I was sorry to see that East Sussex County Council is “consulting” on a plan to close seven out of its 24 libraries. Rye is not on the list – yet. Those under threat are Langney, Mayfield, Ore, Pevensey Bay, Polegate, Ringmer and Willingdon.
I understand that councils have a lot of difficult spending decisions to make and things aren’t getting any easier. But for me the prospect of library closures is horrible. Even now, in my 40s, I am in the library most weeks, browsing around, picking up a book I haven’t heard of or aren’t sure about. I could pick up a classic Russian novel, a biography, a history book or something left on the recent returns shelf that I would never think of buying. I have found many new friends there, CJ Sansom, Alison Weir, Jo Nesbo and many more – all I met originally at the library.
As an adult I can probably manage without a library – though I wouldn’t want to. But I can’t imagine being a child without a library. I was lucky as I grew up in a house with books. But I was reading 10-15 books a week throughout my teens and earlier – we didn’t have that many. Instead, I relied heavily on my local library. I would commandeer the library tickets from the rest of my family and take out as many books as I could carry each week.
One of the many wonderful things about a library is it becomes a home from home, a safe place from which you can explore. Once you have read all the books that are in your age-appropriate category, then you have all the others in front of you. I remember very well starting to read Agatha Christie when I was about 10. It was a wonderful year or so, indulging in fresh multiple murders. Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh and many more followed.
Because of books and very much due to libraries, I have travelled around this world and many others. I have gone back and forward in time. I have talked to animals and aliens, I have hung out with peasants and princesses, I have looked over the shoulders of mass murderers and watched as heroes have saved the human race. Its a gift I will never stop benefiting from. I can close my eyes and watch as armoured bears run out in front of me for example.
I know that there are other ways of reading now. But only a few ebooks are available free of charge. And how could anyone get the full effect of Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak on a Kindle? In a library you can browse properly, pick up books, flick them open in the middle, see how the text flows, whether the page lies flat, look at the pictures. You can see from the book itself how popular it has been, how many people have been before you. You can see its brothers and sisters on the shelf.
If you look a little further, you can learn how to cook, how to speak Russian, read the Koran, understand the tenets of western (or eastern) philosophy and diagnose your anti-social symptoms.
I feel sorry for those communities who will lose their local libraries. The council says that all current library users will be within a 20-minute drive of another library even if all the proposed closures are made. That doesn’t seem a long way. But a child can’t drive any distance at all. And a 20-minute drive each way is something you have to think about and schedule. It isn’t regular. It isn’t part of your everyday routine.
