Fears for the next generation of library users

• To Camden libraries chief Mike Clarke

My household consists of six people who regularly use Keats library whether it’s to borrow books, DVDs or to use the computers.

The refurbishment is fantastic. The six days a week access is a gift. Yet I fear the next generation of readers is being under-valued and compromised.

Your average librarian is a bookish and serious person who has no way with children. Most librarians physically avoid the children’s library and would hate the idea of presenting rhyme time.

Paula Randall, a mother of three, adores children and they adore her. It may seem easy to read a couple of stories and sing Old McDonald for the 100th time, but hey, you try it! And the children feel if the reader is connecting with them and enjoying their company. I have been attending the highly successful and popular rhyme time for nine years now and whenever Paula was off it just collapsed. The same holds true for arts and crafts activities and the school visits. She is irreplaceable.

Paula will search high and low to find the right book for the right child and never tire from listening to their impressions. She knows the kids and remembers what each of them has already read. She knows their taste and builds on it to explore new horizons. With Paula gone there is no one to approach a child with a big smile and suggest “if you liked this book you will love this one”.

Why banish such a gifted woman to a basement? To do a job that other librarians can do and would love to do? Please send her back to us, she has been here for 12 years and is part of the family. But if for whatever reason you can’t, please give her back to the children. Place her in another library where she can carry on cultivating the next generation of readers, just as she had done with my three boys, all avid readers.

Talia Price, Keats Close, NW3