Libraries are an essential feature of a civilised society.

Keith Mitchell (Yesterday’s Oxford Mail ViewPoints) does not seem to understand their contribution to the well-being of the residents of Oxfordshire, in his glib suggestion that they can largely be replaced with enhanced mobile library vans and trips to the nearest library that is still open.

Does he know, for instance, that for some people the library is the only place they can access the internet to look for a job?

That for some young parents the cost of getting a bus to Oxford Central Library is prohibitively expensive?

Summertown Library is marked for closure. It had 122,400 visits in 2009-10, some 50 or 60 people use the internet there every day, schools bring classes to the library to advance their education – could the Central Library even cope with these additional visits, let alone all the others from the closures of other libraries or does it not matter that fewer people will use libraries for any purpose?

For some elderly people it is a social outing to visit the library and choose a book, and read the newspaper – for the less mobile the long trek from Debenhams to the Central Library and back with a bag of books is simply not possible.

Our library serves a mixed population, not all are well-off and able to afford a computer at home or bus fares to town.

For them the library provides an opportunity to gain windows into the world, to help their children to find the joy of reading – and yes, to help to break the cycle of deprivation that the county council claims is its top priority.

Closing libraries will not help this aspiration.

Our residents are offering help to keep the library open – we need the council to provide some support too.

The Big Society surely should ensure that all its members have opportunities to experience the benefits of the excellent library service Oxfordshire has had until now.

Jean Fooks, Liberal Democrat county councillor for Summertown and Wolvercote, St Bernard’s Road, Oxford