The great library revolt continues …

Next Saturday, the 5th of February, read-ins will be held at libraries all over the country as part of Alan Gibbons' Campaign for the Book. Two weeks ago the residents of Stony Stratford borrowed every single book on the shelves in their local library, all 16,000 of them. Robin Ince writing in the New Statesman described it as "the first great library revolt of the 21st century."

Last week I posted an article suggesting that we could all follow the example set by the silent revolutionaries of Stony Stratford, and visit our local libraries on Saturday the 5th to borrow some books. Even better, why not take the whole family with us? In fact, why stop there? Let's get friends, neighbours, work colleagues … anybody and everybody, to visit their local library next Saturday and borrow some books. The more often libraries are used, the stronger the argument will be for keeping them open. It won't cost anything, except a few minutes of your time, and if you don't have a current library card then sign-up for one. It's free (Just take something with your name and address on for proof of ID)

But why should you give up your time? What does it matter if a few libraries close? According to the news, the country is on the brink of a depression, people are losing their jobs, life is getting tough for everyone – surely there are more important things to worry about than library closures? "Fine," writes Robin Ince. "In the struggle for existence, libraries may seem a low priority. But they are a sign that a society believes the life of the mind is important. If some are underused, the solution is not to shut them but to get people back inside them and remind them of why libraries are there." Indeed, in times of austerity, we will need our libraries more than ever. To borrow when we can't afford to buy, to access the internet when a home connection is beyond our means, and not least for the sense of community and place of refuge a library can provide. But don't take my word for it …

"For an impoverished child whose family could not afford to buy books, the library was the open door to wonder and achievement, and I can never be sufficiently grateful that I had the wit to charge through that door and make the most of it. Now, when I read constantly about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that the door is closing and that society has found one more way to destroy itself." – Isaac Asimov

"A good library will never be too neat, or too dusty, because somebody will always be in it, taking books off the shelves and staying up late reading them." – Lemony Snicket

"We may sit in our library and yet be in all quarters of the earth." – John Lubbock

"One of the fundamental ways in which we organise and make sense of our lives, the lives of others and the world in which we live is through stories." – Viv Martin

"The library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers, drawn from the entire planet and from all our history, to instruct us without tiring, and to inspire us to make our own contribution to the collective knowledge of the human species. I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries." – Carl Sagan, Cosmos

"The best of my education has come from the public library... my tuition fee is a bus fare and once in a while, five cents a day for an overdue book. You don't need to know very much to start with, if you know the way to the public library."  – Lesley Conger

"Librarian is a service occupation. Gas station attendant of the mind." – Richard Powers

"You might not belong to your library now, but, one day, when you walk by a building site promising luxury apartments, where kids on tricycles once excitedly wheeled back with their new favourite book on dinosaurs, you will be sorry that it is gone. Get out your library card and start borrowing again." – Robin Ince

So, please – spread the word. Let's see how many books we can borrow next Saturday (and beyond). We probably won't empty the shelves, but it's a start …

For a full list of library closures and a handy map see Public Libraries News
For more reasons to defend libraries, please see Voices for the Library