LIBRARY campaigners warned today that council funding problems risk forcing closures across England and Wales.

Library and information association Cilip has written to every councillor and council chief executive where libraries are under threat, appealing to protect public funding.  

Cilip’s Louis Coiffait-Gunn said: “Investing in libraries is an investment in opportunity and growth.

“Public libraries are free to all as hubs of knowledge, literacy and community cohesion, providing essential resources and bridging the digital divide.

“They also foster lifelong learning and wellbeing, driving social mobility and preventing far greater public expenditure in future.”

Unison Wales’s Darron Dupre told the Star that libraries have fed minds for generations and have become warm hubs to nourish communities and provide access to services and advice.

“For people in Wales, the Manic Street Preachers lyric ‘libraries gave us power’ is not only a brilliant musical line but an educational legacy from when miners built community libraries and reading rooms across the nation,” he said.

“High-quality library services are vital for everyone’s good health but also to make neighbourhoods happier and more equal places to live.

“Spending cuts since 2010 have already starved Welsh councils of [billions of pounds]. Without significant investment in budgets now, there will simply be no libraries left.”

Intelligence gathered via Cilip’s community-run public libraries at risk monitor suggests that many councils are currently considering significant changes to their library services.

“We know we’re at an incredibly difficult moment where tough decisions have to be made, and so we urge national and local government to prioritise investing in public libraries,” Ms Coiffait-Gunn said.