Last Saturday, February 5, was the National Library Action Day and local authors along with readers, librarians and councillors joined forces in quiet demonstrations against 450 planned library closures threatened up and down the UK.
One hundred and thirty libraries across the capital, almost one out of three, are set to close as a result of massive cuts in Government funding. Many campaigners warn that councils are choosing to keep larger urban libraries in order to scrap local branches, often relied on by those unable to travel easily – the elderly, parents with kids and the poor.
N4 is one of Islington's libraries, located in the busy and varied community of Finsbury Park, in North London. It is also one of the biggest in its council and is not facing closure at the moment.
Tharsini Giopal, a newly qualified accountant from Finsbury Park, comes to N4 library on a regular basis.
"N4 is my nearest library and is a very important commodity. I generally come here to print and borrow books on life in the UK. This library has helped me a lot while I was studying and I don't know what I could have done without it.
"Libraries improve people's lives and are also a good source of information for jobseekers," she said.
Another regular customer at N4 library is Eugene Salomons, a Maths teacher from Finsbury Park.
"I come here four times a week to read biography books, travel guides and newspapers. I also borrow movies for my kids, sometimes.
"I have been a library member since when I was 10 and lived in South Africa and I cannot imagine any library in Britain to close down. It would be a disaster, especially for kids who come regularly after school, adult students and foreigners. Libraries are the first place where to get all the information from when you move to a new place," he said.
Finsbury's Park library is also popular amongst people coming from different parts of the Islington borough.
Phaik Connor is a freelance local government officer from Highbury Corner who decided to visit the N4 as she could not find some travel books she was looking for at her local library.
"I belong to the Central library, but I prefer the N4 as it is smaller and I can easily find the titles I need. I spend part of my leisure time in this place, by reading travel, biography and cookery books.
“If many libraries closed, it would affect a high number of people who come here for leisure, culture or simply to find a comfortable place where to stay warm and fight isolation, especially during the winter. I think Government should tackle other areas to make cuts and not libraries,” she said.
Libraries are places where people af all ages and backgrounds can go and books enable them to realise their full potential and come across new ideas.
More than 300m books loans were made from public libraries last year, according to the Chartered Institute of Public and Accountancy, but with £37m to cut from its budget this year, councils will probably have little choice.
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