I HAVE recently learned that the Fife Cultural Trust is stopping supplying local and regional newspapers to public libraries*.

I had not realised they had already stopped their subscriptions to national newspapers in January 2017.

This decision can only have been made by number-crunching bureaucrats who haven’t the faintest idea of the value and importance of libraries or newspapers.

To justify this cut by saying that papers are available online is outrageously ignorant. Online versions are no substitute for print copies; websites only offer a selection of what is printed, and access is often behind a paywall, ie. it depends on your ability to pay. This also discriminates against the still significant section of the population that is not digitally literate.

Local newspapers are under pressure as never before, and many have folded, even though they are an essential resource for local communities and local democracy.

Fife Council rarely misses an opportunity to trumpet its commitment to communities and its “Fairer Fife” agenda. Depriving Fifers of local newspapers in order to save £5000 is regressive in every sense.

*https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/fife/940264/local-and-regional-newspapers-withdrawn-from-fife-libraries/

LINDA HOLT (Councillor),

Dreel House,

Pittenweem.