Books Not Gyms: Ten Days of the Carnegie Library Occupation (Best 30)
30 images Created 8 Apr 2016
Carnegie Library in Herne Hill, south London finally closed its doors for the last time at 6pm on March 31st 2016 after a prolonged campaign by the local community to stop Lambeth council from converting the building into a gym and privately-owned enterprises - rather than maintain the much-loved reading and learning resource minus the qualified and knowledgeable librarians to run it.
As the gates were locked, so the 10--day occupation started with 70 locals choosing to stay among the 20,000 books and computers otherwise used by generations of children, the elderly and adult literacy groups - all now mourning the loss of this Edwardian building, in service since 1906. £12,600 was originally donated by the American steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie to help build the library, a fine example of Edwardian civic architecture, built with red Flettan bricks and terracotta, listed as Grade II in 1981.
This gallery is an edited collection from 360 , spanning the last day it was open for business on the 31st March to the last day of occupation on the 9th April 2016.
"Bad libraries build collections, good libraries build services, great libraries build communities." Prof. R David Lankes, University of Syracuse.
As the gates were locked, so the 10--day occupation started with 70 locals choosing to stay among the 20,000 books and computers otherwise used by generations of children, the elderly and adult literacy groups - all now mourning the loss of this Edwardian building, in service since 1906. £12,600 was originally donated by the American steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie to help build the library, a fine example of Edwardian civic architecture, built with red Flettan bricks and terracotta, listed as Grade II in 1981.
This gallery is an edited collection from 360 , spanning the last day it was open for business on the 31st March to the last day of occupation on the 9th April 2016.
"Bad libraries build collections, good libraries build services, great libraries build communities." Prof. R David Lankes, University of Syracuse.
