SCOTTISH PROTEST AT LIBRARY CUTS TEXT OF STATEMENT TO BE HANDED IN AT THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT DURING A PROTEST ORGANISED BY SCOTTISH AUTHORS & ILLUSTRATORS TO TAKE PLACE AT 11a.m. ON SATURDAY 5TH FEBRUARY 2011 – A day of U.K. wide protest about Library Cuts. To: The First Minister and all Members of the Scottish Parliament We would like to protest at the widespread cuts to the library service taking place throughout Scotland. In addition to the promotion of knowledge, literacy, and information retrieval skills, a professionally delivered library service embeds the joy of reading in our young people, building self awareness, articulate self expression, confidence, validating their life and culture, and leads to social and emotional literacy. In a society experiencing a widening gap in household incomes, our libraries, in the great tradition on which they were first inaugurated and enshrined in the law of the land, provide access for all. The cuts to book budgets, library opening hours, mobile services, branches, and the drastic and unnecessary deletion of professional posts strike at those most in need of a library service and those least able to protest against the cuts in that service - the less affluent, the elderly, the frail, people who are challenged mentally and physically and their carers, those who look after babies and toddlers and, crucially, our children -who are our future. Among those PRESENT ON THE DAY and available for interview Julia Donaldson (writer): Theresa Breslin (writer): Lari Don (writer): Nicola Morgan (writer): Liz Holt (writer): Keith Gray (writer): and others Also intending to be present: Gill Arbuthnott (writer): Vivian French (writer): Julie Bertagna (writer): Alan Temperley (writer): Alison Adams: Sally J. Collins (illustrator) PROTESTERS (among others) include: Theresa Breslin, Julia Donaldson, Emma Barnes, Lari Don, Catriona Wilson, Nicola Morgan, Gillian Philip, Joan Lingard, Margaret Ryan, Catherine MacPhail, Sara Sheridan, Catherine Forde, Frank Rodgers, Barry Hutchison, Liz Holt, Alison Prince, Joan Lennon, Julie Bertagna, Gill Arbuthnott, Vivian French: Alan Temperley: Ann Giles: Stephanie McGregor: Anne Fine: Keith Gray: Cathy Cassidy: Liz Laird: Julia Jarman: Tessa Ransford: Jamie Jauncey: Alison Adams: Rosemary Reeves: Anne de’Ath: Hugh C. Rae: Dave Sutton: Sally J. Collins: Kirsty McEachern: Ken Simpson: Dorothy McMillan: and others More Information from Theresa Breslin Email: [email protected]