‘A shell of the place it used to be’: readers on the importance of libraries - and their fragile future
“There’s a random element to life, which I think is important to preserve. Browsing through books is not a rational activity; it’s not like using a computer search to find what you want. Serendipity is another word that comes to mind.”
For Jamie Page, 66, libraries can provide the kind of chance encounter that you can’t find in bookshops that mainly tout new titles. In 1980, he was an unemployed graduate wondering what sort of career he might have. One day, at Brompton library in Kensington, he stumbled across a book on bacteria. “I found it fascinating, he says. “It started my career and I’ve been working in science ever since.”
The aptly named Page is one of scores of people to share with the Guardian stories of how libraries affected their lives after reports of a decline in council-run libraries across the UK. According to an analysis by the BBC, more than 180 have either closed or been handed to volunteer groups since 2016.
The author Lee Child told the BBC that his crime thriller protagonist Jack Reacher wouldn’t exist without Birmingham’s libraries, which are under threat of closure. “You speak to any writer and they’ll tell you the same thing: that those early years of reading, reading, reading, reading for decades – that’s what turns you into a writer,” Child said.
“I’m so sentimental about it and so emotional about it, because that building saved my life at the time, it enabled it. It largely created it.”
But libraries aren’t just training grounds for writers, retired accountant Gareth Thomas points out. For Thomas, 72, who is partially sighted, the library was a haven for him growing up in Cardiff in the 50s and 60s.
“I can focus on things that are an inch or two away, but anything further away is blurred. That’s why I was no good at games at school. I got left out, so I did my own thing. So all I used to do was read.”
He started to borrow books every Saturday from the age of seven. “My family moved to an estate in Cardiff where the council had opened a new library. I liked having my own library tickets. As I went through school, the libraries in Cardiff were essential for me.”
These visits helped Thomas learn to read quickly – “and that’s always been helpful”, he says. “I couldn’t see the blackboard, even if I sat in front of the class. I’m not sure how I managed this, but the teachers used to dictate what they wrote on the board, so I wrote it all down in notebooks.”
For Maanuv Thiara, a 30-year-old writer and actor, his local library in Leamington Spa was a similar escape growing up. “I’m a nerd, so I felt safe in libraries,” he says. “If I was being bullied or harassed at school, the library was a non-judgmental place I could go to.”
Thiara now lives in south London and uses the libraries there. Tooting library’s opening hours have reduced since he moved there five years ago and now does not open on Wednesdays. But he says he notices cuts more when he visits his home town. “The library in Leamington is a shell of the place it used to be. All of the offerings are much smaller and there are fewer staff. You can see there’s no money behind it,” he said.
It’s the cuts to library staffing that do the most damage, Thiara says. Librarians do far more than stamp books, stack shelves and shush visitors. “I’ve seen these guys help people who don’t speak English print off a form for a visa and take them through the whole process. Then they’ll patiently help someone who’s homeless. Then they’ll help me with my inquiry about a book, and they’ll know all about it. And they’re grossly underpaid.”
Sarah Roller, who lives in Haringey in north London, is one of the library users concerned about the council’s proposed cuts to library budgets. “It would be deeply shortsighted,” she says. “I think the council only views a library as part of the arts and culture budget. But it’s about social care as well.”
Roller, 27, is especially worried that the council might introduce some form of self-service system that replaces library staff. “It would make the libraries feel like very different places,” she says. “Librarians there always have time for a chat and are full of great recommendations.”
Web searches aren’t a real alternative to libraries, either, Thiara says. “Yeah, the internet’s free and we’ve all got smartphones. But I feel like when I’m Googling stuff, I’m inherently distracted. I’ve got 17 tabs open at the same time. In the library, you can focus.”
Page agrees. “Quiet is a rare commodity nowadays. We live in a very noisy world, with machines playing loudly on trains and buses and airports and things. We all need quiet, and libraries provide it.”
