When Liverpool’s Spellow Hub library was torched in this summer’s far-right riots, an appeal quickly raised more than £250,000 to restore the facility. That was testament to the community’s deep attachment, but also to the broader appreciation of the value that libraries bring to society.
Yet they are in crisis – again. Thirteen have closed in Merseyside. The UK has lost one in 20 since 2016, with 180 closed in that time, a BBC investigation has revealed. The most deprived areas are around four times more likely to lose a library than the richest. Overall, library spending has halved since 2010-11.
“I owe my whole life to books and libraries,” Zadie Smith said of her local library in Kensal Rise, London, after campaigning in vain against council plans to close it. The thriller writer Lee Child, creator of Jack Reacher, has said that the library in Birmingham where he spent hours as a boy did nothing less than save his life. But a young Child today might not be so lucky: Birmingham could lose 10 of its 35 libraries.
As the educational attainment gap between children from the richest and poorest backgrounds has grown post-Covid, the role that libraries can play in improving literacy and fostering a love of reading couldn’t be more vital. But it is not just books that make them magical places. The children’s laureate, Frank Cottrell‑Boyce, stressed their importance for “human contact”. His mother used the library as an escape from their cramped Liverpool home. For others, it is a haven from bullying, as one reader told the Guardian.
Where else can you find craft workshops, Lego, coding and chess clubs alongside reading challenges and author events, all for free? Rhyme times offer desperately needed company to isolated parents, as well as stimulation for children. Libraries can be a lifeline, not just to those unable, or unwilling, to spend £20 on the new Sally Rooney novel. If you don’t have access to the internet or a printer, if you struggle with English or can’t keep warm in winter, libraries are not simply somewhere to borrow books. And you don’t even need to buy a cup of tea to spend a whole day there.
Homelessness, loneliness, mental health, asylum support, childcare costs, illiteracy and health education are some of the challenges that libraries help to scoop up as other services have vanished. A librarian’s job can extend to that of counsellor, confidante, computer expert and paperwork decoder. Some libraries – Spellow’s is an example – have been reinvented as hubs for essential services.
In many cases, trained librarians have been replaced by volunteers. The Kensal Rise library that Smith relied on as a child reopened as a community-run endeavour. Volunteers have made a remarkable success of running 16 Sheffield libraries, but concerns about their long-term future persist. The overall financial picture for local authorities gives little cause for optimism, with several warning they are already draining their reserves to stay afloat.
For all their benefits, funding for libraries is never a priority, trumped by the more urgent demands of healthcare and schools. And yet, properly resourced, they can help alleviate the pressures on both. Campaigners are trying to hammer that message home before it is too late. With a new government and a new libraries minister, Chris Bryant, there is an opportunity to reverse the decline caused by 14 years of austerity. One thing libraries don’t need is more words. They need sustained and substantial funding.
