Thursday 27 August 2015

Speaking out against library cutbacks


My previous blog praised a Scottish initiative to encourage library use among young people and mentioned my being a founding member several years ago of a Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) campaign to help promote libraries at a time when the service is under threat.
Libraries are vulnerable because many local authorities do not appear to see them as a high enough priority. Even though libraries may not close, they may find their staff reduced and their book funds cut.
Why does that matter? Well, not everyone can afford to buy new books on a regular basis and that is certainly true of families with young children, whose development into the readers of the future is often fostered at libraries.
Lose that and we lose the readers of the future. And that matters. The CWA has spoken out against cuts and so should all writers.
 
John Dean

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