We are thrilled to see a piece in the Guardian by bestselling Gloucestershire-born novelist Joanna Trollope, strongly criticising Gloucestershire County Council’s plans for devastating cuts to our public library service.
She describes how during a pre-Christmas visit to Gloucestershire;
“Lots of lovely and familiar things, both places and people, were happily unchanged, but there was one threatened change – very unhappy, very unlovely – which was dominating almost every conversation: what on this earth does Gloucestershire county council think it’s doing with the library service?”
The article goes on to explain, in some detail, exactly how GCC’s proposed cuts will decimate our public library service through closures and opening hour and service reductions, plus the complete loss of the mobile library service;
“The cutting of mobile libraries leaves me speechless. There isn’t a rural county as big as Gloucestershire in England without a library van.”
The article concludes with a question for GCC;
“Why take your biggest axe to the one tree that (cheaply) gives more oxygen to the inner lives and aspirations of a whole county – especially its disadvantaged – than any other?”
We would like to thank Joanna for this excellent article, and her ongoing support for the campaign to save Gloucestershire’s libraries from devastating 43% cuts. The full article can be viewed here.
Friends of Gloucestershire Libraries 