Once upon a time...the battle for Barnet's libraries

Once upon a time...A dangerous group of fat cats seized control. They planned to close all of our wonderful libraries.

Do you remember the magic of finding books in your local library as a child? Many of us rely on libraries to educate and delight our children and ourselves, to keep old stories alive and discover new adventures. Libraries are a fantastic resource, but in Barnet they are under threat - from cuts and from privatisation.

Barnet Council is leading the outsourcing trend amongst councils, despite all the stories of failures by dodgy companies, and all the great examples of councils improving services by bringing them in-house. Barnet calls itself a 'commissioning council' and is gearing up to hand over ever more of its public services to profit-making corporations. Children and adult social services are also at risk, and education support services for schools are already being privatised.

We know from Barnet Council's track record that the libraries aren’t safe in their hands. On 2 October the council will report back on different options for the libraries - these could include closures, relying on volunteers, creating new mutuals (which could be a first step towards privatisation) and full handover of Barnet’s libraries to private profit-making companies. The council vote is on 12 October.

Check out this lovely fairytale of a video about how Barnet is fighting back.

Right now people in Barnet don’t know exactly what the bad guys are planning but they’re getting ready to stand up for their libraries. Here are five ways you can help them get a happy ending:

1) Come to the Kids4Libraries march this Saturday

2) Sign the 38 Degrees petition to Save Barnet Libraries

3) Help stop all the outsourcing plans by signing up for the Barnet Alliance for Public Services newsletter.

4) Stay in touch with the campaign online: follow Save Barnet Libraries (twitter and facebook), Barnet Alliance for Public Services (twitter and facebook)

5) Share this article with your friends to spread the word!

Save Barnet Libraries organised a rebellion. Now they need you.