I used to think that libraries were dying. In a world slowly governed by ebooks, physical books are a dying breed (exception being cookbooks and specialist literature).
Now I’m sitting in a library. Not because of the books, but because of the silent study room. I crave silence and alone time in my world, so I escape home to find it elsewhere. I have been to a cafe, and when that got too crowded I came here – to the library. It is what I needed. Silence, that wonderful silence filled with space for my thoughts and creativity. I let myself be bathed in silence. The silence is only being broken by my tapping on the keyboard. Can I tap on the keyboard more silently, I wonder?
Silence on a Saturday – what a privilege! And in a library no less. I now understand that libraries fill an important function. The library is usually filled with students, or people borrowing the computers here. Even in the evenings when the library is closed, I see many foreigners outside with their computers talking to friends or relatives using skype. There is free wireless internet here, you see.
So I like the library – but I will never give up on ebooks. I love reading ebooks on my kindle and having a world of books available in just a few seconds with no heavy books to drag around.
But I do love the service the libraries provide.
