Six of Aberdeen’s libraries will close this week after a last-ditch effort to save them was unsuccessful.
However, the Save Aberdeen Libraries campaign – an umbrella group bringing together campaigns to save Cornhill, Cults, Ferryhill, Kaimhill, Northfield and Woodside libraries – has said it is considering legal action against Aberdeen City Council, according to the Herald.
A special meeting on Monday saw the council discuss the closure of six libraries, along with Bucksburn Swimming Pool. Protesters gathered outside the council offices and handed over petitions to save the libraries, hoping for an eleventh-hour reprieve.
But councillors decided the closures would go ahead, meaning the libraries will shut on 1 April.
As well as petitions, campaigners had previously demonstrated outside Woodside and Cornhill libraries and staged a read-in at Ferryhill library. A love letter campaign was also held for Cults, Ferryhill and Woodside libraries, in recognition that many in local communities are unable to sign online petitions.
Save Aberdeen Libraries said it had received support from writers including Peter May, Stuart MacBride, Kirstin Innes and Damian Barr. Crime writer Ian Rankin has retweeted information from the campaign, while author Kerry Hudson tweeted: “Aberdeen libraries were a literal lifesaver & refuge for my vulnerable family growing up. I wouldn’t be here without access to them …”
The council announced in February that the libraries and pool would close, to save £280,000, the Press and Journal reported. But in an open letter sent to Aberdeen city council’s co-leaders Alex Nicoll and Ian Yuill last week, Save Aberdeen Libraries said that “many people rely on these libraries, several of which are in our city’s most deprived areas”.
“How much value a local authority attaches to its public libraries can often be a good indication of how much it values its people,” the letter said.
The council has argued that while it may be closing the library buildings, library facilities and services will not be reduced.
SNP councillor John Cooke said at a community meeting that books and stock from the libraries will be moved into “hubs” at schools and community centres, according to the Press and Journal.
“We’re closing buildings, we’re not reducing library facilities and services,” the newspaper reported him as saying. “For example, the one in Torry – we’re closing the building but the Torry library service will go into a hub in the school two minutes walk away.
“We’re closing buildings which are old, expensive to heat and need staff, so we’re co-locating the service in schools and community centres.”
