Invest more in libraries as social hubs

Public libraries are a statutory service and the only one that a person can use from birth to death. They are a core , essential service for whole communities and should be considered an essential part of Scotland's provision for children under the legally-binding UN Charter for the Rights of the Child. Libraries are integral to and an extension of the formal education system and crucial to self-education, self-development and wellbeing. Many people rely on them for access to the digital world. They are a civilising influence on the world and not just about books.

So fund them properly and promote them within schools, communities and organisations. Ignorance of the  benefits to everyone of free library membership is a shocking political failure by all parties in P&K.

Why the contribution is important

If you want a decent, well-educated, balanced, inclusive, healthy, fair society then libraries have to b e at the heart of communities. The digital world is not the answer to everything.

by Saw2102 on January 06, 2026 at 06:14PM

Current Rating

Average rating: 4.7
Based on: 17 votes

Comments

  • Posted by rocklobster January 09, 2026 at 11:34

    I strongly agree with this. Having a free to access space within a community that provides a huge wealth of information about the community around us, digital access, a reduction in social isolation, education and an access to development throughout an individuals whole life is critical. Libraries don't make money but the value they provide is huge across all markers.

  • Posted by Oneandeleven January 10, 2026 at 12:09

    Local libraries with professional librarians are very important to communities, additionally they have a particular significance and role in rural communities where there is limited public transport. Local libraries support education, health and well-being and community resilience. The library can also serve to support the tourist industry, as an information hub. Yes, the spaces can be used more, and more creatively. Yes, local communities can have a role in extending opening hours and using the buildings for other purposes like meetings, warm spaces, IT connectivity, craft and community groups, but at the core there must be a professional librarian and opening hours with a professional librarian present which are accessible for every community member be they working, at home carers or/and retired. Research by University of East Anglia showed that libraries generate many times more financial benefit and savings to local authorities than they cost. Perth and Kinross Council should seriously consider putting their libraries back into proper direct public control instead of having them run by an Arms Length External Organisation like Culture Perth and Kinross.

  • Posted by Painterz January 10, 2026 at 13:11

    This is a terrific idea.

    Particularly as we are all getting older and steering into an uncertain future. The idea of local facilities being made available to vulnerable isolated populations is going to be the sort of thing that has increasing net benefits as time goes on.

    We will miss our local libraries when they are gone. And once they're gone, they're likely never coming back. There is an opportunity here to really put them at the heart of the communities they serve.

  • Posted by newmoon January 10, 2026 at 14:05

    Totally support this idea. We need our libraries more than ever.

  • Posted by Librariesforever January 11, 2026 at 07:47

    It’s so important that pkc invest in our libraries, they’re increasingly essential as we endure a cost of living crisis and the inequality gap grows. Libraries offer so much particularly to rural communities with limited services.

  • Posted by Bug84 January 11, 2026 at 14:26

    It is very important to keep our local libraries. During school holidays they offer a range of great activities for children either free or at a low cost. Going to the library teaches children independence of choosing their own books and taking them out along with being responsible to return them on time. Literacy is a huge part of children’s education and borrowing books for free is great. The library also has access to computers for those who need it to. Not everyone can access AK Bell so our local libraries are important. It also saves on parking and car fumes if we walk to our local library,

  • Posted by HendrixReader January 11, 2026 at 17:09

    Our rural libraries are a godsend. Our local one, Comrie Library, is a warm, social space. My partner and I visit it at least once a week (it is only open on 3 days, sometimes only for 2 hours). Just this Saturday, we met a local couple there and got acquainted, and we have lived here for nigh on 10 years. That's two more people to talk to and be merry with. And to have a free source of reading is a wonderful thing in today's world. Good, harmless, educational fun. I've heard that totalitarian states have banned, even burned, books in the past. Let's not be heading there, eh? Thank you for funding our library.

  • Posted by SamC January 11, 2026 at 17:59

    It is well-recognized that investing in social capital generates (easier to measure) capital in the medium and long-term as well as improving an area as a place to live. Libraries perform a very wide range of functions in line with this as many correspondents have said, and are relatively cheap compared with novel ideas. Conversely library removal will not be cost-effective in anything other than the short term and I would prefer the council looks at least a few years ahead in their planning.

