CAMPAIGNERS will empty the shelves of a central London library today in protest over planned closures of two of the capital’s most loved libraries.

Users of Waterloo Library will withdraw as many books as they can after Lambeth Council decided to shut it along with the home of the local archives, the Minet Library.

Librarian and Lambeth Unison branch secretary Ruth Cashman told the Star: “Lambeth is changing beyond recognition.

“There is an idea that communities can be destroyed as our homes and our services are merely commodities.

“The Save Lambeth Libraries campaign wants to fight for the right to a space that hasn’t been privatised, the right to access knowledge which can empower us and stories which can inspire us.”

The council will also end funding of three more libraries in the coming year and slash services at Brixton.

Lambeth-born author Alex Wheatle has been one of the campaign’s biggest supporters, after researching his first novel at the Minet Library.

“I’ve been coming to Lambeth’s libraries since before I was born,” he said.