Liz Hodgkinson

The campaign to save our libraries is gathering force in Oxford -- as one might expect, where there are a lot of readers and writers. Several famous local writers, including Philip Pullman, have enthusiastically joined in the campaign. So why save libraries? In the first place, libraries are welcoming, friendly places where the staff are helpful, knowledgeable and professional. There is hardly any book that they cannot get for you and they will scour everywhere to find it. In the second place, the computers in libraries provide an essential service for those who cannot afford or who don't have, their own home computer. In the third place, they have useful reference sections where you can look up local history, encylopedias, medical and legal directories -- all of which you have to subscribe to if you want to refer to them online. Libraries have many newspapers and magazines, many of which you may not have even heard of until you browse their sections. They are warm, friendly places to revise or research.

Then, in more recent years, they have audio books, DVDs and music you can borrow.

Libraries are civilised and civilising influences, a calm centre of the world's greatest literature and learning and a resource for everybody. You don't have to be rich, or poor or anybody special in order to join and use a library. Libraries are truly democratic places where everybody has equal access to the many services now on offer. Some have gardens, cafes, quiet rooms and children's activities. You can discover everything that is going on in your locality by visiting your local library -- talks, plays, events, concerts, pressure groups, voluntary activities. In fact, the more I think about it, the more useful and essential libraries become.

However could anybody think of cutting or removing this valuable service? If I am feeling tired, lonely or jaded, a trip to my nearest library will guarantee to cheer me up. I can always find three or four books I want to read, even if I may not want to buy them. Indeed, I may not be able to buy them as, unless they are new, they will probably be out of print. And they are expensive on Amazon. Even if the actual book only costs 1p, the postage will be several pounds, and the book could take a few weeks to arrive. Again, DVDs are very expensive to buy and you may only want to watch or listen to them once. If you like a book or DVD, you can always buy it later. The library offers you the opportunity for a taster. If I don't get on with a book I have taken out of the library, I just take it back.

Speaking personally, I have used libraries ever since I could read and wherever I am living, the first thing I will always do is join the local library. I use them extensively for research and love the Dewey Decimal system which enables you to find a book instantly. Browsing among the shelves, you often come across old titles you had completely forgotten about but which you feel intrigued to read again. You can't do this in a bookshop or on Amazon.

There are many so-called services that I would forgo in order to retain libraries, in particular letters I am always getting inviting me to go for medical screening. Whatever must that cost? As an older person, I now qualify for a bus pass but I would willingly forgo that to retain all the libraries we now have. Yes the bus pass is a wonderful concession but quite honestly, it means I tend to use the bus when otherwise I would walk. Again, whatever do these bus passes cost the councils? Then, what must it cost to have so many people on statins -- drugs which are expensive but almost always completely unnecessary.

As an author myself, I am in receipt of PLR - public lending right. It's not much; about 4p or something per book borrowed but for popular authors it adds up to a welcome sum of money in February and in addition, lets you know which of your books are popular -- and they are not always the same titles that sell in the bookshops. A book of mine on Reincarnation was popular for many years after it went out of print and this tells me that the subject is popular. Now, my property titles are in demand among borrowers; most of the earlier ones have probably fallen apart by now and that is why they record O on the PLR statement.

When I go into my local library in Summertown, North Oxford, it is always busy. I am told it has between 400 and 800 people going there a day, so it is hardly underused. The main town centre library is of course always packed, but not everybody can easily get to the main libraries. It's the small branch libraries that are most vital to the quality of local life.

I can hardly believe councils are even THINKING of closing so many of them.