Barcelona's libraries have been on an indefinite strike since May 26, although their demands had already begun earlier. This Tuesday, September 1, 33 out of the city's 41 libraries were closed in the morning as a show of strength by the collective, which demands —insists— that Barcelona City Council and the Library Consortium open negotiations. The City Council and the Consortium assure that negotiations are open and issued a statement explaining that a series of things have been offered to the library staff, but one of two things: either it's not quite like that or what is offered does not satisfy the demands of the striking workers (the vast majority of library staff, and of the book sector, are women). What are these demands? Improvement of schedules, salary improvement, and professional recognition. They are sensible claims: many librarians work double shifts of eleven or more hours a day which make family reconciliation impossible and, of course, their remuneration is far below the importance of their task. Hence the need for professional recognition, which naturally must be reflected in the salary they receive.But broad social recognition of their work is also necessary. It is necessary to extend among the citizenry, much more consistently than now, that libraries provide an essential public service for a democratic society that wishes to facilitate access to reading for all citizens —especially children and young people, but for everyone— regardless of their origin, social class, or purchasing power. This must be emphasized. Facilitating citizens' access to reading: this is the task of libraries, and it is not an easy job. They train and update themselves in a highly demanding way to be able to do it. And we must insist on this, because the work of librarians is not that of social assistants, nor of facilitators, nor of technicians in family care. All these jobs are also necessary, but they are not the jobs that a library technician should do. A public library should also not be a climate shelter, nor many other things.A library promotes reading among citizens. This is of enormous importance. To give examples, the work of a librarian is infinitely more important than that of all the First Division footballers, or that of all the "politicians" who do nothing more than repeat what their party orders them to do. Access to reading is a public service as important as that provided by teachers and healthcare professionals, who, incidentally, it is no coincidence that they are also fighting for the dignity of their profession, in both cases. We live in days when the dignity, importance, and viability of public services are sought to be denied: for this very reason, they must be defended more than ever. To go against essential public services —the library is one— is to go against ourselves as citizens.
