Public Library and Other Stories

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Anna James put it like this:

Public libraries were hugely important to me growing up, as we lived in a fairly small village on the outskirts of Newcastle with minimal sources of entertainment. Without access to that library, as small and stern as it was, I don’t think I would be the reader I am now. That tiny library gave me access to worlds and lives that a child growing up in rural Northumberland could never have hoped to experience anywhere else. And so when I left university becoming a school librarian was the obvious choice for me, and I spent nearly five years working with 11–18-year-olds in Coventry, trying to give them that same access to the infinite possibilities of libraries.

This is what Richard Popple said:

The spectre of library closures in the current financial climate of austerity is, to a limited extent, understandable. Of course councils are looking to save money where they can, and, while libraries do have several sources of income, they are not set up to be profit-making themselves. Libraries are, at heart, helpful and kind providers. It is hard for those who perhaps don’t feel the need to visit their local libraries to understand what a vital service they provide for communities and individuals who do — and those who do are often the most vulnerable.

Libraries provide free access to computers, and help with using them. This is so important as more and more services — job-searching, flight bookings, bus pass applications etc — now prefer or even require internet access. So for those who can’t afford a computer and are trying to find a job, or for those who did not grow up with the technology, the free access to technology and human assistance is becoming increasingly essential. Libraries provide this for everyone.

They also provide access to (generally free) entertainment and activities for children and adults. These can help individuals and communities not to be isolated.

And — books! Free books! Entertainment, knowledge, ideas, imagination, and all with the liberty to try book after book at no cost. And even if you’re housebound and unable to get to the library, they’ll usually have a service to choose and bring the books for you.

It is the poorest, most isolated and the least able in our society who suffer most if they are gone. So if our society does not care for libraries, then it is not caring for its most vulnerable.

Tracy Bohan told me a little of what’s happening to the public library in her neighbourhood:

The council intend to offer it up to developers and presumably just go with the highest bid. It will undoubtedly become flats. The council has also cut the 2016 park budget in half. And they just razed an entire housing estate to make way for a private development.

And finally, Sarah Wood told me this:

After my mother died, I was clearing out the little compartments in her purse — the reward cards, credit cards, driving licence, they’d all become meaningless. The one thing I couldn’t bring myself to throw away was her library card.