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Having been in posession of a library card since the age of 4, (I'm now 44), I wonder how on earth I would manage without one. Are there any other library addicts out there? I'm lucky enough to have 2 really good ones nearby and visit both on a regular basis. I can regularly be seen tottering through the shopping centre with a tower of books (they keep putting up the number of items you can borrow) and love fiction, books on writing, cookery books and biographies. I always have 2 towering piles of library books at the side of my bed, and have been known to use my visa card to pay some of my more substantial fines! It's an addiction, but a pleasant one.
Lizzie
I don't use libraries as much as I used to, but when I do I will have the staff going down to the basement for old books. I'm sure if they were open I could spend months down there browsing.
I love libraries too. Not only for the books, but the notice boards of local events, leaflets on every subject under the sun. I also find much of my research from libraries all over the uk.
Libraries are a great way to sample authors, but there are some whose books I would never take out - e.g. Edwina Currie and Jeffrey Archer. I know they only get about 2p per borrowing, but I don't like either of them as people so I begrudge them even that pittance!
For different reasons (he's a bigot!), I hid a hagiography of Mel Gibson behind some other books in one local library. With a bit of luck no one will realise it's there!
I sent a short story to Edwina Currie, and she was nice enough to write back. I also sent something to Jeffrey Archer, but he was too busy to read it (this was before he was a guest of HM Prisons) - but I've got a letter signed by him on House of Lords notepaper.
I am addicted to my library! Well, to be honest, I'm a member of three and more often than not have all of my allowance on each card filled! Don't even try to imagine what my room looks like! I am unable to walk out of a library without a stash of books tucked away under my arm, and, on the very rare occasion that I have done, I feel as though I've commited an offence. A library to me is one of the most wonderful things to have ever been created. If I'm having a terrible day, I'll pop to the library and I'll instantly have a smile on my face, and forget, if only for a short time, about my troubles in the outside world, for in the library, I can escape to any world I choose. I don't believe I have gone ott with this entry. My enthusiasum has been as such since I was in nappies, positioned between two beanbags and handed picture books while my Mum gave library readings to groups of children.
Re Edwina. She was booked to speak at our writers club in 2002. She came and gave an interesting talk, and answered questions. She asked that her fee was given to one of the cancer charities.
It was slap bang in the middle of the coverage of her book, and revelation of her affair with John Major.
We had television cameras outside the building where we held the meeting. And when I got home it was on the news.
I wasn't too sure about her, but I certainly came away with a slightly different viewpoint.
We have a small but comfortable library. It has recently been rehoused in the local council offices. It's on the ground floor and after a reading group meeting we all wander into the council cafeteria and have another gossipy meeting over coffee and sometimes lunch. The new location causes us to linger longer in our library.
I thought I had a problem (thinking I was the only one addicted to libraries. Even addicted to book shops. My life revolves around books to read and read and read.
Our main library had a lovely coffee shop on the top floor. It was well used, but the council decided to close it because of running costs, they replaced it with machines with limited choices. Now if you want food and drink you have to leave the library, so why go back unless you have to.
When I was a teenager, I couldn't afford to buy books, so I went to my local library every Saturday morning. These days I rarely go there because they don't stock the kind of books I want to read. They seemed to be filled with romance, chick-lit, historical romances and any crime books are years old. I'd rather spend the money on a book from Waterstone's or Borders.
I do donate my finished with books to the library. They usually end up there six months from publication and includes the likes of Ian Rankin and Val McDermid. I recently picked up one of my old books and it had been loaned about twenty times. I'm glad it's being enjoyed many times over, rather than it rotting on my shelves.
On the coffee shop point, Cramlington Library have a coffee machine, but I think a proper coffee shop would be even better.
I love libraries, but a coffee shop and toilet facilities would improve ours. If you go there to work you have to pack up and leave the building for a break.
