To lose one library is unfortunate, to lose 13 is an act of cultural vandalism.
Worse, it’s an all-out assault on what should be the heart of a community, one that feeds the mind and enriches the soul.
Yet here’s Aberdeenshire Council blithely scything these portals into a world of wonder in some of the smaller communities that probably need them most.
And, as always, the attempted justification for closing libraries is one of costs and falling users. Note the phrase “falling”. That means people are still using them, just not at the level to satisfy some penpusher’s arbitrary tick box of satisfactory numbers.
Even if it is just a handful of folk, then there should be a duty on the council to maintain and keep these resources open. Here’s a daring thought. How about actually promoting them and encouraging people to step through their doors?
At this point, I will admit that I have skin in the game when it comes to the importance of libraries in lives – especially young lives.
Who I am today is down to my local library as a kid
As far as I am concerned, who I am today, the things I am passionate about, the beliefs I hold dear were forged in my local library when I was growing up in Edinburgh.
It was through the doors of Balgreen Library that I fell in love with reading. I traversed the stars, travelled through history, and lived hundreds of lives other than my own, all thanks to the treasured books I discovered on its groaning shelves.
I learned how the world worked and how wonderful it could be. Not just the real world, either, but Middle Earth, the jungles that Tarzan roamed – even the public school alternative universe of Jennings and his little hut.
And all the while I soaked up the stories and the facts and the wisdom therein. It was where I fell in love with the power of the English language and what it could do to hearts and minds.
Even better, was that it was free. For a kid on a council housing estate, it was in the library that my horizons opened up to far beyond the constraints of my surroundings. No, where I lived wasn’t bleak or harsh. But it wasn’t what I wanted and it was words that guided me on to the path I have followed since.
Aberdeenshire libraries should be protected at all costs from cuts
I have seen things, done things, developed tastes, found interests and been places that seemed out of the reach of a “schemie”. It is my local library I have to thank for that.
And these days they are more than just a repository for books. They offer vital access to the internet for many, as well as a point of contact for services and information and, crucially, can help fight social isolation for some folk and be a safe space.
For me is it an anathema that the rich opportunities libraries offer be denied to even a single person – especially a child.
The message that underlies this calamitous bonfire of libraries is clear.
Cherish your local library, support it and, most important of all, use it.
Make it a living, breathing, vital place and not just some footnote in the history books of council cuts.
Scott Begbie is a journalist and editor, as well as PR and comms manager for Aberdeen Inspired.
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