The Bookseller.com

6th October 2008

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Library 'ideal' under threat

02.01.08

The Victorian ideal of the public library as a bastion of culture and learning providing universal access to knowledge is under threat after months of closures, chronic staff cuts and book shortages, notes the Independent.

The Telegraph also reports that dozens of public libraries have closed over the past year as local councils struggle to cope with budget cuts. A net total of 40 libraries shut their doors in 2007.

Government pressure on local authorities to make swingeing cuts has been blamed for the problems. Andrew Coburn, the secretary of the Library Campaign, a charity which defends the interests of library users, said: "We are concerned that there are net closures across England. Forty closures is not good and there have been more proposed since then."

Roy Clare, the new chief executive of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, the government agency in charge of libraries, believes urgent action is needed to restore the institutions to their former glory. Just over 53 per cent of people in England use libraries, he said. "I'm not sure we should be happy with that. The mid 19th century idea of a public library was very radical. Libraries need to recapture that sense of radicalism."

The news could not come at a worse time for the Government, which has declared 2008 the National Year of Reading to boost the popularity of reading.

Independent

libraries