Dear editor,
In response to the news that Bedford Borough Council is considering the future of Bedford Central Library.
Read: Council launches consultation on £4.5m regeneration of Bedford Central Library
I think we can all agree on the importance of libraries for learning, promoting wellbeing, and connecting people with opportunities. It’s great that £4.5 million is available to support the valuable work that Bedford Central Library does.
The library badly needs an upgrade, that’s for sure. But first identify what the problem is. That is what Bedford Borough Council’s new Library Strategy document fails to do.
It suggests that the building and its location are a problem and that relocation might be the solution.
Three options are put forward as to where the library should be. Meanwhile, the real reasons for decline – the years of under-funding, staff cuts, general cutbacks of services and resources – go unacknowledged.
Relocating the library at great expense and upheaval won’t solve anything. It will radically reduce the amount of space.
Of the three options, keeping the library where it is (Option 3) would retain the present 1,400 m2 of floor space.
Moving it to the ground floor (Option 2), would reduce space by well over a third to 870 m2. Rebuilding it in the Howard Centre (Option 1) would likewise reduce space to 915 m2.
Cramming everything into a smaller space is not the answer. Less space means fewer staff, fewer books, fewer computers, fewer activities, fewer people using the library.
Managed decline
By coming up with Options 1 and 2, the Library Strategy seems to be planning for further managed decline.
The present library has a popular café with views overlooking the vibrant and leafy Harpur Square below.
It has a much-neglected lecture room on the third floor, and other unique features that cannot be matched by the other sites.
How brilliant it would be if the money could be spent on renewing and revitalising existing spaces, while also investing in people who work there.
If more librarians were employed, open hours could be extended, greatly improving accessibility.
An events organiser could bring new energy and activity in the form of employment fairs, language classes, adult education courses, lecture series, writing workshops, film showings, reading groups, communal events of all kinds, as well as more activities for children.
The library could once more play a very active role in the cultural life of Bedford, leaving plenty of room for computers and digital media.
The Library Strategy says there is a lack of ground-floor presence and poor accessibility. That could be fixed with some of the money available.
An obvious solution: combine Options 2 and 3 into a more ambitious Option 3+, retaining the present library facilities on first and second floors while also developing and making full use of ground and third floors.
Prime position
A better lift for disabled users could be installed. Keep the bold vision of a flourishing cultural and community centre and implement it on location without wasting money building an inferior version downstairs or in the Howard Centre.
Bedford Central Library was designed as a library, and is still eminently suitable for that purpose today. It occupies a central position in the town that is second to none.
It has always been a centre of community life and long may it remain so. We are lucky to have it, and we should look after it and adapt it to changing times so it is there for future generations too.
The Howard Centre was designed as a shopping mall, hardly suitable for the purposes of study, reading, learning, and all the other things a library can facilitate.
There is no need to move the library there or anywhere else. It can be upgraded and made great again exactly where it is.
Matt Edgeworth
Bedford Libraries Member
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