Dear Supporters,
This is to let you know that a formidable group of library activists in the Greenford area of West London have been petitioning schools and leafleting in Greenford; and together with UNISON, have organised a March for Saturday 25th May at 11 am. I will shortly update you on the meeting point (the end point will be Greenford Library) when more details are forthcoming, in case some of would like to join us on the protest march.
‘My London’ and the Ealing's local web site (https://www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/campaign-save-ealings-threatened-libraries-16211650m)
have finally covered News about the Save Ealing Library campaign, though curiously, the report chose to omit the central role UNISON, the Council's union, has been playing and continues to play in campaigning to save all the seven libraries under threat; as well as to protect the jobs of library workers.
As I stated to Ged Cann, while campaigners to the Library cuts are pleased to see that the crisis and objections to the Council's draft Library Strategy 2019-2023 are finally being featured in the local online press, (after nine months of relative silence), the report was rather sketchy in parts and insufficiently considered submitted evidence and arguments by key library campaigners and literary figures such as Alan Wylie and Joanna Trollope; the research conducted by Gina Baber into the pros and cons of community managed libraries and the Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, MP's objection, were two notable exceptions that were included.
If you wish to read the full original Press Release and judge for yourselves please see below. where I have pasted it.
As already mention we have the Public Meeting,next week at Ealing Town on Wednesday 8th May, from 7pm onwards, in the LIz Cantell Room. Please come and show your support if you can. We are fighting for the future of our libraries.
Onward & Upwards.
Thank you for your support.
Grace
"Thousands of Outraged Petitioners Campaign to Defend Ealing Library Service as Seven Libraries Are Threatened with Closure!
In the New Year Ealing residents received a shock announcement that the Council proposes to close down seven of its thirteen libraries (Greenford, Hanwell, Perivale, Pitshanger, West Ealing, Wood End, Northfields) unless community groups come forward to run them voluntarily, in a bid to make £57m in savings, against the backdrop of central government cuts. However, the council says it will continue to run four main town centre libraries, Acton, Ealing, Northolt and Southall, as well as two branch libraries in Jubilee Gardens and Northolt Leisure Centre, which will remain open with a reduction in some opening hours.
Arguing against the proposal National Library Campaigner, Alan Wylie, describes it as “crazy” and a “false” economy, which will lead to the loss of at least 40 full-time library positions. He also adds that the role of ‘community libraries’ in delivering library services is, ultimately to undermine the statutory requirements of the 1964 Act and the principles of a comprehensive and efficient library service.
Offering her support to the Save Ealing Libraries (SEL) Campaign, award-winning author, Joanna Trollope, OBE, stresses that “it is both short sighted, and extremely unfair to future generations, to allow the vital public library service to decline. The standard of general literacy in the UK is shockingly low - the UK came 22nd out of 25 in a recent OECD survey of literacy in the developed world - and this situation is depriving the young of the chance for any real progress in modern life. The general attitude to libraries as easily expendable is disgracefully and ignorantly dismissive. Libraries are the best - and often the sole - places where each one of us can feed and expand the only person we are stuck with - ourselves” (April 2019).
Despite furious public objections to plans to downsize and ‘de-professionalise’ Ealing’s Library service by local residents and supporters around the UK including acclaimed authors, Benjamin Zephaniah, Michael Rosen and Vivian French, Ealing nevertheless, hopes these changes will create savings of 1.2m by 2021. This is in addition to the £499,000 savings previously agreed, totalling £1.6m-37% of the current libraries budget. As Wylie points out, the Council also maintains “it would still provide some investment to cover basic costs, provide book stock and access to IT, the Ealing library card and expertise from the library service.”
Following the demise of Ealing’s former contractor, Carillion, and bowing to public pressure instigated by the SEL Change.Org petition in January 2018, Ealing Council was forced to take its beleaguered library services back in-house. Thirteen months later, nearly 5,000 petitioners back the growing campaign, while localised public consultations (https://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201042/current_consultations/2548/have_your_say_on_the_draft_ealing_library_strategy/2 will end on 17th May 2019.
UNISON, working alongside the SEL campaign, is urging members of the public to challenge these cuts. James Conlon, its spokesperson, points out how wrong it is for the Council to implement these cuts, “at a time when London has the highest child poverty figures in the country, literacy levels are in decline, wages are flat-lining, living costs rising and many are in precarious employment. Many need libraries to access vital local and government services.” According to Conlon, eroding the very “fabric of our local communities”, the cuts will have a devastating impact on library staff and their families, who, after decades of loyal service to community and Council, will be “consigned to the scrap heap.”
Grace Quansah (Save Ealing Libraries Campaigner and Director of WAPPY):
"When you invest in libraries you invest in children and young people who are the cultural capital and future of any community and society. My work as a writer, storyteller and editor of young people’s literature is only possible because of personal study in and professional/collaborative use of Ealing’s libraries including three of the threatened libraries, Hanwell, West Ealing and Northolt. Ealing’s financial ‘panacea’ is divisive and tantamount to bullying and blackmailing its residents, by stating that, “we will close your library down if you don’t volunteer to manage it.” Furthermore, the plan is a catalysis for ill-feeling within different library sectors; for example, professional librarians at risk of losing their jobs may be positioned in opposition to community volunteers who come forward to replace them on a ‘cheap’ and unpaid basis. It also creates a false sense of security because the evidence suggests community-run libraries are doomed to fail."
Gina Baber’s recent research echoes this in The Positive and Negative Impact of Using Volunteers in Public Libraries, (July 2018, UCL), which finds that “volunteer-run libraries are not sustainable, and cannot run in an efficient, freely accessible and wholly ethical manner.” Poignantly, the government’s own research into the effectiveness and sustainability of community managed libraries proved inconclusive, thus implying that Ealing Council’s plan is shoddy and not evidence-based! (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-and-analysis-to-explore-the-service-effectiveness-and-sustainability-of-community-managed-libraries-in-england
An Ealing Council spokesperson holds that “there are as many as 400 community managed libraries across the country and many local authorities are considering this model in the face of the cuts to their government grant. We value libraries, and we know that our communities do too, and our proposals reflect this. During the consultation, there will be opportunities for community groups to meet with us, as well as operators of community managed libraries from other parts of the country, to find out more. We hope as many people as possible get involved.”
However, critics like Ian Anstice (Public Library News) totally disagree. He argues that “there is a more viable solution to community managed libraries. Libraries cost barely 1% of any council budget.” He suggests that a Council should “change its plan for austere costs to values that will last not just for this budget but for people's lives.”
To help defend Ealing’s Libraries please sign the petition at http://chng.it/Vm55Wf9qXj As internationally-acclaimed poet and literary critic, Benjamin Zephaniah, states in support of the petition, “Save it, and you’ll save us.”
Campaigners will hold a public meeting at Ealing Town Hall, the Elizabeth Cantell Room on Wednesday 8th May at 7pm. Speakers include James Conlon, Alan Wylie, Eve Turner (Chair of Ealing Trades Council), Nana Asante - Chair (former Mayor for Harrow), Grace Quansah & Eric Huntley (Co-founder of Bogle L’Ouverture Publications); others TBC. Offering a statement of support for the meeting John McDonnell, MP. for Hayes and Harlington and Shadow Chancellor, states,
“Libraries were one of the first invaluable universal basic services. They are part of the essential foundations of a civilised society. I am totally opposed to the government’s continuity of austerity which is attacking so many of our public services. Labour will end austerity and invest once more in these essential services.” Rt. Hon. John McDonnell MP.
Grace Quansah (Akuba)
Director of WAPPY