i was beginning to think that was a myth

[usuallyhats]

So way back in the mists of the December posting meme, thisbluespirit gave me libraries to post about! And it's taken me ages to post about them, because I love them A LOT and wanted to create a post that would do justice to that love. Which I'm not sure I have, but here we go, nevertheless.

I love them first as a library user, which I've been all my life. I remember using the Up Hatherly Library in Cheltenham as a child: being too young to really know how long three weeks was, so Library Day was a delightful surprise. Rummaging through the Tintin and Asterix books for one I hadn't read. Begging my mum to let me borrow just ONE extra book on her card ("one of my books is an audio book and that doesn't really count, so I'm ENTITLED to another book"). Haunting the SFF section as a teenager in the hope of finding Discworld books I hadn't read. Discovering the teenage section and with it Northern Lights. Earnestly hunting for books on my recommended reading for GCSE/A-Level age groups lists. BOOKS EVERYWHERE. When I was at uni I used the library mostly for comics, despite not really being into comics then: it was Buffy and Angel tie-in stuff, plus the odd volume of Sandman, and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I fell away from the library a bit when I moved to Bristol (though I still joined because obviously), but I've been using it very heavily for the last three years or so, at first because comics, but now because it's just so easy. I know my library card number and PIN off by heart, so if someone recommends a book or comic, I can hop straight over the catalogue and request or wishlist it. :D (Current stats: 17 items on loan, three available and four pending reservations, 53 things on my wishlist (...that's more than I thought there were), £2 owing.)

But I also love libraries as a concept: free access to information and entertainment for anyone who wants it. BEST. Also the public library is more or less the only public space left where you can go and not be expected to buy something, and I think that's a really valuable thing to preserve. It gets things away from the idea that everything has a price, and that if you can't afford to pay that price it's probably your own fault and you don't deserve to have it anyway. Not everything is about buying and selling, and worth isn't purely about whether something turns a profit.

I wrote my dissertation on computer access in public libraries; the attitude of the government in particular is increasingly that "it's all on the web", but there are still a great deal of people who have never used the internet, or don't have reliable access to it, or don't know how to use. And they're excluded from accessing information, and from a lot of government services, so it's vital to have somewhere they can go to get both access and help.

I think the rate of library closures is appalling, as is the fact that the government seems to think libraries can be run by volunteers, there are just so many things wrong with that I don't know where to start. The thing that worries me most with library closures and the handing of libraries over to volunteers is that once the service is gone, I don't know that we'll be able to get it back. I mean, projects for big shiny new central libraries will probably be able to get support, but reopening tiny libraries in deprived areas, or beefing up the mobile library service? Not glamorous enough.

...so that's all depressing. But let's end on a positive note, because I really love libraries! They're this institution whose whole ethos is based on "books for everyone!" and helping people, regardless of their ability to pay, and I think that's pretty amazing.

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear!

I'm just a tiny bit choked by this post, because I agree so hard. I can *still* remember the huge thrill I got when I was allowed to go into the adult section of Stroud Library.

I can remember visiting a friend who was a professor at one of the northern Universities, and as soon as we'd had coffee together, he had to go give a lecture, but we were going to meet for lunch later, so I went off to the library - and I found it *without* having to search for it - I didn't ask anyone, I hadn't looked at a campus map, and I'd never been there before, but I found it. (I joke that I have a built-in book radar.)

Barring public holidays, I visit the library twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays), and when I was working non-stop last summer for three months, I felt as if I was growing uncivilised because I couldn't get to the library. Then one day I managed an after-work trip, and I felt as I'd been rehumanised - even though I'd done nothing more dramatic than walk through the doors, return some books, and borrow a handful of others!

I cannot afford to buy all the books I want to read - nor have I space to store them - so the library is a life-saver for me - I can borrow books, read them, then take them back. And while ebooks help (since my Kindle holds a lot!), I still love going to the library to borrow things (and not everything's available in ebook format yet).

I <3 libraries!

[thisbluespirit]

But I also love libraries as a concept: free access to information and entertainment for anyone who wants it. BEST. Also the public library is more or less the only public space left where you can go and not be expected to buy something, and I think that's a really valuable thing to preserve. It gets things away from the idea that everything has a price, and that if you can't afford to pay that price it's probably your own fault and you don't deserve to have it anyway. Not everything is about buying and selling, and worth isn't purely about whether something turns a profit.

<3

Basically, you made me tear up a bit. I'm tired today, but still, I think what I used to do was valuable for so many of these reasons, but every day people told me it wasn't until finally there was no such post as children's librarian - and that was supposed to be a good thing.

