Spending cuts put libraries at risk, authors warn

Libraries, and wider access to literature through Arts Council-supported projects, are both threatened by the funding reductions announced today by the Chancellor

Benedicte Page -  guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 20 October 2010

Access to literary culture will shrink in Britain as a result of the cuts announced in today's spending review, authors and publishers warned today.


Chancellor George Osborne announced this afternoon that council budgets, from which library services are funded, would be cut by 7.1% every year for four years, as part of the Chancellor's measures to tackle the UK's £83bn deficit.
Osborne also announced a 30% cut to the arts budget, higher than observers had expected, which will have a knock-on effect on grant-assisted publishers and writers' organisations.

Introducing the review, Osborne said job losses were "unavoidable when the country has run out of money" – and public sector trade union Unison said the local government budget cuts would have serious effects for library workers. But senior national officer Louise Thirlby warned that "library staff are crucial to the delivery of a good library service. Even prior to the announcement we were already experiencing authorities trying to close libraries, reduce staff numbers and replace them with volunteers ... The impact of the comprehensive spending review will be that authorities will escalate their plans. Since 1997, the total number of staff has fallen by 14% – this will now increase, as libraries become a soft target for cuts to staffing numbers without really analysing the consequences for their local economy and population."

Former children's laureate Michael Rosen warned that any cuts to libraries would damage opportunities for children and young people. "People don't universally understand that literature does more than inform and educate, it takes children from the particular to the abstract, an essential skill for GCSEs and university, and for achievement," he said. "All the statistics show that kids who read widely and for enjoyment have access to those higher forms of thought, and cuts to libraries mean cutting kids off from that. The cuts will just make it harder for libraries to provide outreach work and school visits – everything around making books accessible."

Full report at The Guardian.