Hay festival steps in to save library in Welsh ‘town of books’
Libraries and their future just wont go away as a story. This article tells us:
Hay-on-Wye literary festival has stepped in to save the famously bookish town’s library after it was threatened with closure. As news emerged of the temporary cash rescue, the festival slammed plans by the local council to close libraries, saying that if a town synonymous with books could not keep its library service open, “what hope does anywhere else have?”
The rescue package was revealed as the Welsh government announced a £2.7m boost to libraries, museums and archives aimed at modernising buildings and extending digital access to collections and archives.
Also called “the town of books”, Hay-on-Wye is home to more than 20 bookshops and holds the title of the National Book Town of Wales. Campaigners announced the “stay of execution” for the library after a Powys county council review of 11 of its public libraries. Despite the money, the council said the service would have to close its doors by December if alternative funding was not found.
Peter Florence, the festival’s director, said the organisation had been supporting the library financially for “the past couple of years”, but added that the threat to the service had escalated, forcing an emergency rescue plan to be put in place. “But it shouldn’t be a matter of rescue and survival, it should be about how we can make a hub for the community that’s an inspiring space and a hive of knowledge and imagination.”