Booked for controversy

THE long-suffering Swin-don public is up in arms over the prospect of library closures.

For the hundreds of irate people who believe they are being short-changed with the shabby service being provided, it is scant consolation to be told that Swindon has more libraries than other towns of its size.

Just 68 miles away, Bournemouth has become the cultural capital of the South West. It has a new £9.5m Central Library which has just won the Prime Minister's Better Public Building Award.

The fact that Bournemouth has fewer libraries than Swindon does nothing to dampen the simmering anger here among disillusioned library-users.

Image and virtual reality are everything these days, explaining why Swindon, burdened with an inferiority complex, forever sees itself as a cultural desert.

Swindon has 17 public libraries and two mobiles units. Paradoxically, this is way above the national average 13 for a unitary authority.

Among towns of comparable size, Swindon has more public libraries than any of its rivals.

And yet Swindon is repeatedly portrayed as a depressing example of cultural deprivation all because of the shabby shack that masquerades as the town's cornerstone Central Library in Regent Circus.

Central libraries, rightly or unfairly, set the criteria by which a town's whole library network is judged as in Bournemouth.

To enable this state-of-the-art edifice to be built, one of Bourne-mouth's oldest and largest libraries was made redundant.

"It doesn't appear to have been a great political issue," said Bourne-mouth Council spokeswoman Jane Carol.

"Everyone agreed it was something that was needed and they just got on with it."

And there you have it decisive action rather than pussy-footing procrastination.

The money for the flagship building, which was visited by the Swin-don working party, was raised through the private finance initiative, as was the cash for Swindon's Great Western Hospital.

In its first year, the number of users at Bournemouth's palatial library increased by 118 per cent on the annual figures for the old, obsolete premises.

It has lifts, a coffee shop, 7,000 audio and visual items, an electronic database, research engines and 2,500 metres of shelving.

"People come from all over the region to use our facilities," said Ms Carol.

"Borrowing books is the bread and butter part of the operation, but by no means the dominant feature or attraction. It is a meeting place and the hub of all cultural activity."

It is no exaggeration to say that good libraries have become the nerve-centre of urban civilisation because of their branding capacity.

A town is measured by its collective and communal intellect.

Therefore a top class library is priceless whatever the cost.

Sadly, Swindon is a victim of its history. Most industrial towns gave birth to their first municipal lending library in the mid 19th century.

Ironically, Swindon was left behind because it had been ahead of the game.

The Great Western Railway had provided an extensive library in its Mechanics' Institute and this deterred councillors from making any other provision.

And so it was not until 1949 that the borough's legislators finally cobbled together an ugly collection of "temporary" prefabricated huts that launched Swindon's so-called main library in Regent Circus, the gateway to knowledge a gateway that for too long has been coming off its hinges.

The temporary prefabs lasted until 1976, when they were replaced by a more permanent temporary structure, which is still there today as the pivotal symbol of Swindon library service.

For too long the Central Library has been the victim of political ping-pong. Most councillors of all parties have agreed that a new building was necessary, but the will and means was always lacking.

"Chiseldon is being closed without a public debate," complained Coun Derique Montaut (Lab, Moredon). "These cutbacks are financially driven. They're not part of any service-provision agenda.

"This is going to have a major impact on communities. Is it really worth the social distress that is going to be caused for such small savings?

"Libraries are the heart and soul of communities, the main arteries that feed the social and cultural needs of our citizens. With these closures we shall simply be creating more blots on the landscape.

"Once closed, they will never open again. There's no immediate alternative use for the buildings.

"It's not widely known, but we have one of the finest art collections in the country, yet nowhere to exhibit it. A grand new Central Library would provide that prestigious venue.

"A decision was taken last year to proceed with a new library and it was budgeted for when council tax was set, to be financed by the sale of land.

"Not to push ahead immediately would be to renege on our commitment as a council to the people."

But council leader Mike Bawden (Con, Old Town and Lawns) said that the plot of land to which Coun Montaut referred could only raise enough money for a new library if it could be sold for retail development. There was no indication so far that the Government would sanction such a deal.

"If we were to proceed without Government consent, we could be landing our council taxpayers with yet another financial albatross," he said.

Naturally enough the niceties of these arguments are lost on the punters.

Michael Litchfield