In the face of increasing financial pressures, councils have frequently viewed library services as an easy way to find savings.

They are often considered as old-fashioned places only used by pensioners that no one would miss if they were gone. But they have moved with the times and are used by people from all walks of life.

The news that Kent’s 99 public library buildings are under threat of being sold off to save money filled me with horror.

Liberal Democrat opposition group leader, Cllr Antony Hook, said libraries are "essential" community resources, and I couldn’t agree more.

If you go to my local library, yes you will find elderly people who go there to see a friendly face and read the newspaper - but there are also new mums and their babies joining a bounce and rhyme session, older children borrowing books, or someone logging on to one of the computers to use the internet.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia discovered English libraries generate at least £3.4 billion in value a year through services by supporting children’s literacy, digital inclusion and health. They are a lifeline for many.

My love of books has grown from those times as a child I would get taken to the library by my mum and dad. We’d go as a family on a Saturday morning. I’d love trawling the shelves in the children’s section for a book I liked the look of and then sitting in one of those little red plastic chairs to read it. And then I’d get to take some books home to enjoy, before returning a few weeks later to do it all over again.

But my love of libraries is not just nostalgia. I have carried on using them and now take my own children, aged five and eight.

They love going to choose books and it is something we do every few weeks, always coming out with a stack of stories each to read at home.

When we go to our local library it is always busy. Every computer is occupied and there’s often some sort of group going on. The children’s corner is full of little ones, eagerly pulling books from the shelves or settling down on one of the comfy armchairs to read.

I think it is these regular visits to the library which have helped my children develop a love of reading.

When the first Covid lockdown began, not being able to visit the library was one of the saddest things for my son, who was four at the time. He would often ask ‘is the library open yet?’ and we returned on the first day our local one opened its doors again.

Libraries are for many new mums a place to go to meet others and get out of the house. They offer bounce and rhyme sessions, storytime and other activities for preschoolers. The mums I met at baby bounce and rhyme have become life-long friends and those little ones who crawled around the carpet with my son are now his friends too.

Our library also offers a weekly play session for little ones under 18 months, and with children’s services being cut back, these sorts of groups are more important than ever.

As I said before, libraries have moved with the times and they are not just about books. They offer all sorts of activities for children - from Lego clubs to computer coding sessions. In the school holidays I take my children to craft sessions and they are usually fully booked.

These activities are often free or they only cost a couple of pounds, and in the face of rising costs everywhere else, this is a godsend. Especially during the holidays when keeping kids entertained can be so expensive.

And on the subject of money, buying a book is a luxury that many cannot afford. But you can go to your local library and borrow up to 30 without spending anything (just make sure you renew or return them on time).

Using the computers and the internet is free too. A study found that half of those who do not have access to the internet at home, but use the internet in public places, do so in a public library.

Kent libraries offer IT Buddy sessions - helping people to get online, access information and complete forms.

And of course there are those services which help the elderly people we so often associate with libraries - from Scrabble clubs, to knit and natter groups - which can help ease loneliness and isolation.

Children’s laureate Joseph Coelho, who embarked on a UK-wide “library marathon” last year to raise awareness, said: “They offer so many services that people don’t know about. You can get your newborn baby weighed in a local library, you can get your hearing aid batteries changed, or you can go in for a cup of tea or coffee and sit somewhere warm without having to part with any money. There are Lego clubs, board game clubs, live recitals, theatre. I can’t think of any other spaces that provide that community hub.”

Losing our libraries would be a great loss to our communities. Many who use them – the elderly, mums with buggies, people who cannot drive or those who are short of money – won’t be able to travel further afield to another library if their local one closed its doors.

Cllr Hook said he was “appalled” at the Conservative’s plan, adding: “They appear to have learned nothing from their disastrous scheme to put household waste centres up for closure which was beaten back by public pressure.”

Let’s hope the library cuts, like those controversial tip closures, will end up being scrapped too.