Julia Donaldson, the new Children's Laureate and best-selling author, has spoken out against the Government's plans for closing libraries.

The Haverfordwest Libraryopens Monday to Saturday, when it closes at 1 pm. It has two 'late' nights a week, closingat seven o'clockWhenI was a child my local libraryopened all day ona Saturday afternoon, givingthose who worked in the weektime to browse. I've wondered for years why library opening hours are not more flexible.

Wittgenstein, the philosopher, called language a 'key skill', providing access to other areas of learningand helping us to order our thoughts. We have four vocabularies:listening, speaking, writing and reading. Reading exposes us to a wider vocabularythan we might otherwise have.The more books we read, the greater our language facility becomes.

I'm fond of people's published diaries. Nella Last's 'Housewife 47' gave me hours of pleasure. Nella's writing waspart of a survey during World War 11 andshe describesthe monotonous dreariness of her life.Frustrationsin her marriagebecome apparent and she worriesabout one of her sons. The war gives Nella arolebut when it endsshe slips back into housework again and loses some of her vivacity.

'Housewife 47' comes in aDVD, too, but nothingcan replace the written word andthe feeling of solitude that being alone witha book gives.

Why don't librariesopenon a Sunday?Leisure centres do.More people might use them then.As it's a question of money, libraries are probably doomed. I suspectthat ifthey'd opened for longer hours,more people might have used them and they would not be facing closure now.