Libraries in the UK are loved, valued and were visited an astonishing 265 million times last year! Libraries are a vitally important public service which can be celebrated on National Libraries Day, this Saturday 6 February 2016. The NLD website has suggestions for activities, downloadable resources and an event map – or check out what your own local library is doing. Mine, Glasgow’s Mitchell, is revealing the Top 10 Burns poems and songs as voted for by its users, with a recital of the Top 5 and a display of Burns Treasures.

Why should you support libraries? Did you know that every week two libraries in the UK close their doors for good? If you don’t use them yourself, is it because you can afford to buy books and pay for a good broadband connection? But what if you couldn’t? As Nick Poole says in a recent Mirror article “It’s hard to understand the impact of these cuts when you’re well-off, have easy access to the internet and can buy the books you want. But for millions of poor families, jobseekers and people with disabilities a library is a lifeline.”

CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) is running a campaign called My Library By Right. Follow the link if you’d like to know more, and please, please sign their petition along with (so far) almost 12,000 other people, including famous authors such as Joanna Trollope and Andrew Motion. Signing it would be a great way to celebrate National Libraries Day.

PS I hope regular readers aren’t too bemused by the sudden appearance of a library-themed post. I used to blog semi-regularly at Adventures of a Retired Librarian but I’ve decided to let that lapse and concentrate my efforts here, so you’ll be seeing occasional posts about libraries and books.