This paper asks how libraries have rhythmed women's education and everyday lives. It draws on women's narratives of library use in a multicultural suburb of Birmingham, UK. It shows that women's use of libraries exists in rhythmic relations with other times and places, both public and private. The narratives reveal the value of the library in offering space for women to claim time for themselves in the Lefebvrian "weak time, the stops, silences, blanks". Routines, cycles and continuity of use over various scales are important in women's engagements with libraries. Memorable too are particular moments. Punctuating the quotidian rhythms of library use, these moments are individual stories of rupture; times of great significance in women's lives. Changes to library provision have, therefore, rhythmic consequences, with reduced opening hours and library closure bringing arrhythmia. Through the library, women are linked to particular histories and they enter into shared rhythms, within both the present and the past. Libraries, this paper argues, offer not only an important public space but also public time. 1

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During COVID-19, children have suffered learning losses across the world which will likely be carried forward to the future. In England, research and various reports were conducted to understand the extent of learning loss so policy could be improved for a more equitable educational provision. Two key areas were highlighted because of these investigations. Firstly, children in marginalised communities suffered the greatest share of educational disadvantages during COVID-19. Secondly, there is a scarcity of knowledge around the processes surrounding educational environments of learners. This study focused on mothers as partners and facilitators of education especially during COVID-19. Interviews were conducted with eight mothers in England with Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage exploring their experiences of educating their primary school-aged children during COVID-19. The perspectives of mothers shared with the researchers were analysed by focusing on the physical spaces and the psychological aspects that were experienced since the inception of the pandemic. The findings reveal that mothers were working at multiple fronts to help their children transition smoothly to a new way of learning and living by making a series of contributions. Firstly, mothers adapted the physical spaces so they would suit their children’s learning needs. Secondly, they structured time to bring some normalcy to the disrupted patterns of living. Thirdly, they drew on social relations to compensate for the socio-emotional gaps that lockdown situations were creating for children. Lastly, they redefined the meaning of education and its advantages and integrated the social and cultural with the formal aspect of education. The findings suggest that policy reform to rehabilitate an equitable education system will need to draw on these rich perspectives. It will be essential for policy discussions in the future to include the lived experiences of mothers in providing timely and tailored educational support to their children.

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