Don’t axe our libraries, say top authors

A group of leading authors today backed the fight to save London's libraries from government cuts.

Some of Britain's best-selling names in fiction, poetry and satire — including Will Self and Benjamin Zephaniah — joined former poet laureate Sir Andrew Motion in condemning plans by councils that could see 130 libraries close.

They urged town hall officials to reconsider cutting a service used by 3.4 million Londoners a total of 52 million times a year.

Helen Dunmore, the first winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, said she was "horrified" by the closure plan. She said: "It will weaken literacy and weaken communities. They are not a frill, they are a vital part of society. They are a core service at the time of so much uncertainty and unemployment.

"I've always been moved by the enthusiasm of library staff and the way they go beyond the call of duty. Once that is destroyed you cannot build it again."

London councils under pressure to implement 27 per cent cuts imposed by Chancellor George Osborne are putting libraries first in the firing line because they claim book provision is not a "statutory service".

Councils including Lewisham, Wandsworth, and Hammersmith and Fulham said some libraries will close and other boroughs including Camden and Westminster will use volunteers to run some services. Only one borough, Hillingdon, has pledged that its libraries are safe.

Satirist Self is directly affected by the closure threat to Northcote Library in Wandsworth, which he uses with his children.

He said: "Libraries should be one of the aspects of public services that doesn't come under cost-benefit analysis. They exist as a public service and that should not be negotiable. I think they should have never let the internet into libraries, it diminishes the perceived value of the book stock. Now everyone thinks you just have to Google Plato, you don't have to read The Republic."

When dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah came to London from Birmingham in the Eighties, he learned to read and write in libraries. He said: "The libraries in Tower Hamlets, Willesden and Peckham saved my life. Libraries were a safe place to go. I think libraries are an invaluable resource for everyday people who can't afford to build up a library at home."

The poet, whose verse Library Ology is a tribute to libraries, added: "If the internet brings young people into the library, most of them go away with a book." Self and Zephaniah said libraries were the "mark of civilisation".

Charlie Higson, the Fast Show star and author of the Young Bond novels, said: "Librarians are not just people in libraries making sure the books are in alphabetical order, they do a lot of fantastic work in schools and for literacy."

Islington-based Higson added: "You get the Government on one hand saying more people need to use libraries but on the other hand reducing funding."

London is thought to have the most public libraries of any capital city with 385 — 130 more than New York, 82 more than Paris and 16 more than Tokyo. They stock 17 million books as well as 1.5 million CDs, cassettes, talking books, videos and CD-Roms.

The Mayor's cultural adviser Munira Mirza said Boris Johnson was "a big champion" of libraries. She said she had called in council Cabinet members with responsibility for culture for a "library summit" last month and another meeting is planned in weeks.

She added: "We are trying to get council to consider ways of restructuring their library services rather than close libraries down, which should be a last resort. The Mayor has no direct statutory powers but does feel he can bring a lot of influence to bear."