Libraries – They’re for adults too

Leicestershire isn’t (apparently) being badly hit by library closures. Opening hours will be cut and some jobs probably cut with them; the city centres two libraries (reference and lending) are being amalgamated – mostly at the expense of the reference side as apparently nobody looks at those books (you can’t take them out, but you help yourself from the shelf, so I’m not sure how they tell), and the English language section is being shrunk in favour of more books that better reflect the mix of languages spoken here. (Which I believe is a good thing – proportional representation seems fair.)


Honestly I don’t use my local library much for fiction – it’s a long time since it’s had much to offer me so a lot of the proposed changes won’t affect me at all. It’s been my choice to spend what spare money I have on buying books to read when suits me which is probably just as well as book buying budgets are due to be slashed (probably to the point where they’re on a par with my limited personal resources). Closing the library altogether would cause me real problems though and this is what I feel strongly about.

So far most of the discussions around the fate of libraries that I’ve read seem to focus on children and childhood. We all have happy memories of visiting them as children, me included, and yes it’s a joy I would prefer that future generations get to share but just for a bit can we ignore the children. I get worked up to the point that I shout at the radio/television/newspaper when another MP or councillor justifies closing libraries by declaring that much as they *want* to keep them open if it’s a choice between a library and care for a sick child...

Well I don’t have children, won’t be having children, and feel that other people’s children are getting their fair share of my tax pounds; I want to see some of that left over money spent on services that materially affect people like me. In 2008 I was made redundant twice, the first time was messy and at the time I had no internet (or computer access at all) at home. I spent a frantic week researching my rights in the library, and communicating with more experienced friends via the libraries free pc’s. When I lost the second job (don’t you just love a recession) going to the library to read the job pages and again use the computers gave my life much needed structure.

That unfortunate series of job events meant that my mortgage insurance was useless and one way or another if my lovely mother hadn’t been able to support me through that year I’d have lost everything. After all that tax paying the only service I was actually able to use was the library, and it was courtesy of the library that I found the add and was able to apply for the job I now have. During that year I think I got a pretty good idea of the sort of people who used the place – plenty looking for work like me, some seemingly looking for internet brides (disconcerting), many there to read the papers, some clearly studying, lots communicating with absent family and friends, and a lot of pensioners. It’s also one of the few places in the town centre where I see a really representative mix of the population.

At a time when unemployment is so high it seems to me worth protecting the places that help the job seeker, and at a time when the money in your pocket is worth less then ever we really need to protect the places the uncomfortably off can go. It’s not just about children and fiction; it’s about desperate and frightened people wondering how to pay the bills needing information as much as they need entertainment but somehow we don’t seem to be talking about these library users and their needs.