First, here’s why I support #LibrariesWeek
Someone who doesn’t value free public libraries doesn’t value freedom. Freedom to think, broaden minds, enjoy the power of language and escape when we want to. Even if you haven’t been in a library for years, your reading ability is founded on free public libraries.
Without them, none of us would be the expert readers we are. Even if you’re lucky enough to be able to afford to buy the books you want now, when you were a child and learning to read, you needed the free treasure trove that your library gave. You can’t just learn to read using the presents you received or the choices made by relatives or the ones your teachers directed you towards. You needed a flood of books, to be able to choose what appealed and make guilt-free mistakes with your choices.
If you didn’t have that early experience of pressureless free reading, you would not be the reader you are. I’ve written elsewhere about this, such as:
- About #ShelfHelp, the scheme which supports mental health through libraries
- How school libraries have an even more inclusive role in creating readers.
The internet has not changed that. Cheaper books and ebooks have not changed that. Children of all ages still need libraries. They need to hold the books in their hands and engage all their senses. Or they simply won’t read enough to become happy, fluent, greedy readers.
Also, my privilege in being able to buy books and have the space to keep them does not stop me fighting for those of all ages who need and love libraries to keep feeding their minds. Libraries are there for us all, central to the sustainable, environmentally-friendly, community spirit I believe we should be trying to live in. Central to inclusive freedom for people of all backgrounds, ethnicities, cultures and viewpoints.
That’s why I support LibrariesWeek: because, freedom.
Second, here are my #ExpressYourShelf shelves and some other booky things
Third, my thanks go to…
- All public and school librarians
- Library supporters and activists
- Any politician who fights for library funding
- The lovely people at PLR who collect the 9 pence per loan and pay it out to authors – up to £6,600 maximum per author per year
- EVERYONE who borrows a book from a public library! Even though a library might only buy our book once, every time someone borrows it we get a teeny bit of money. We hugely appreciate and need that.
THANK YOU!
And a little extra plug for Authors Aloud, a wonderful UK organisation doing a superb job for the world of books, writers and readers.
Keep supporting libraries: our freedom depends on it
#ExpressYourShelf #LibrariesWeek and #AuthorsAloudUK