The current downgrading and closures of both school and public libraries will have terrible consequences. Here are some potent quotes on the crucial role of libraries and librarians in creating readers and learners.
At the moment we persuade a child, any child, to cross that magic threshold into a library, we change their lives forever, for the better. Barack Obama
Research provides compelling evidence that library usage is linked to reading levels among children and young people, and that library usage and reading, in turn, are important factors in literacy skill levels and general educational attainment. Evidence Review of the Economic Contribution of Libraries
The education that mattered most to me began when my mother first took me to the public library and I registered for my own hallowed ticket. Will Self
Once a child learns to use a library, the doors to learning are always open. Laura Bush
Libraries are browsing places, dreaming places, finding out places. So much education takes place when children are making choices of their own. Michael Morpurgo
The child who knows his/her way round the library is the one most likely to become an avid reader. Wendy Cooling
For all those children out there who, like me, loved books and couldn’t afford to buy them, all I can say is thank God for our libraries …… Reading should and must be the right of all, not just a privilege for the few. Malorie Blackman
Reading is the centre of learning and libraries are at the heart of this. Gervase Phinn
I see libraries and librarians as frontline soldiers in the war against illiteracy and the lack of imagination. Neil Gaiman
Librarians open up the world ……. How much more can you discover when someone can point you in the right direction, when someone can maybe even give you a treasure map, to places you may not have even thought you were allowed to go? This is what librarians do. Patrick Ness
Librarians are the custodians of literacy – they lay the stepping stones that start the journey from one book to another, widening horizons and the reading experience. Chris Riddell
The way to get children reading is to leave the library door open and let them read anything and everything they want. Terry Pratchett
Even the most misfitting child
Who’s chanced upon the library’s worth
Sits with the genius of the Earth
And turns the key to the whole world.
from ‘Hear it Again’ Ted Hughes