National Library Day marks a year of protests against library closures

Campaigners have saved some libraries from closure, and an inquiry begins next week – but councils are now under greater financial pressure than ever to cut services
National Library Day
A round-the-clock vigil in October against the planned closure of Kensal Rise library, in a London borough where six libraries have been boarded up. Photograph: Sean Smith for the Guardian

In the 12 months since a surge of public protest against proposed library closures was expressed in last February's Save Our Libraries Day, campaigning bibliophiles around the country have enjoyed mixed fortunes.

There was rejoicing in Somerset and Gloucestershire, where library closures were quashed by a legal challenge, but in Brent, north-west London, despite a determined high court action and 24-hour vigils outside Kensal Rise library, the Brent SOS Libraries campaign group failed to prevent six libraries from being boarded up.

Saturday sees another national day of library action, but users of Brent's Preston Park library will be marking National Libraries Day not in their now closed library building, but at a pop-up library in a nearby primary school.

The day will consist of all manner of author visits and read-a-thons to highlight and celebrate the service. All around the country – including Oxfordshire, Doncaster and Surrey, the latest place where a legal challenge is being launched against the council – groups of committed library users are still battling to preserve their library networks from heavy cutbacks.

Many credit the vigour of the campaigning for the fact that the tally of library buildings to have closed their doors is much lower than had been suggested. A year ago, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals predicted that 600 libraries could go – yet so far, according to the website Public Libraries News, only 32 in the UK have closed. Forty-three mobile libraries have also shut down; eight libraries have been handed over to local communities to run; four more, in Lewisham, have been transferred out to a social enterprise company.

Alan Gibbons, who runs the influential pro-library blog Campaign for the Book, has no doubt that local protesters are responsible for the lesser number of closures. "I think the public library service would have incurred phenomenal damage had not Brent, Somerset and Gloucestershire campaigners created a knowledge in councillors that there would be resistance," he said.

But with financial pressures on councils now greater than ever, there are fears that the next year could look very different. Public Libraries News lists 407 libraries as being at risk of closure, with many more expected come the new budget year in April. Kent, where the library authority has chosen not to host any special events for National Libraries Day, is working on a major shakeup of its service, including trialling the use of a US debt collection company, Unique Management, to recover its unpaid library fines.

In addition, the move towards community-run library schemes in place of outright closures has its critics.

Desmond Clarke, a former director of the publishing house Faber & Faber, and a longtime campaigner for libraries, says the prediction of 600 lost libraries still holds good, but that 550 of those 600 may not be closed so much as moved into "community provision".

According to Clarke, this could mean closure by default, because volunteer workforces are by nature unstable, and will face a burden of constant fundraising for running costs. "There is no blueprint to know whether community-run libraries are viable and sustainable," he said. "It is all being done on a wing and a prayer – sink or swim."

Another theme of the past year has been the "hollowing out" of library services, as authorities desperate to meet squeezed budgets leave library buildings intact but cut back on staff, opening hours and book funds.

Durham county council has announced that 250 staff – the equivalent of 134 full-time posts – may go. In Wirral, 50 library staff are leaving. In Birmingham, 27 of 182 FTE (full-time equivalent) posts are to go.

Clarke estimates that over the two years to April 2013, one quarter of the 23,700 paid library staff who were working in March 2011 (according to the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy) will have lost their jobs.

Annie Mauger, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, said that for councils, there's a choice between "bricks or brains" – and that they are in danger of replacing a library service with a mere "book-lending" service.

"A quality service needs planning and delivery and is professional because it needs to be," Mauger said, pointing out that librarians offer advice and support for families and parents, ensure no bias in the library's collection, and offer access to information and the internet.

Under the 1964 Public Libraries & Museums Act, which underpins the service, the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has a legal duty to superintend public libraries and make sure local authorities are providing a "comprehensive and efficient" library service to all residents. Hunt's unwillingness to intervene over closures has infuriated the campaigners, who have bombarded him and the culture minister, Ed Vaizey, with pleas for action.

The children's laureate, Julia Donaldson, a staunch library champion, said that Hunt and Vaizey have been "singularly unresponsive … The frustrated campaigners are wondering what irresponsible actions local authorities have to take in cutting public libraries before [Hunt's] department decides to undertake an official inquiry."

Next week may see a significant development on this front, with the culture, media and sport select committee, responsible for scrutinising the work of the department, due to start taking oral evidence in an inquiry into library closures.

High-profile authors are likely to be among those offering their views, with the inquiry likely to look at whether the closures are compatible with the 1964 act, and the effectiveness of the secretary of state's powers of intervention. Hunt and Vaizey may also be asked to give evidence.

The campaigning must continue, Donaldson believes. On 13 March, authors, librarians and campaigners will join in a rally and a lobby of parliament to tell MPs their views directly.

"We all just have to keep banging away and hoping for the best," said Donaldson. "I do feel that, thanks to all the campaigning, there is now more public awareness about the plight of libraries and that more people are up in arms. On the other hand, there is always the danger of fatigue: if local authorities continue to make cuts, some people are going to be wondering: 'Can we go through this all over again?' It's certainly not a short-term problem."

Benedicte Page is news editor of The Bookseller

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