Civic Infrastructure

The Great Croydon Book Dump: When Public Knowledge Becomes Pavement Litter

A Community's Loss, A Society's Shame

Council contractors in Croydon have been photographed dumping hundreds of library books onto the pavement outside the shuttered Broad Green Library, treating decades of accumulated knowledge like household rubbish. The mayor calls it "unacceptable" and promises action against the contractors. But the real story isn't about careless workers or damaged books. It's about what happens when a society stops valuing the infrastructure of literacy itself.