The Magic Of Libraries
by James
It was my mum who introduced me to libraries, back when I was around eight years old. I remember being taken into the nearest small market town, to the local library — which was an ordinary, concrete box full of old-fashioned wooden shelving and plastic chairs — and being encouraged to pick out some books. I’d always had access to a small collection of books to borrow from my primary school, but I’d never used a public library before: I soon took to it.
When I was young, I used to borrow Doctor Who science fiction, and Arthur Ransom — now I’m older my tastes have changed, but I still love using libraries. For someone who is (to my friends, anyway) notoriously drawn to the peaceful places of the world, and who also likes taking on new information, a library really is a wonderful place: peaceful and intellectual. In fact, that probably sums me up (although I’m not really sure just how intellectual: ask my old teachers!) — short of letting me keep a huge collection of books in the middle of a forest, there’s not much more you could do to make me feel at home.
On a less personal level, libraries are an absolutely wonderful way to read without spending insane amounts of money. My last two trips to the local libraries (I’m lucky, I have two) yielded novels by Lawrence and Zola, two books on archeology and pre-history by Francis Pryor, a collection of writing by an American poet I’ve never heard of, and a book of critical prose by Irish poet Seamus Heaney. It was my first visit for a while, I might have overdone it a little!
To buy those books on Amazon would have cost me close to £100. To borrow the same books from a library cost me less than £5.
Our culture makes little distinction between reading a book and owning a book, which is probably down to clever marketing by publishers and book sellers. In fact, I know I own several books which I’ve never properly read. This is a waste: of money, trees, ink, and time. You don’t need to fill your book shelves with thick bunches of tree pulp just to impress your friends and literary contacts: by all means keep a book if it means something to you, or if you enjoy reading it, but why buy something just because you feel you ought too, because everyone else is doing it?
Literature shouldn’t be — and at ground level isn’t — about fashion: it’s about ideas and communication. If you have even a half-good memory, borrowing a book from a library is just as good as buying it for keeps.