Libraries: Access

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Thursday 8th December 2011 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Collins of Highbury]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they intend to take to improve access to libraries in the light of research by the National Literacy Trust published on 1 December about low levels of book ownership by children.

[Baroness Rawlings]

My Lords, library authorities deliver many successful programmes to encourage reading. More than 780,000 children took part in the Summer Reading Challenge this year. The Arts Council’s libraries development initiative, announced before the National Literary Trust’s research was published, will explore the challenge for libraries to make certain that their books and reading remain engaging, relevant and exciting.

[Lord Collins of Highbury]

I thank the Minister for that response. As I know only too well from my own upbringing, libraries are the only source of books for many children. Does the Minister believe that a significant number of library closures in an authority—as we have seen up and down the country, in both rural and urban areas—would breach the definition of,

“a comprehensive and efficient library service”,

in the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964?

[Baroness Rawlings]

My Lords, I imagine that the noble Lord, Lord Collins, loves libraries and books as much as I do, as I understand that he was an assistant librarian in the 1970s. We are all naturally concerned if any library closes, but they are a matter for local authorities. As robust data about the library sector are only published annually, we do not know the exact figures. The DCMS supplements those data by monitoring proposals about changes to library services across England through information gathered from our correspondence and from media coverage and relevant bodies such as the Arts Council England. But we share the noble Lord’s concern.