“GCC reaction to the High Court ruling - http://tinyurl.com/bqyafs5”

“I'm not sure where this 2% usage figure came from. But it is totally wrong and misleading. The Govt's own official statistics show a usage (given as the proportion of adults) for 2009/10 of around 39%.[1]

1. DCMS. (2010) 'Taking Part: The National Survey of Culture, Leisure and Sport Adult and Child Report 2009/10' Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Publications )”

“It is true that many local communities were planning to step in to attempt to run a useful library service, had the legal case gone in favour of GCC. However, this strategy, designed to keep libraries open as a necessary service to the community, has always been considered the less adequate alternative to GCC continuing to maintain its statutory duty. To keep voicing the opinion that local communities were enthusiastic about taking charge, and that they were dismayed by the ruling in the High Court is extremely wide of the mark. On the contrary, everyone I have spoken to since Wednesday in Lechlade is overjoyed by the decision, although recognising that there is still much work to do to secure a proper professionally run service by our County Council. So, please, Mark Hawthorne and other councillors who supported the hand-over plan will you desist from misrepresenting so grossly the public you were elected to serve.
You might also like to explain why Gloucester did not follow the example of, among others, Oxford and Wiltershire CC, and redistribute hours across the whole network, rather than increasing hours for some libraries and removing all the hours for others. GCC has an enormous task now, not just deciding on the economics of the matter but repairing a very serious lack of trust among the public of the county.”

“Wally37 -

You state that "we have over 2 million pounds less to spend on the truly vulnerable as we keep open empty libraries for the arrogant elite 2% of Gloucestershire population that use them".

What a ludicrous thing to say. Libraries are the very antithesis of elitism, they are buildings stocked with literature, computers, films etc that anyone can use because we all pay for them. It's part of the system of free education and culture you get simply by being a member of our society. It is not at all elite.

Funding cuts to libraries and library outreach services (such as mobile libraries) make access to this wealth of education and entertainment available only to those who can afford to pay to have access to it.

There are over three million visits to Gloucestershire Libraries each year and the service costs just 1.45% of the council's annual budget, yet is facing a funding cut of 43%. This is a cut which simply targets the "truly vulnerable" in a different way, as well as society as a whole. It's not the well off who will suffer, with their easily afforded, well-stocked home bookshelves, it is residents in places such as Tuffley and Cinderford and Brockworth, whose home link and share-a-book mobile library services look after residents in care homes.

Clearly, finances are not going to ease for some time and I'm not saying there's a magic answer, but decisions such as this one simply target those who are vulnerable, short of money or have reduced ability to get about.”

“Kay and L_U have just said it for me. If Neil Hopwood wants Brockworth to 'opt out' of its library being council-managed, let him start a petition to that effect. It might be the first one the council pay attention to.”

“Quite right, Kay. TiG and the local press distort the story endlessly to support their Tory pals. The real story now is that Mark Hawthorne has wasted £100,000 of taxpayers' money on legal fees, despite all the advice he was given.”

“Someone from the new group set up to run a community library in Brockworth was interviewed on Radio Gloucestershire yesterday afternoon, and he said that he and the volunteers would definitely rather not have to run a library. He did mention the opening times, but surely they can be altered if people are not happy with the current ones. There is also nothing to stop volunteers from helping the librarians if they want to.”

“Mark Hawthorne is not telling the truth when he says "we don't want to see any libraries close". His original plans included the closure of all the mobile libraries and the Homelink library service to Elderly People's Homes. The so-called "community libraries" would be not just be run by, but also funded by local people who would effectively be paying for them twice. It would be hard to see them lasting long.”

“Wally 37. I'm not sure from where you obtained your information, but I'd suggest that if you'd been assisted by a qualified librarian that your quoted figures and statements would have had a quotable, reliable source so that other readers could also view the information.

Why not make a start at CIPFA. (2010) 'Children's fiction is a major growth area
for libraries' Chartered Institute of Public Finance and
Accountancy Press Releases 12 May and

DCMS. (2010) 'Taking Part: The National Survey of Culture, Leisure and Sport Adult and Child Report 2009/10'
Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Publications 19
August. http://tinyurl.com/33e7u85 accessed 18 Nov 2011

You'll see that the proportion of adults using a library (2009/10) is a massive 39.4% NOT your made up figure of 2% !”

“The council has a limited pot of money. What is spent on small library branches will not be available for other more important services”