We need a Matilda revolution
The county has plans to hand over fourteen libraries to volunteers in a bid to save around £700,000, essentially dismantling the entire notion of a properly staffed, professional library service. Staff at Great Missenden’s Roald Dahl Museum describe the world famous author as a ‘great supporter’ of the library service.
In many ways Buckinghamshire is a microcosm of what is happening around the country. Here are just a few of the eye-watering cutbacks that have been reported to me:
*The London Evening Standard reports that 130 libraries may go
*Gloucestershire plans to cut eleven libraries unless volunteers take them over
*Wakefield is considering the wholesale privatization of its library service
*Dumfries and Galloway plan seven closures
*Half of Brent’s libraries face the chop
*Leeds’ plans for twenty closures are temporarily on hold
The list goes on and on. Reports are flooding in from Lewisham, Bournemouth, Harrow, Hertfordshire, Hampshire, Doncaster, Oldham, Stoke on Trent and many more.
The length and breath of the country libraries are at the top of the list when it comes to cuts. The cuts are deep and are rapidly calling into question the survival of the public library service in any recognizable form.
Culture Minister Ed Vaizey has promised that the 1964 Libraries and Museums Act is safe in his hands, but in what way can it have any continuing relevance with cuts on this scale? How will what is left be ‘comprehensive and efficient’?
Full comment at Alan Gibbons blog.
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