Why
we are marching for the libraries...again!
This
Saturday we will go out once again to march in protest against Lewisham
Council’s library cuts. The council has hatched a damaging plan to close four
of its remaining libraries and to reopen three as community (volunteer-run)
libraries. This would leave us with only three publicly-run and funded
libraries, down from 12 five years ago. The councillors rubber-stamped these
plans last month and redundancy notices have already been served to library
staff. The situation is now critical; if these plans are followed through, they
will have a devastating impact on what the libraries are able to deliver, and
are likely to lead to their closure.
The attack on public libraries
The
attack on libraries is a part of a nationwide attack on public services. Now is
the time to raise our voices and use our feet to tell the council we do not
approve of their plans; that this is a bare-faced denial of their duty to us as
their residents, and that cutting investment in our libraries in this way will
leave vast swathes of the local population without access to crucial knowledge,
information and assistance.
We
do not deny that councils have difficult decisions to make, due to recent
austerity measures from central government. Libraries, however, are relatively
low-cost services, and the rewards they reap are beyond measurement; in terms
of community cohesion; education and literacy; and empowerment. The cuts are
unnecessary; the savings are small and the council has a reserve fund.
Libraries matter
The
defence of library services is not just a nostalgic middle-class pastime, as
two Lambeth councillors implied during the Carnegie Library occupation. We
cannot assume that everyone has access to books and to the internet, or the skills
to make use of them. We cannot assume that everyone has another space to read
in, or another place to go to see a friendly face. The reality is that they
don’t. For many people, libraries are their lifeline.
Library
users include children who share a room with others and need a quiet place to
study, those who do not have digital skills or access to the internet, and
those whose librarian is their only point of social contact. Libraries'
purposes have changed, but they are still needed. The people who most need
libraries are the most marginalised. To disregard their rights to everything
that libraries offer is a shocking abuse of power.
Critics
of libraries say that libraries are less well used than in the past; of course,
fewer people will be visiting a library, since a lack of investment has led to
lower quality services and to local library closures. Those that are accessible
are heavily used. Every time I enter a library in this borough it is so full
that I struggle to find a free table.
We need publicly run libraries
Evidence
shows that community libraries are not successful. Figures show that borrowing
rates fell by 60-90% between 2010
and 2014 in the libraries Lewisham had already turned into community libraries –
substantially greater declines than borrowing rates in council-run libraries. Volunteers, however
enthusiastic, do not have the same skills as librarians.
Closing
libraries is a false economy; the Defend the Ten campaign reported that Lambeth
spent more on closing its libraries than running them. Due to public spending
cuts elsewhere, people have come to rely on libraries for help with other
things, like filling in or scanning benefits forms. People will still need that
kind of support from the council.
The
running-down of libraries is also a breach of the Public Libraries and Museums
Act 1964, which states that local authorities have a duty to provide a
‘comprehensive and efficient library service’, which must be overseen by
Central Government. This highlights a double failure, at two levels of
government.
Holding our leaders to account
Just
as it is our government and council’s duty to provide public services, it is
ours as citizens to hold them to account.
We
have a duty to ourselves and to others to demand that our authorities stop
handing over the tools that empower us to private companies, which could not
care less about us, or to community groups who don’t have the resources to
sustain them.
We
have the power to withdraw support from those elected representatives who
ignore our interests. As the councillors vote in favour of destroying the
libraries that so many of us value so highly, they seem unconcerned that the
next local elections are less than two years away. It is up to us to find out which of our
candidates supports the services we value, and to vote for them instead.
We
also have the right to protest. If you are a library user or if you care about
social justice and community, please join us this
Saturday 20th August on our march, to fight these unnecessary cuts;
cuts which will leave local librarians jobless, us more powerless, and our
communities poorer in every way.
