To applaud Julia Donaldson and think libraries should be funded by central government

[Prarieflower]

and that way the Tories couldn't make excuse for library closures and the inevitable effects they will have on children learning to read.

Julia has written to the gov expressing concern over library closures caused by Tory cuts and the effects they will have on children learning to read.

Same old answer-not our problem it's down to local authorities.

My kids are lucky enough to live in a house rammed with books and are all exceptional readers as a result(they don't go to an exceptional school just one that is satisfactory).Two of my children are boys,all were fluent readers choosing freely by the end of rec.A steady diet of fab,up to date books hooked my dc into reading and helped them learn to read.A steady diet of books has kept them interested and still reading even though they're now 9,9 and 7.

The more you read the better you read-fact.You need libraries to do this.

The hours in our local library have been cut(it's rarely open out of school hours),our children's librarian has gone and machines have been put in her place.We have to go to our nearest city which costs £££££ and I also feed their addiction with Book People bargains. Not everybody has the cash to do this.

Surely in a civilized modern day society in a country that gave us Dickens,Shakespeare,J K Rowling, Michael Morpurgo etc there should be legislation in place to protect libraries and actually more money/schemes should be pumped into them. Ensuring kids have free access to good quality books will save money in so many ways and if we want our young kids to be literate in a modern world when the reading books competes ever more with screens we need to provide the tools to do so ie access to good quality books.

The Tory way of not giving a shit re libraries is very short sighted imvho.Oh and couldn't we start a MN campaign to support Julia Donaldson?

I agree with you, its going to severly affect future generations if the libraries become a thing of the past. Its not just the reading opportunities they encourage its also the community aspect. They provide a vital place for young mums and kids to go to thats free and allows them to meet other people. When my kids where little it was a great place to meet other people in the same position during the toddler sing along that was held there. The elderly also use them both to find things in large print and as a community resource to use the internet and the other facilities.
It will have a huge impact if these vital resourc disappear.

Our local library is being closed. It's going to reopen in the parish council owned village sports bar. When is a den of drunkards, chavs and drug use. Parish council are really happy as they say it'll be open every day. I'm not happy at the thought of my dd going on her own to this place.

Our children's librarian used to model reading to kids and gave much needed advice on suitable books for your age of child-all gone.It's never open now after school so kids can't drop in on the way home like they used to.

Why does it have to be central government? What's wrong with funding libraries locally?

The library is a priceless resource they can't take them away :( they are used by everyone babies small children all the way thru to elderly people. With services ranging from nursery rhyme baby groups to summer reading challenges to a quiet place to study after school. Majority of us will suffer if they start closing. Damn u Tories

It would be ok to be funded locally if there was a protected library budget that couldn't be spent on other stuff. As it is they use the library money they're saving on other stuff.

Gov say its down to the LA, that they can't interfere. LA say that their hands are tied as they're not been given enough money. Both blame the other and neither give a shit.

Well it seems that the gov make excuse saying it's nowt to do with us it's the local gov's fault.The local gov say it's the gov's fault and so it goes on. If it was funded and led by central gov there would be no slopey shoulders and actually you could make it an even better service than it ever was with national standards etc.The gov could get investment from big companies and maybe start schemes that push literacy and support schools.

The Summer Reading Challenge-not all libraries buy into this by my understanding, now if the gov made sure every library did it and every school had an assembly in the summer term pushing it and a medal ceremony in Sep you'd get loads more kids reading over the summer for a start.

They could also have properly trained kid's librarians modeling reading to kids,going round playgroups leading story sessions etc ie a bare minimum of services as they vary atm from library to library

Another idea would be if all libraries ran a second hand book shop on site with profits going directly to the library.

Just some thoughts,I'm sure there are plenty of other ways you could get even more use out of libraries to push literacy in young kids.

But they are not used by everyone. That is the reason one near us closed down recently. It was a ghost town!

I don't think I have been in my library for a couple of years. It must be about five since I actually borrowed a book.

One of my local libraries has been in a temporary venue for a year due to the building being vandalised. The other nearest one has had a huge budget cut from local council who would prefer to shut it down but can't quite face the flak they'd get if they did that.

I am not generally in favour of co-operative/community-run initiatives as a replacement for the council (we pay council taxes to get a professional service from them, not to run it ourselves, plus the idea of machines/volunteers replacing trained librarians is shocking - volunteers as a complement to professionals is fine, of course) - but the cack-handed way they've dealt with our local libraries makes me think a community COULD run it better.

But yes, if central government stuck their oar in and told local councils they had to ring fence funds for libraries, I would applaud.

My local (Labour) council blamed library cutbacks on the central govt cutting their budgets, though. Our council tax has been frozen for the last 4 years - I'd happily pay a bit more to keep the libraries going, but I don't suppose many would agree with that. The council have found the money for their swanky new offices, though...

I agree that it is very short sighted to close public libraries as they really are priceless.

My local library is tiny, but it has a good children's section which always seems very busy after school hours. I really believe that reading is an essential life skill and we have to do everything we can to encourage and help children to learn to read and enjoy reading.

Libraries provide so much, from borrowing books and DVDs, large print books, audio books, Internet access, local information and activities, they can provide a real sense of community.

I also know in my DM's local library, they help people to fill out benefits forms as not everyone can read and write and there just isn't anyone else to help them with the forms. Probably what the government want actually!

I don't think I've ever disliked a government as much as I do this one

Know all of ours are heaving,they should all be heaving.There should be schemes run to make sure this is so with librarians going out to the community and schools working with libraries.Many people don't use libraries because they aren't aware of the gold they contain and think it's not for them.More should be done to entice people in as this would decrease illiteracy which in turn would decrease crime.

I'm really sick to death of every Government of every hue blaming local councils for shutting services.

My council is probably typical in that it only raises around 13% of its total budget through local council tax. Most of the rest comes in grants from Government (i.e. getting our taxes back) and it is these central grants that are being slashed by about £1m per 10,000 of the population per year over three years - as well as cutting 10% from the fund to pay council tax benefit.

Under these circumstances all those services which are not statutory, and which are not locked into outsourced contracts, will have to take the bulk of the 'hit'. So it's farewell to libraries (or their opening hours), public loos (or their opening hours), children's centres, day centres, bus subsidies and grants to local charities. Services like pest contol will probably see a huge hike in charges so they cost to us what it costs the council to deliver.

Of course the Government knows this. It is just very brazen about the blame game and bleating the mantra 'Local councils set their own priorities'.

I get the feeling that the Tories rather despise local government whilst at the same time eulogising 'localism'. Very unhealthy.

Have I killed the thread with my misery?

Sorry.