Future of Public Libraries

Jamie Stone Excerpts

Wednesday 14th May 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd.

I have a pub quiz question for the Minister: which historic figure has the greatest number of busts in the United States? People might say George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, but the truth is that it is Robbie Burns. That is because, as the hon. Member for Stirling and Strathallan (Chris Kane) referred to, Andrew Carnegie paid for a huge number of libraries in the States and one of the conditions was that each library had to have a bust of Scotland’s national bard.

Another interesting fact—I am obviously on form today—is that Andrew Carnegie also built many libraries across Scotland and all over the UK, and indeed all over the world. He put one in particular in the village near his castle of Skibo in Sutherland—in the village hall, the building of which he also paid for. So, we can say that in the world there are two Carnegie Halls. The great-grandson of Andrew Carnegie, Mr William Thomson, tried in recent times to get Dolly Parton to come and sing in Sutherland’s Carnegie Hall, but sadly she demurred.

Like the hon. Member for Stirling and Strathallan, when I was a boy I visited the Carnegie library in my home town of Tain. I did rather worse than running up a fine; I actually lost a book. It was Enid Blyton’s “Five Get Into A Fix” and losing it put me in a hell of a fix. I avoided going to the library for the next two years because I was petrified of the librarian, Mr Sellar. It was only later, when I was at secondary school, that I took up the habit of using a lending library. Today I am still a member of my lending library in Tain and use it regularly.

In 1909, one of my predecessors as the MP for the north of Scotland, Sir Arthur Bignold, presented a stuffed crocodile to Wick’s Carnegie library, and it is still there. I have no intention of following in Sir Arthur Bignold’s footsteps; I do not have any stuffed crocodiles handy at the moment.

I will cite a couple of facts. A recent survey showed that 16% of the Scottish population visit a library once a week, and slightly over a third visit a library once every month. I will not try to elaborate on the excellent points that have already been made about how important libraries are to civil society. As others have said, old people use them. I remember the demise of bookshops being predicted some years ago; some people thought that the internet would get rid of them. That is not the case, because books are selling more now than ever before. Books are part of the way that we do things as human beings, whatever language and whatever form they are in. Like others, I see libraries as crucial to the happiness of society.

Finally, rather than posing another pub quiz question to the Minister, I will say that I very much look forward to hearing his response to the debate; I am sure that it will contain a lot about best practice and proposals. Would he be kind enough to share his thoughts with the Scottish Government at an appropriate point? I am sad that there are no representatives of the Scottish Government here, but we see a worrying number of closures north of the border. I completely understand that this is a devolved matter, but I am duty bound to take up my constituents’ concerns.

--- Later in debate ---

[Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure, as always, to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Derbyshire (Jonathan Davies) for securing a vital debate.

As has been said many times, libraries are not just buildings or physical things; they are an emblem of what communities are, particularly in my constituency, which includes sparsely populated areas of rural Northumberland. They play a crucial role in bringing together those communities, and they foster educational thought and development.

I would like to mention a few of our fantastic libraries: the Spetchells centre in Prudhoe, Northumberland library in Heddon-on-the-Wall, Haltwhistle library, Wylam library, Bellingham library, and the Allendale, Newburn and Crawcrook libraries. My office is located upstairs at the Queen’s Hall library; it is good to have a space at the library that allows me, as an MP, to be based within the community. In Matfen, there is an old telephone box that has been transformed into a book swap shop for residents. I commend Hannah Cutler, a resident from that village, for her valuable contribution to the local community.

It is clear that libraries offer much more than educational material; they are hubs for social interaction, and for communities to share thought. In rural communities and in the fractured social media environment that we live in, that is perhaps more valuable now than ever. The opportunity to have safe, local spaces through which we can curb social isolation with shared community experiences is vital. This morning, I was reading a study that said that one in five children in the north-east do not own a book. I sincerely hope that by the end of this Labour Government’s time in office, we have combated that appalling statistic.

In my constituency, town councils do excellent work in libraries by hosting events such as green jobs fairs and events for the Ukrainian community, who have settled in my constituency since the outbreak of war in Europe and have made a fantastic contribution. Those events bring them, and some of the host families, together as a community. It is a privilege, every week, to look at the “What’s On” in the community libraries and see the different ways that communities are coming together.

Obviously, representing the largest constituency in England—which I think I am contractually obliged to mention every time I rise to speak—I do not manage to get to all the libraries every week, but I try my best. We try to hold our surgeries in every library that I have mentioned, because I think that is crucial.

It is now Mental Health Awareness Week. When we invest in libraries, we are not just investing in literacy; we are investing in mental health support, digital access and in the futures of the residents themselves. In the brief time that I have left, I will talk about rural primary schools and their libraries.

[Jamie Stone]

The hon. Gentleman is making a valid point about mental health. Does he agree that for many people in their old age, visiting a library is one way of combating loneliness, which is one of the tragedies for them?

[Joe Morris]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely correct. That is true not just for old people; in the communities I represent, people who work from home often go to the library and take advantage of that opportunity to get into town. It is tremendously valuable for everyone of all ages. I recognise his point, however, about older people in particular.

I will briefly mention Otterburn primary school, which is one of the smallest schools in the country, in one of the most isolated villages. Staff at the school do tremendous work. The school benefits from a breakfast club, but it is also, through the library, giving children access to books. It was a pleasure to visit the school fairly recently, and to talk about the infrastructure challenges that it faces as an extremely rural school.