They Work For You

House of Lords Debate | Viscount Clancarty : 9th July

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In the wider cultural sphere, on libraries, Ed Vaizey has queried the figure of 600 libraries under threat that I gave during Oral Questions last month, saying that this is simply a figure bandied around by the media. The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals produced that figure. If I am at fault, it is in not realising quite how many libraries have already closed recently. Some of the 600 will be among the 122 that have closed in the single financial year 2011-12, according to the Public Libraries News website, which lists every single one of them. This independent website run by librarian Ian Anstice is certainly a much better source of information than the DCMS, which is not keeping a close enough eye on the situation, even though it is the Secretary of State who, under the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964, has the power to intervene. A library professional tells me that the figure of 600 threatened if the present cuts continue will soon be, in his words, "a gross underestimation". For Ed Vaizey to say, as he did in his speech on 28 June at the Future of Library Services conference, that the libraries are "thriving" when many now have staff shortages and greatly reduced opening hours, suggests to me a Government in denial about the huge problems that libraries face

Frances Hendrix

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