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The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) has asked for further information on the background to the four library closures proposed by Swindon council earlier this month, after local campaigner Shirley Burnham repeated a plea for the library body to intervene. The development is a shift from the email exchange reported on theBookseller.com yesterday (16th February), when Clare rejected a call to intervene over threatened cuts to four local libraries.
In an open email, MLA chief executive Roy Clare wrote to Burnham: "To enable us to take a more detailed view, we have asked for further background to the process around the closure proposals - including advice on any public consultation that has been undertaken; and we have asked for evidence of the overall vision that is driving the programme."
However, Clare repeated his earlier assertion that it was not the MLA's role to intervene in local authority decisions, saying: "Judgements about the scale and appropriateness of local services are properly the preserve of local government." However he added that "in some cases we recommend professional 'peer review' where this action can be helpful."
Yesterday Burnham urged Clare: "If the closure of FOUR libraries is not worth investigation by the MLA, then what is worth investigating?"