News
Authors condemn London library cuts
12 Nov 2010
Writers including Charlie Higson, Will Self and Helen Dunmore have joined former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion in condemning plans by councils that could see 130 London libraries closed.
The Evening Standard reports the authors urging officials to reconsider the cuts to a service used by 3.4 million Londoners 52 million times a year.
Helen Dunmore, the inaugural winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction believes it will weaken literacy and weaken communities. She says:
“They are not a frill, they are a vital part of society. They are a core service at the time of so much uncertainty and unemployment.
I've always been moved by the enthusiasm of library staff and the way they go beyond the call of duty. Once that is destroyed you cannot build it again.”
Among the councils that will see services cut are Lewisham, Wandsworth, and Hammersmith and Fulham, with Camden and Westminster councils planning to use volunteers to run some services.
Will Self said:
"Libraries should be one of the aspects of public services that doesn't come under cost-benefit analysis. They exist as a public service and that should not be negotiable. I think they should have never let the internet into libraries, it diminishes the perceived value of the book stock. Now everyone thinks you just have to Google Plato, you don't have to read The Republic."
Charlie Higson said:
"Librarians are not just people in libraries making sure the books are in alphabetical order, they do a lot of fantastic work in schools and for literacy."
The Mayor's cultural adviser Munira Mirza told the newspaper Boris Johnson was “a big champion” of libraries. She said she had called in council Cabinet members with responsibility for culture for a “library summit” last month and another meeting is planned in weeks.
She added:
“We are trying to get council to consider ways of restructuring their library services rather than close libraries down, which should be a last resort. The Mayor has no direct statutory powers but does feel he can bring a lot of influence to bear.”
Read more at The Bookseller
