Loans fell dramatically during the pandemic, while website visits rose. If the service is to survive further cuts, it needs users
Libraries are romantic yet prosaic places. The romance is that of reading, and the wealth of human imagining and learning that is contained in them. Access to the knowledge and literary art (poetry, fiction, drama) in a library is precious, priceless – and particularly valuable to young minds and people of any age with an interest in education. “The library was the place I went to find out what there was to know. It was absolutely essential,” said the novelist Zadie Smith of her own early life.
The prosaic side of libraries is more physical. This is the world of buildings, shelving, books as objects, library cards, fines, computers – and people with bodies that take up space as well as minds that can be opened. It would be hard to find anyone who actively disapproves of libraries, and the principles of self-improvement and pleasure that they stand for. But when it comes to practicalities, Britain’s libraries are on less solid ground. The sector has been cut massively in the past decade, with around 800 libraries across England, Scotland and Wales disappearing.
