'Libraries are so much more than books; they're places of warmth, freedom and no judgement'

As writers, the team at Penguin PR are also voracious readers. That’s why we think it’s important to take part in a current Derby survey on budget proposals which could see libraries being shut, writes Lucy Stephens.

“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. On a cold rainy island, they are the only sheltered public spaces where you are not a consumer, but a citizen instead.”

These soaring words from the incomparable Times columnist Caitlin Moran resonate today as much as when she wrote them, 12 years ago, in 2011.

That’s because for many people, libraries have a unique place in our heart, and it’s with great sadness that we learn of their potential closure.

Probably every enthusiast you ever meet will tell you a similar story, but my own love affair with libraries started at about the age of eight when living in a suburb of Preston in Lancashire, when I was sometimes allowed to walk down the road to our local library and get some books out.

I wish I could share impressive details as to what these books were – I seem to remember quite a few ‘How to knit’ guides amongst those I took out. Probably a reasonable proportion of the works of Enid Blyton made it back home with me too. On Friday afternoons, my mum and I would always head to the library to research the weekly quiz that was sent home from primary school. Happy days.

Fast forward to 2011, at the time Caitlin Moran was writing her column on libraries in The Saturday Times, which I was then to read while sitting at my parents’ kitchen table. By then, I had a similar warm relationship with our local library in Melbourne when I had two little girls of my own.

Because, as Moran so eloquently puts it, a library is about much, much more than books. It’s about freedom. It’s about warmth. It’s about going somewhere where you can spend time reading and no-one, absolutely no-one, is judging you, competing with you, or, perhaps most crucially of all, wanting you to buy anything.

For Moran, who famously grew up in considerably straitened circumstances in Wolverhampton, that last bit was key, but whoever you are, I think it’s still an important point. When you’ve got little ones, a walk outside or a trip to the local park are some of the few other examples I can think of where there is no pressure to buy stuff. Believe me, we did plenty of those outings too, but on a wet day in January, there’s nothing like a wander down to your local library with small children in tow. Being surrounded by books, choosing which to bring home, and then enjoying them together – it’s a simple pleasure but you can’t beat it.

Libraries are brilliant for all ages, too. When visiting Birmingham a few years later to see the gloriously designed, newly opened city library there (if you haven’t been, it’s well worth a visit), I noticed something interesting. The age group amongst whom the new library was by far the most popular, was teenagers. Young people in school uniform sitting quietly at tables, doing their homework.

As I say, a library doesn’t care how old you are, what you look like, what you’re wearing, or what your circumstances are. You just get to come into a warm welcome for as long as it’s open, and read.

Right now in Derby there is a question mark over funding for ten community-managed libraries in the city, and much heartache from committed volunteers over the prospect they may close their doors.

Yes, of course, times are hard. The cost of living is going up. There are energy bills to pay, and many, many demands on the local budget.

All I’d say is that in supporting a local library, you’ll be casting a vote for much more than books.