Libraries gave us power

It was standing room only at Oxford Town Hall last week as around 300 people came to show their opposition to library cuts and talk about how we can fight the closures.

Stephanie Kitchen gave examples of people who have found life-enhancing support from libraries, including one woman who described the library as a “lifeline in my search for a job”.

We heard about campaigns across the country, including 80 people who protested in Headington in December despite heavy snow. She gave some suggestions for what to do if you oppose the cuts to Oxfordshire's libraries:

• Keep writing to your local councillors, your MP and the press
• Join Save Our Services, OACA, etc
• Join the national campaigns

Then we heard from library worker and Unison rep Steve Squibbs, who told us that one in five libraries is currently under threat of closure nationally. The threatened cuts come with attacks on pay and conditions for librarians. He described libraries as “one of the few places that’s free and welcoming and having little or no money doesn’t matter”. He emphasised the need to be united in our campaigns and not allow local authorities to play different groups off each other.

Andrew Smith, Labour MP for East Oxford, made the same point.”Councillor [Keith] Mitchell challenges people to come up with alternative cuts – let’s not go down that road.” Mr Smith described the cuts as “a deliberate choice of the conservative county council” and “not only politically bankrupt, but procedurally and legally flawed”.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (currently Jeremy Hunt) has a duty under the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 to “secure and improve” the service. Andrew Smith has written to Jeremy Hunt about this and received an unintentionally hilarious letter back arguing that shutting down libraries isn’t always bad because it might make for a “better, more efficient service”.

Mr Smith told the meeting that Wantage MP Ed Vaizey, who is also a minister in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, has written to Oxfordshire County Council about the proposed closures. Mr Vaizey wrote that before sweeping library cuts take place, the county council will need to do the following:

• Create a strategy
• Consider the needs of residents
• Consult with residents

So far, they have done none of these things.

Philip Pullman spoke next, agreeing with the point that we shouldn’t “go down the alternative cuts road”. He criticised the bidding culture which sets one community against another while allowing “leaders” to abdicate responsibility for decision-making.

Mr Pullman mocked the Big Society idea that public services can be taken over by volunteers, pointing out that people with the time and energy to work for nothing are already doing so.

Much of his speech was directed against “the greedy ghost of market madness”, the idea that all our decisions should be made to maximise profit in the free market. “What [the greedy ghost] doesn’t understand is enterprises that don’t make a profit, because they’re not set up to do that but to do something different. He doesn’t understand libraries at all.”

The speakers were followed by a very lively open floor where lots of people were keen to contribute. One man spoke from the newly formed Save Botley Library campaign; his account of their meeting with Cllr Keith Mitchell was very different from the official version.

Former city and county councillor John Power provided some figures: the county council’s annual budget is £1bn 62m, of which libraries currently take up £8m 700,000. That’s about 0.82% of the total budget.

Among many others, we heard from Anna Wagstaff, branch secretary of NUJ Oxford, who spoke about how NUJ members will be affected by the library cuts and suggested schools get more heavily involved with the anti-cuts campaign.

The full text of Philip Pullman’s speech is on the False Economy site.