Anyway, I'd forgotten I prompted you about this! And, hurrah, and it is an awesome post. :-)

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

Libraries are awesome! ♥

Can I ask what your degree was in, that you wrote a dissertation on computer access in libraries? I feel like I should remember this because I think you've said, but I'm not sure.

Ugh, library closings make me so mad. Here they've also done this thing where a lot of the branches will alternate being open early one day and staying open late the next and so it's hard to remember when they are open, and it must be extremely frustrating for the people who go to the library to use computers since they can't check on the computer at home whether the library is open or not before they head out.

[usuallyhats]

They're the BEST. ♥

It was a Masters in Information and Library Management! :)

Argh, yes, it must be. :( I can understand why the library would do that, but so annoying for people who turn up on the wrong day and find it closed!

[usuallyhats]

♥ ♥ ♥

I think what I used to do was valuable for so many of these reasons, but every day people told me it wasn't until finally there was no such post as children's librarian - and that was supposed to be a good thing.
Oh, I'm so sorry that happened to you! Children's librarian is one of the most valuable posts, in my opinion. :(

Hurray, thank you! Also I love your icon SO MUCH. :D

[usuallyhats]

♥

Ahaha, that is an excellent skill to have! Last time I tried to find a university library I hadn't been to before, I spent ages walking round the outside of it going "it must be this building, I can see the books, but I can't find the door"...

I know exactly what you mean, it's such a great feeling. Libraries have such a wonderful atmosphere.

Me too re affordability and space! (I don't have a Kindle so it's still mostly print format for me...) I could probably afford enough books if I stuck to charity shops, but then I'd have to rely on other people not wanting to keep the books I wanted to read.

Likewise! :D

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

LOL oops, that's unfortunate... (The book radar works on bookshops as well as libraries. It's weird but handy!)

Yes they do.

I confess I resisted getting a Kindle for some time until I suddenly realised that I really had no more space for printed books. I'll happily read either electronic or paper format, though - I'm not especially picky.

[thisbluespirit]

Thanks. It's happened to far too many people - librarians are seen as a luxury in the public sector, specialists even more so. But at least we managed to avoid closing libraries, so much as it wasn't good for me - I wound up doing something generic in the Council I was terrible at, and got ill, although probably that was coming on anyway - it was probably better than any of the alternatives.

That icon is one of my v old favourites! I think it was made by kathyh and I've kept it for a long time. :-) I should also reupload my "Pulverised by literature - the ideal way for a librarian to die!" icon, sometimes, too. I dumped it when I ceased being a librarian, but... as someone said to me, nobody can stop you being a librarian at heart. You just are one regardless. (This is very true. :lol:)

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's really cool! :)

[usuallyhats]

*nods* I suppose avoiding closures is better than nothing, but still, how horrible for you, and what a shame for the service to lose expertise like that. :(

Hee, awesome! And yes, being a librarian is first and foremost a state of mind. ♥

[usuallyhats]

Hee, definitely!

I'm not either! I'm not opposed to Kindles or anything, it's just not quite got to the point where my desire/need for one has outweighed the price/hassle of choosing one, especially since I've discovered the Kindle Cloud Reader.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Well, the Kindle app for PC is fine - and I can use in on the tablet computer as well, but I decided to get an actual Kindle device just 'cos the tablet's still quite heavy to carry in my bag or use in bed - whereas my Kindle Paperwhite weighs less than the average paperback book! And besides, at that point, I had the money to buy one, so decided I would. I could've gone for the Kindle Fire, but since I already had the Samsung Galaxy Note tablet - which came free with my phone upgrade last May - I didn't bother with an all-singing-and-dancing Kindle device because I didn't need it.

Of course, if you haven't got a tablet/iPad, then the Fire is a handy cross-over device.

[usuallyhats]

I haven't tried the PC app - I like the cloud reader because I don't have to download/install anything, so I can use it at work if I'm on the issue desk and it's quiet! Definitely tempted by the Fire (I don't have a tablet) but I read somewhere that it was less good for the actual reading things aspect (something to do with the type of display?), though maybe that's changed now... decisions are hard! ;)

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Fair enough.

I've no idea about reading on the Kindle Fire - no one's commented on that issue to me, but then I've not discussed it hugely. Hmm.

[redcirce]

Librariessssssss! <3

I spent so much time at the library as a child and the thought that others might not get that same opportunity if libraries don't get enough funding makes me sad.
I recently renewed my library card after letting it expire for several years. It was a really good decision, even if all I've been doing is taking out a lot of books on my ereader, which is a pretty neat service.

[usuallyhats]

I love them so much! <3

Me too! And ooh, awesome! My library does ebooks too, there are a lot of issues with rights around them but I'm glad they're beginning to be able to offer them.