Some Libraries Have Already Seen The Light

I have just been listening to an item on BBC Breakfast about a suggestion that libraries should introduce coffee shops to make them more popular.  Another criticism was library opening hours, where many do not open before 10am, so mothers are unable to pop in after having dropped the children off at school.

It struck me that someone hadn't done their research very well because my local library is doing these things already.  I have written a couple of times on this blog about using my local library and how it had changed from what it was like when I was a child.  I assume that my library is not unique and that it is likely that all the libraries, or at least a majority of them in the borough, are operating in a more enlightened way.

The library is open seven days a week, opening at 9am every morning except for Sunday when it opens at 10.  It also remains open well into the evening most days.  The library has 16 computers for the public to use, and a couple of games machines for the youngsters.  It also has a coffee and tea machine, as well as a machine that stocks snacks and chocolates and a variety of soft drinks.

The borough of London in which I live is not one of the richest; in fact it probably comes quite low down the scale of such things.  However, it seems that the council take a very enlightened view of how libraries should be in this day and age, and as such should be seen as a model for other parts of the country.  It is only a small library, but it is used extensively by all ages, and it can be quite difficult to use one of the computers there without having to wait to book one at a later time in the day.  

The library is always full of people reading newspapers or people like myself who are using it as a place of study, it is used to hold meetings of local organisations, it organises showings of classic films monthly, hosts writers who give talks about the writing process, and provides socialising activities for preschool age children several times a week.

It just goes to show what can be done when people put their minds to it, and should be seen as a shining example of how a local resource can be used for the benefit of all the people that it serves.

Success!

Yes, I can report success on two fronts today.  I managed to get the first appointment of the day with my GP and got the prescription for the tablets that were missed off Friday's prescriptions and then I went to the pharmacy and got the little blue pills.

Then I went off to the library, and spent the day there working on the first TMA for my current OU course.  I managed to draft the first essay and compile the notes for the second one.  That made me feel good.  And then I had a brainwave.  Why not look to see if the library had any books about Cezanne and Matisse, the two artists whose works I was going to have to compare for the second essay.  I found a book about each of the artists, and on scanning through the book on Matisse I found that his painting that I have to look at was painted in tribute to Paul Cezanne, so there is a nice reference for me to include in my essay showing that I have read around the subject.  I decided to take the Cezanne book out on loan because although it does not include the painting that I have to write about, it does include many other examples of his still life paintings and it will enable me to make comment about his repeated use of certain objects.

I had planned to take myself out for a meal at the local Italian restaurant in celebration of my successful day, but I am too tired after having three bad nights, so I have got myself ready for bed, I've taken my night-time tablets, including one of the little blue ones, and I am going to have an early night.  I'm hoping that the successful day will lead to a successful night.  After all, I might enjoy having a meal out more on a day that hasn't gone quite so well.

I'm Getting There

I had a bit of a lie-in this morning after a bad night for sleeping. Not too long, but enough to feel the benefit of it. Then having got myself fed and watered, and ready to face the day, I set off for the local library so that I could work on the end of course assignment for my current OU course. I took the long route to the library so that I could get some exercise too, and will probably do the same thing on my way home.

The good news is that I have actually done a lot of work on my essay. I have written more than 600 words of the 1000 that are necessary, and I think that I have enough material still to use, and a reasonable conclusion to sum the whole thing up, so that it will be completed within about 50 words or so of the limit, and more importantly, completed today.

The result of this is that my mood is starting to lift a little as I can see the light at the end of the tunnel as far as this course is concerned. I think that it was just unfortunate that I chose to do a psychology course at this particular time, and that the most important essay for it (the main part of the ECA) happens to be about happiness, something that I often find eludes me.

Anyway, when this post is published, I shall sit and type the essay as it stands so that I can confirm the word count (I do count each paragraph as I draft it, but I'm number dyslexic so sometimes I can make quite large errors in my count) by using the tools on the word processing application. I shall then email the draft to myself and try to complete the draft of the essay before heading back home again.

Even with the noise outside the library, and the gentle tapping of keys on the computers, and the occasional squeal from a bored young child, the library does seem to be a more conducive environment for me to write my essays than home. I suppose that it is the fact that I can't get up and do something else that keeps me firmly in my seat and writing away.

So, if all things go according to plan, by the time I write my next post I will have completed this assignment and will be looking forward to a change of subject. The next course is the OU's new Arts Foundation Course, which covers literature, history (particularly the history of science and the history of medicine which are subjects that I have already covered at a higher level), art, and religion (I've done the history of religion too). On successful completion of that course I will be eligible for a BA, but the Creative Writing course that I will start this time next year will see me graduating with a BA (Hons) in Humanities focusing on the History of Science, Medicine and Technology. Then it will be Madsadgirl BSc (Hons) BA (Hons). It sounds rather good, doesn't it?

Sitting In The Local Library

Since I lost my Internet connection and I have had to use the computers in the local library, I have also found that I have been doing a lot more reading. I have found a lovely series of books by M C Beaton, about a middle-aged lady called Agatha Raisin. This lady lives in a village in the Cotswolds and is is like a modern-day Miss Marple, although she does more in the way of detecting and less comparison with other village characters, than Agatha Christie's great female detective did.

These books are hardly great works of literature, but they do afford me a few hours of enjoyment as I read their pages. I've read five of them so far, and I've found another one in the library today, so I have taken that out on loan and will no doubt manage to read it over the next day or two.

