Lots has been happening in the effort to raise awareness of the local need to retain our library.
A small local group have come together and have joined with the other Rural libraries also at risk of closure – Comrie, Birnham, Scone and Alyth – to form SORL – Save our Rural Libraries.
Many letters have been written to our Councillors and MSP’s – the topic has been raised in Parliament and will be discussed lots in the run up to the setting of the 2025 / 2026 budget – Feb 26th 2025.
One of the local group wrote a superb letter which she’s happy to share – it brilliantly sums up what’s been discussed:
“Good afternoon,
I attended a meeting hosted by representatives of Culture Perth and Kinross (CPK) at Auchterarder Library on 8 January 2025 where residents learned about :
– the considerable financial shortfalls that exist in CPK’s budget:
– that CPK was initially set up in order that Perth and Kinross Council could benefit from Business Rates relief, though it was not possible to say which departmental budgets had benefitted from these savings
– that a plan to replace the library with stops on mobile library routes and with services provided by staff from other CPK libraries has not been costed out
– that CPK’s projected budget would at best only provide for the running of one mobile library ( there are currently two) for one year, with no guarantee of funding after that
– that Community Asset Transfer was a suggested model for Auchterarder to keep its library though that would require the community to take on complete legal and financial responsibility for the library.
As part of the Auchterarder library arm of the Save Our Rural Libraries (SORL)campaign I believe that it is imperative that the following points should be considered by all council members at their meetings to discuss budgets for the coming financial year.
1. We (SORL) are aware that the First Minister has voiced his support of public libraries and has stated that he hopes that the extra public funding awarded to Perth and Kinross Council last month can be used for the preservation of our rural libraries. We would also request that at least a portion of annual Business Rates relief monies and CPK budget monies are ring-fenced for the provision of rural library services.
2. The provision of adequate public library services by local authorities is a legal responsibility. The question here is whether CPK’s current proposals can be termed adequate and reasonable for rural communities. Many comments have been made by CPK about the fact that there is no legal definition of the term adequate. This is of course true, but we can argue equally that CPK cannot prove that the current library provision does not set the benchmark of what is adequate. We are therefore entitled to believe that the current level of provision is an adequate one.
CPK are proposing click and collect services and extra stops on mobile library routes plus community-led libraries. As we understand the proposals for community-led libraries CPK would only provide training to volunteers and thereafter there would be no more paid staff or funding. Click and collect and mobile library services would be limited to books and as stops on mobile library routes can be very short (some stops are only 15 minutes long, and not necessarily at times when children could access services) the services to rural populations would be vastly reduced, whilst urban communities would continue to benefit from professionally-led traditional public libraries. Therefore rural communities whilst paying the same rates of Council Tax as town-dwelling ones would receive an inferior and, we contend, an inadequate service. Rural residents of all ages would become, in effect, second class citizens.
3. Local people feel that the Council has not properly consulted with the community, nor given sufficient notice of proposed closures. Council officers have admitted that the consultation process was delayed because they were ‘too busy’ dealing with the opening of the new museum in Perth. Many people feel that ‘value’ on taxpayers’ money is being received by international and out-of-county tourists to the Museum rather than residents.
4. It is worth noting that Auchterarder is a growing community. The Council has granted planning permission for hundreds of new houses here in recent years and more planning applications have already been submitted to the planning department. Yet our access to public services is diminishing -our public toilets are to be closed and now our library is under threat.
5. There is no apparent appetite locally for a Community Asset Transfer. Any representations by CPK staff to the budget committee that there are interested parties in Auchterarder should be treated with caution.
6. The UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child was incorporated into law in Scotland last summer. It applies to EVERY child in the country and gives them legally enforceable rights. The convention requires governments (and those adults with responsibilities towards children) to ‘make these rights real’ and to ensure that no child is discriminated against. It also requires that all children should have the right to access information, including cultural information, from many different sources, including books, the internet, newspapers and other types of media. School libraries only provide these facilities during the school day and during term-time; public libraries provide access to these educational materials at other times either through hard copies or digital services within library buildings. Mobile libraries and click and collect services will not serve children adequately under this charter and I therefore contend that CPK’s proposals discriminate against children and young people who live in rural areas and also disabled children, refugee children, home-schooled children, those with no access to transport and those who attend schools which have no school library.
7. I believe that an Equalities impact statement for Auchterarder has shown that the community would be adversely affected by the closure of the library. Would you please therefore advise me as to whether any legal advice has been taken on CPK’s proposals with reference to both legislation on Equalities and on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. If legal advice has been received may I please have sight of it?
Finally, I would like you to consider the following points:-
a) Libraries are not just about books. They are social hubs where many kinds of important services are offered- computers; access to online training for employment and education; access to online national/local government services (eg PKC online planning portal;) childhood literacy services ( Rhymetime, story times, Summer Reading Challenges, books available at times when the school library is closed;) adult literacy services; local history; warm spaces; safe spaces for abused people where they can have safe access to computers; access to life long learning; spaces for local groups to meet; social contact for lonely people; provision of local health services which then reduce pressure on the NHS eg hearing aid services; access to broadband and Wi-Fi services for disadvantaged families.
b) Education has always been valued in Scotland; indeed Scotland was the first country in Europe to legislate for compulsory education, firstly in 1496 and then again in 1696. Libraries have been a part of public education for a long time and now the country who brought a period of enlightenment to the world and which trailblazed in the area of education is talking about dismantling a vital part of the educational establishment. We cannot seriously talk about levelling up society in Scotland if we take away public libraries from people.
c) Perthshire is unique in Scotland (and perhaps in the UK) as it is the place where the first free lending library available to everyone was created – the Library of Innerpeffray. We should be celebrating this historic achievement by promoting public libraries and the educational/societal improvements they bring, not closing them.
d) Public libraries are a real ‘value for money’ service giving back to society in all sorts of ways. They are one of the few public services that literally can be used by everyone from birth to death. Subsidising Museum cafes (which we are told is happening in Perth Museum) with public funds is not value for money and such monies would be better spent on services that actually make a difference to peoples’ lives.
e) The Carnegie Trust UK’s report on Life in the UK- Scotland 2024 states that “…collective wellbeing of people in Scotland is stagnant. This stasis in living standards is driven by persistent and entrenched inequality across the four core domains of social, economic, environmental and democratic wellbeing.” We would argue that public libraries do a lot of work to improve wellbeing and to close them is a political failure of the highest order.
We understand that the public purse is hard-pressed and that choices have to be made; but choices need to be fair,reasonable and equitable and serve the WHOLE community, not just a portion of it. Auchterarder is not asking for additional services, we just want to hold on to what we have.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
With kind regards,
Shirley Williams
Member of the Save Our Rural Libraries campaign
Auchterarder”
If you’re able to attend the demonstration tomorrow, please do. You can come along and support as a crowd or grab a banner and show your support that way. There will be a choir from Comrie, people speaking and sharing their thoughts about this and of course some good old chants! Its taking place at 11am outside the Perth Museum.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and for sharing your support – our library is such a valuable space.
