UK Parliament: MPs to Investigate Library Closures

From The Guardian:

As campaigners up and down the country fight to keep their local libraries open, the Culture, Media and Sport select committee has announced the launch of an inquiry into library closures.

The library inquiry, the first since 2005 when the committee highlighted “a service in distress”, will investigate whether planned library closures across the UK are compatible with the 1964 Libraries and Museums Act and the Charteris report. The libraries act requires councils as part of their statutory duty to provide a “comprehensive and efficient” library service, while the Charteris report was a government-initiated investigation which found that Wirral council’s plans to close libraries in 2009 breached its statutory duties.

See Also: Culture, Media and Sport Committee calls for evidence on library closures (via UK Parliament Web Site)

From the Post:

Issues

The Committee is inviting written submissions and requesting views on the following issues:

• what constitutes a comprehensive and efficient library service for the 21st century
• the extent to which planned library closures are compatible with the requirements of the Libraries & Museums Act 1964 and the Charteris Report
• the impact library closures have on local communities
• the effectiveness of the Secretary of State’s powers of intervention under the Public Libraries & Museums Act 1964