British libraries are turning into “warm banks” (Amer. “warming centers”)!
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The British government has remorselessly and relentlessly closed down the staggering figure of around 800 libraries. This has happened in the short space of 12 years. The cutbacks have been so widespread that many wonder if the state was issuing the obituary for the funeral of libraries. Would libraries be rendered obsolete? Despite this, defenders of libraries are attempting to widen the role of libraries now as 'warm banks' providing free heat for those suffering from the current fuel crisis.
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THE RIDDLE
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There are some strange meetings which profoundly affect you. The person comes out with unexpected words which make you see things differently. You can't forget their words. Their words haunt you for years. Such an incident happened when a librarian dropped into school to speak about the career of a librarian.
This middle-aged man did not go into the intricate details of qualifications and the role of librarian but began his talk with an almost Zen Buddhist riddle. He asked us "Which do you like more: Books or people?" After leaving us time to ponder this question he answered, "The correct answer should be to like people more! That is what makes a good librarian."
That talk took place in the mid 1970's. I never met this man again. But since then I have reflected on his words. It was as if he had ushered some kind of imminent warning. I later learnt that, yes, some people do like books better than people or may need to learn to love people more like us all I suppose.
While abroad I would notice that the first thing some new acquaintance would do when visiting your room was to shoot a stray glance at your books rather than enter a conversation with his or her host. I wondered if those people loved books more than people and were even addicted to books. I discovered that some people would not return very important books to you because they valued keeping those books more than friendship. After borrowing the book they did a disappearing act!
A person might even visit a country and simply spend all his or her money on books rather than spend this money to go out and socialize with the people.
I wondered why certain people preferred the company of books to people. Was it due to an addiction or because they felt communicating with people was more stressful than reading books? But in the final analysis there is a lot of humanity lingering in books—but their contents can still hurt your feelings a great deal indeed.
Of one thing I'm entirely certain: the librarian would have agreed with the sincere and genuine attempt by libraries to become 'warm banks' to help poor people avoiding the cold of unheated homes brought on by the fuel crisis. Libraries should actively assist and help people. They should be hospitable places which act as beacons to those shipwrecked by a callous economic system where some old people are left to freeze to death in their homes.
The visitor would have been shocked to read Steve Larsen's striking article about a poor girl being forcibly kicked out of a library in America by a security guard. {See Steven Larsen's article “Little Edgewater Library, Little Edgewater Luck: Harassing the Homeless Again, October 19, 2022, StreetSense | Thomas Hansen | Substack}
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FUEL CRISIS
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The fuel crisis has led to the almost tripling of fuel bills in Britain and in other European countries. In response to this some local councils and libraries in Britain have proposed that libraries provide 'warm banks' or a refuge for people freezing in their unheated homes. The proposal is to widen the social function of libraries.
In recent days, Glasgow City Council voted to establish a network of 'welcome places' which will provide welfare advice, refreshments as well as warm places. It should be pointed out that people spending much time in libraries to avoid the cold is not new. Poor students often burnt the midnight oil in libraries because it was warmer and I met many homeless in Moscow who haunted the local libraries. Libraries have kept many unemployed people sane by distracting them from their troubles.
However, not everyone is enthusiastic about those measures. Warm banks might suffer the same fate as food banks. Although food banks were initially intended to become a temporarily emergency measure now they have become a firmly rooted part of British life. Charity, no matter how well intended, can't replace the right to welfare benefits or the provision of decent living wages.
Peter Kelly of Poverty Alliance has warned that he does not want 'warm banks' to become as normal and acceptable as food banks.
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THE ROLE OF LIBRARIES
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So what ought to be the role of libraries? Some people imagine libraries are boring and dull places where people sit in silence glued to a book. Entering a library is like going to a monastery where you are sworn to silence and just turn the pages of a book. But this is far from the truth. In fact, libraries can be exciting and alluring places where all kinds of projects are being organized.
For example, in Moscow, libraries provide indispensable places for storytelling projects, gathering places for outdoor excursions, art exhibitions, poetry sessions, and lectures. All kinds of clubs and organizations are fathered by libraries. Libraries can be a catalyst for many cultural and social activities. They can even provide a sense of community and friendship to many lonely people. The notion that a library has been rendered obsolete by the internet does not stand up to scrutiny.
Adele Walton, an ardent defender of libraries claims, 'Libraries are a gravely underestimated public good with immense communal value. As well as providing free access to books, libraries have improved outcomes on general health, digital literacy skills and employment skills, and build community resilience...'
In 2014-2015, visits to libraries topped attendance to premier league football games and the cinema. Adele Walton claims it represents one of the top tourist attractions in Britain! Adele Walton regards the closure of 800 libraries {a fifth of Britain's libraries} as an act of vandalism against 'our culture and community.'
Sofia Akel of the 'Free Books’ campaign agrees. She argues that 'Access to books is important for developing essential literacy skills, creativity, fuel imagination and for some, be their escape and reprieve from the harsh world.'
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HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF
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I learnt that my own local library in my hometown of Bearsden had been closed down despite vocal opposition. But historically, this is hardly the first time libraries have been destroyed and looted along with a welfare state. Such an assault came during the reformation in the early 16th century.
Before the Reformation many monasteries played two important roles, they provided food for the poor and contained the first libraries which preserved centuries of handwritten manuscripts.
When the Reformation came, the monasteries were closed down, and they had their wealth confiscated or plundered. Nuns and monks were made homeless and reduced to penury. The historian and presenter Michael Wood, in his book 'In Search of England: Journeys into the English Past {1999, London: Penguin Books} wrote how the pages of priceless manuscripts were used to fill holes, light candles, and even serve as toilet paper. Wood stated that this destruction of England's heritage occurred in the 1530's and 1540's.
It is interesting to note that this devastation of culture coincided with the rise of a dark nationalism against all things foreign. It is difficult not to notice parallels. Over the last 12 years, the devastation of libraries is also taking place against the background of rising narrow-minded populism and antipathy against foreigners in Britain. At the same time a dormant anti-intellectual and anti-philosophical culture has ominously loomed up to new alarming proportions threatening new ‘dark ages.’
It is time that libraries receive much more support and assistance. Librarians who have been dismissed must get their jobs back. Libraries require radical support and aid so they can properly serve the worst off people.
Libraries should be places where people can find heat, hospitality, and friendship. I wonder if this was the appropriate answer to the riddle posed by my mutual friend the librarian!