I’ve been umming and ahhing about how to write this piece. I’ve written half drafts and procrastinated it several times now. I want it to be good, I want it to say everything that I feel about the subject. If you take anything from this piece let it be this. Sign up to your local library. Use their resources to any degree that you desire. Without you, they cannot offer the amazing things that they do.
Me and the Library
The library was not a place where I frequented as a child. I was an outside kid and after school you were more likely to find me at the turf or walking through the local stream with my friends. This isn’t to say I didn’t read, stories were with me at every aspect of my life. The Hunger Games carried me through my first two years of high school. Richard Scarry’s books were read so often in my household we all knew the story off by heart and when I broke my arm, my mum recited Hairy Maclary to me while I lay in the hospital. The Throne of Glass series and The Raven Boys got me into fantasy and were a part of the reason I made friends at my first big girl job. Stories have always been there.
It’s not just published stories that have carried me through life either. My father would tell me how a coast came to be and how it moves. My friends and I would make up fanfiction about our favourite band members at sleepovers and years later I would continue writing and posting them online, making friends through the fandoms.
When I was 17 and in my last year of high school I fell in love with mythology because of one fresco that depicted Perseus saving Andromeda (see below). This carried me into university where I studied classics and history and is one of the reasons for my tattoo of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and warfare. I wanted to make a career out of antiquity but I didn’t want to go into teaching or academics. That was when a teacher told me that ‘any job that works with people can be done with a classics degree’ and she discussed the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) industry. Libraries had never been a job that I thought was possible. Librarians are little old ladies? That’s not a job that I could do? But I wanted it and I was determined to do that. I did do it, its amazing for so many different reasons that are more than just being able to get as many books out as I can whenever I want.
A building with books
In 2023 my home town’s mayor said something that rocked not only libraries in the city but the city as a whole (and this is a city that does not submit to a little shake). He stated, during a discussion about budget cuts, that some of the smaller libraries in Christchurch area were just “buildings with books”. This led to letters to the local newspaper and several news publications across the country biting back at the comments. Anyone who has visited their local library will probably tell you that this is simply not true. No matter what library I’ve walked into, no matter what day it was, there’s always something going on. A school is visiting and being shown through the stacks by the librarian, there’s singing coming from one area and stories being read to a group of kindergarteners in another. Elderly are being assisted in navigating the e-reader their children gifted them and 20-something year olds come in packs to study because the university library is overfull with exams.
A library is a building for books. Its also a building for grandparents to take their grandchildren. Its a place for children to meet their friends after school. Its a place to explore your ancestry. Its somewhere you can go to get recommendations when you’re stuck in a reading slump and its a place to go if you want to find any sort of information. I do not mean this lightly either. That’s what a librarian is. They are information seekers. They are the biggest gossips, their glasses are thick because they’re full of secrets. Every day I am seeking information, whether it be for myself, for my work, for my coworker, or for a patron. I have found obituaries from 10+ years ago. I have found the history of the local park and explored why that street was called that. I can tell you that the Mexican Wave started at an ice hockey game and that the opposite of an acronym is a backronym.
Originally, libraries and archives were one of the same. A place to store manuscripts for the rich and educated to peruse. The printing press made literature accessible, the public wanted the knowledge, they wanted to learn how to read. Suddenly, libraries were adapting to serve a multitude of groups. Throughout history, libraries have always stood. They have changed and evolved as we have, through providing more spaces for activities, to the rise in eBooks and audiobooks. They serve their community. That is their purpose. If you happen to take home a book that brings you joy from your visit, that’s an added bonus.
A community like one’s own
My cousin came to visit last year. He lives in Europe and is one of the few cousins that is actually around my age. We were standing in the kitchen at my parents’, talking fondly about my dad’s side of the family, who neither of us see often. We started talking about my grandmother. I don’t remember how or why this conversation happened but it stuck with me. My grandmother was a church goer, especially after my grandfather died. She would be at all the events, everyone knew her and she adored them all. My dad told us that it was her community, she had always told him to find his community, to be a part of it as much as he can. For my parents, and me too, this doesn’t look like church or large groups of friends. Its hockey. The first sporting event I ever went to I was only a few weeks old and it was my dad’s finals. My parents have always been social people in the hockey community. It takes us an hour to get from the changing rooms to the car most days and they play all year round. They were on their club’s committee, as I am now, and they have coached or managed almost every grade possible.
When we had this conversation I had been working in libraries for just under three years. When people ask me why I work in libraries they say something like “you must love reading”, which is true and I always do laugh and agree. But that never crossed my mind when I was starting out. In interviews, when they ask “why do you want this job”, my approach is always the same, I want to help people. I never really understood where I got this from, nor why libraries were the place where I wanted to put this energy. But it truly has been taught to me my entire life, that’s right, once again it comes from my parents...
Be a part of your community. Your community doesn’t have to be a church, it doesn’t have to be the neighbourhood watch. It can be a sport, it can be your local theatre group or maybe an artist co-op. It can be the library. A place that is open for community events and meetings, a place that allows you to explore interests and offers services and resources for, quite literally, every stage of your life. The people who stand behind the desk at your local library? Guess what, they’re locals too. They know where the bus routes are, they know where the nearest English learning classes are, there’s a big chance they host the nearest English learning class. A library is a building block for your community in a similar way the park or supermarket are. They’re staples in your space.
Why should you care?
This past year I have been working towards a research project in Information Studies, the study of, well, information. I was studying libraries. Not just the library but how library staff responded to the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. I could write 10,000 words on this subject (I did write 10,000 words on this), but the main point I discovered was that all of the librarians I talked to, no matter their level of experience or expertise, agreed on the same thing. Everything they did was for their patrons and the community they served.
Much of a library’s services are free or have a small charge, with, or sometimes without, a membership. Books, council documentation, magazines, internet, printing, study tables, scanning, a place to meet friends, to form clubs, and learn without the pressure of tests.
They offer these to you because they care about you. They want to encourage learning outside of school. They want to ensure that you have access to services that are often overlooked. During disasters, they are the places people turn to find information, because that’s what the library always has, information. The library is where people are able to go when they have no power, where they can access the internet to communicate with family members and charge their deivces. They are escapism in your own backyard.
There is often a misunderstanding that libraries are not for everyone, that they’re for people who enjoy reading or who are educated. This is not true. Libraries are no longer quiet spaces with old ladies who shush you if you so much as sneeze. Many libraries still have the odd old lady and I will admit many wear glasses and eclectic cardigans. They’re also nerds, most play Dungeons & Dragons or took annual leave to play the new Elden Ring DLC. Some are knitters or crafters in some way or another. Others never miss the match over the weekend. Some are all of the above. They have books on all of those subjects, they have recommendations for the best murder mystery and know exactly when the next volume of your favourite manga is going to be available.
They are the friendly neighbourhood librarians. The library, any day of the week, is the place to be. They are more than just books, they are more than just information. They are one of the few remaining third spaces (a controversial topic in and of itself). They are a resource that everyone can benefit from. It was not the place I visited every weekend like some of my friends, but when I did, it was always filled with excitement and adventure. As any other librarian feels, I want to offer that feeling to any library patron who may visit and that’s easier than one may think, the library offers it all on its own.
Do you have fond memories of the library? What was the last book you borrowed? Let me know!
love this piece 🥹💘