Basford, Aspley, and Radford/Lenton Libraries are under threat of closure by Nottingham City Council. The areas where these threatened libraries are situated are not affluent areas, and they need libraries even more than most. Libraries provide opportunities; these areas need opportunities.

If local libraries are closed, many users will be unable to have access to the library service. Time, transport difficulties, disability, caring responsibilities and many other reasons would mean that a substantial proportion of the city’s population were excluded from library use. A library service which was inaccessible to a significant number of council tax payers would not be fit for purpose.

Libraries offer books and support literacy and the imagination, and that alone makes them essential. But they also offer far, far more.

A chance to talk with someone if you've been alone all week.
A place of warmth and safety.
A source of information, especially if you can't afford the internet.
A place to take your children that costs nothing, and where they can begin to learn the joy of reading.
An opportunity to use the internet to apply for jobs, housing, benefits and whatever else has to be done online – with help from kind staff.
A centre for the community.
Meeting rooms, photocopying, computers, children’s stories and rhymes, and other resources.
A place for children to do their homework in peace, surrounded by learning resources and enough space to spread out.
Somewhere to do research.
A destination for school visits.
A haven for people educating themselves.
Nottingham is a UNESCO City of Literature. It needs a strong and splendid library service. Losing any more libraries, but particularly these, would be a tragedy.

We, the undersigned, call on Nottingham City Council to guarantee the survival and development of Basford, Aspley and Radford/Lenton Libraries and other neighbourhood libraries, so that they and their users may flourish.