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W
E begin this month with a tale of good intentions gone awry.
Volunteers at a
West Yorkshire library were looking to raise some much needed funds, and decided to hold a sale of old stock. People were invited to fill a bag with unwanted books from Batley Library for the princely sum of £1. However over- enthusiastic library supporters went a little too far and began filling bags from the shelves. A report from the BBC (
https://tinyurl.com/y38kwbne) describes the library’s stock being “decimated”. Steve McGrath from the Friends of Batley Library, which organised the two-day sale, said: “It was like the worst of all jumble sales.”
He added, via a Facebook post, that he had tried to take action but to no avail, saying: “Far too many people filled their bags with actual library books from the library shelves, not from the sales tables, even though I stood on the balcony, ringing a bell and constantly telling people it was only the books on the tables that were for sale.” Thanks to Garry Humphries for sharing.
Next to a couple of pieces from The New European newspaper, sent in by Dick Hartley, Emeritus Professor of Information Science, Manchester Metropolitan University. He writes to say that “author Charlie Connelly reminisces about a small library in south east London which is still open and which in his younger days played a crucial role in opening his eyes to the world”.
In the article (
https://tinyurl.com/3847f2c4) Charlie describes a return to his childhood roots and his surprise to find Grove Park library still thriving. He talks about how the library influenced his early life, saying: “It would be an exaggeration to claim that Grove Park library saved my life, but it was certainly crucial in making it what it is today. The worlds contained on the shelves inside the graffiti-spattered walls of my little local library and their ranks of dog-eared, plastic-covered spines with the little stickers displaying their Dewey index numbers at the base helped convince me there was more out there than I might otherwise have believed. Not only that, I could take
October-November 2023
Jumble sale.
those worlds home with me. For free.” Dick also provides a second piece from The New European, from November last year, by the philosopher Nigel Warburton (https://
tinyurl.com/2trptnc9) who talks about the value of public libraries. Focusing on the author and philosopher Umberto Eco’s love of books, and Eco’s personal library which he used as a tool of research, the article claims that: “… for the most part libraries, whether personal, university-based, or public are dwindling in the age of the internet. We seem to have all the information we need in digital form, readily accessible on a smartphone,” before going on to discuss the following question. “Why do we need these temples to paper-based technology any more? Couldn’t we get the same information from Google?” Next, onto the crucial question of where the oldest cat flap, or more accurately “cat hole”, in the world is. According to the Smithsonian Magazine (
https://tinyurl.com/mw3k93dt) there are a couple of contenders in the UK. Exeter Cathedral has evidence to suggest that a cat hole was added to
one of its doors in 1598. The hole was created to allow cats to access the cathedral in order to keep the local rodent population in check. However, there is also a claim for Manchester’s Chetham’s Library, which although created in 1653 occupies a much older building, meaning its cat hole could date back to the 1421.
Adrian Smith rounds off this month’s column with a story that could be interpreted as a symptom of the cost of living crisis, if it wasn’t for the fact it has been going on for the last six years.
Cambsnews.co.uk (https://tinyurl. com/5ajwm5zs) reports that a post office operating in one of Cambridgeshire County Council’s library branches is facing legal action following a long-running dispute over payments. According to the report: “Bar Hill post office has been operating in the library since 2013, but the postmaster since 2017 hasn’t been prepared to accept the tenancy terms and so the council hasn’t been able to collect rent or contributions for running costs such as heating, lighting, and cleaning the space occupied.” IP
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