Libraries

Sitting in a not so quiet library at the moment, hoping for some inspiration to jump into my aching migraine-y head but it won’t stop me as I am determined to write something today. There is a very strange, slightly smelly, old man sitting across the table from me reading art books. Not entirely sure whose art it is but it’s very vibrant. He’s distracting me…

I am currently waiting on a Japanese culture book (non-fiction) to be delivered to my house but I might be waiting another week or so because we aren’t completely sure where the book is being shipped from. I’ve wanted to learn about Japan for a long time now, ever since I got into anime actually so I can’t wait to read it. It’s at times like these that I wish I had access to my university library. I find that I have more interest in random things nowadays and Wikipedia can only take me so far. Don’t get me wrong, my local library offers me plenty of non-fiction titles that are very useful but there will never be the same variety or amount of information you get in a university library (I think I will do some research and see if I can use the Cheltenham University Library…no reason the general public shouldn’t be able to right?)

What I wanted to talk about today is the decreasing number of people using our public libraries. Here in Gloucestershire many libraries have been forced to close due to ‘public spending cuts’ – gah I do despise that. I can see the need for cuts due to the huge debts the government keeps piling up on our country but do they really need to cut things like the emergency services, public libraries and youth clubs. It’s a real shame; this is our children’s future being torn down before they can even begin to make themselves a present. I believe that libraries are an important place. Not just for me but for all people – it’s a great place to meet new people who share the same interests as you, a magical place for children’s minds to run wild and a studious heaven. What happens when all these places disappear?

I read an article last week that said a librarian chastised a nine-year old boy for reading too much. Reading too much. This is ludicrous; I can’t even begin to comprehend how a person, much less a librarian, can honestly believe that a child is reading too much! Take a look at the article:

http://litreactor.com/news/librarian-chastises-9-year-old-kid-for-reading-too-much

In my opinion, you can never read too much and think that we should be encouraging kids to read as much as they want. Isn’t that the point of these summer competitions? According to this article the young boy ‘hogs the competition’ and ‘other kids quit because they can’t keep up’. But isn’t the point of a competition to do your best? This boy is doing his very best to read as many books as he can just like the other children. It’s not his fault that he can either read faster or just enjoys reading more. I kind of wish that there was a reading competition for adults, it would be interesting to see what kind of books people from the same town as me are reading and to get recommendations based on what they thought. Maybe I’ll start my own…