Libraries

Open letter to Ed Vaizey MP about library closures attracts 456 signatures from library users, authors and celebrities.

Wednesday, 21 December 2011

An open letter to Culture Minister Ed Vaizey penned by library user group Friends of Gloucestershire Libraries has attracted 456 signatures in just six days.

The letter expresses library users’ shared dissatisfaction with Mr Vaizey’s execution of his duties to superintend public library services, in the face of closures and service reductions of an unprecedented scale nationwide.

The letter has been signed by library user groups and individual library users, parents, educators and librarians from across the country, as well as famous names from literature, science and the arts.

Novelists including Yann Martel, Joanna Trollope, Patrick Ness, Kate Mosse, Tracy Chevalier, Ann Cleeves, Mo Hayder, Sarah Waters and Ben Kane have added their names, as well the Royal Society of Literature and the Society of Authors.

From the world of children’s literature, Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson and past laureate’s Anthony Browne, Anne Fine, Michael Rosen and Michael Morpurgo have signed, along with John Dougherty, Nicola Smee, Cindy Jefferies, Vivian French, Linda Newberry, Beverly Naidoo, Jonathan Stroud and many more.

Science writers Steve Jones, Simon Singh MBE and Marcus Chown have endorsed the letter, alongside comedians and broadcasters Marcus Brigstocke, Robin Ince and Chris Addison, OBEs Vivien Griffiths and John Dolan, and multi-BAFTA award winning producer and filmmaker Edward Mirzoeff CVO CBE.

Other signatories include representatives of church and community groups, literacy charities, politicians, trade unions, and professional bodies – including the South Carolina Library Association, USA, who have been following the plight of UK public libraries and wished to express their international support.

Friends of Gloucestershire Libraries member Demelza Jones says;

This letter stems from a shared frustration that library users continue to hear the same old message from Ed Vaizey and DCMS whilst public libraries close or are made ready for closure across the country. They are fiddling while Rome burns. We posted the letter on our blog in the hope that other library user groups would join us, and have been overwhelmed by the response. It’s brilliant to see so many famous names, but just as encouraging to see the mass of support for public libraries from library users, parents and educators nationwide, and the very real anger at Ed Vaizey and DCMS’s inaction at this critical juncture for the future of the service.

The letter has today been sent to Ed Vaizey MP, along with the 360 comments for him left by signatories on the blog post where the letter was hosted. Click here to view the letter.

Demelza Jones (on behalf of Friends of Gloucestershire Libraries)