This link has been bookmarked by 116 people and liked by 1 people. It was first bookmarked on 25 Jan 2011, by someone privately.
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29 Mar 13
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18 Jun 12
Sabrina SmithExcellent advocacy article from author Phillip Pullman. Great line about the "democratic space" between a reader and their book.
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11 Feb 12
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14 Jan 12
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11 Oct 11
lisa oldhamA great speech: Leave the libraries alone http://falseeconomy.org.uk/blog/save-oxfordshire-libraries-speech-philip-pullman
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28 Sep 11
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24 May 11
Lorena O'Englishrt Leave the libraries alone. You don’t understand their value. | Blog | False Economy http://t.co/9ui2yYc via @... http://bit.ly/mxW0NG
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09 May 11
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debora varrassoSpeech given by Phillip Pullman
Phillip Pullman Alexandria public sector market fundamentalism libraries UK
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31 Mar 11
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07 Mar 11
Mark GallagherPhillip Pullman is an award winning British author (His Dark Materials) and has, since the announcement of mass proposed library closures, a eloquent, passionate defender of the value of public libraries in the UK. This is the full text of his speech of the 20th January 2011, delivered at Oxford Town Hall, called to defend Oxfordshire libraries.
Public Libraries Literacy Sphere United Kingdom (UK) Spending Cuts Local Councils Authors Pullman Phillip
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Which of those two communities will get a bid organised to fund their local library?
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What I personally hate about this bidding culture is that it sets one community, one group, one school, against another. If one wins, the other loses. I’ve always hated it.
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We elect people to decide things, and they don’t really want to decide, so they set up this bidding nonsense and then they aren’t really responsible for the outcome.
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Market fundamentalism, this madness that’s infected the human race, is like a greedy ghost that haunts the boardrooms and council chambers and committee rooms from which the world is run these days.
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nd the secrecy of it! The blessed privacy! No-one else can get in the way, no-one else can invade it, no-one else even knows what’s going on in that wonderful space that opens up between the reader and the book. That open democratic space full of thrills, full of excitement and fear, full of astonishment, where your own emotions and ideas are given back to you clarified, magnified, purified, valued. You’re a citizen of that great democratic space that opens up between you and the book. And the body that gave it to you is the public library. Can I possibly convey the magnitude of that gift?
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05 Feb 11
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04 Feb 11
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evansbpiDéfense des bibliothèques anglaises et c'est Phillip Pullman qui s'y colle
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03 Feb 11
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John Graneyfantastic speech by Philip Pullman defending libraries, both moving+ inspirational http://tinyurl.com/6astz2j
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02 Feb 11
Jody ThompsonIn Britain, a new austerity budget has threatened massive library closures across the country, with some communities in danger of ending up with no public library at all. Philip Pullman's local chief counsellor accused authors of defending libraries because they like the royalties they earn from the books libraries buy. In response, Pullman has given this stirring speech about the value of libraries to their communities and to civilization
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The public library, again. Yes, I’m writing a book, Mr Mitchell, and yes, I hope it’ll make some money. But I’m not praising the public library service for money. I love the public library service for what it did for me as a child and as a student and as an adult. I love it because its presence in a town or a city reminds us that there are things above profit, things that profit knows nothing about, things that have the power to baffle the greedy ghost of market fundamentalism, things that stand for civic decency and public respect for imagination and knowledge and the value of simple delight.
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01 Feb 11
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31 Jan 11
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Eoin O'DellRT @DefendARTSHUMS: “@EDINA_eJournals: Good article by Philip Pullman on the value of public libraries: http://bit.ly/gxEluz”
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30 Jan 11
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Terry KunyFalse Economy is for everyone concerned about the impact of the government’s spending cuts on their community, their family or their job.
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Ed WalkerIncredible read about the cuts being faced by libraries
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29 Jan 11
Marilyn MarkhamPhilip Pullman's passionate defence of libraries and reading.
libraries library advocacy librarians value books economy blog
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28 Jan 11
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And the secrecy of it! The blessed privacy! No-one else can get in the way, no-one else can invade it, no-one else even knows what’s going on in that wonderful space that opens up between the reader and the book. That open democratic space full of thrills, full of excitement and fear, full of astonishment, where your own emotions and ideas are given back to you clarified, magnified, purified, valued. You’re a citizen of that great democratic space that opens up between you and the book. And the body that gave it to you is the public library. Can I possibly convey the magnitude of that gift?
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Nor do I think we should respond to the fatuous idea that libraries can stay open if they’re staffed by volunteers. What patronising nonsense. Does he think the job of a librarian is so simple, so empty of content, that anyone can step up and do it for a thank-you and a cup of tea? Does he think that all a librarian does is to tidy the shelves?
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It was about books, and people were in publishing or bookselling because they believed that books were the expression of the human spirit, vessels of delight or of consolation or enlightenment.
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Those bookshelves over there – what’s on them? Philosophy? And how many people looked at them last week? Three? Empty those shelves and fill them up with celebrity memoirs.
