{"id":9431,"date":"2023-04-08T08:00:42","date_gmt":"2023-04-08T08:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/?p=9431"},"modified":"2023-04-08T08:00:44","modified_gmt":"2023-04-08T08:00:44","slug":"in-praise-of-libraries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/?p=9431","title":{"rendered":"In praise of libraries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a>
Marking Time\/damesnet<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Some time ago Damesnet published a piece by Louella entitled \u2018Library Disasters\u2019<\/a>. She described the complexities of online reserving, borrowing and returning and the problems that arise when you have the misfortune to lose a library book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am currently in love with my local library. It never fails me. I am currently reading the Cazalet Chronicles <\/em>by Elizabeth Jane Howard; it is a quintet, and someone in our book group proposed the first volume \u2013 The Light Years<\/em> \u2013 as our book of the month.  I am not just hooked, I confess to total addiction.  I confess to having gone way beyond Volume 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly the available bookshelf space at schloss Dame B refuses to expand, which means that if I buy a book I have to donate an old one to charity to find space to put it.   Having a daughter and son-in-law who both work in the publishing world means I am frequently given wonderful new books to read.  So if I want to read something recommended from another source my only recourse is to order it from the library.  The alternative is to keep all the books and turn the house into one of those weird places featured in schlocky TV programmes about hoarders, where you have to navigate your way round piles of stuff in each room with only a narrow route through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, all I have to do is go online, and order the book to be collected from my local branch. If there is only a copy available at one of the other libraries in the borough, a simple click arranges for it be transferred to my branch. When I receive an email notification that this has happened I trot round the corner and pick it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am writing this on Good Friday. A couple of days ago, with the long Easter weekend looming, I realised in complete panic that I would probably finish Book 2 of the series – Marking Time<\/em> \u2013 during the weekend and would not be able to segue immediately into the next volume, Confusion<\/em>. Anticipatory withdrawal symptoms were already kicking in \u2013 the sweats, the hallucinations, the cravings. I promptly ordered the book to be transferred from one of the other branches and wonder of wonders, received the confirmatory email yesterday afternoon. I shot down to my branch and there it was, winking at me from the reserved shelves. Last night I was spared any agonies as I literally put Marking Time<\/em> down and started reading Confusion <\/em>at around midnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realise of course that sooner or later \u2013 and probably sooner \u2013 I will have read them all, and just have to cope with loss and grieving.\u00a0 Rest assured that the next volume is already on order, so hopefully I will pick it up after Easter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It goes without saying that I am incredibly fortunate: I live in London but am painfully aware that libraries are either closing or reducing their hours across the country. This is one of the results of the \u2018austerity\u2019 measures implemented from 2010 by the current government. Local councils on tight budgets have been forced to redirect funding to priority services such as social care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With local elections looming, it will be interesting to see whether libraries feature in councillors\u2019 manifestos. At a time when all public services are underfunded and under pressure, it is wonderful to be able to highlight something that is working well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anticipatory withdrawal symptoms were already kicking in \u2013 the sweats, the hallucinations, the cravings. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,182,126,55,65,307],"tags":[76,304,258,97,350],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9431"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9431"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9443,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9431\/revisions\/9443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}