Thoughts on our public libraries

Public libraries are more than just stacks of books.

Sometimes it is difficult not to get on your hobby-horse and sound off just a little. Call me old fashioned if you like but I really think that the public library system in the UK is worth saving if not actually enhancing. The Twitter sphere is awash with like-minded comments today following the publication of the Sieghart “Independent Library Report for England”.

On a very simplistic level the report says that libraries need to be more than just places to borrow books from and should compete for footfall with the coffee shop across the road offering free WiFi, sofas, hot drinks and toilets, in other words a place that anyone would feel comfortable. I am probably doing the report a disservice by lowering it to this level and there is a lot more to the report than just free WiFi. The sad thing is that librarians have been banging on about this sort of thing for years.

I will register self-interest here. I like books. I still buy them (print on paper). And my teenage children do as well. As it happens, my father was a bookseller and I work in the publishing industry, albeit one that is increasingly print on screen. Libraries have to adapt for this as well although here it does get a bit more complex as we get into the realms of e-lending and copyright law.

I am lucky enough to live in Suffolk where, I have just found out from the report, the library system is delivered by an independent organisation that is an industrial and provident society with charitable status. I have access (a ten minute car journey to the local town) to two local libraries and the mobile library stops close to my house every month. The four members of my family all borrow books and DVDs on a regular basis, and probably visit one of these libraries almost every week.

The closest library does have sofas and a toilet. It has computers that are nearly always in use. It does not serve hot drinks (except when there is an event on). To the best of my knowledge it does not have WiFi but I will check when I next go in. But I think that one point in the report that few people would disagree with is that all public libraries should have free WiFi access. Surely it can’t be that expensive to supply that in the grand scheme of things?

Over the last year I have been visiting universities with my son in preparation for his university application. At all the universities we visited the libraries featured high on the list of places to see and most of them have been doing the type of things that are being recommended in the report for public libraries. They certainly all had WiFi and in several cases students boasted of the fact that their library could be accessed 24 hours a day remotely or in person. Some of the universities have been lucky enough to be able to build brand new libraries, often with support from benefactors, which they are justifiably proud of.

I am not sure where public libraries stand on sponsorship. All the local roundabouts (a type of road junction for any readers in USA) in my area are sponsored by local businesses. Would it be any different to have “WiFi sponsored in this library by XYZ Electrical Supplies”? We are not talking about finding wealthy benefactors to build brand new libraries just a bit of infrastructure support.

This just sounds like common sense to me. Let’s hope that this report does not get buried as Parliament closes for the Christmas recess and that we don’t take the disastrous steps of closing yet more public libraries. Once they are closed, they will be gone for good.