Three cheers for libraries

I’m now on the road to Wigan for an event there tonight after four days in the north east and five events with my good mate Ann Cleeves. Amazing events frankly because, even in the depths of this grim winter, the libraries everywhere managed to draw out big, lively enthusiastic audiences, the last one in Gateshead’s elegant Old Town Hall last night.

I owe a lot to libraries. It was thanks to them I’m a writer. Without the rich and catholic book collection of my home library in Bridlington when I was a kid I’d never have found the range of books that fired me with the ambition to write in the first place. How often do I find myself in a library these days?As often as I can. I think they’re important institutions that need defending and sustaining in the face of occasional neglect by the councils that own them. But not here in the north east which surely has one of the most vibrant and dynamic library communities in the UK. I can’t think of anywhere else in the UK where two writers could bring out substantial audiences five times over three days, in venues only a few miles apart.

How do they do this? They’ve got marvellous, skilled trained staff to organise the events. They’ve got reading groups, lots of them. They’ve got some fantastic facilities that receive investment and support. On Tuesday lunchtime we were in Newcastle’s amazing new central library, one year old and a fantastic building slap in the centre of town. That place brings in five thousand people a day through its doors. Five thousand. Don’t let anyone tell you libraries are a thing of the past.

Most of all though good libraries are a community, a partnership between them and the reading public, one that authors can help sustain and nurture by going out and talking when we can. To any authors out there: if you get an invitation to the north east do take it. This place is an eye-opened in what can be achieved when councils see libraries as important social institutions.

Back in my home county of Kent things couldn’t be different. There libraries are almost seen as an embarrassment. In a fifteen year career I’ve done one library event in Kent County Council library. I’ve spoken more in libraries in Australia than I have in my own county. The community feel libraries have up here just doesn’t exist in some parts of the country because the councillors who hold the purse strings don’t have the vision to create it. That’s a great shame and a terribly wasted opportunity.