Closing Libraries Is A Crime-Any Councillor Voting For Any Library To Be Closed Is A Cultural Vandal.

Writer and former School Librarian Rosina Purnell today writes on Havering Council’s shocking decision to close three libraries.

They are stealing from the impoverished parent who needs a safe, free educational activity for their kids during the school holidays. They don’t want to get on a bus, they want to be able to walk there because it’s free and they are finding the cost-of-living crisis a nightmare.

They are stealing from the lonely, elderly person who might have been isolated and spoken to no one for days and needs a warm, welcoming environment, perhaps lingering for an hour or so reading a newspaper.

They are stealing from the teenager who needs a quiet place to do their homework away from an overcrowded flat where they don’t have their own bedroom and are under pressure to do well in their GCSEs.

Above all, they are stealing from the next generation because once those libraries are closed, we know they will never return.

And what will those children of the future be deprived of? The philistines who are closing libraries may not be aware that children reading for pleasure in 2024 was at an historic low. Nearly a million children in the UK don’t own a single book of their own. I wonder how many of those live in Havering? The door is being slammed in the face of children in areas of library closure having unstructured access to books within walking distance and the expertise of professional librarians to help and guide them.

And yes, money can be found. Money can be found for caddy liners for food waste bins, or to instruct lawyers to fight indefensible court cases or even for selective geographical car parking exemptions.

Access to books is fundamental to our culture in this country. 

Babies and toddlers need to experience the library scenario with games, singing and story time. They need to learn that books and reading is fun.

Children of school age need a safe learning environment to explore literary and non-literary texts which they can swap and change as necessary.

Adults have more secure tastes in reading but also want to involve themselves in the many cultural and social activities which our libraries provide.

We know that finance is an inadequate excuse for the selling of this part of our borough’s heritage.

The finger is firmly pointing in disgust at those cultural vandals shamefully voting for library closures in Havering.

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