Thursday, March 23, 2006
Top writers back libraries campaign
A new campaign to transform the image of public libraries has been launched.
Authors including Nick Hornby, Philip Pullman and Margaret Drabble are giving it their support.
The Love Libraries campaign wants to give libraries an image makeover and turn them into a "21st century reading service".
Research shows that while book borrowing among children is on the increase, adults have lost interest.
One in five adults has never visited their local library. And 15% of adults think libraries
are simply places for "pensioners or people trying to keep warm".
Culture Secretary David Lammy launched the campaign at Swiss Cottage Library in north-west London.
Love Libraries has been created by the Future Libraries Partnership, an alliance of public and private sector agencies including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Society of Chief Librarians, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, The Reading Agency and nine British publishing houses.
Miranda McKearney, director of The Reading Agency, said: "Public libraries are transforming themselves to meet people's needs in a new reading world. They are carving out an exciting new role that embraces, but goes beyond, traditional book lending. Reading groups, self service borrowing, author events, reader-to-reader recommendations, e-books, listening posts - it's all happening.
"However, libraries haven't always been good at telling the world they're changing and public perceptions are out of step with the major changes that are occurring in the library service. Although children's borrowing is on the up, we are in danger of permanently alienating the mainstream UK adult audience."
In addition, a number of leading authors have lent their name to the campaign and become Love Libraries Champions. Besides Hornby, Pullman and Drabble, they include Ahdaf Souief, Tracy Chevalier, Jenny Eclair, Roy Hattersley, Tony Parson and Michael Morpurgo.
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