Monday 5 October 2020

Booked!

It's National Libraries Week so get out there and support your library! Up and down the country, librarians have worked incredibly hard over the summer to make these great facilities accessible despite the pandemic.

If we don't use them, we will lose them. 

My family love libraries - Rosie even made her own in April soon after the start of lockdown

I went into Ferndown Library on Saturday to collect a book I had reserved - I'll review it once I have finished reading it. The staff had set up a one way system and made everything very straightforward. 
They are brilliant in there and so patient and helpful when borrowers get confused. I took off my glasses which had steamed up - and then couldn't find them again.
Libraries are a lifeline for so many people. I know a lot of the usual facilities are curtailed right now [no jigsaw on a side table for me to add a piece or two on my way past, no afternoon 'interest groups', no school visits, no talks from guest authors...] But libraries are there to be used. If we keep on using them, and making sure the government knows we want them, then they may still be around for Rosie, George and others to take their grandchildren




8 comments:

  1. The libraries in my city remain closed to the public, although, one can request a book and pick up from one of a dozen or so select locations. The library in the adjoining city, too, is open only for curbside pick up.

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    1. I hope your libraries are open again soon Bless. Continuing to pray for you in the USA right now. Things seem very difficult and unsettled

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  2. Thanks for the reminder! I haven't been to mine since July when I returned the 8 books I had had out since March! My Mum loved the knit and matter group she used to go to before moving house.

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    1. The various groups are invaluable - so many people value the companionship

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  3. Living out in the sticks as we do the library van is a lifeline. It was absent for 5 months, started coming again at the beginning of September, its due this afternoon. Whilst we were unable to get library books we used borrow box, library books to borrow and read on line. It has been a life saver for us, we are both avid readers.

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    1. I very rarely read whole books online, but often read articles (and blogs, of course)

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  4. I drove past our local library recently and wondered if it was open now - it was hard to tell. We love libraries and it would be tragic if they were to disappear. Sadly I think that so many people think them irrelevant, a relic of a pre technology age. Which may be true for those with the means and ability to get all the information and entertainment they want via their own gadgets but ignores the fact that a lot of people simply can't do that.
    But then, did you see the documentary on Harold Shipman last week? The scary thing for me is that in the 70's old people were first highlighted as worthless and a drain on resources, which was at about the same time as he started killing them off. The attitude towards the elderly has not improved as the pandemic has shown and I suspect for that reason libraries are seen as an expensive luxury provided for the oldies by many people.

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  5. I didn't watch the Shipman documentary. I am trying to remain positive about the Old People thing as I approach the age when I shall [finally] qualify for a State Pension. I am grateful for the younger people I know whose attitude towards OAPs is both respectful and caring. Whilst certain persons advising our government have allegedly said that it would be necessary to 'let old people die' during the pandemic, I think that the majority disagree. I have known folk who are collecting pensions, doing shopping, delivering hot meals, walking dogs, and generally keeping an eye out for elderly people who need extra support. And I continue to support |Michael Rosen and Michael Morpurgo, whenever they make the case for libraries being a HUGE part of the development of literacy for future generations. Well done Ferndown First school, who regularly take classes into the library for Storytime etc. [they did, before covid19 - and I am sure they will again]

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