Literacy news
Library debate rages online
17 Jan 2011
A simple tweet from a Shropshire ICT lecturer musing on libraries while doing her laundry of a Sunday morning resulted in the hashtag #savelibraries trending worldwide yesterday.
"Libraries are important because ... [fill in your answer & RT] #savelibraries", Mar Dixon tweeted. More than 5,000 people responded spontaneously to her invitation, which was retweeted by, among others, Margaret Atwood and Neil Gaiman.
The web of protest about library cuts continued this weekend, as a day of action was planned for 5 February. Culture minister Ed Vaizey and MLA chief executive Roy Clare also got involved.
The Independent on Sunday covered the wider debate, pointing out that more than 400 libraries face the axe as councils try to make the government demands for £6.5bn of savings over two years. The newspaper points out that the proposed cuts seem likely disproportionately to affect deprived areas.
Vaizey hit back at accusations that he has become “impotent” in the campaign. He told the newspaper that he had been “very active”, and while he rejected calls for an inquiry into the closures said every council decision would be checked to ensure statutory obligations were still met.
The MLA has responded after a Daily Mail report suggested that its chief executive Roy Clare had said that libraries were "just for the privileged white middle class". Under the subject line "Libraries are for everyone", the MLA said it was making a formal complaint to the editor of the Daily Mail, after it ran an "inaccurate, misleading, distorted and defamatory account of the views of its chief executive, Roy Clare". Contrary to the report, the MLA and its chief executive Roy Clare has a record of advocating the benefits of library services serving the needs of the whole population, the MLA said.
Annie Mauger, chief executive of Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), said:
"This is not just about what libraries do, it is about what they represent: free access to knowledge and information for everyone. It feels Orwellian that we'll wake up one day and a third of all the libraries are gone. Is that the type of society we want?"
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