A week ago, the closure of the branch libraries in bamberg was in the air as a threat. Now this is off the table for the time being. And yet cornelia kempgen, chairwoman of the working group of bookshops in bamberg city and country, is appalled that such an idea was even seriously considered.
In a letter to the FT editorial team, the manager of the bookstore in stegaurach expresses her incomprehension that the city of bamberg, which lives largely from its excellent reputation as a cultural city and prides itself on being a university and school city, wants to save its budget by "drastically cutting back" on cultural spending.
Yet it is the local libraries that guarantee access to education for all, especially during this pandemic, when families are even more short of money than usual to buy new books for their eager children. Kempgen denounces: "now it turns out that bavaria still does not have a library law that could guarantee free access to libraries close to home, and that it is not the state’s duty to support cities and communities accordingly." The chairwoman of the AG argues that while "industries of all kinds or banks that have speculated are loosely supported with billions, but for the reading needs of our children, despite many sunday speeches from the federal and state governments, only crumbs fall depending on the cash situation". So it remains the task of the cities, municipalities and also churches to counteract it. After all, the manifold problems of the future can only be tackled to a certain extent with the ability to read well and safely. And you don’t learn this in school alone with the reading primer". Therefore the AG of the bookshops in city and country holds the "simple and unimaginative schliebung" of existing libraries for a "wrong and dangerous signal", also far beyond the borders of the city of bamberg.