Media Coverage
Brummies' love for libraries has featured in newspapers, on the radio and on TV. We've collected some of the news stories below as a record of the campaign against cuts to our library services.
"The Price of Equality" - Presented by Anushka Asthana, Radio 4, aired March and April 2025. Available to listen or download here.
"Thousands of female council workers across Britain have lost out on pay and benefits worth billions because of unequal pay over decades. Now claims for compensation and demands to reform pay and grading threaten to capsize council finances, upset male council workers and cause massive cuts to local services. Anushka Asthana investigates why such pay discrimination is still happening despite being illegal for the last fifty years. And she discovers what the price of equality might actually be, for the women seeking it and the millions of us living in places where our local council has ignored the problem for years." Presenter: Anushka Asthana Producers: Jonathan Brunert and Leela Padmanabhan.
​
​
"Last-gasp bid to save Birmingham libraries from cuts that would 'worsen child poverty'" - Jane Haynes, Birmingham Mail, 19 Feb 2025.
​
"Campaigners to fight on as library cuts approved" - Susie Rack, BBC News, 13 February 2025.
"Council seeks approval for library service cuts" - Aida Fofana, BBC News, 11 February 2025 - link here.
"Inside the new libraries plan for Birmingham - the 28 to stay open and the 7 at risk" - Jane Haynes, Birmingham Mail, 4 Feb 2025.
​
"Library still 'temporarily' closed two years later" - Josh Sandiford, BBC News, 19 Dec 2024.
​
"The Birmingham battle goes on over cuts to vital service that the city 'must protect'" - Alexander Brock, Birmingham Mail, 27 Sep 2024.
​
"Birmingham council's library plans set to make 'nil savings' this year despite £1m target" - Alexander Brock, Birmingham Mail, 24 Sep 2024.
"Jonathan Coe and Kit de Waal among 35 writers of ‘protest zine’ defending threatened Birmingham libraries" - Ella Creamer, The Guardian, 23 Sep 2024.
​
"Writers create protest magazine over library cuts" - Shyamantha Asokan, BBC News, 20 Sep 2024.
​
"Birmingham City Council's plans for 'minimum' number of libraries - and what would happen to the rest" - Alexander Brock, Birmingham Mail, 19 Sep 2024.
​
"I visited Birmingham suburb amid major cuts proposals as residents say 'it's appalling'" - Alexander Brock, Birmingham Mail, 4 Sep 2024.
​
"Jack Reacher would not exist without Birmingham’s libraries, says writer" - Jamie Grierson, The Guardian, 3 Sep 2024.
​
"Public libraries in 'crisis' as councils cut services" - Paul Lynch, Pilar Tomas, and Alix Hattenstone, BBC News, 3 Sep 2024.
​
​
"Birmingham campaigners slam 'huge setback' as major library proposals confirmed" - Alexander Brock, Birmingham Mail, 27 Aug 2024.
​
"Anger over Birmingham libraries cuts and closures plan as defiant campaigners say 'not over yet'" - Jane Haynes, Birmingham Mail, 22 Aug 2024.
​
"Jack Reacher author calls library cuts 'dumbest decision' as Birmingham childhood library at risk" - Husna Anjum, Birmingham Mail, 15 July 2024.
​
"'Closure by stealth' fury as key council service to reduce hours over school holidays" - Jane Haynes, Birmingham Mail, 24 June 2024.
​
"Row over Birmingham library consultation as local campaigns heat up" - Alexander Brock, Birmingham Mail, 22 April 2024.
​
"Opinions sought over library cuts in Birmingham" - Richard Price, BBC News, 4 April 2024.
​
"Bid to protect funding to 25 under threat libraries" - Oprah Flash, BBC News, 22 March 2024. ​
​
"Birmingham City Council signs off 'devastating' cuts" - Josh Sandiford & Simon Gilbert, BBC News, 6 March 2024.