A Word on Libraries

A speech made by Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials, on the closing of public libraries due to public sector cuts being forced on local authorities has been pinging about the internet since its publication on False Economy on Tuesday. Pullman is the perfect spokesperson for many literary-related causes, an none more so than this one. He is articulate and I reccomend having a read through his relativly lenglthy speech as he touched on many things whoch apply to our funding of community programmes in general, not just the arts.  He also touches on the subject of the unregulated free market which has gotten the world into this mess from the Chicago School of Economics and for further information on this you could do worse that Naomi Klein's lecture The Schock Doctrine which I've pasted below. (You can also go here to dowload the mp3).


For my part while I understand that when budgets are slashed to the extent that the coalition government is that sacrifices have to be made in some areas, I can't get my head around the decisions being made by those in power as to what is valuable and what isn't. I spent much of my summer holidays with my head in a book and 90% of the time it was borrowed from either my local library or my Grandmother's. My library also housed the local history museum, where I did my first research project. For me the loss of my library would have been close to devastating. My parents didn't have the money to buy the amount of books I got through. They bought me important school books, but it was the library which nurtured my love for reading.