National Libraries Day - 4th February 2012

It is National Libraries Day on Saturday 4th February 2012 - a chance to celebrate our local libraries, pay them a visit or attend an event.  The School Library Association is also a partner in this event. I havent heard of any local events yet, but I will certainly be holding my councillor surgery in Grove Library from 10.30-11.30am (no appointment necessary). In fact, strangely enough it will coincide with an unusual surgery I held in the library exactly one year ago! 

Of course, a lot has happened since early 2011 when Oxfordshire was threatened with losing many of its libraries, including the local one in Grove. Thankfully, reason was eventually seen and the situation has progressed over the last year as reported in my blog several times (here, here, here, here, here, here and here ).

We now need to look forward and, as shown by the collage of photographs above, libraries have always been evolving - even without the challenges of eBooks, the Internet, etc. I remember first visiting Wantage Library when it used to be located  behind the parish church - in the building (top left photo) now used by the October Club. The library moved to its current location behind Waitrose when a new purpose-built building (top middle) was opened in 1992. Just recently, we have seen the introduction of Self Service (top right) in the library.  In the case of Grove, the entrance was remodelled in early 2005 to give easier access, as can be seen from the bottom two photos. There will be new challenges ahead, so please think about visiting one of your local libraries on 4th February, even if you just want to chat to me!