I always used to visit the public library when going somewhere new, as there is an element of it showing how much effort and enthusiasm has been put into a place. I think it’s fair to say that libraries can say quite a lot about a town. Some feel loved, active and properly used, while others have the faint atmosphere of a civic obligation being kept alive with a printer, three chairs and a display about recycling. This one was certainly not in the latter category. It was evident that there was a fair amount going on here, with regular events taking place and a genuine attempt to make it feel part of the community.
This library opened in 1939, having moved from their previous Commerce Way location, and it has kept its well designed building which is spacious and large inside. From the outside, it felt like a proper library building.
It has a more traditional feel in the rear room and the book range seemed well curated from what I saw. However, libraries like this have entirely lost some of their appeal to me. It was impossible to sit down with a laptop, as all the seated areas near the front had been reserved and there were dedicated children’s study areas which were empty. There were a couple of low chairs visible in this photo and it was all very lovely, but it wasn’t overly conducive to work. Low chairs are fine to contemplate life, read a magazine or slowly lose the will to stand up again, but they are not ideal for laptop-based productivity.
This is the reason I so often find myself in JD Wetherspoon venues to get work done. For all their many quirks, they have worked out seating, power points, comfort and the useful social contract that one can sit there for a while with a coffee without anyone looking faintly wounded. It feels a little sub-optimal that the national pub chain has become more useful to me as a working environment than many public libraries, but here we are.
Libraries used to have this pretty sorted, they’d have a lending section which was all about selecting a book and maybe having a quick sit down, then a reference area at the back where people could sit with a newspaper or to write. Now the whole thing appears to have verged into some sort of event space and people are displaced. But, if it works for the local community then that’s good as too many public spaces are closing and there are no shortage of places that cater to my urgent laptop and research needs….