The government is wrong, fairly disastrously, on both libraries and higher education. But is it really human rights matter? It feels like a trivialisation of the concept of human rights. Surely it should be opposed through the political process.

@ goodoldcause

On the Public Libraries Act 1850

When William Ewart introduced his Public Libraries Bill in 1849 he encountered considerable hostility from the Conservatives in the House of Commons. It was argued that the rate paying middle and upper classes would be paying for a service that would be mainly used by the working classes. One argued that the "people have too much knowledge already: it was much easier to manage them twenty years ago; the more education people get the more difficult they are to manage." Ewart was therefore forced to make several changes to his proposed legislation before Parliament agreed to pass the measure.

;)

It isn't a human rights issue. It's a matter of whether local authorities are actually abiding by the legislation that gave them the duty to provide libraries in the first place. I guess it will all come down to a judge's balanced decision on what "comprehensive" means.

My understanding is the GLC came unstuck with its "fares fair" policy back in the 1980's because the Act that gave them the duty to run the underground said it has to be done "economically and efficiently" or something along those lines and subsidising it to the extent it was fell fowl of this text, I think.

Where does it say that it is being raised as a human rights issue?

The challenge is being mounted under the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act for local authorities to provide a "comprehensive and efficient library service for everyone wanting to use it". The case is being presented by the law form Public Interest Lawyers. The article states that the firm specialises in human rights cases, but the case being made is not based on himan rights.

The idea that someone is going to look at this case and think human rights are being trivialised is laughable.

@JBowers

One argued that the "people have too much knowledge already:

Interesting link, thanks. The quote feels very much like it describes the spirit of the higher education reforms, or at least their likely effect.

The coalition always use the example of someone on just over £21,000 paying back some negligible monthly fee (seven or eight pounds, for instance). Sounds fine, but once you start creeping up the income scale, it really begins to bite. With a 3% interest rate it sounds to me like someone on £41,000 will be paying back £154.5 a month on tuition fees; rising to £185 if their on £45,000 and so on.

Maybe I'm doing the maths wrong; I don’t know. But it sounds hellishly steep to me. And that's on top of any loans you took out to pay for living costs and normal living expenses.

Bankers and other very highly-paid graduates will be able to cope with this. But it feels like it’s really going to hit people on middling wages, particularly those who live in expensive areas such as London. They’ll have to think twice about big life decisions, such as buying their own houses or having kids.

If that’s not the kind of thing that will deter less well-off kids from going to uni, I’m not sure what is. Maybe I’m wrong, though (I'd be glad to be wrong, in this case) or I’ve misunderstood the proposals.

And, bad as it is, it still feels like a political rather than a legal battle.

A statement from PIL said: "The scale of the cuts in both counties is excessive and more than twice the percentage reduction in central government funding."

The Tories claim the UK is broke while saying they will pay for Trident while refusing to do anything about the tens of billions in avoided and evaded taxes and because of tax fraud.

Lib Dems need to demand the budget and law is changed to reduce the cuts by collecting the tax or they should pull out of power.

It isn't a human rights issue. It's a matter of whether local authorities are actually abiding by the legislation that gave them the duty to provide libraries in the first place.

Fair point. It will be interesting to see how it works out.

It will also be interesting to see how a local authority, that has been meeting its legal obligation (to provide a 'comprehensive library service for all those wishing to make use thereof'') with a network of 11 libraries, can still claim to be doing so having reduced this to only 2.
Local authorities are making savings of less than 9% overall this year. How can they suddenly make disproportionate cuts of 50% or more to their libraries and not be in breach of the law?

Just another Tory attack on the poor.

It will also be interesting to see how a local authority, that has been meeting its legal obligation (to provide a 'comprehensive library service for all those wishing to make use thereof'') with a network of 11 libraries, can still claim to be doing so having reduced this to only 2.

They'll argue that people can order books over the internet and use mobile libraries, where those haven't been cut.

MITCHELL (Keith Mitchell, Leader of Oxfordshire County Council): If we felt a community like Blackbird Leys couldn’t sustain a full library, we’d be looking at something that was collect and deliver. I mean 75% of people in Oxfordshire have internet access. You can order your books over the internet. It requires much less staffing.

BOWLBY (Presenter: Chris Bowlby): But one of the great problems in a place like Blackbird Leys is digital exclusion. It’s precisely the fact that people don’t have
access to the internet at home and can’t afford it. The library’s absolutely key to that. It’s much more than book borrowing.

MITCHELL: Well we’ll have to grow that digital access. We’ll have
to see what we can do in a place like Berinsfield just to get more people
switched onto the internet - if not in their homes, at least in the local
schools. All the schools have huge computer suites. Why can’t adults
go in in the evening and use them? It’s a culture change. The culture
change has to spread to schools to make Big Society work.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/programmes/analysis/transcripts/14_02_11.txt

British Logic - abandon books and instead spend money on getting the elderly using computers.

The number of adverts you hear on the BBC radio about getting the elderly online has to be linked to this move away from libraries.

R042:

The number of adverts you hear on the BBC radio about getting the elderly online has to be linked to this move away from libraries.

has to be? why?

The computers are in public libraries, so you point doesn't make sense. The encouragement to get people online is to reduce paperwork, and civil servants to do the work. If people are online doing the work themselves it saves a massive amount of costs.

Not saying this is a good or bad move...