As you may have heard Birmingham City Council has announced that they are making cuts and the library service has been included in these proposals. Birchfield library is one of the libraries under the threat of closure.

Birchfield library serves residents who live in two wards which are in the top ten most deprived wards in Birmingham- Birchfield and Aston.

Birmingham City Council’s public data shows the number of residents, within both these wards, who are unemployed or have no qualifications being above national average levels. This same data shows child poverty for the Birchfield ward is almost 50% and almost 60% for the Aston Ward.

Birchfield library is not only a safe haven for local residents to access books and information but it is also a hub for the community to have access to free activities for adults and children on a range of subjects, free computer access, free advice sessions with professionals and drinks and snacks… all for free!

Residents can temporarily escape the life of poverty and the cost of living crisis and get lost in the many different worlds that fiction books offer. The trained library staff can help residents access a fountain of knowledge from the information books they have, again all for free. Therefore parents do not have to worry about the heartbreaking choice of buying food for the family or buying a book their child needs for a school project.

Residents have free access to the public computers to apply for jobs, complete coursework, play online games or browse the internet.

Privately run activity groups for children are getting more and more expensive but all children who attend Birchfield library have access to free groups and activities for them to learn skills, make friends and have fun, all for free.

This petition is to show Birmingham City Council the importance of saving Birchfield library for the communities of Birchfield and Aston. For residents who may have little in terms of material wealth, Birchfield Library and the staff allow the residents to have a lot in terms of information, books, access to the internet, a safe place where ALL are welcome and a sense of community. Guess what? It’s all FREE!

Birchfield library has existed for 127 years, by signing this petition, let's show the council the importance for it to be around for at least another 127 years. 

To keep up to date with this important campaign, please follow the Save Birchfield Library Facebook and Instagram pages:

 www.facebook.com/SaveBirchfieldLibrary​

www.instagram.com/savebirchfieldlibrary