http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/04/protests-save-our-libraries-day > > Protests across the UK expected for Save Our Libraries Day > > Some 80 events nationwide scheduled in co-ordinated day of action against > library closures > > Click here for an interactive map of all the scheduled events > [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/interactive/2011/feb/01/library-protests-map" > title="] > > > > > http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/04/protests-save-our-libraries-day > > > Author Philip Pullman has described the spontaneous surge of popular > support for libraries threatened with closure by local authority cuts ? > which will see Save Our Libraries Day > [http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/advocacy/public-libraries/pages/savelibrariesday.aspx" > title="] protests taking place up and down the UK tomorrow, Saturday 5 > February ? as "one of the first great shots across the bows of the cuts > battleship". > > Pullman, author of the celebrated Northern Lights trilogy, compared the > activism over the threatened library closures to the student protests over > tuition fees, saying: "I hope it'll bring to the attention of even the > thickest-headed local council member that there is a great deal more > passionate feeling about libraries than they bargained for." > > At least 80 events will take place tomorrow, with a roster of notable > authors coming out against the cuts, which now threaten more than 400 > libraries across the UK: among them, Kate Mosse on the Isle of Wight > protest, GP Taylor at Easingwold in North Yorkshire, Philip Pullman and > Mark Haddon at read-ins in Oxfordshire, and Julia Donaldson lobbying the > Scottish parliament in Edinburgh. > > Famous names from entertainment are also taking part. Comedian Phill > Jupitus will work as a librarian for a morning > [http://plymouthbb.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/phill-jupitus-supports-plymouth-libraries/" > title="] at Plymouth's St Aubyn library to mark his support for Save Our > Libraries day. > > Manwhile actor Ralph Ineson ? who plays Amycus Carrow in the Harry Potter > films ? will do a reading at Norbury Library in south-west London, with > everyone invited to come along dressed as a character from the JK Rowling > books. > > Campaigners are looking for creative ways to make their point. In Milborne > Port in Somerset > [http://falseeconomy.org.uk/cuts/item/milborne-port-library" title="], a > hooded "book snatcher" will descend on the library, stealing books from > children and the elderly inside, and leaving them instead with signs that > say "illiteracy", "poor life chances", and "social isolation". > > At Sheffield central library > [http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=107352279338822" title="] there > will be a "mass Shhh-in", with supporters encouraged to make the > traditional librarians' reproof, followed by a rousing three cheers for > the library. Campaigners at Sydenham library in Lewisham > [http://www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk/wordpress/?p=1026" title="] will > release 26 balloons, each one bearing a letter of the alphabet, as a > symbol of library's role in supporting literacy. In Gloucestershire, a > band of "flying authors" > [http://foclibrary.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/the-fabulous-flying-authors/" > title="">In Gloucestershire, a band of "flying authors] will spend the day > racing between every one of the county's 43 libraries. > > Readings, petitions and campaign speeches are the staple, with many using > music and fun activities for children, promising a celebratory atmosphere > to focus on how popular local libraries are within their communities. > > Social media have been key to the rapid spread of the co-ordinated > protest, with Twitter and Facebook campaigns proliferating from > organisations such as Voices for the Library > [http://www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk/wordpress/" title="], The Chartered > Institute of Library and Information Professionals > [http://www.cilip.org.uk/Pages/default.aspx" title="] and book industry > magazine the Bookseller > [http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fight-For-Libraries-campaign-from-The-Bookseller/134767896588119?ref=ts]. > And the campaign has travelled overseas, with the Twitter hashtag > #savelibraries [http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23savelibraries" title="] ? > initiated on a whim two weeks ago by a Shropshire lecturer and > bibliophile, @mardixon [http://twitter.com/#!/MarDixon" title="] ? now > adopted by library supporter groups in the US, New Zealand, Australia, > Canada, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands. > > Feelings are running high, with Philip Pullman's impassioned speech in > defence of the public library service, originally made at an Oxfordshire > campaign meeting and later posted online, picking up tens of thousands of > readers and a huge response. > > The author said he is still receiving responses to his speech. "I had an > email yesterday from a woman brought up in Blackbird Leys [a low-income > Oxford suburb where the local library is one of those threatened with > closure] saying that the library had been the sole place where she could > find release and escape. A child in the same position, from next year on, > would find him or herself with nothing at all." > > Pullman added that his own experience as a schoolteacher taught him that > claims libraries are a narrow, middle-class issue are simply not true. "I > defy anyone to tell me, looking at a class of children, which will love > libraries and which won't," he said. "Sometimes it's the child of a single > mother living on benefits; sometimes it's the child with plasma screen TVs > and three holidays a year, but no books in their home. In every class in > every school there are children whose lives will be changed by a library. > Taking that away from them is not fulfilling your proper duty as a local > authority." > > Councils hard-pressed by government budget cuts say the harsh reality is > that difficult choices must be made, with other vital services including > those for the elderly and disabled also crying out for funds. > > Keith Mitchell, the council leader in Oxfordshire, where Philip Pullman > lives, has queried whether local authors have "thought through the impact > of their messianic message about literature on the most vulnerable in our > society". Oxfordshire proposes to stop funding 20 of its 43 libraries. > > But author Alan Gibbons, who runs the Campaign for the Book > [http://alangibbons.net/?p=91" title="], pointed out that there are more > than 20 local authorities, including Cornwall, Devon, Lincolnshire and > Norfolk, where no library closures at all are planned and queried why > others felt it necessary to axe half their service. "Culture minister Ed > Vaizey should call a halt to all closures under the 1964 Libraries Act and > demand that the councils that are unable to manage their services properly > should be made to listen to those that appear to be protecting them > better," Gibbons said. > > ? An interactive map of all the Save Our Libraries Day protests can be > seen here > [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/interactive/2011/feb/01/library-protests-map" > title="] > > > >