New library service opens a different chapter

CAN still remember the wonder I felt when I went to the library for the first time. Coming from a working class background, we didn’t have books in the house.

I had been an avid reader of comics like Hotspur, Adventure, Rover and Wizard, which were actually misnamed because, while they had a comic strip on front and back, the interior was packed with print stories.

When I was 12, we moved from a terraced street in Leeds to the middleclass pretensions of Timperley in Cheshire, on the other side of Manchester.

The library, a 10 minute walk away, was a large detached Victorian house in its own gardens, which was impressive enough.

Inside was even more amazing: row after row of stacked shelves of books you could take home for free. I discovered Biggles and Swallows and Amazons and endless adventure.

I’ve been hooked on books ever since. I enjoy bookshops and, despite my wife demanding I have the occasional clear-out when box-loads go to the hospice shop, I still have a substantial home library.

The Kindle revolutionised reading habits when it was launched 10 years ago. I’ve used e-book readers but still enjoy the feel of a real book.

And I recently returned to borrowing from the library, that great institution that started my passion, when I discovered it has an e-book service.

Kirklees Libraries website says: “Not got time to go to the library, want the chance to read the latest bestsellers for free? Kirklees Libraries E-lending service could be for you. Kirklees library members can now loan an eBook to read on their PC, laptop, tablet or smart phone through their web browser. You can also download audio-books so you can lay back and listen to your favourite stories too.”

It’s a brilliant service that is so convenient I now always have a book in my pocket: I download them onto my smartphone and can read them anywhere, anytime.

To make it work, you first download the Overdrive app onto your device, which turns it into a virtual e-book reader. This links to the library and enables you to download the books.

A wonderful Kirklees service I shall continue to enjoy.

But I’ll never forget the pleasure and excitement of those long ago first visits to a library that opened my literary horizons for ever.