Sue John sneers (Letters, November 18) that Friends of Hove Library are protesters when their purpose is not only to secure the much-loved building's future but also to promote and enhance it.

As The Argus made plain, support is great and growing (more than 1,600 people in a week). Among these are the disabled and parents. Nobody has been "deliberately misled".

People are not the fools Councillor John takes them for. There is palpable dislike of the library being closed and moved to the Town Hall.

A bright and welcoming building such as Hove's library is more conducive to reading than a dark, echoing room in a Town Hall whose architect was not asked to design a library.

Coun John is cavalier to claim the Friends are "well off". The Friends are not so impertinent as to ask about income but this is a wide-ranging, diverse group.

A public library's joy is its inclusiveness. Anybody, rich or poor, can borrow Money (by Martin Amis).

Coun John's understanding of a library is strange: She claims some people can buy every book they need.

To do so, the well-off would soon be less so and a book, which is perhaps out of print, can be needed in a hurry.

Why is Coun John limiting her invitation for suggestions to the cross-party group to Julie Burchill? Will she ask residents - "well off" or otherwise - to public meetings?

Also cavalier, even irresponsible, is Coun John's claim to be "vastly improving" the range of books. As her latest library position statement makes clear, Brighton and Hove City Council is hard-pressed to maintain book purchases, let alone to double the stock.

What should we make of Coun John's purported concern for those who are not well off? Librarians are not paid a fortune for the dedicated work they do.

But what do we also find in the statement? It announces an "attempt to seek out staff who will present a modern, positive image". The contempt for library staff is breathtaking. The statement's foreword is by Coun John.

This, and her ranting letter, means there can hardly be

a disinterested place for her on the "cross-party working group to investigate all the facts surrounding the proposed move".

-Christopher Hawtree, Hove