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W
ITH Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night recent history, the next highlight on the calendar is your
regular edition of Mediawatching. No need to put pets in a darkened room with loud music, or wonder how many germs have been spread from hand to mouth after a cold night trick or treating – just settle back into the familiar warmth of our regular look at life’s quirkier library news.
“I love my local library. I adore the staff, the ambience, the facilities and the free wifi. As a freelancer, hot-desking without needing to pay a dime is my cup of tea,” writes Dellaram Vreeland in The Guardian (
https://tinyurl.com/MW520251). And despite the cosy intro this is not a story of her usual public library. Instead, it about a foray into the “oldest and most overlooked library in my town”. The library in question is part of the Mechanics’ Institute in the Australian town of Ballarat. On discovering it was the fastest way to get hold of a loan the author joined, saying: “It’s like being part of a secret club. In contrast to the tens of thousands of members at the City of Ballarat libraries, the Ballaarat (the original spelling of the town taken from the Wadawurrung words for resting place) Mechanics’ Institute currently has about 530 members.”
Closer to home for the next story and news that Cornwall Council has issued an amnesty for all overdue library loans. The BBC reports (
https://tinyurl.com/ MW520252) that the amnesty will last throughout November, with Paul Evered, library service delivery manager, adding: “Whether your book has been at home for a few weeks, months, or even years, it’s never too late.”
Perhaps something library user Diana Edwards could have taken advantage of… if she lived in Cornwall, rather than Massachusetts. It turns out that Diana was in possession of a somewhat overdue book, which she had borrowed from Camden Public Library, in Maine 46 years ago. She discovered Bunches and Bunches of Bunnies as she was preparing to move house, and instead of filing it in the bin she decided to do the right thing and send it back. On hearing that the library no longer issues fines, she “donated an
Winter 2025
The Library of Alexandria.
undisclosed sum to the library in gratitude for their understanding”. According to What’s the jam website (
https://tinyurl.com/ MW520254) the book will be read during story time activities at the library. Another from the history books, so to speak, and news that the British Library has righted a longstanding wrong. A mere 130 years after the library, which at the time was the British Museum’s Reading Room, revoked Oscar Wilde’s reader’s card the BL has handed over a new one – although obviously Oscar was not available to collect it himself, so instead it went to his grandson and author Merlin Holland. The original card was revoked following Wilde’s imprisonment for gross indecency, with Reading Room rules at the time stating that no one with a criminal conviction could use it. The BBC reports (
https://tinyurl.com/ MW520255) that Dame Carol Black, chair of the British Library, described Wilde as “one of the most significant literary figures of the 19th century”. She said that by reissuing his library
card, “we hope to not only honour Wilde’s memory but also acknowledge the injustices and immense suffering he faced as a result of his conviction”.
Delving even further back in time now and Andrew Shenton, who writes to nominate the second episode in the new series of Natalie Haynes Stands up for the Classics for inclusion in your column. He adds: “The instalment is devoted to the library in Alexandria. It reminds the listener that many of the conventions and principles that we now associate with libraries owe their origins to ancient times. Moreover, few listeners would dispute the messages for today with which the presenter chose to end the show.”
You can hear the full recording at https://
tinyurl.com/MW520256.
And finally, Michael Gorman offers the following on the unforeseen (or perhaps entirely obvious) benefits of banning smartphones. A Newsweek report (
https://tinyurl.com/MW520257) explains how “Students at a school district in Kentucky are putting down their phones and cracking books at a record pace now that devices are banned during class.” Libraries serving Jefferson County Public were one step ahead of the ban, with librarian Stephanie Conrad saying: “We anticipated a really big increase in book circulation, so we planned for that over the summer to really make books available and plan for any kind of downtime so that students wouldn’t be tempted to look at their phones.” IP
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