  • Posted by Mike284 January 12, 2026 at 15:35

    It is essential that there should be professional staff available in libraries. PKC handed over the library service to Culture PK and it has been on a downward track ever since. The number of professional posts in Perth and Kinross library service is depressingly low and the council must share the blame for making the library service one of the worst funded in Scotland. The original proposal to close the library in Scone, allied to the fact that RDM School, one of the largest primary schools within Perth and Kinross, does not even have a library, would have meant that all school pupils attending RDM would have no library service. This is clearly breaking the law.
    There is a clear need for a properly funded library service, with all the additional local input from residents and community groups.
    It is time that this service was returned to full control of the council.

  • Posted by PearlyG January 13, 2026 at 10:57

    The recognition that a rural library can offer support to community spirit and engagement is an important one. Surely offering more local facilities and opportunities for community support aligns with the PKC messages that are constantly being delivered about community engagement..
    The return on the minimal investment in individual rural libraries is enormous in terms of social capital.

  • Posted by JanetB January 13, 2026 at 15:39

    I agree with all the comments above ( up to 13 january). My local library is so much more than just for borrowing books; a communal space for everyone to benefit from tiny tots to the very elderly and everyone in between. It is one of those under threat of closure but for relatively little annual cost it gives so much benefit to many, especially those who would (like me) feel very isolated if it was no longer there. Regularly going to the library to borrow books or find out local information gives me the motivation to get out of the house and get healthy exercise walking there.

  • Posted by AndrewT January 16, 2026 at 00:07

    The value of library services and free access to the buildings they are housed in far exceeds the actual cost of local authority provision of the service. It is quite wrong and extremely short sighted to be cutting library funding and closing smaller rural libraries serving more remote communities. Perth & Kinross must prioritise maintaining library services and look to enhance their value by working in partnership with local communities to enable library buildings to be used much more efficiently to provide a much wider range of services and activities than just book lending during the typically very limited opening hours when a librarian is present. Communities should be trusted to use their libraries to deliver greater added value without necessarily adding any additional burden on pKC resource provision.

      In short, it is vital that any proposals on the table to cut current library funding provision when setting the budget for next year should be shelved. Savings must be found elsewhere by savings from reducing fundamentally less essential services …or perhaps focussing on the profligate waste associated with notable Perth-centred grandiose and ‘vanity projects’ which disadvantage the wider and more fragile communities beyond the city boundaries. Perthshire and Kinross-shire are rural counties!!

  • Posted by sarah January 16, 2026 at 19:13

    Local libraries with professional librarians are very important to communities. They have an especially important role in rural communities where there is limited public transport. Local libraries support education, health and well-being including community cohesion and resilience. There is room to use our current libraries more creatively than tends to be the case at present, and models within and outwith Scotland and the UK to learn from. But at the heart of every library is a professional librarian, and opening hours with a professional librarian present which are accessible for every community member regardless of age and work commitments. In addition to specialist knowledge, the librarian creates a supportive atmosphere essential to many potential users. To add a personal note, in my village the library is the only public social place that a person whose immune system is compromised can feel safe in: I am welcomed by a librarian who knows me and my limitations, there is community but no crowding, and no one is singing or drinking alcohol with its well-known consequences for shouting, loud laughter and hence enhanced air transmission of viruses etc. I cannot be the only one who needs a space like that.
    Research by the University of East Anglia, presented at the PKC hearings some two years ago, showed that libraries generate many times more financial benefit and savings to local authorities than they cost. Libraries can be seen as the part of the central hub of council provision for the well-being of all constituents, from mental health to social mobility. But libraries without professional librarians and accessible hours risk becoming arid spaces, with a corresponding loss to individual and community well-being

  • Posted by Aliscott January 16, 2026 at 22:39

    I agree wholeheartedly. So many important reasons shared above.
Log in or register to add comments and rate ideas