If British Library reading rooms become ‘co-working spaces’, it’s all too easy to imagine what comes next | Andy Beckett

The plan to generate revenue from areas currently used by the public is causing bitter dispute, and raises fundamental questions In a crowded country that is short of public money, any expansive public building that seems underused in any way is vulnerable. Professional critics of state spending can claim taxpayers’ money is being wasted. Managers of the building who are under financial pressure can argue it…