You may have seen an article in the Evening News about Manchester City Council’s decision to dump 300,000 of Central Library’s works as part of their £170m refurbishment. Last week I raised my concerns with the Head of Libraries and I am pleased Chorlton MP John Leech has joined me in slamming this decision.
Manchester City Council have made the move to dispose of 300,000 works, almost a third of its collection, stating that they are no longer needed.
The items will be given to an outside company which will sell, give away or pulp the works.
Chorlton MP John Leech has written to Manchester city council urging them to reconsider their decision,
“First and foremost these books belong to the people of Manchester and should not be given away to a private company”
He went on to say,
“The city of Manchester has a vast literary history and with the libraries of Manchester’s three universities under stocked, it just seems like a massive travesty to see so many works going to waste.
The works should be offered up to Manchester Libraries like the struggling Barlow Moor Library in my constituency, the Universities and above all the people of Manchester who own these books”
I am waiting for a reply from the Head of Libraries about whether the Council have offered the surplus stock to other Manchester Libraries.
The essence and value of the library is being changed across the board in society, with attempts to turn them into community centres rather than consolidations of the written word. The walkway between the Town Hall extension and Library is a great example of this. The two buildings provide quite different services, yet the walkway, closing off public space out of hours, seems like a patronising attempt to lure those receiving rent rebate to into the library by positioning the doors next to each other connected by a closed corridor. Surely there's a more positive way of promoting what's great about the city infrastructure of the library? I'm organising a discussion on Monday 18 June to try and argue for just that - see http://www.manchestersalon.org.uk/lure-of-the-social-city.html.
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