8:28am Thursday 18th June 2009
By Telegraph & Argus
One of the features of a civilised society must surely be the provision of free libraries.
The democratisation of knowledge and the opportunities for personal development this brings cannot be underestimated.
Indeed, there are numerous successful men and women who credit a youth spent in libraries for their success.
Libraries, though, are about much more than learning for a purpose. They are places which venerate knowledge for its own sake and offer their services in a refreshingly un-snobbish and non-judgemental way.
A new best-selling thriller, for example, is given shelf-space just like the works of Shakespeare, while the student swotting for an exam is as welcome as someone casually browsing while keeping out of the rain.
But however much we cherish the service, it is imperative that it remains relevant. And while there are those for whom the book is, and will always remain, king, libraries must embrace technological developments which have revolutionised some of their functions, such as research, for example.
Many of our library buildings, too, while magnificent structures, now need some TLC and sympathetic modernisation.
The secret would seem to be marrying up the best of the old and the new.
The £1.5 million revamped Manningham Library, which welcomed Bradford actor and writer George Layton yesterday, is an ambitious attempt to do just that – and it sounds magnificent.
While the public will ultimately be the judges when it opens next month, here’s hoping this is the start of what will become another successful chapter in its history.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/trade_directory/