Save our libraries

Campaigns (19)

• Wigan
  

  Save Garswood historic library

  St Helens Labour Council have made the decision to close our library and relinquish the lease in January 2024. Now a listed building, originally dating back to 1588 let's just hope that Diocese of Liverpool retain and maintain the building for the benefit of generations to come. Our libraries do more than simply loan books. They provide events for children, internet access for the elderly, book clubs and more. They’re places for the whole community to come together and learn. Libraries are a door into the world, we need to protect them for future generations.

  52 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Stephanie Fryer
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  Save Chineham Library

  Hampshire County Council have announced plans to close 10 libraries as part of cost cutting plans. In addition to signing this petition, it's really important that everyone responds directly to the consultation at tiny.cc/hccsurvey. Our libraries do more than simply loan books. They provide events for children, internet access for the elderly, book clubs and more. They’re places for the whole community to come together and learn. Libraries are a door into the world, we need to protect them for future generations.

  2,770 of 3,000 Signatures

  Created by Louise Skeats
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  Save Horfield Library in Bristol.

  Our libraries do more than simply loan books. They provide events for children, internet access for the elderly, book clubs and more. They’re places for the whole community to come together and learn. Libraries are a door into the world, we need to protect them for future generations.

  90 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Muhammad Asghar
• Adlington
  

  Save Adlington Library

  Our libraries do more than simply loan books. They provide events for children, internet access for the elderly, book clubs and more. They’re places for the whole community to come together and learn. Libraries are a door into the world, we need to protect them for future generations.

  57 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Caroline Hesketh
• Barrowford
  

  Save Barrowford Library

  Barrowford Library is an active and much-needed resource, with users ranging in age from the very young to the very elderly. A dedicated and professional library service is a must in any civilised society and the scale of cuts proposed to Lancashire's library facilities are unacceptable. The library has regular reading and dedicated events for children and a variety of library-based activities for locals. The removal of the library and sale of the building would mean that there are no other community spaces to do these activities. Once removed these facilities will not be replaced. Barrowford is a growing community and should not be deprived of a library.

  173 of 200 Signatures

  Created by Rebecca Gregg
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  Save Lancashire's Libraries

  Libraries like my own in Kirkham are an active and much-needed resource, with users ranging in age from the very young to the very elderly. A dedicated and professional library service is a must in any civilised society and the scale of cuts proposed to Lancashire's library facilities are unacceptable. Libraries in Lancashire do more than just provide books. They have regular reading and dedicated events for children, active creative writing groups, web-based learning sessions, book clubs, additional clubs, poetry readings and a variety of library-based activities that cannot be undermined nor shifted to an inappropriate location. Access to a "comprehensive and efficient" library service is covered under the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act, with additional elements located in the 1998 Human Rights Act and 2010 Equality Act. Our Libraries provide an essential and eclectic service to the local community, and this factor should be a major consideration during any consultations, as per sections of the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act, with additional elements located in the 1998 Human Rights Act and 2010 Equality Act.

  4,836 of 5,000 Signatures

  Created by Claire Stephenson
• Southwark
  

  Save the Feminist Library from Eviction!

