Friday, 5 December 2008
Ghost Libraries
As a one-time librarian, I was tickled by this tale of municipal skulduggery. Note the use of that unlovely phrase 'cultural information hub' - all too descriptive of the modern public library. The 'showpiece' central library of the borough where I live seems now to consist of vast open spaces with big coloured blocks bearing vague words, where once bookshelves used to be. Only the reference library survives - thank heavens - in a recognisably library-like form, with quantities of actual books on actual shelves. I was a reference librarian myself, in another life, and found it a thoroughly agreeable occupation, not least because most library users hadn't worked out we were there, lurking inaccesibly at the top of a rather labyrinthine Victorian building. As a result I was free to pursue my other interests and occupations largely undisturbed. Happy days...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I adore libraries, even now when they're mainly becoming hubs for computer terminals. In high school, I worked at a local branch library and it was nirvana. Knee deep in books and surrounded by friends who loved reading as much as I did. This was in the provinces, where I grew up, but our youngest reference librarian later went on to become director of acquisitions at Chicago Public Library and now is a Booklist editor.
ReplyDeleteLove the smell of acid eating through books in old stacks, too. Doing a dissertation on nineteenth-century writers and periodical publication meant spending lots of time with cheap first editions rapidly disintegrating. I categorize that smell with the scent of boxwood around lovely old cemeteries and churches. Decay of the most pleasant kind.
Ah yes that's an evocative smell - and how wonderful that late 19th/20th century paper decays so fast, while 18th-century paper just goes on and on. I once had the pleasure of cataloguing a small 18th-century collection for the 18th-Century Short Title Catalogue. Nice work - but very little pay...
ReplyDeletePerkins, the library cat at Bloggington on Sea Carnegie Library on the dockside of Bloggington harbour, says that The Minister of State for the Arts should "Intervene in Lambeth".
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave - I think Perkins is dead right.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had a library job. I especially love the old fashioned libraries with high ceilings that feel almost haunted. In terms of atmosphere my local library is beyond shit. The design is horrible with way too much light and no- one adheres to the "no noise" rule (apparently they're banning the "no noise" rule countrywide anyway)
ReplyDelete