I feel that as the manager of the Walcot Community Shop I must express my disappointment and sadness at the remarks of Steve Nibbs in your paper a couple of days ago.
He was seeking to connect the work of volunteers to the loss of jobs of library staff without any consideration been given to the effect of increasing technology on the library service.
Just like in industry, time moves on and with it a reduction in human resources required.
Ebooks, computers, scanners and photocopiers are what people need to do their job searches and fact finding. Gone are the days when huge buildings, full of books or even tablets of stone are required to store or pass on knowledge.
For him to even hint that the volunteers are scum is disgraceful and obscene.
Without the volunteers in Walcot there would be no library. It is almost six years ago that the very successful and award winning combination of shop and library was set up and it is only through the efforts of our unpaid volunteers that he compares with scabs that the service is still going strong today.
Just maybe the time has come for the Library Service to be put on the same level as Leisure Services that is to be put out to private contractors. Only then will the true value of what our volunteers have achieved be appreciated.


Debbie Estarbrook Walcot Swindon