Britain’s free library service is an endangered species. “In the first six months of this year alone, 21 (1.4%) of the country’s libraries have closed, five are due to close and 67 are under review for closure. So a plan to spruce up and make libraries semm more “exciting” has begun. “The idea was to make them more exciting and convenient for users as ‘models of a future library service with reading at its heart’. The transformations – each costing £90,000 – are designed to turn them into national showcases demonstrating how catastrophic declines in book borrowing and visitor numbers could be reversed.”