NOT JUST FOR NERDS! (Library services)

Member Name: Parsley

Product:	Library services
Date:	23/11/00 (87 review reads)
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Advantages: FREE & FULL OF EXCELLENT RESOURCES

Disadvantages: FACILITIES AVAILABLE DEPEND ON LOCAL FUNDING

The resources available in your local library will largely depend on where you live and the available funding from your local Council. Some Councils have plenty of money and the facilities are excellent, while others have very little and the facilities are very poor. It really is a postcode lottery as to what’s available, however, most libraries still have a huge number of good books and certainly more than you could possibly read in a lifetime!

I have the good fortune to have access to the Hornton Street Library in Kensington, London W8. (Nearest tube High Street Kensington for any locals!) This is really an amazing library right in the heart of London. It’s situated round the corner from Kensington High Street in a hugely impressive building. Once you go in, there is a huge range books - fiction, non-fiction, a children’s library, a video library, a CD & tape library, a talking book library, a huge reference library and reading room and even a computer area with Internet access. This really is a public library at it’s best. I have yet to find another one to match it.

Libraries are fantastic, but often overlooked places, there’s so much to do in a library, (especially if it’s like the one I go to), you certainly won’t get bored!

Obviously the first thing about a library is that you can borrow books from it for nothing (as long as you return them on time - delay and you could end up paying dearly!) A big library will cater for every taste whether you are after a book on angling or just want to read a recent novel. If you are after information about a hobby, then a library is a huge mine of information. The library I use has hundreds of useful books on every hobby imaginable - I looked up Celtic knots and how to draw them once! If you need help, sewing, cross-stitching, hand gliding, horse riding, pet keeping or whatever, then your library is the place to look. What’s the point of buying expe
nsive specialist books, when you can use them for free.

Libraries save you lots of money! I read book opinions on dooyoo all the time and some really catch my imagination, but if I bought every book that I’ve read a dooyoo opinion on, then I’d be broke! However, the obvious answer is go to the library, why spend £8-10 on a book, when you can read it for free? The chances are that you may only read the book once if you bought it anyway and forever after it would clutter up your bookshelf gathering dust. If you can’t find the book you want, you can request that they purchase it or locate it from another local Council library and if someone else has it, you can usually pay to reserve the book, it’s still far cheaper than purchasing it yourself.

The CD / tape library is good too as it means that you can try out an album at your leisure to see if it really is worth purchasing it yourself. I have made a few mistakes paying £16 for an album that I’ve only listened to twice, however, by using the CD library you can help avoid this. If your taste is very mainstream you should be OK finding what you want, the disadvantages being the limited CD collection. (and I’m sure in some places it may be very limited, to Des O’Connor, obscure German bands and other equally hair-raising things!)

The video library isn’t usually up to much I’m afraid. It’s comparable to Blockbusters price-wise, but selection wise it tends to be abysmal - usually loads of unexciting B movies or films that have been shown on the TV 10 times already. I can’t say I’ve ever been inspired to hire one, my hubby did once (can’t remember what though) It doesn’t inspire me, but it could be useful if you spot something while in there anyway.

Talking books are a brilliant thing if you are partially sighted or blind and many libraries offer a good choice of these. It’s worth enquiring about if
you know someone who would benefit from them.

OK that’s the lending bit, what else can you do in a library? Well it depends on the facilities available.

Most libraries have a reading space where it’s nice and quiet and you can do your studying in peace. If you are bored of studying at home or you need to find somewhere quieter to do it, then your local library is your best bet. I can’t recommend it highly enough. While my hubby and I were studying for our Microsoft MCSE exams, we hadn’t got a lot of money and we just wanted to get out of the house and work where we wouldn’t get distracted, so we went to the library, sat in the reading room and studied away in peace. If like me, you find yourself doing anything except studying when at home then this will be ideal for you. I confess to finding housework suddenly more attractive than revision, even the washing-up starts to look fun,** it’s amazing how tidy the house gets round exam time! The only thing for it is to go elsewhere and in a library it’s quiet and you can’t get distracted into doing anything else instead.

**(and I realise that I have truly lost it by this point!)

Anyway, back to the serious stuff,
Some libraries provide newspapers and comfortable chairs to read them. In Peterborough library when I was doing my A-levels, I noticed that a lot of pensioners were going there everyday to get out of the house and read the papers for free. I guess it probably saved on heating too! If you are unemployed or retired then a trip to the library may be just what you need. If you haven’t anything to do because you aren’t working, it can be very demoralising and sometimes it can be very hard to fill the day , especially if money is tight. However if you get up and go to your library, it provides you with intellectual stimulation, gets you out of the house and you won’t have to spend any money. While unemployed I frequ
ented my library many times each week, as it’s a great way to fill the days if you can’t do anything else. It’s very enjoyable too. (Please don’t mention job centres as I saw plenty of these as well!)

If your library has Internet access, then this can be very useful if you don’t have it at home, but if you use it regularly then it can get very expensive. I guess you also could use it for sneaky looks at your dooyoo miles if you get the shakes while out!

Children’s sections are brilliant too. In the age of computers, TV, and Playstations it’s so easy to forget the humble book, but all children should be encouraged to pick up a book and do a quiet bit of reading. The more they read, the more they learn and it sets them up well for the future. (I won’t go on about this as there is a brilliant opinion on children and books which says it far better than I can here.) If you let your child loose in a library, you give them the freedom to find what they want and express their own personality. It’s great to have such a wide range for them to choose from and as children grow so fast, this way there will always be something available that will suit them. As soon as my son is a bit older, I am planning on taking him to the library on a regular basis, reading is a fun way to learn and all kids should be encouraged.

Another excellent feature of libraries is that they often sell off books that they have finished with, sometimes these are pretty naff and you can see why they are being sold off, but other times it can be because they have purchased a more recent edition of the same book. I bought a "Pregnancy Week by Week" book which was excellent as it detailed every little bit about what I could expect each week of my pregnancy. I referred to it most days of my pregnancy! It was a fantastic find, along with Pregnancy & Childbirth, What to Expect in the First Year, Baby & Child and How to Cu
t Children’s Hair - I got them all for 20p-50p a book which was fantastic value. It’s always worth having a look as you never know what you might find.

Sadly some libraries are closing, due to lack of funding and lack of use, if you want to keep your library, use it! Have a look in your local library, you never know what you may find there and you may be very pleasantly surprised.

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