Libraries: Closures

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Monday 11th February 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

I am very keen on rural rides. The Hive in Worcester, as the right reverend Prelate has mentioned, is a new library and history centre, and the first ever joint public and academic library in the country. I could go through the very long list of success stories. I know that there are communities worried about their public library provision but there are good stories to be told in Hackney, Lewisham, Newton Abbot, Clapham, Oldham, Northumberland—I could go on.

[Lord Collins of Highbury]

My Lords, a comprehensive library service is about more than simply the supply of books. It is about encouraging the joy of reading; it is about education. I fear that some of the noises that we have heard from local government simply about alternative provision do not meet the standard, let alone the number, of libraries that my noble friend Lady Bakewell has referred to. What is the Minister’s view about the standards for a library service that meets that need for encouraging reading?

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, the Government and the department have continued to fund the Reading Agency and the Book Trust, two very important charities in that sector; indeed, the Book Trust is involved with book-giving for children. One of the key points that I identified on my visit to these libraries is that we are going through a technological revolution in terms of libraries. The number of e-books that are loaned has risen in two years from 100,000 to nearly 600,000. We are going to have to deal with those new technologies and how we encourage young people and the community to be involved. Among the key pilot schemes are the 22 schemes for automatically joining primary schoolchildren—I am told that in Norfolk they will be joined at birth—and the children will encourage their parents to come to the libraries as well.