National Protest Day - Saturday 5 February - Hands off our libraries, including those on the Isle of Wight
This Saturday sees a national day of protest against 400 planned library closures and there is a fantastic article in The Guardian today about libraries and in particular the libraries on the Isle of Wight of which nine out of eleven on the Island are under threat of closure.
One of the libraries featured in the article is a beautiful library - Ventnor library which, as The Guardian says , 'sits four-square behind a broad pavement on the High Street towards the top of town, a solid, stone-fronted edifice first built in 1850 for a splendidly Victorian outfit called the Ventnor and Bonchurch Literary and Scientific Institution.'
One of the libraries featured in the article is a beautiful library - Ventnor library which, as The Guardian says , 'sits four-square behind a broad pavement on the High Street towards the top of town, a solid, stone-fronted edifice first built in 1850 for a splendidly Victorian outfit called the Ventnor and Bonchurch Literary and Scientific Institution.'
I don't have a picture of Ventnor Library but here is one of the town, looking down on it into Ventnor Bay.
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| Looking north into Ventnor Bay |
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| Looking south down into Ventnor Bay with the town on the right |
'Ventnor public library has 7,401 registered users (the town itself has a population of just under 6,000). Last year, they visited 50,313 times, taking out 47,697 books, CDs and DVDs.'
The article goes on to say, 'Half an afternoon – half an hour, even – in Ventnor library is enough to recognise a properly warm, welcoming, well-used and very obviously well-loved institution. It lends books (including mine) (including large print), DVDs and CDs. It hosts weekly, and evening reading groups, a morning BookChat, a Knit and Natter handiwork session, a toddlers' RhymeTime, and a Stories for the under-Fives.'
Many of our libraries are under serious threat and tomorrow there is a nationwide day of action, including read-ins, storytellings and mass shelf-emptyings.We need to save our libraries everywhere. They are a huge part of our community and I don't see why that community, young old, wealthy and poor should be punished in this way through no fault of their own.
Good luck to the threatened libraries on the Isle of Wight and all those across the UK.
Read the full very interesting article.
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