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="]
>
>
> > 
