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Our Libraries - who needs them?
February 2011, and the British Government through there heavy handed approach to cutbacks will lead local councils to cut funding of local services and the closure of a large number of libraries throughout the country. Over 5,000 years ago a collection of over 30,000 clay tablets were found in Mesopotamia. Archaelogists uncovered papyrus scrolls from 1300-1200bc in the ancient Egyptian cities of Amarna and Thebes. These collections became know as ‘the library’. During the 16th-18th centuries libraries surged in popularity. Sir Thomas Bodley rebuilt Humphrey’s library at Oxford in the late 1500s. It was renamed the Bodlean Library and today ranks as the second largest in the UK. The British Library being the largest was founded in 1759 as part of the British Museum. Once Parliament passed the Public Library Act in 1850 (which gave local boroughs the power to establish free public libraries), libraries began to spread throughout the nation. Having used libraries, worked in them, run one, spent numerous hours doing research and spent nearly ten years studying and making books, they (the Government) have got it wrong. By just looking at the statistics they are missing the point. Libraries should not be just looked at as a bunch of figures and data. They provide something much more deeper than that, something that cannot be measured by statistics – free access to knowledge. Libraries are used by all members of society giving access in a whole range of areas, local issues and knowledge, discussion groups, reading groups, etc. By loosing this are we not loosing an important part of the fabric of society? Project 52 (4)
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