The Big Issue has long been a champion of books and reading and has campaigned to protect libraries around the country from closure and cuts.
That’s why we’re helping to give a last push to a petition to ring-fence government funding for libraries. Add your signature before the March 24 deadline to help defend a vital resource, not just for the promotion of literature and culture, but also for the digitally excluded, who need library computers to get online and access key services.
“At The Big Issue we never tire of banging on about the power of reading to improve lives,” says Big Issue editor Paul McNamee. “We have lobbied for better literacy across Britain. We have called for libraries to be kept open.
“We believe closing school libraries is an act of short-term cultural vandalism and cuts off a path to social mobility. If access is closed, how can opportunity be found?”
We will sound the battlecry whenever we get the chance.
As many as 816 libraries have been shut down since 2010, 127 of which closed last year. 3,600 are still in operation. Earlier this year a Centre for Studies report showed that libraries were receiving 40 per cent less funding than in 2009-10.
Books matter. Let’s fight to save them.
