Rant. Noisy libraries

Whatever happened to quiet and peaceful public libraries? Am I the only oldie who can’t hear myself think in my local library nowadays? I remember when libraries were hushed, monastic places. Even the tramps who came in to keep warm didn’t dare talk out loud. Everything apart from reading (and possibly breathing) was forbidden. Libraries were serious institutions, policed

by fierce librarians who could strike you dumb with a fearsome glare.

I didn’t mind. I loved my local library because it was so tranquil. For me, it was a refuge from the hullabaloo of home and school.

Libraries are no longer havens for silent study – they’re places to ‘hang out’. Chitchat is encouraged, as I found when I dared remonstrate with a particularly talkative librarian (and got an earful for my pains). As well as making small talk with timewasters, librarians now feel compelled to provide activities for every age group, from singalongs for mums and toddlers to bridge and Scrabble for oldies. I’m trying to read a book in here! What’s wrong with the church hall?

The rot set in when they started putting computers into libraries. The idea was that teenagers would use them to do their homework. Instead, they use them for social media and computer games. A library should be a sanctuary from the internet. As any decent teacher will tell you, surfing the net is no

substitute for reading a good book from beginning to end.

In fact, all this ‘inclusiveness’ is terribly élitist. I’m lucky enough to live in a spacious house – I can just as easily read at home – but, when I was cooped up in a crowded flat, the library was my great escape. If your home life is chaotic, where can you go to read or study, now the library is just another raucous coffee shop, full of people talking on their phones? What’s the point of libraries unless they’re contemplative spaces? Shut down your laptop, turn off your phone, pick up a book, sit down, shut up and read it. And, for heaven’s sake, could the librarians please keep that infernal racket down? WILLIAM COOK