Haringey Council has a serious debt problem, and the highest council tax in London goes mainly to service it. All the Council services are under severe pressure each financial year to trim/cut their budgets. For ten years and more, the Library Service has been seen as an area where more severe cuts could be made without much protest.  In 1999, the District Auditor commented that the Library Service was not providing value for money and suggested an accountant's solution for the problem. Remove some libraries!

This historically negative attitude, combined with the government's initiation of a new method of looking at council provision called Best Value (this replaced Council Competitive Tendering). Although only one other borough had ever used this for libraries, Haringey decided to begin with this service. It proved to be difficult in many respects, mainly because libraries have never been earning much in comparison with what they cost. The results of the exercise were presented to what was then the Best Value Subcommittee in a Libraries Best Value Review: it recommended two basic options for the future. 

A. Close Highgate and Stroud Green Libraries and relocate St. Ann's to the yet unbuilt Park View Academy site.

B. Close all the branch libraries and retain "centres of excellence" at Hornsey, Wood Green and Tottenham (Marcus Garvey Library). There was no "status quo" option given.

Although this report was published only three days before the meeting, a sizeable group of vociferous objectors attended and, together with outraged local councillors (who had not been informed earlier of closure plans), succeeded in having the chair of the meeting George Meehan (soon to be elected Leader of the Council) postpone discussion of the report until September (later amended to the 15th October and even later until November) when the deliberations of a Task Group made up of user groups could be taken into account. This was to include Public Consultation.

HLAG chairman, Susan Chinn, in her capacity as co-chair of FORE! was invited to join the Task Group, and has been present at most meetings (8 to date). Other members are: Mary Hoffman (co-chair of FORE!), Kerry Neal- Wilson (Stroud Green Library), Phil Brett (Unison), Fred Ellis (Racial Equality Council), Pam Moffat (Haringey Diabilities Consortium / Age Concern), Manoj Ambasna (Haringey Arts Council), and Mrs K.W. Spence-Lewis (Marcus Garvey Library), and two representatives of ENCOUNTER youth magazine are also present at each meeting. The meetings are chaired by Councillor Alan Richardson (lead member for Lifelong Learning), and the Library Service is represented by Jean Early (Head of Libraries), and Anne Becker (Assistant Director, Education).

The meetings have enabled participants to learn more of the wider picture of library provision in Haringey. FORE! arranged and carried out a User Survey in most libaries (still ongoing) which is being entered into a data base. Three Public Consultation meetings were arranged and held. Several specialised surveys are in preparation (disabled, ethnic minorities and youth). A report is in preparation, carrying forward the arguments from the Best Value Review. The Task Group is to review it and approve it before it goes forward to the new Policy and Strategy Committee of the council. Any objections will be put into an Appendix. It is expected that there will be several - including separate ones from Highgate, Stroud Green and St. Ann's.