On June 26, a news report on BBC East Midlands Today focused much neededl attention on Leicester’s City Council’s ongoing attempts to defund and close our libraries. The report started by talking to users of Rushey Mead’s library. Local resident Shashikala Jansari said:
“This [the library] means my lifeline. My husband is not well and he can’t hear so I’ve got nobody to talk to even at home and I come here and see my friends and feel happy.”
Nishin Vyas added:
“Our rates have gone up and they’re going to go up again. We’re not getting any facilities around here. Everything is cutbacks.”
The television news report then moved across the city to Knighton library where Amy Capelin, a spokesperson for the Knighton Library Group said:
“We are worried that it will impact on the service, and that the library might not be open as long. We are worried it won’t be run by experienced, qualified librarians, and that if it isn’t run well, it might not survive in the long term. Once it’s gone, we’re going to lose it forever and we really don’t want that.”
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These concerns are shared by the biggest trade union in the city, UNISON, who have published the following statement: “Plans to close libraries and community centres ‘ill-judged and short-sighted’ says UNISON” (April 24).
Assistant city mayor Vi Dempster does not share the same concerns and in a press statement said: “This is not a closure programme.”
What she means is that the two libraries are among 11 buildings the council hopes to find volunteers to operate. So if our Labour Council’s plans are allowed to go ahead, experienced staff will lose their jobs and the community can inherit the closed unstaffed libraries and try to run them with no guaranteed income stream to pay for the maintenance and upkeep of the buildings in the long-term.
Nevertheless, in a strange attempt to echo the City Council’s own Orwellian spin on their latest closure program, the BBC news report highlighted how in Leicestershire one library was already being run by volunteers. The library they showcased was the Anstey community library which is open for 22 hours a week and according to the report relies upon over 30 volunteers. In addition, the new report noted how the local community had to raise £20,000 a year simply to pay for heating and maintenance of the building. A not insignificant sum.
Of course in a renewed era of Labour austerity, it is unlikely that many communities would be able to sustain such an effort to simply stay open, let alone provide the excellent local services that people are used to getting. Furthermore, what the TV report failed to reflect upon was the likelihood of community run libraries eventually closing due to underfunding. For example, the BBC report could have equally highlighted the case of Ibstock community library, another Leicestershire library that was shut for good last year after a group of volunteers had tried their best to run it for a number of years and could no longer sustain the effort (“Council ‘reluctantly’ closes library for good,” BBC, May 26, 2024).
The official consultation ends on June 29 so please take the time to fill it in here and then get involved with local campaigns to stop the proposed cuts in their tracks: Proposals for Leicester city libraries and community centres – Leicester City Council – Citizen Space
