Why I love libraries

I know it’s nearly the end of the month, but I only discovered this week that February is National Library Lovers Month in the US. And with my books now available to order in libraries (almost) the world over, I thought it the perfect opportunity to write about these wonderful institutions.

According to the website statista, there are over 4.1 thousand public libraries in the UK and 950 academic libraries, including the British Library, which is one of the largest in the world holding more than 150 million items! The oldest public library is Chetham Library, which was founded in 1653 and is housed in a marvellous building that is even older, dating back to 1421. It looks like a marvellous place, and it’s just gone on my list of must-see places!

It should come as no surprise, I suppose, that a very special library memory for me is from my childhood in Hawes. Instead of a library in the town, we had a mobile one which would visit regularly. It would park outside the Market Hall and we would head up and find books. I devoured the Willard Price ‘Adventure’ series, and every Asterix book I could lay my hands on; my favourites are still Asterix in Switzerland, because of all the gooey cheese, and Asterix in Britain, because it's hilarious and also very, very accurate about the british!

In fact, I still get a thrill of anticipation when I walk into my local library, purely at the thought of all those books being there, waiting for me to discover them and take them home – for free! I mean, what an amazing concept. But libraries nowadays are also so much more than that. Just our relatively small local library offers a huge range of other activities including children’s story telling clubs, crafting activities for kids and adults, a Lego club, toy club and Toddler Time. It’s also a designated warm space for people who struggle to heat their homes during the day and hosts drop-in centres for residents on a number of issues. In short, it’s a wonderful place that offers so much more than books to pass the time away.

If you’re really lucky you might catch a local author inexplicably dressed in bizarre clothing trying to pass on their passion for reading and storytelling to local school children, as I was wont to do in my days as a children’s author. I would tour schools and libraries up and down the country, talking about my books, about my love of reading and writing, and holding storytelling workshops for youngsters. Although I don’t miss the travelling, I did love doing these events and acting the fool in front of a captive audience (as you can see from the photos). And nothing gave me more of a thrill than seeing well-thumbed copies of my series The Dead, The Dark and The Damned, and my standalone young adult novel Doomrider, on the shelves of a library. 

Now that the Grimm books are available for libraries to order, I hope to see some of these with cracked spines and dog-eared pages at libraries across the world too. So let’s hear it for libraries! Brilliant places run by dedicated people providing vital services to local communities everywhere. Huzzah!