Some libraries deserve to close, says 'digital inclusion' charity

Less than two weeks after peers spoke in the House of Lords about the importance of protecting the nation’s libraries, and as residents in Walsall mourn “absolutely devastating” proposals to close 15 out of their 16 local libraries, a charity has warned that libraries should not “receive an automatic ‘get out of austerity free’ card, merely on the grounds of being libraries”.

‘Digital inclusion’ charity the Tinder Foundation said on Wednesday that libraries should not be protected at all costs, and that those not fulfulling their potential should not receive “a free pass”.

“I love libraries. But I love them when they’re fulfilling their potential. When they are not, I believe they are bringing the institution down. I believe they are letting local people down. And I’m fed up of seeing them get a free pass, when other community hubs ­and community centres­ are also at the brink of closures, and also faced with the really pointy end of the local council cuts,” said Tinder chief executive Helen Milner.

The charity, which runs the UK’s network of online centres to provide people with basic digital skills, says that if libraries want to be seen as a hub for the community, then it “takes more than booklending”. During the House of Lords debate earlier this month, the publisher Gail Rebuck said that “libraries should be seen as key community centres, open to all, where, alongside books, people can rely on other essential life services”, while Big Issue founder John Bird called on the government to “supply some emergency relief money to stop local authorities doing this dastardly deed, this process of philistinising our communities”.

But Milner said that while she agrees “that we must protect essential services, knowledge and education for those most disadvantaged in our communities”, she does not agree “that libraries should receive an automatic ‘get out of austerity free’ card, merely on the grounds of being libraries”.

“Knowledge is no longer just found in books. Increasingly, knowledge, education, history, news and even fiction are found online. Books are not synonymous with knowledge, and they are certainly not synonymous with community. To be community hubs, libraries need to be about social inclusion before books. And digital inclusion is part of that picture,” she said.

According to Milner, while some libraries are “doing an amazing job of supporting the needs of their community, using digital and other means to engage and empower excluded and vulnerable groups”, others are not, “and it’s time we faced that fact”.

“In face of less and less money, we need to consider that those libraries need to close. It’s time funding was channelled to the libraries ­ and other community organisations ­ really playing the role of community hubs,” she said. “I believe we can make libraries so strong, so useful and so essential that no one in their right mind would ever close another one. But we won’t do that by pretending all libraries are already brilliant, just by virtue of being libraries.”

A spokesperson for the foundation said the charity was “expecting” Milner’s comments to provoke a reaction. “We’re keen to broaden the discussion around the quality provided by libraries, so hopefully this will allow us to do this. There are lots of libraries doing fantastic things that we think should absolutely stay open, but we need to ensure that the libraries that do remain can attract new people, and are relevant to their communities,” she said.

Nick Poole, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, which is leading protests against plans to close libraries in the UK, admitted that “no library should be protected simply because it is a library”, but said: “We do urgently need a library development plan to oversee the kind of modern, vital services that Helen Milner envisages and communities need.”

“While we would challenge the idea that public libraries have been protected from the impact of austerity, we welcome the Tinder Foundation’s call for a national plan for improving and developing them,” said Poole. “Working with Lord Bird, Cilip has called for a national strategy, accepted quality standards and proper strategic investment and we urgently need the government to fulfil their statutory duty and work with the sector to create this.”