Philip Pullman, best known for His Dark Materials trilogy, spoke out this week about the British government's cuts, the proposed 'big society' of volunteers, and its impact on our libraries. The flagship policy of the Conservative party, 'Big Society', suggests that local services can be delivered by volunteers, bidding for money to set up these services. Against the cuts and the alternative of a volunteer led service, Philip Pullman highlighted the importance of librarians, and the problems of getting one community to bid against another for money to run a library service.
He also spoke fervently about his own experience of libraries, being able to borrow books as a young child.
2 comments:
I loved his speech so much.
Loved this speech so very much. Hurrah, Philip Pullman!
He's really hit the nail on the head, you know?
There's so much more to being a librarian than just unlocking the door to the building, and sitting around reading books. I love when he asks something along the lines of: Just where are we going to find this army of volunteers? People with no financial needs of their own, and tons of time on their hands, and plenty of book knowledge?
Yes! Where, indeed!
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