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THE INDEPENDENT : 31st January The Big Questions | including Do libraries still matter? - by Baroness Tessa Blackstone http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-big-questions-is-the-50p-tax-rate-a-good-ideado-libraries-still-matter-is-ukip-electable-9100272.html Nearly 300 local libraries have closed over the past two years because of budget cuts. With internet access all but ubiquitous, does that matter? It does matter. Public libraries provide many valuable services besides internet access. In any case, some parts of the country still do not have access to high-speed broadband. Eighty per cent of users surveyed said the support provided in libraries improved their level of understanding of online information and 70 per cent said it improved their online knowledge and skills. Public libraries are also used by primary schools to help young children acquire the habit of reading, and to learn how to borrow books regularly. Older pupils are able to study in them without distractions. Libraries provide many advisory services for adults including on ways of accessing information from different sources as well as from the internet. For example, the British Library has linked up with six big city libraries to help entrepreneurs wanting to start new businesses. Baroness Tessa Blackstone is a Labour peer and chairman of the British Library Frances Hendrix Martin House Farm, Hilltop Lane, Whittle le Woods, Chorley, Lancs, PR6 7QR Tel: 01257 274 833. Mobile: 0777 55 888 03