days and they call the police.
must be very hard to work in a place like that and keep your temper.
how many of use could put up with that every day ?
I for one could not work in that place not even as the cleaner or caretaker, let alone the main staff.

I think all us " old fashioned " people have to face up to the fact that Lewisham libraries are changing to keep up with the trend of net use and the moden way of thinking, we may not like it but thats what the young people want.

I grew up in a pre-computer age but am convinced I'd still be as avid a reader as I was in my youth if I was a nipper in the noughties... I'm no reactionary technophobe, I just think a love of books will last a lifetime and should be encouraged in young people more than ever.

Being in my early 50s, I too grew up in the pre-computer age. However, I am certainly no technophobe and have been employed in IT for 25 years.

However, on my one visit to this library I really felt that it had gone the wrong direction (or directions). I don't go to a library to use it as a cyber cafe, or to watch the football results on a large screen (which was what was on when I went in), or to hire DVDs or CDs. That is not because I have anything against any of these things. I use the Internet daily, I am an avid football fan. and I listen to my share of music and watch films as much as the next person.

However I go to a library to study or read books, and I expect to do so without undue intrusion. This would be frequently impossible in this library as it currently exists. In any event there didn't seem to be a lot of place left for books in between all this extraneous nonsense!!

The library should stop trying to be all things to all men, thereby falling between too many stools. It should be fundamentally about books. If the council sees fit to waste our money on the other stuff then they should do it in other places.

And don't even get me started on the political correctness which means that kids get away with such appalling behaviour in public places. One warning, then ban them till they grow up.

A library is not an alternative youth club and computer cafe. It's for everyone. I gave up using the library for studying after two fruitless attempts to find anywhere to sit in peace. Yet I felt as if I was the one who was being a killjoy by mentioning it. Bizarre.

Perhaps I am being old fashioned, but the tolerance of some aspects of behaviour in the library beggars belief. Its not so much that they misbehave, as its what kids do, its more that no one does anything about it, to the detriment of others who want to read in peace.

I go there most Friday afternoons with my young child. If she cries and screams in the adult section I take her out of there and back to the younger childrens section where its more permissable. I want her to learn that there is a time and place.

The last two Fridays I have witnessed screaming adolescents running around throwing their bags around and one even picked up a chair as if he was going to throw it at someone. One of the staff tried to deal with it by suggesting that they may be asked to leave and he was told to eff off. It didn't help that he was smiling and almost being jovial when he spoke to them so they knew quite well he was not serious. Yesterday some teenage girls decided to empty another girls bag in the middle of the room and this led to more screaming.

Personally I am no longer going to be using the library outside school hours as its too much hassle and I am concerned about my own child being accidentally knocked over by flying school bags. I also want her to enjoy books without an adjacent floor show. I think this issue needs to be urgently addressed by the Council in some way and/or the schools where these children are from, ie Holy Trinity and Eliot Bank.

Roz
Sounds like a disaster. What has happened to silence in a library.
I am now using Beckenham Library due to shortage of acceptable books at Forest Hill.
Lovely building but inside something else.

I have to admit i have bypassed forest hill library for the last few weeks what with the road still being closed and the mess that was in the disabled loo

its not a nice place to go after 4pm any more.
i popped in to Sydenham library, yes i know its a little out the way but the book selection is greater, the libaray is still what i would call old fashioned and most of all it was peaceful.
shame the building needs a bit of care but i guess that will be the next on lewisham's hit list to be revamped in to something like foresthill then where would i find somewhere quite to read

i will be using sydenham from now on as it suit's my needs better then foresthill.

sorry but i am still old fashioned, a library is for reading not for jumping about screaming and playing.

Yes it is a great pity. LBC spent a great deal in the rebuilding but seems to have have got most of the books from Oxfam Shops. I have only been once since reopened seems to be about 50% less books. Seems to be aiming to a community centre and kiddy playgroung rather than a library.
Great shame.

They are probably hoping that everybody will join the 'apply-on-line' scheme. All you have to do is to ask the library for a specific book. They will send you an e-mail once they have got it in - normally only a day or two. Then you go and collect the book.

Easy and you only have to go once and not during school-out time if you dislike school children enjoying themselves. Remember we were all young once.

[quote]Remember we were all young once. [quote]

Yes! And we knew how to behave, and to respect other people and obey the 'rules' of society, like being quiet in the Library. Some kids these days seem to think they can do what they like, when they like, and where they like.

But, in olden days, the Librarians were respected and kept order in their Library. Nowadays they allow bad/un-library behavior to carry on because to do otherwise could get them into trouble, with the PC police, if they intervene.

Exactly, they were RESPECTED. As I said kids these days have no RESPECT for anyone. The modern youths' definition of 'Respect' is invoking fear in their peers.

This problem in the library is not an isolated one. We have the same problem here in Norwich.

It is a great shame that the meaning of the word ' library ' seems to have changed.
Beckenham Library not perfect but seems a little quieter and certainly better selection of books.