The Sound Of Silence - Should We Re-Invoke It ?

[Canary42]

I had to laugh. Today I got an e-mail from my local library which included the following blurb :-

[i]
"Don’t forget, your library isn’t just for borrowing books. You can also print out documents, use our public computers, find a quiet spot to study, or even book a meeting room."
[i]

The "quiet place to study" is highly optimistic. Modern public libraries are IME very noisy, the old tradition of "hush" no longer applies, and it's often quieter outside in the street.

Should we return to the old traditional "Silence" - IMO yes.

[jno]

libraries are good for genealogy; they often have subscriptions to Find My Past and Ancestry. With Covid, the City of London library I use gave people passwords so they could access them at home, which is useful.

[barry1010]

That's good, jno

[10ClarionSt]

I haven't borrowed a book from the library for years. Can't remember when it was, but in one book I borrowed, I learnt one of my party tricks that still amazes people - how to do The Magic Square with any given number. I was only 13 when I taught myself that, with the help of the book of course. I have used the Reference Library in recent years but only to look at old newspapers on microfiche.

[Canary42]

Long time since I laughed as much as about Sqad's view of libraries.

I have been an avid user of libraries for as long as I can remember, and if their presence upsets the ignorati, then tough.

[jno]

Barry, I should add that I don't live in the City. I've got a Westminster library card too, but I don't live there either. They're all free.

[10ClarionSt]

Brainiac at 11.34 mntions Andrew Carnegie. There is a former public library near her in Castleton, Rochdale that is engraved above the door saying "Built at the cost of Carnegie". It is now apartments.

[barry1010]

jno, I've got library cards for 3 different counties so gets lots of library ebooks every month. :D
My local library also provides online access to genealogy sites which people could use from home during lock down. I tried to get in to it but lost my way badly around the early 1800s and gave up. We all have very common names which doesn't help

[barry1010]

10C, Carnegie also paid for a library in Birmingham which sadly burned down around 1914 - the suffragettes were suspected of arson but it was never proved. It was rebuilt by the Free Libraries Committee and is still there albeit now much larger.
Carnegie also built libraries in France, Belgium and Ireland.

[Gromit]

When books became obsolete they had to find new uses for the nice buildings.

[roopower]

My knit and natter group met in the local library and hopefully will return soon. There is quite a lot of crafting and a great deal of nattering! We used to have a room but that was given to a toddler group so we have tables in the main library room - not our choice. In order to keep running, the library has to get as many groups involved as possible. The old adage 'use it or lose it' comes to mind.

[piggynose]

12.10 so theres loads of Barry 1010s around? Well i cant say im surprised.lol.

[jno]

especially in the early 11th century, piggynose.

[barry1010]

Ha ha, piggy. I meant of course that the women that married in to my family also had common surnames. Try tracing an Ann Smith that married a Joseph Brown.