Library use in Sheffield continues to decline overall, a victim of a fragmented and severely reduced service delivery model. In addition, transfer to volunteers has seen funding become more transient and the individual collection of books at Sheffield volunteer libraries not being available on the main Sheffield Libraries catalogue.

It should be noted that a similar sized city to Sheffield in Leeds has over 30 libraries still run by council library staff, many of which are even open Sundays and over the Christmas holidays. This is despite Leeds having suffered similar cuts to Sheffield under austerity.

The Save Sheffield Libraries petition demands that Sheffield Libraries take back all 16 volunteer run branch libraries under council control, that library fines are abolished and that efforts are made to apply for funding to restore Central, Walkley Carnegie and Tinsley Carnegie libraries to their former glory.