One of my favourite libraries was at Rhyl. It had a coffee shop, art and craft displays and exhibitions of work by local colleges. Better still, the people were friendly so we all chatted about our books and things.
im biased, i work in a library :P. but ive had a library card ever since i can remember. one of my fondest childhood memories is our weekly visit to the library on saturdays. dad always took us, no matter what.
libraries get a lot of books coming through, usually two of each new release of popular authors. its very difficult trying to keep the balance between old and new books. i remember when i first started working here (all those nearly two years ago :P), our library was a health and safety hazard. books were overflowing the shelves and overflowing the overflow shelves onto the floor and making rows and piles of books on the floor. we hired someone to specifically take off old books and books that werent going out. we put them out for sale though so theyre still being enjoyed :D.
but at the moment my pile of library books at home is rather an inconvenience as wer having a MAHOOSIVE change around with the bedrooms at home. im being moved from the second largest room into the small box room in which you cna only fit a bed and chest-of-drawers. ive had to box my 160+ books up and put them in the loft *cries out in despair and flings herself on her bed crying her heart out* (well i will do when i get home:P).
I'm fascinated by libraries. Wherever I go I love to pop my head inside to feel the atmosphere. Some in modern buildings can feel cold, but not always. Those in old buildings have character and smell of the years of use and love, but not always. Our main library ws once a Co-op department store but made a fairly good library. A few years back it had a multi-million pound refit and is now multi-media, multi-use. It is always full of people using game machines, computers, listening to music, as well as doing family history research or just reading newspapers. There are books, of course, but they seem less than before but maybe that's just me resisting change a little. We do have several reading groups and I attend a writing group in one of the meeting rooms there. In fact it has become a real community centre.
Hello, Barbara, believe me, it's not you resisting change - the definition of a library is (and remains) 'a collection of books' - so there should still be more emphasis on books than anything else.
The new library (well, it moved) here has just opened a few days ago, and the work room is very nice - overlooks the lake. Only trouble is, some people still insist on using mobile phones, which was why I couldn't concentrate, yesterday. All in all, though, it's a great place.
Jenn - Could you get some of those plastic shelving units from the DIY stores and set up them up in the loft? You'd just need a comfortable chair and a good reading lamp - and you'd have your own private library!
you havent seen our loft!! safety hazard!! boxes everywhere so there isnt even a spare corner. and it will get waaay too hot and stuffy up there. im a girl who keeps her windows open all year round. thanks for the suggestion though jenny!!!
Comments
Lizzie
For different reasons (he's a bigot!), I hid a hagiography of Mel Gibson behind some other books in one local library. With a bit of luck no one will realise it's there!
She kept hinting at how many important secrets she knew - and frustratingly she didn't tell any of them!
Of course now we all know what one of them was!!
Happy reading
Lizzie
It was slap bang in the middle of the coverage of her book, and revelation of her affair with John Major.
We had television cameras outside the building where we held the meeting. And when I got home it was on the news.
I wasn't too sure about her, but I certainly came away with a slightly different viewpoint.
I do donate my finished with books to the library. They usually end up there six months from publication and includes the likes of Ian Rankin and Val McDermid. I recently picked up one of my old books and it had been loaned about twenty times. I'm glad it's being enjoyed many times over, rather than it rotting on my shelves.
On the coffee shop point, Cramlington Library have a coffee machine, but I think a proper coffee shop would be even better.
libraries get a lot of books coming through, usually two of each new release of popular authors. its very difficult trying to keep the balance between old and new books. i remember when i first started working here (all those nearly two years ago :P), our library was a health and safety hazard. books were overflowing the shelves and overflowing the overflow shelves onto the floor and making rows and piles of books on the floor. we hired someone to specifically take off old books and books that werent going out. we put them out for sale though so theyre still being enjoyed :D.
but at the moment my pile of library books at home is rather an inconvenience as wer having a MAHOOSIVE change around with the bedrooms at home. im being moved from the second largest room into the small box room in which you cna only fit a bed and chest-of-drawers. ive had to box my 160+ books up and put them in the loft *cries out in despair and flings herself on her bed crying her heart out* (well i will do when i get home:P).
The new library (well, it moved) here has just opened a few days ago, and the work room is very nice - overlooks the lake. Only trouble is, some people still insist on using mobile phones, which was why I couldn't concentrate, yesterday. All in all, though, it's a great place.