Bromley Central Library and Churchill Theatre - geograph

The Bromley Borough Libraries Service consists the libraries service for the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Borough of Bromley. The service consists of 14

public libraries A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also civil servants. There are five fundamenta ...

, currently operated by social non-profit Greenwich Leisure Limited under their trademark Better, who also manage the volunteer-run home libraries service.

The libraries

Bromley Borough contains 14 libraries, not including the home libraries service: *

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

Central Library (also known as simply "Bromley" Library) * Beckenham Library *

Orpington Orpington is a town and area in south east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross. On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Ma ...

Library * Petts Wood Library *

Penge Penge () is a suburb of South East London, England, now in the London Borough of Bromley, west of Bromley, north east of Croydon and south east of Charing Cross. History Penge was once a small hamlet, which was recorded under the name Pence ...

Library *

Chislehurst Chislehurst () is a suburban district of south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Bromley. It lies east of Bromley, south-west of Sidcup and north-west of Orpington, south-east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater L ...

Library *

Biggin Hill Biggin Hill is a settlement on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Kent, prior to 1965 it was also in the administrative county of Kent. I ...

Memorial Library and Pool * West Wickham Library *

Shortlands Shortlands is a suburb of South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It has been part of Greater London since 1965, and was previously part of the historic county of Kent. It is located between Beckenham and Bromley, to t ...

Library * Burnt Ash Library *

Hayes Hayes may refer to: * Hayes (surname), including a list of people with the name ** Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th president of the United States * Hayes (given name) Businesses * Hayes Brake, an American designer and manufacturer of disc brakes * Ha ...

Library * Mottingham Library * St Paul's Cray Library * Southborough Library

Services outsourcing

Prior to 2017, the Bromley libraries were directly administered by the local council. In 2015, it was announced that due to council budget cuts, plans were under consideration to transition several of the libraries from a council-staffed to a volunteer-run model. The affected "smaller" libraries consisted Burnt Ash, Hayes, Mottingham, Shortlands, Southborough and St Paul's Cray under these plans. The larger libraries and core services were also being considered for outsourcing. These privatization plans triggered criticism and strike action from current Bromley libraries staff in 2016. In July 2017, Bromley council announced that Greenwich Leisure Ltd. had been awarded a ten-year contract to operate the libraries service in cooperation with the council, and would take control of all library services as opposed to the split model proposed in the 2015 plans. This handover came into effect in November 2017, and also resulted in the departure of Bromley's libraries from the London Libraries Consortium, ending cross-borrowing with other

London boroughs The London boroughs are the 32 local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London; each is governed by a London borough council. The present London boroughs were all created at t ...

in the LLC. Following the handover to Greenwich Leisure Ltd., a dispute with former council staff over pay resulted in strike action from the

union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

Unite Unite may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Unite'' (A Friend in London album), 2013 album by Danish band A Friend in London * ''Unite'' (Kool & the Gang album), 1993 * ''Unite'' (The O.C. Supertones album), 2005 Songs ...

, amid broader criticism of the council's privatization policies. The strike action began on March 28 of 2018, and involved 36 workers, ending in April after three weeks when a new agreement was reached between staff and Greenwich Leisure Ltd.{{cite news , last1=McInerney , first1=Liam , title=Bromley's library staff return to work after month long strike , url=https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/16171555.suns-out-but-no-strikers-bromleys-library-staff-return-to-work-after-pay-dispute/ , accessdate=14 March 2019 , work=News Shopper

References

Public libraries in London