THE WORLD IN A LIBRARY
Depending on what source you read, either printed books or e-readers
are doomed. Traditional publishing is in chaos while technology is
opening up new avenues for innovation (some of which are being used by
the hugely talented weblogsmith of this very site, Mrs Vickie
Lester!). Yet it’s important that we don’t allow our obsession with
new technologies to destroy what we have, contrary to popular belief NOT
EVERYONE has access to all of these technologies nor do they want it.
Technology provides us with many wonderful things some of which such
as weblogs or cellphones and emails open up vistas to those who
wouldn’t have had them before but it’s important that we don’t let new
technologies replace everything from the past because to do so would
be short-sighted and moronic. Not that I feel strongly about this or
anything! (If you disagree with this you may discuss it with me, I do
hope you won’t mind me sticking my fingers in my ears while going
“La-la-la-la! Not listening” and intermittently sticking my tongue out
at you! I’m SO RUDE!)
After that intemperate rant, I’ll get to what I really want to talk
about: the Magic of Libraries. I remember getting my first library
card and though it may sound rather boring to you I was really
excited, here was a key to a new world or WORLDS. Worlds made of
words.
Libraries have remained special to me, from the smallest to the
grandest they represent not just knowledge but a gathering place for
fictional people, places, landscapes, states of being. And all you
have to be is a member to have access. Yes, a library card is key and
libraries themselves are symbolic of a kind of Narnian otherworld.
Here in Blighty we have some glorious old libraries, buildings that in
their impressive architecture and, in some cases, their histories and
that of those who have used them symbolize much of what libraries can
mean. However, what’s really meaningful about any library be it in
England or the U.S. or wherever is that ANYONE can use them.
That’s the ultimate magic of a lending library. Beyond the beauty of
the buildings or anything else, the fact that they can be used, free
of charge, is a wonder. Just as any modern society without books is,
essentially, worthless and scary (you think that’s too harsh? Ha! I
didn’t come here today to bandy words, dear reader!) so to is the
prospect of one without libraries nightmarish and Orwellian. The
current economic Hades we’re going through has seen the demise of many
libraries in the United Kingdom and the diminuition of services, which
may seem small potatoes to some but the reduction in them shouldn’t be
seen as anything less than a disaster. It was with the invention of
lending libraries for all that those who would once have been able to
read few if any books were presented with the opportunity to
experience many other worlds with the result (arguably) that literacy
grew and the love of books was able to spread like a benign or divine
virus (inarguably). I don’t suppose it’ll come as a surprise that I
think people who argue that times have changed and that we no longer
need libraries are misguided at best, and lazy-minded, selfish, and
moronic at worst, but, hey, that’s part of my “charm”! Bwahahaha! I’ll
just add to that polemical address that apart from books libraries can
also provide solace, reading clubs, pilates classes (!), a place to
go, and many other services so to treat them as an anachronism would
be a Great and Grave Mistake.
Before I sign off, I’ll just conclude with a few of the things I
associate with libraries (now, now, falling asleep isn’t polite…)
and their magic: the scent of books, it may sound bonkos – which is
like “bonkers” but much worse! – but the smell of books seems
particularly piquant and transporting to me, something you certainly
don’t get with *turns up nose* a Kindle; dust moving in motes of light
from high windows in the library when I was a child; the thick music
of an Indian lady’s voice overheard as I read a book;
the thrill of finding a desired book or of discovering great books you
didn’t know existed; talking and flirting regularly with two
attractive library assistants – sisters, yet – named, ah, let’s say
Isobel and Isla (I must admit that being singularly unconfident and
ridiculously shy they had to approach me!)… Ah, well, I think I’ve
given myself enough rope… 
Please tell us your – good, funny,
unusual – experiences with libraries in the comments. Be Seeing You!
