Trade rallies to 'Fight for Libraries' campaign

The Bookseller - 20.01.11 - Philip Jones and Ian Steadman

More than 1,500 people have so far shown support for The Bookseller's "Fight for Libraries" campaign, which launched earlier this week.
Support has come from Blue Door's Patrick Janson-Smith, Philippa Dickinson, chairman of Random House Children's books, and Waterstone's e-book buyer Alex Ingram, as well as from individuals from companies such as Usborne, Granta, Wiley-Blackwell, Random House, Louise Allen Jones Literary Scouting, Icon books, HarperCollins, Walker, and Atlantic.

The Bookseller's campaign aims to provide a focal point for campaigners, librarians and the book trade to 'Fight For Libraries'. The campaign demands that library cuts should be proportionate to the wider budgetary cuts, that local councils should continue to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service for all their residents, that the Government should support the service as a statutory requirement, and that a national public inquiry should be set-up in order to establish what library service the country wants.

Neill Denny, editor in chief of The Bookseller, said: "This is a great start and adds to the growing sense of outrage among library users and other campaigning groups as local authorities begin taking the axe to library services while the government keeps its head firmly in the sand. But we need more support and more vocal opposition from the leading lights in the publishing business. What we do as a trade now, along with what other campaign groups are already doing, will inform what happens to the public library service."

According to a count undertaken by The Bookseller and libraries campaigner Alan Gibbons more than 26,000 individual have so far signed local petitions in support of their regional libraries, including 12,000 in Gloucestershire and 10,000 in the Cotswolds. This, however, is by no means the final tally, as campaigners' voices grow ever louder. Desmond Clarke, libraries campaigner, said the government was so far failing to recognise the level of public anger across the country and was "failing to get the message".

Supporters can join the campaign on FaceBook, or follow it via Twitter @fight4libraries.