Give UK school children the same legal rights to Libraries as prisoners have.
Every child deserves a great
start in life, the kind of start that allows them not just to survive but to
flourish.
There is a charity called Good Gifts. They donate many good things to
developing world countries; a lot of the incentives promote education to better
society. You can buy a village a library, pay for a teacher to spend a year in
a village, donate to a mobile library or buy a degree for a developing
country’s child. Education is the key. It’s obvious. There is also a gift where
you can buy a child whose life is “devoid of books” a year’s worth of books.
The gift promises to promote a “boost to language” and “a love of books.”
Sadly, the country you can do this for is the UK.
The UK is now a
charity case for literacy and it’s time for a change.
I grew up with libraries and recently helped save my village library from being
shut down by our local council. It was hard work and throughout the difficult
process I got the terrible feeling that decision makers were towing party
political lines and misunderstanding the essence of libraries. I work with many
schools nationwide and can honestly tell you that attitude and approach to
libraries in schools is a bit of a mess, and this has a knock-on effect in the
public arena and with social attitude.
Some schools even shut their libraries! Why are schools allowed to do away with
libraries altogether? Because politicians are more concerned about monetary
benefits than the value of libraries, as demonstrated by this response:
“Thank you for your letter concerning the closure of Grove Library. Your point
of view is well understood but it is difficult to provide a service to a small
minority, however appreciated. It has become necessary to ensure value for
money in this era of budgetary constraint and regrettably there will be
casualties in the decisions made.”
The problem is that providing a school library for children is not statutory
like they are in prisons. Bad quick fix decisions are made to save money and
the children are worse off for that. It’s simply not good enough.
Studies now prove what we all know in our hearts; there is more to reading than
just learning to read. Learning to read is, in fact, just the beginning. The
proven advantage a child who is raised in a book culture and reads regularly
has over those that do not extends into more positive social development and
neurologically measurable social, linguistic and academic advantages. Your life
is enriched if you’re raised in a book culture and it’s a lifetime gift.
The UK has,
over the past ten years, slid down the global literacy scale. Children are not
flourishing with books; they are being failed by adults. It’s a fact we should
all be ashamed of. The fact that children can now leave school with such low
literacy levels and no love of reading is a national shame. School libraries
are vital hubs in stopping and reversing this national embarrassment and
offering a more enriched future for our children.
Please stand with me and demand that every school child in the UK
has the same legal rights to a library and a professional librarian in their
school. The same rights a person in a UK
prison has. A well funded and professionally staffed library in each school
will only make the country a better place.
“I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the
underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested
by how well we support our libraries.” ~ Carl Sagan, Cosmos
The evidence is in. School libraries are a long term investment in a better
society. Please support and please, please share!