'Don't serve any real purpose'? What on earth does that mean? Lots of things don't serve any real purpose yet they still exist. However, books which enrich people's lives, let them experience things they could never imagine through others eyes, inspire and educate them - that is a purpose, is it not? Having worked in libraries for 21 years, I can say that libraries do so much for so many. As has been said, they are not just books - as well as all the things previously mentioned, we run activities for children through the school holidays - arts and crafts, author events, visits from wildlife groups who bring in various creepy crawlies for the kids to see, learn about and handle etc, we have a readers group, a writer's group, a baby clinic, regular coffee mornings, smoking cessation classes, computer classes, employability and Esol groups and we provide information on just about anything anyone wants to know - if we don't have it to hand we all know how to find it. And it is all free to everyone! Libraries are an invaluable resource to every community. They are far from an obsession - they are a necessity.