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I still remember the first library ticket I ever had. It must have been about 1957. My mother took me to the public library just off Battersea Park Road and enrolled me. I was thrilled. All those books, and I was allowed to borrow whichever I wanted! And I remember some of the first books I borrowed and fell in love with: the Moomin books by Tove Jansson; a French novel for children called A Hundred Million Francs; why did I like that? Why did I read it over and over again, and borrow it many times? I don’t know. But what a gift to give a child, this chance to discover that you can love a book and the characters in it, you can become their friend and share their adventures in your own imagination.
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And the secrecy of it! The blessed privacy! No-one else can get in the way, no-one else can invade it, no-one else even knows what’s going on in that wonderful space that opens up between the reader and the book. That open democratic space full of thrills, full of excitement and fear, full of astonishment, where your own emotions and ideas are given back to you clarified, magnified, purified, valued. You’re a citizen of that great democratic space that opens up between you and the book. And the body that gave it to you is the public library. Can I possibly convey the magnitude of that gift?
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there are children, just like me at that age in Battersea, children who only need to make that discovery to learn that they too are citizens of the republic of reading. Only the public library can give them that gift.
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Again, a life-changing discover, only possible because there was a big room with a lot of books and I was allowed to range wherever I liked and borrow any of them.
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Leave the libraries alone. You don’t know the value of what you’re looking after. It is too precious to destroy.
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Kay Cunningham'The government, in the Dickensian person of Mr Eric Pickles, has cut the money it gives to local government, and passed on the responsibility for making the savings to local authorities. Some of them have responded enthusiastically, some less so; some have decided to protect their library service, others have hacked into theirs like the fanatical Bishop Theophilus in the year 391 laying waste to the Library of Alexandria and its hundreds of thousands of books of learning and scholarship.'
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Nor do I think we should respond to the fatuous idea that libraries can stay open if they’re staffed by volunteers. What patronising nonsense. Does he think the job of a librarian is so simple, so empty of content, that anyone can step up and do it for a thank-you and a cup of tea? Does he think that all a librarian does is to tidy the shelves? And who are these volunteers? Who are these people whose lives are so empty, whose time spreads out in front of them like the limitless steppes of central Asia, who have no families to look after, no jobs to do, no responsibilities of any sort, and yet are so wealthy that they can commit hours of their time every week to working for nothing?
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Julia SmithPhillip Pullman's speech regarding the closing of Libraries in Oxfordshire. "Leave the libraries alone. You don’t know the value of what you’re looking after. It is too precious to destroy."
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kuiskata .Philip Pullman on saving the libraries and economics:
"I want to say something about my own relationship with libraries. Apparently Mr Mitchell thinks that we authors who defend libraries are only doing it because we have a vested interest – because we’ -
27 Jan 11
Sara Complib..."Nor do I think we should respond to the fatuous idea that libraries can stay open if they’re staffed by volunteers. What patronising nonsense. Does he think the job of a librarian is so simple, so empty of content, that anyone can step up and do it for a thank-you and a cup of tea? Does he think that all a librarian does is to tidy the shelves? And who are these volunteers? Who are these people whose lives are so empty, whose time spreads out in front of them like the limitless steppes of central Asia, who have no families to look after, no jobs to do, no responsibilities of any sort, and yet are so wealthy that they can commit hours of their time every week to working for nothing? Who are these volunteers? Do you know anyone who could volunteer their time in this way? If there’s anyone who has the time and the energy to work for nothing in a good cause, they are probably already working for one of the voluntary sector day centres or running a local football team or helping out with the league of friends in a hospital. What’s going to make them stop doing that and start working in a library instead?"
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Nor do I think we should respond to the fatuous idea that libraries can stay open if they’re staffed by volunteers. What patronising nonsense. Does he think the job of a librarian is so simple, so empty of content, that anyone can step up and do it for a thank-you and a cup of tea? Does he think that all a librarian does is to tidy the shelves? And who are these volunteers? Who are these people whose lives are so empty, whose time spreads out in front of them like the limitless steppes of central Asia, who have no families to look after, no jobs to do, no responsibilities of any sort, and yet are so wealthy that they can commit hours of their time every week to working for nothing? Who are these volunteers? Do you know anyone who could volunteer their time in this way? If there’s anyone who has the time and the energy to work for nothing in a good cause, they are probably already working for one of the voluntary sector day centres or running a local football team or helping out with the league of friends in a hospital. What’s going to make them stop doing that and start working in a library instead?
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Marie SlimLeave the libraries alone. You don’t understand their value. | Blog | False Economy http://bit.ly/eW3V3J #libraries #uk #britain
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Bill AndersonPhilip Pullman's passionate defense of public libraries.
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jordiserranoLeave the libraries alone. You don’t understand their value. | Blog | False Economy http://t.co/OGvWvm4 via @FalseEcon #biblioteca
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26 Jan 11
Paul GreerLeave the libraries alone... Fantastic speech by Philip Pullman: http://bit.ly/glagl5 #artsfunding
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Rhondda PowlingBest-selling author Phllip Pullman spoke to a packed meeting on 20 January 2011, called to defend Oxfordshire libraries. He gave this inspirational speech.
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25 Jan 11
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Neil InfieldFalse Economy is for everyone concerned about the impact of the government’s spending cuts on their community, their family or their job.
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Liz IxerRT @FalseEcon: “What I hate about this bidding culture is that it sets one community against another” Philip Pullman http://bit.ly/hEXEaR
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