I don't want to get polemic about the closure of libraries.  Having worked at JISC for a longtime I often get cross with people who think things should be funded purely because they are 'worthy' or 'a good thing'.  Unfortunately, that's not the world we live in. However, I do support #savelibraries, but wonder slightly if it is all our fault?  Things can't just be worthy, they have to be justifiable and they have to be sustainable.  This doesn't mean they have to make money or even cover their costs - but they do have to be well used.  

I used Godalming library prolifically as a young girl.  I think I probably read my way through their entire collection.  I'm the sort of person who will read just about anything  - a leaflet on the side, a magazine left on a table - it all sucks me in.  I'm also blessed with a near photographic memory so I read quickly and also retain something akin to 'scans' of the pages in my mind.  Makes my head very busy sometimes! 

As I became older I bought more and more books.  I do love owning books and I feel it is justified as I read and reread (and it somecases re-re-re-re-re-re-re-read).  However, the more I have bought, the less I have used the library.  In fact, I have to admit to not using a library since leaving my job at City University.  Even when based in offices at LSE Library I never checked a book out there (although that may just reflect their topic focus!).  The proliferation of Amazon has supported this shift for me.  It is just so damn easy to buy a book on Amazon.  

I recently asked people to tweet #5books to give me some new reading suggestions.  My immediate reaction when the tweets came in? Look them up on Amazon.  

Well yesterday, Theo and I went to the library and joined Godalming library again for the first time in 20 years.  I'm guessing I'm not the only one of my contemporaries who frequently used the library as a child but hasn't used a public library in years. Godalming library is as you can imagine, tiny.  However, I have to say I was impressed.  Joining - dead easy.  All they needed was my driver's license and I got a lovely card with a picture of Frensham Ponds on it.  With this I can use any Surrey library and Surrey is blessed with some much larger libraries with better stock than Godalming.  They didn't have the book that Theo wanted, but we have reserved it and I managed to get my Kate Atkinson book.  I was also very impressed with the range of DVDS and even Blu-Ray that they had in stock - especially useful as Theo is a film addict.  

Even more impressive?  The range of eBooks available for free that I haven't even be able to start browsing through.  Also, the range of reference material available for use online, including many that we make available through JISC Collections.  How many parents have shelled out on driving test DVDs and books for their children and not known that Theory Test Pro was free to all members of Surrey Libraries?  

Theo also loved the entirely social experience of checking the books out and understanding how the whole process worked - so it was a true learning experience for him that wasn't just about 'reading books'.  Libraries are not just about rooms  full of books.  Oh, and I did I mention the support I heard one of the lovely staff giving an old gentleman who was struggling to get some information off a data stick and use it effectively?  IT support is a major role for a public librarian these days. 

So overall, I think I have to say we have been missing out by not using the library.  We will go now I think quite regularly, but am I too late? Has my amazonification been too complete?

Whilst accepting this may be my fault, I do take issue with more right-wing representations of the #savelibraries campaign.  I agree that this cannot just be a messaniac message, but I think the point being made is not that people who value libraries want to force cuts on the elderly but that we don't accept the cuts at all.  After all, we have kept on paying our national taxes and we have not stopped paying our council tax so why should we accept a lesser service?

So Daniel Knowles, young economics journalist, doesn't think that tax payers should have to pay for public libraries.  I find his separation of 'civic' and 'tax' extraordinary - I think that civil services like libraries are exactly what my taxes should be paying for.  I think education is exactly what my taxes should be paying for and I don't think Universities should be left in the ridiculous scenario of having massive cuts introduced before even being allowed to try and recoup these.  I wonder what Knowles actually thinks his taxes should be used for?  I fear when stripped away the truth is that many people of a right-leaning don't think they should be paying taxes at all.