Nick launches Library Petition! - Please sign below:
Our libraries matter! They are about much more than just lending books. Ours hosts activities from Knit and Natter sessions for mainly older people to Baby Rhyme Times sessions introducing young children to language and visual stimulation.
Hampshire County Council’s financial mess is mostly the fault of central government, but the proposal to close the library is not a good response. It will save very little and affect those with least access to books and IT, the very young and old and hard-pressed families. The alternatives that Hampshire proposes are impractical.
Using Eastleigh library during the day means an hour-long round trip, not likely if you are carrying heavy books or looking after young children (even if buses get to Eastleigh in half an hour which sometimes happens).
The idea that it can be run as a community library by volunteers without any support from the central service is also a non-starter. There would be no new books and no IT access. Volunteers can do much, but they need help with specialist tasks. So, the better option is a volunteer-run library plugged into Hampshire libraries. But the County Council wants to withdraw that support.
None of the County Council’s proposals will SAVE OUR LIBRARY. So, we must. “We must persuade the County Council this is one cut too far”, says Nick.
