Using their resources can unfetter our imaginations, disclose hitherto unrealized worlds, promote knowledge, induce pleasure, make us laugh, impart insights, challenge our misconceptions, assuage our fears, prick our consciences, inflame our sensibilities, and provide professional refreshments. What we learn from good books and other resources becomes part of us. Public libraries have the largest audience for any artform in England. 24 million people use libraries each year, three in five of the population over 16. Usage cuts across boundaries of class, culture, age, gender and educational background, giving public libraries a unique role in providing access to information and imagination resources.
People come into libraries for many different purposes but a primary one is to find 'a good read'.
Library education is not the issue here. Training in library and information science is taught at universities as part of either undergraduate or post-graduate programmes. Information handling skills are taught in other disciplines at undergraduate level and we feel that this should be taught throughout formal education as part of the national curriculum. Whilst the Commission feels strongly that all citizens will need information skills to participate fully in an information and learning society, your consultation, we assume, is focusing on creative and cultural education generally not just on the information skills which are required to find and utilise creative resources. Having said that, the field of library and information science involves the management of and provision of public access to collections of creative and cultural resources such as books, films, music, artwork, etc.