M C Beaton also wrote the highly enjoyable books about the Scottish policeman, Hamish Macbeth; a policeman who operated to his own rules, but who ensured that real criminals got their just desserts, while allowing the various inhabitants of Lochdubh to continue with their sometimes barely legal pursuits. Hamish Macbeth was successfully brought to television in the 1990s by the BBC with Robert Carlyle as the ubiquitous policeman. The Agatha Raisin stories have been broadcast on Radio Four with Penelope Keith as Agatha Raisin, and although she does not physically fit the description of Agatha in the books, I can see that she would bring a certain something to the part that would be most enjoyable.

What is most surprising about the Agatha Raisin books is that although they were written by a British author, who lives in Britain, and they are about a very English village with its archetypal inhabitants, the books were published in America, long before getting published here. I suppose that it is as a result of reading these slightly comic adventures that the Americans get such strange ideas about the British and about our country. I am sure that they believe that everything that is written is true and exactly as it is in this country, while now that we can eventually read this simple lovely stories, where Agatha does encounter more murders than anyone would want to, we can sit and laugh at the characters that are pure caricature.

In The Library Again

Yesterday I wrote a long post about our local library, and I'm in there again today. In yesterday's post I commented on how quiet libraries were when I was a child, there were lots of elderly lady librarians who 'Ssshhd' you if you made the slightest sound. Fortunately today, things are a little more enlightened, and as a result should make libraries more friendly places for young and old alike.

In our library, you can hear the gentle tapping of computer keyboards, as various people from the very young to the very old, are using the numerous Internet-connected computers that are there for us to use, and children can be heard talking, in not too quiet a manner, but undoubtedly doing their best, to Mum who is busy trying to find a book to read or sort out a thorny problem on the Internet. All of this is quite acceptable and shows that the library is a living building that is getting good use from the local population and therefore fulfilling its proper function.

However, today the library is not a pleasant place to be. It's nothing to do with the people inside; they are the usual mix of young and old, Mums with little children, the elderly looking for a book to help pass the time, and people like me who would do this at home if BT hadn't messed up my Internet connection. No the noise is outside; it is the sound of pneumatic drills as the road is dug up alongside the library.

The library is on the corner of two roads. One is a main road that is busy throughout the day with buses and cars, while the other is a small side road, typical of many of London's residential streets. I'm not absolutely certain what the work is for outside the library, but I can guess and I am absolutely certain that my guess will be right. At present the Victorian water mains in London are being replaced and this entails access to the mains running under the streets and to every property in the area to lay new pipes. I fully understand that this work is necessary, and I also understand that this is no small job to carry out, affecting all of London as it does. But I am seriously concerned how long some of this work is taking.

When they were doing the roads where I live, which is only a short distance from the library, there were holes in the road and pavements, as well as a number of roads closed, for more than 12 weeks. I actually had a hole in the road, and an unsightly pile of rubbish and gravel outside my house for the whole of this period. They didn't actually dig up the pavement outside my house until the penultimate day they were working in the area, and yet I had to put up with the inconvenience and noise of these workmen and their machines for three months. Some days we saw no men working at all, while on others only one or two were seen. I know that at least three complaints were made to the contractors about the length of time that the work was taking, and that the contractors came to inspect the work being carried out by the subcontractors on two occasions (because they stood and talked outside my garden).

Will they be as long working in the road alongside the library? I hope not, for the very good reason that on the opposite corner to the library is one of the local primary schools. The school has been closed for the summer holiday for a fortnight now, and yet work has only just begun outside it. Judging by the length of time that they took dealing with the roads around my house, the workmen will need to work at breakneck speed to finish the work outside the school before the summer holiday is over. Sitting here listening to the drills is bad enough for me even though I don't need an excessive amount of concentration to be able to type this post, but I should imagine that for young children trying to concentrate on their lessons, the noise will be intolerable.

Let's hope that the work is finished soon and the children's lessons will not be disturbed once the new school year begins.

You Don't Realise How Much You Rely On Something...

... until you don't have it anymore. I survived for years without access to the Internet at home, but when I started working towards my Master's with the OU I had to have Internet access and I now rely on it for so much.

I do Internet banking, I order my monthly large shop online and have it delivered, I use the Internet for buying a lot of other things too, such as wool for my knitting, and supplies for my card making, and I have managed to get some real cross stitch kit bargains on ebay. Amazon is a lifesaver when it comes to buying all those books that are necessary for my studying, and at lower prices than I could get them on the high street always supposing that I could find a decent bookshop.

So I am finding it a nightmare at the moment to be having horrendous problems with my Internet connection. There is a problem with my phoneline so it may be that is the reason that I can't surf and blog as I would like to, although the problem with the phone existed before the Internet connection suddenly disappeared. I have been told that my phone line will be properly operating by Monday 8pm at the latest, so I guess I will have to wait until then to see whether my Internet connection returns too. If it does, all well and good, but if it doesn't I guess it will be a long phone call to the ISP's phone helpline because I can't log on to the Internet to be able to use their very helpful online help facility. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it just a little bit silly to put all those pages of help on their website, if you can't access the web to be able to read them.

Anyway, it means that I will probably have to continue using the facilities in my local library for an hour a day until I have got everything sorted out and up and running again. I shall have to pop down here early tomorrow morning and try to sneak on for an hour to catch up on my email and have a quick look at what is happening on the blogosphere, and I live in a very enlightened part of London where the libraries are open on Sunday too, so I can come in then if necessary. The library is only about five minutes walk from home so it's not as though I have to make a long journey to get there.

Perhaps there are benefits to my living in London after all.