I feel a campaign coming on. "Oh no!" I hear you cry, "not another bloody campaign." Yes, we do seem to see rather a lot of them, and yes, I do seem to be forever banging on about different issues, hopefully with a modicum of good sense thrown into the mix from time to time... but this is an issue that concerns us all. It's an issue that should matter deeply to a society that aspires to call itself a civilisation.
OK, lots of sweeping statements here. You are free to challenge anything I say. In fact, comments are welcome on my blog. They are screened as I reserve the right not to publish comments, not from readers who disagree with my views - I like a lively debate. The ones I delete tend to come from people who arrived on planet earth from elsewhere in our solar system, or even further afield than that. You know the kind of comments I mean. I deleted one only the other day from a reader who was not from earth, because that's blatant nonsense... isn't it? (If I'm wrong, hearty apologies to the alien in question, if you're still reading this, and of course we should make allowances for your poor grasp of English grammar.)
Back to the serious matter. I'm talking about visiting your local. When was the last time you wandered in off the street, took the weight off your feet, looked around to see who was there, perhaps exchanged a friendly word or two with the girl at the counter, and left feeling mentally refreshed and invigorated? And all without spending a penny. "All that for free?" I hear you cry. (Apologies, dear reader, you see to be doing a lot of crying out in surprise in this post...) Well, yes. It's all free.
It's a poor reflection on our cultural values if you automatically understood your "local" to be the pub (which is also struggling to survive - but that's another campaign).
I am writing about your local library - if you still have one.
"Why should we care," (is that you, crying out again?) "when we can access thousands of free books at the touch of a screen?"
I remember experiencing a visceral thrill the first time I entered a library. Within one sweep of my eyes hundreds, maybe thousands, of books were there, within reach: stories waiting to be read, imaginary worlds to enter, and characters to meet. Mr Tumnus, Lucy, Emil, Lottie and Lisa, Alice, Oliver Twist, the water babies, and later Jane and Rochester, Heathcliff, Philip Marlowe and Hamlet - anything and everything to explore.
Yes, they are all there, waiting to be discovered on our screens. With one touch we can access any book that has ever been published. It is absolutely wonderful. But our immediate view is limited to a few titles that appear on the screen in front of us. With one sweep of our eyes we cannot encompass row upon row of books that we can reach out and touch in a physical interaction. Ebooks are wonderful, but they offer a different kind of magic.
I worry that my children's children will never experience that sense of excitement I felt on gazing around in wonder at row upon row of books, all waiting to be explored.
So this bears repeating - support your local library. When did you last go in and browse... and read... and exchange a few friendly words with your local librarian... and borrow a few books...? It's free, and if we don't use them we will lose them.
If you believe libraries matter then make space in your busy schedule to visit a library this week.
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