On 5 November, my family and I marched in the first national demonstration for libraries, museums and galleries. As part of my mission to dismantle poverty, I’ve placed social literacy – and the fight to promote our libraries and local bookshops – at the heart of my work. Make no mistake; if we lose our libraries, if we sit by and watch as our communities are philistinised not only will we have paved the way for the privatisation of leisure centres, parks and social centres but we will have stoked the fires of that false economy – austerity – and passed on yet more “efficiency savings” to our prisons, A&E departments and rough sleepers’ services.
If we truly want to protect our cultural hubs, the trade union movement now needs to unite, organise nationally and speak with one voice. And if we wish to make headway with the government, I see the autumn statement as the perfect opportunity to call on the chancellor to provide emergency relief funding for councils to maintain their library services. This would give councils the time to think about how they should retune their services to meet local communities’ needs. Ultimately, it is down to all of us to save our libraries. So ask yourself; what are you doing to help?
John Bird
House of Lords
• Your report (Authors join national protest against library closures, 5 November) highlights the precarious position of public libraries. Less obvious, but even more insidious, is the threat posed to local museums. Public sector spending cuts have affected local authority museums more than other types of cultural organisation. Several in the West Midlands have already closed, and there are plans to close others. Elsewhere, local authorities are setting wildly optimistic commercial targets or zero budgets for their museums. The number at risk is now so great that the Museums Association has set up a working group to provide guidance on museum closure. It is fair to say that regional museums face an existential crisis. The problems facing the museum sector go much deeper.
Many now have “orphaned collections”, for which no one within the museum has specialist knowledge. As curatorial posts are lost, exhibits may disappear from the public view, and no longer be used in exhibitions or displays. Although the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is conducting a review of museums, it has no coherent strategy. It is time it stopped pretending that closures are simply a local government issue and started addressing the huge disparity between the national museums and the rest of the sector. While Tate Modern has a £260m extension, many local museums are reducing opening hours, laying off staff, introducing admission charges or facing closure for want of tens of thousands. If the government does not act, the trickle of closures will soon become a flood.
Ian Lawley
Chair of trustees, Friends of the Potteries Museums & Art Gallery
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