The Library Book [Kindle Edition]

This book is a fascinating collection of essays about the importance of libraries. Even though I used to be a librarian myself nearly forty years ago I have felt recently that libraries have lost the plot and in some cases have ceased to provide a good service. Maybe things need shaking up and changing but having read this book I am completely opposed to closures of libraries. I believe they are absolutely essential to our society today.

If you have always been well off and able to afford to buy books then maybe you do not realise what it's like to live in a house with no books and no prospect of buying any. I was brought up by parents who enjoyed reading but who didn't own a large collection of books. As a family we visited the library on a regular basis and it was a highlight of my life. I too remember spending happy hours in Armley Public library in Leeds as did Alan Bennet who recalls his childhood and student life in and around Leeds in his contribution to this book. I too spent a great deal of time in Leeds City Reference Library - often reading about King Richard III, when I should have been writing essays on other subjects entirely.

I agree with Seth Godin `the scarce resource is knowledge and insight, not access to data'. He makes a powerful case for librarians to be regarded as guides and gatekeepers providing information and insight not just acting as forbidding custodians to the resources of their libraries. Books can change lives as demonstrated by Stephen Fry when as a boy of thirteen he read about the trials of Oscar Wilde. Books can inspire people to make huge changes in their lives and they can inspire children to gain qualifications even though their parents may not encourage them. `Libraries are places of cultural importance, where magic happens and where dreams begin.' As Ann Cleeves put it.

Libraries are oases of calm where children and adults can go to escape from difficult home circumstances - they are a refuge for people from all classes and all educational attainments. Even with the prevalence of internet access people still need access to books. What will happen to children from deprived homes who want to read for entertainment or for education? If we close libraries we close off access to opportunities for people who cannot afford to buy their own books. In times of recession access to libraries is even more important than it is in times of a flourishing economy. When people are struggling to pay their bills the first things to go may be the purchase of books and access to the internet.

Reading is fundamental to living in modern society. We need to be able to read to find our way around and to access services and education. Reading to improve our knowledge of the world or to gain better qualifications is vital to the economy. We need an educated work force. To close libraries is to exclude a large number of the poorest in society from the chance to improve their lives, to exclude them from hope and to deprive a generation of children of opportunity. Libraries are not a middle class perk they are a working class necessity.

This book is a collection of short pieces concerning the benefits of public libraries, and the authors' various experiences of them.

Michael Brooks contributes a piece called "It takes a library..." and suggests that "there is little that can compare with the joy and value of discovering a book that you could only have come across by being in the same physical space." Indeed, I came across this book quite by chance while browsing the shelves at one of my local public libraries.

The quality of the contributions is uneven, and some chapters have the feel of being dashed off upon request. The most disappointing thing about the book, however, is that it is intensely political. It has been published in reaction to recent library closures in the UK, and its release coincided with the inaugural National Libraries Day. But to an Australian reader, the issue seems remote and tedious.

This was a great book of essays about libraries, well written and thoughtful. Was surprised at how many there were