  Southwark Council are threatening to evict the Feminist Library from the building on Westminster Bridge Rd, London, that has been its home for 30 years. The council have given notice that the rent on the Library’s space in the building, which has housed a variety of community groups alongside the Library for the past 30 years, will be raised from £12,000 to £30,000 a year. Council officers are refusing to negotiate - join us in calling upon them to work with us to save the Library. On 10th February, Southwark Council Cabinet approved a report that ‘highlights the need for a thriving VCS (Voluntary and Community Sector) that mobilises community action and makes best use of community resources, skills, knowledge and spaces’. We cannot understand how treating our organisation in such a way is consistent with approving this report. [1] Dr Laura Schwartz, Associate Professor of Modern British History, University of Warwick has said: ‘"The Feminist Library is a wonderful cultural resource that needs to be defended at all costs. Generations of my students have used it for their academic research, as well as informing themselves about the continued oppression of women in our society and how to fight against it. The Library is now the only archive in London where a wide array of feminist publications are truly accessible to the general public and available on the open shelves. It also provides one of the few spaces in central London where women and feminist activists can come together to meet and organise for a better world. If the Feminist Library is evicted from its current premises, Southwark Council will not only be guilty of cultural vandalism but also of silencing women." Learn more about the Feminist Library and donate to our Emergency fund here: http://feministlibrary.co.uk/support/emergencyfund/ About the Feminist Library: The Feminist Library has an incomparable collection of over 7,000 books, 1500 periodical titles from around the world, archives of feminist individuals and organisations, pamphlets, papers, posters, and ephemera. We also provide space for meetings, readings, exhibitions and events, a space which supports and encourages research, mutual support, activism and community projects, with well over 20 different groups having used the events space just in the past calendar year, a number of them national and international. We are volunteer led, as we have been all our life; we are intergenerational, being significant custodians of our feminist heritage, whilst looking to the future; and our approach is intersectional – we provide a space for different feminisms to co-exist. We support not just archiving work, but also publish our own zines and support independent producers and artists. We are a registered charity, and completely self-funding. [1] Details of report http://casouthwark.org.uk/focus-southwark/southwark-council-agrees-new-voluntary-sector-strategy ‘Southwark Council Agrees to New Voluntary Sector Strategy’

  16,447 of 20,000 Signatures

  Created by Anna Pigott
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  Save West Berkshire libraries

  Public libraries are currently under attack as never before. Quite apart from the imperatives of cutting council spending, some people question the point of public libraries. With the advent of the internet and the ebook, public libraries are described as out-dated and of being a luxury we cannot afford when other services are facing financial pressure. However, “The National Literacy Trust says that children who go to a library are twice as likely as those who don’t to read well. It is not just picking up a book. It is the social experience of reading, talking about the books, browsing, comparing what you have read with family and friends. Librarians open doors to new worlds, new possibilities. Children and adults do not just need information to thrive as thinking beings, but stories. Libraries are not in decline because of some natural, historic progression, but because of the monstrous cultural vandalism of savage cost-cutting." (Alan Gibbons) The community aspect of libraries, including storytimes/rhymetimes and free picture books is especially important for new mothers and their children. For many children the library is the only place they will ever be physically engaged with all the possibilities there are on the shelves. “That is why many small children’s activities are based in library buildings, a resource not to be found or replicated anywhere else. Having a space where the sole purpose is to engage with words and pictures, to create memories that last a lifetime, is a delight and not to be given away lightly.” (Ann Chambers) Even leaving aside books, the lack of access to the internet can reduce exam results by a grade. Public libraries can provide that access to children who do not have it at home. Borrowing of children’s books is increasing. Education is for adults and senior citizens too – senior citizens use libraries for education (notably, the U3A), students for quiet study, those new to computers for computer training. Libraries offer everyone a safe place to meet others, to use resources they could not otherwise afford and to strengthen the local community. The long-term effect of closing our libraries for a short-term monetary gain would be catastrophic for our towns and villages.

  2,674 of 3,000 Signatures

  Created by Lesley McEwen
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  Protect our library in Hungerford!

  Our library is more than just a place to get books - it provides a real focus for the community with shared interest groups, computer access, skills sharing across all ages - the list is endless and growing all the time. Most importantly it is a place for people to meet and be with others.

  1,059 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Andrea Mulholland
• Hove
  

  Save Hove Library

  The City Council has announced plans to close Hove Library and re-open a new service in Hove Museum in 2017. We are concerned that the new service will be less central, smaller and won't be able to accommodate the full range and scope of the existing service. We are concerned that Hove Library as we know and love it is closing, and an iconic piece of local history will be lost forever. Hove Library is well used and loved by our community. It is a lifeline to many. It is free to use and popular. It provides great value costing the council taxpayer only 32p per week per person. Our library helps our community: 34% of library users have no home internet access and 32% are jobseeking. Over 30,000 children use libraries in Brighton and Hove ranging from homework clubs to baby boogie. Over 600 people attend reading and writing workshops. Hove library is home to special collections, provides a safe space and helps break down barriers.

  4,212 of 5,000 Signatures

  Created by Phelim Mac Cafferty