Library cuts harm us all

Did you go to your library on Saturday?

In case you missed the news, it was Save Our Libraries Day whenthe nation was urged to use-it-or-lose-it in a campaign to preventwidespread closures threatened by the dreaded cuts. It is so WRONG.

I do not need to list the benefits of a facility where access tobooks is free and everyone, regardless of their income, can get onthe internet (almost essential these days) and children can learn tolove reading and the elderly and lonely can see a friendly face.

Anyone with an ounce of intelligence or sensitivity can grasp allthat. What I don't get is why politicians harp on about the BigSociety and then seem determined to erode every ounce of communitywe have. I am not even talking any particular party.

I was furious with the last Government for what they did to thesub-post office and the traditional pub. I shall be incandescent ifthis lot put the final nail in the community coffin and take ourlibraries too. And I've no time for tosh about volunteers magicallyappearing from the woodwork to save the day. You cannot expectpeople to form themselves into teams and start running the show ifthey've nowhere to gather and bond and exchange views first (whatthe pub and post-office queue were designed for). And anyway you canonly help out if the structure is there in the first place. We allknow that once a library (or anything else) is closed or cut, wewon't see it again.

Before anyone writes to cite deficits and double dips, I am notagainst economies per se - if we ain't got the dosh we can't spendit - but it strikes me that there are a whole heap of savings to bemade before we short-sightedly chop services (there are othershocking examples too). Instead of taking away books that so enricha society, try tracking down the buyer for the hospital that ordered77 different sorts of surgical gloves. Do some central ordering inthe NHS, and education, and the vast offices of the civil service.

You know how much you can save in a small home with three-for-twos and this week's discount buys. The government could gain back afortune if they simply bought in bulk and did a spot of negotiationon the paperclips. How much is the census costing? Nearly fivehundred million quid since you ask. Do we really need one right now?There's already enough data out there to tell the government howmany of us are alive and kicking, married or whatever else they'redesperate to know. Can't someone coordinate the records from thePost Office and Pensions and the Inland Revenue and the Electoralregister, for starters? Those that have ducked those systemsprobably won't fill in their census forms in any case. And whoreally cares how many of us consider ourselves C of E, or wouldrather be a Jedi?

Libraries matter - not just for themselves, though that isimportant - but because closing them is the thin end of the wedge.Even if you don't read, have your own shiny computer, and haven'tset foot in a library for years, it's going to affect you.

Because if you've ever once lamented the passing of the milkmanand the corner shop and park wardens and policemen on the corner andgood manners and discipline in children and the days when matronknew best - this is more of the same.

If you didn't go to the library last Saturday, please pop in andsupport it soon.