Conan the Librarian!

Trembling, the boy approached the library desk. He was a day late returning his book. It had taken all his courage not to run for the hills and disappear from friends, family, home for ever. 
He had fully intended to visit the library yesterday but the family home had been hit by a runaway truck, he'd been permanently excluded from school for forgetting his PE kit, and his gran had been rushed to hospital after choking on a 

OK you got me, this is a piece about public libraries. But would you have clicked if it was entitled 'In support of pubic libraries' instead of cynically using Weird Al's very own sketch? (Which you should see if you haven't already, by the way.)

Hokitika Library, New Zealand S. Island

The usage of public libraries in the UK is declining. I find this hard to understand. With the exception of certain NHS facilities this is THE ONLY SERVICE AVAILABLE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT IS STILL FREE!

I don't get why everyone who reads doesn't use their local library (If you still have one - those directly or indirectly responsible for library closures should be lined up against the wall, frankly.) Free books to read! And if you don't read: talking books on CD!, DVDs! Maps of the places you're visiting next month! Books on how to do stuff!

As a kid on 9 or 10 I was allowed to get the bus into York to the central library and go hunting for books - Biggles, Secret Seven, Dr Doolittle etc etc. It was like finding treasure and bringing it home to enjoy. Since then I've enjoyed libraries at school and uni, in Norton (East Yorks), Nottingham, Ruddington, Loughborough, East Leake, and West Bridgford.

True, you don't need libraries so much to look things up these days. But as a source for knowledge and stuff to read and the pleasure of browsing and serendipitous finds they are a resource that needs to be cherished.

Central Library, Liverpool

Not that you need to browse any more. With the www you can request books (in Notts this costs me the princely sum of 25p per book) in your living room and pick them up when you get the email a few weeks later. You can renew them online, too. So I have to admit I don't browse much any more. By reading book reviews I just request the titles I think might be interesting. Life's too short to read anything that isn't entertaining and/or interesting.

If we don't use our libraries the politicians will have a fine excuse for closing even more. If you need any encouragement - get online, join your library, and request any of these gems that I've read over the past couple of years:

The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion
The Last Gunfight - Jeff Guinn (factual account of the 'gunfight at the OK corral')
The Humans - Matt Haig
Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
Levels of Life - Julian Barnes
How to be a Husband - Tim Dowling
Lightening Rods - Helen DeWitt
Clothes, clothes, clothes, music, music, music, boys, boys, boys - Viv Albertine
The Race for Paradise - Paul M Cobb
The Yips - Nicola Barker