CILIP is offering members and library supporters a free step-by-step guide to challenging cuts and service reductions in your public libraries.

Libraries are at the frontline of providing vital services to communities, and as a result, are often in the first line of fire when it comes to cuts.

Shortly after announcing special measures on Birmingham Council, last month, libraries along with other essential council services were put under review.

As cuts, service reductions, and full closure continue to threaten public libraries across England, CILIP has published Know Your Rights, a step-by-step guide.

The guide is aimed at enabling public librarians to understand and take advantage of their statutory rights to work with local authorities and mitigate these cutbacks.

Libraries in England are a statutory service, subject to oversight by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and any closures or cutbacks need to follow rigorous guidelines.

The guide empowers librarians to understand these guidelines and take action to ensure that they have been followed - and hold councils to account if they have not been followed, to prevent or mitigate financially-motivated cuts to services.

CILIP has a decade of experience supporting librarians and libraries in the face of cutbacks, and the guide brings this experience into one helpful resource.

Four publicly available letters that CILIP has written in support of libraries facing cutbacks are also available to serve as examples or templates for librarians to use when they make their own representations.

The guide and accompanying letters are available free to members of CILIP and non-members alike, though additional support from CILIP is only available to members at this time.

Get the guide now, visit Know Your Rights