The recently released Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) review ring-fenced the Libraries Act 1964, effectively preserving libraries as a cornerstone of our culture. However, its talk of free e-books, social networking use, community diversity and commercial links has fuelled a fierce debate about the purpose of a library in the modern age.
Talk to both sides and there is a clear schism between traditionalists and modernisers. For one it is about books and silence, for the other it’s about community usage, Facebook and cups of coffee or, in the words of Andrew Motion, the former Poet Laureate and now the chairman of the Museums Libraries and Archives Council, “shhh and fining or Starbucks and PCs”.
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It sounds every inch the paradigm of the modern, future-proofed model. However, not all are enamoured with it. Simon, 42, is, at best, ambivalent. “The previous library was pretty old fashioned, but this is more of a communication centre. Essentially a library is about books, not mixed media, and there’s very few work tables any more. The kids’ library is often like a kindergarten with all the singing and clapping.”
He is not alone in yearning for a bit of “shhh”. Tim Coates, the former managing director of Waterstone’s and now an independent library consultant, runs the Good Library Blog, fronted by Perkins, his irascible cat. Perkins has seen the future and he is not impressed.
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Enfield Town’s collection occupies less than a third of the new space, with Julie Gibson, the head of libraries and museums, admitting that stocks are being reduced “because people are reading less and downloading more”. I put Coates’s view to her.
“People have never used libraries just for books, certainly not in the 30 years I’ve worked in them. They come for newspapers, socialisation, music, internet use, and we have to balance those needs. I think that view’s a bit short-sighted to be honest.
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