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| I <3 books |
Oh how I miss libraries. I used to live in the library when I was younger. It was part of my school, a curiosity shop which took my mind and my home-school projects on a massive web of informative tangents. I took part in all of the reading schemes twice even Thrice over, I used to know the librarians by name and when they came in, they all knew me and the rest of the clan. Mum used to have to look all round the library for me when it came to home time, you could never be sure which section I'd be in, adult fiction, junior non fiction, music, language, pet care.. all of them. The first library I ever went to was mutsy, old and full of giant bookcases looming over you, enclosing you in this little tiny piece of calm where you could bury into a book and come out hours later a little bit disorientated. Your books got stamped by a middle aged woman that talked in hushed tones with a look like she'd read all the books a hundred times over. I remember the first Cassette I ever bought, it was 50p from the library clearance an album, either the beach boys or the monkeys.. I don't remember that bit (if your reading this and you dont know me, I do sound at least 30 having bought the monkeys/ beachboys, I'm actually only 22 and 3/4's, I just always loved a bargain)
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Oh, there was some steps outside it, I remember and mum always used to bump into people and stop and talk and me and my brother would take turns sliding down the hand rail. hah, memories.
Then they opened up a new library and the old one turned into a mosque I think. The new library was literally next door and had electric doors, cd players, computers and everything that the old one didnt, except a little bit of charm. All bright lights and metal shelves that wipe clean and don't soak up the characters and plots, the hard work and hours upon hours of writing and rewriting of dedicated authors and the hundreds or sets of eyes and minds that had read the stories, loved and taken them on as their own.
So when we moved, I was older, I spent less time in the library and reading and more time concentrating on teenage angst and worrying about growing up, but there was a fabulously grand library building, there still is and it recently reopened after having millions (not an exact figure there) spent on modernising and updating it.
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| Sourced from 'AuntySocial' |
Today was the first time I'd spent any time in the newly opened 'Blackpool Central Library', and I cant help but be a little disappointed perhaps? On the good side of the renovation is it's accessibility, there's ramps, lifts, plenty of space for wheelchairs, A new cafe, a reading lounge and it was pretty busy, people obviously love it in there, all the computers were busy, all of the newspapers were being read and the cafe was... open (I wont go on about that experience..) but the actual book part of the library, the part where people go, mingle and make friends with their imaginations, was barren (a little bit like the folder on my emails labelled 'Job Offers')
One of the saddest sights I saw is that the young people section. In the pre renovated library, it was owned and created by young people; good lighting, bright colours, artwork, comfy seating that you could settle down into. well, that's disappeared, a huge step back and two fingers up to young people who have tried and proved that they can put mind, thought and effort into a project. shame on the architects/ designers for not keeping their hard work.
They also have a reading lounge, which is cute, I see where they were going with it, it's a little room with three giant arm chairs and a selection of coffee table books, classics and newspapers. it makes you think of a little snug, but it isn't very (snug I mean) it's a great step forward from the reading area I remember back in that first library, an area taken over by a huge conference table full of old men spreading out the financial times and frowning at the little girl wanting a seat with the latest Jacqueline Wilson or Virginia Andrews.
The library as a whole; it's modern, it's new, it's light and airy, and it still had a lot of great books mixed in with a mass of self help books on any topic imaginable. But you can't get lost in it. That's how I like them, Libraries AND books.
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| The future for librarians?? |
