Lovely words from The Times columnist, Caitlin Moran:
"A library in the middle of a community is a cross between an emergency exit, a life raft and a festival. They are cathedrals of the mind; hospitals of the soul; theme parks of the imagination … they are the only sheltered public spaces where you are not a consumer, but a citizen, instead. A human with a brain and a heart and a desire to be uplifted, rather than a customer with a credit card and an inchoate ‘need’ for ‘stuff.’ A mall—the shops—are places where your money makes the wealthy wealthier. But a library is where the wealthy’s taxes pay for you to become a little more extraordinary, instead. A satisfying reversal. A balancing of the power."
The photo is of the Sir Duncan Rice Library at the University of Aberdeen. Taken on an evening walk to attend one of the Gifford Lectures delivered by N T Wright earlier in Spring 2018. I know, it isn't a public library, though the fee for a years borrowing is by no means prohibitive.
But it is a repository of knowledge, an architectural statement about the importance of education, thought and the nourishment of mind and spirit. It's a favourite place for me.
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