Join UNISON on SOS Day and fight back against library cuts

Thursday 19 October is UNISON’s SOS Libraries Day. UNISON members and activists in libraries will be standing up for our public library service, holding events and calling for an end to the seemingly endless assault on our libraries. Last week was Libraries Week, organised by library and information association CILIP, which celebrated everything good about libraries. And it’s clear we love libraries. Why else would we make 250 million visits to public libraries in Great Britain in the last year? That’s more than visits to the cinema, theatre, live music gigs, and trips to the UK’s top 10 tourist attractions, combined. So if we love libraries so much, why is the public library service being torn to shreds? UNISON members know the answer: spending cuts. Libraries are closing. At least 500 have gone since 2010 and 8,000 library workers have lost their jobs. Libraries are being privatised and the number of volunteers has more than tripled since 2006 from 12,700 to a staggering 44,501 last year. How on earth do you run a sustainable, top-quality public library service on volunteers and good will? You need experienced, expert library workers. Another threat libraries face is the sinister expansion of ‘staffless’ libraries. You can only gain entry to these via a swipe card and pin number and there are no staff in attendance. If you’re lucky, staff may be present for a few hours, perhaps over lunchtime, but often there are no staff at any time of the day. No friendly...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: Blogs local government Save Our Local Services save our services Source Type: news