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April 21, 2006
Councillors and friends of libraries everywhere
I beg the permission and the pardon of Mr Gilbert and the Edgware Times for reprinting this letter exactly as it has been sent to me this morning. ------
Edgware Times
Promise us you’ll try to conserve valuable libraries
Barnet libraries are now into the second consecutive year of severe budget cuts. Here are some of the results so far: The central fund for books, magazines, DVDs and other materials has been slashed by £259,000; the budget for each library has been reduced by 25 per cent; more than twenty front -line posts have been abolished; one of the two mobile libraries has been withdrawn; Totteridge library has been shut down and South Friern library is under threat; the staffing and opening hours of East Finchley library have been cut back (an ill omen for all except the biggest libraries?); and reference books are being withdrawn because their information is on the internet'. Even if that were true, not everyone is an internet expert.
Councillors need to appreciate the importance of a good library service, not just for leisure, but also for education and lifelong learning. As a Friend of Barnet Libraries I urge all who care about the future of our libraries to ask their candidates in the forthcoming election to promise to try to ensure that there are no further cuts in the library service, and that the cuts already imposed are reversed as soon as possible.
Leslie Gilbert Chandos Road, East Finchley
Posted by Tim Coates at April 21, 2006 10:12 AM
Comments
It's so moving, and instructive, to hear from library *users.* We publishers sometimes forget that librarians are buying our books on behalf of real people who need the knowledge and ideas they contain. It's good to be reminded.
Posted by: Karen Christensen at April 21, 2006 4:59 PM