Save our libraries: there are no plans to reopen them
SAVE our libraries! They are full of free learning. They are one of the few indoor places you can sit down and enjoy the peace and quiet without having buy something. You can pick a book up and flick though it. Each book was created by someone else. Reading let’s you see into their mind. Books help you to understand life better. Libraries allow people to read books they cannot afford to buy. They are one of the few things taxes pay for that improve us.
But they are closing.
I grew up in Brent, north west London. Kensal Rise library — opened by Mark Twain in 1900 — is being closed. The High Court has agreed that Brent council can shut six of its twelve libraries. Sir Michael Holroyd said: “The wanton destruction of the Kensal Rise Library is a gross act of philistinism which will bring lasting shame to all involved.”
Brent Council says the closures will help to fund improvements to its remaining library service and contribute towards the £104 million of savings it needs to make. So. The books have gone. The furniture has gone. The council of the London Borough of Brent has taken away the plaque commemorating Twain’s involvement.
When the debt is gone and austerity is a distant memory, will the libraries retuen? We don’t know. The powers that be might lack the imagination to wonder ‘what if’…
Posted: 10th, July 2012 | In: Reviews Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
