Shhh! You’re being rude to the librarians, magistrate is warned

It is claimed Barbara English twice “demanded” that staff at Beverley Library display leaflets for the town’s Georgian Festival.

East Riding Council responded by sending her a letter of warning that a repetition of her actions was “unacceptable”.

Beverley librarian Kimberley Harston said in the letter: “On neither occasion did you introduce yourself, explain why you were at the library or who you were representing and you were extremely rude to the library staff.”

Mrs English, who was the leader of the Beverley Georgian Festival which ran between 13 and 21 September, is said to have entered the library on 10 September and put leaflets on the pyramid display unit within the Library without asking permission of staff.

She also put them inside the leaflet racks near the entrance to the Reference Library.

Mrs Harston said: “Piles of the leaflets were found in other areas of the building, again without permission.

In the letter to Mrs English, Mrs Harston continued: “As a library service, we do have a policy on displaying leaflets and posters. The reliability or the quality of the content of the leaflets could not be verified.

“The Library is a community resource for everyone, however your behaviour and disruption to other users is not acceptable.”

Barbara English, who is a lay magistrates and also a member of the development group in the Beverley and District Civic Society, has since responded to the letter from the East Riding of Yorkshire Council and declined to comment until she gets an answer back before talking about what she called an “sensitive topic for me”.