The award-winning novelist, who wrote the His Dark Materials trilogy, is backing a campaign to save The Meadows Community School library, which the Derbyshire Times reported on last week.

A petition has been placed in nearby shops on High Street, New Whittington, over concerns about the library's future.

Headteacher Lynn Asquith refused to comment on the fears, and the school instead revealed plans for a new learning resource centre – intended to "compliment the introduction of new online resources".

Now, children's authors are stacking up to speak out in defence of The Meadows' library, which employs one librarian.

Philip Pullman said the school would become a "byword for philistinism and ignorance" if the library was closed.

He added: "A library, with a dedicated and professional staff, should be at the very heart of any institution devoted to learning.

"Nothing can replace a proper library, with its resources centrally available, and with the expertise of a qualified librarian to guide the students in the best and most productive ways of research."

Children's author Alan Gibbons, who visits 150 schools a year and recently launched Campaign for the Book, is rallying writers in support of the Meadows' library and its "energetic and imaginative" librarian Clare Broadbelt.

He said reading for pleasure was identified as the key guarantor of academic success in numerous reports by UNESCO and Ofsted,

adding: "Replacing the habit of reading a good book with Googling and copy and paste essays is retrograde.

"The best libraries in the UK do not reject new technology, nor do they think it can replace the book wholesale."

Mr Gibbons challenged the Meadows head Lynn Asquith to a public debate on BBC Radio Sheffield, but she declined.

Mrs Asquith was unavailable for comment when approached by the Derbyshire Times this week.