Heather Wakefield, UNISON national secretary for local government, makes the case for public library provision in her Public Finance blog.
http://opinion.publicfinance.co.uk/2010/04/after-the-elections-bring-them-to-book-by-heather-wakefield/
Even before the coming public spending squeeze libraries have suffered cuts in staffing and stock as well as reduced hours.
These political decisions are socially regressive, as Heather concludes her article: 'In these testing times, many will derive their sense of belonging and access to the world from public services. Genuine community cohesion will be generated by public service workers, helping poor and vulnerable people to ‘a piece of the earth’.
This sense of wellbeing and belonging will be no more acutely felt than in our public libraries – already used by many millions each year. It takes little imagination or wit to recognise that they hold the secret to improved literacy, support for outside learning, access to the world of IT and community wellbeing. Let’s just hope that whoever wins on 6 May is cute enough to recognise it'
