Tuesday 3 January 2012

Study-areas shrinking

Libraries – to me – are valuable places.  Not only are they places for me to get hold of books (and even CDs) I can’t afford to buy, but they are places I associate with my youth. In my parents’ crowded house, the only place I could go to study for school-homework in peace was the local library.

Yet, most libraries that I know of in Staffordshire (fearful of being shut I guess), have reduced their ‘quiet areas’ - and some have no study sites at all.  The spaces have been turned over to story-telling areas or computer-zones. And, even where there are study areas, they tend to be squeezed into some cold, small rooms that usually double as something else.

So – thank Goodness for Hanley library.  This study-table, in its reference section, is one of half-a-dozen in the section.
Mind you, the best study-area in the county must be at Tamworth Library. The whole of the top floor is given over to study there - and there's even a coffee machine!

What I don’t understand is: what do youngsters do now when they want peace in which to study? Do all kids have their own bedrooms now?  Maybe they do… 

3 comments:

  1. I caught a story telling time a couple of weeks back, it was a great story about a dragon. I have over the past year or so rediscovered libraries. The trick I think is to use the online reservation service, I have got several books I wanted to read over the past 10 days or so. I also drop in and check my emails when I am out and about.

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  2. You forgot to mention Newcastle-under-Lyme main library. Its 'local studies research area' is, in reality, a quiet zone, enclosed in a big study-room all on its own. Fabulous for anyone needing to concentrate.
    You can't take drinks in, but that's a small price to pay

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  3. It's well worth checking what times libraries are open. All of them have different opening times, which is a bit odd, but you can find the times easily n the Staffordshire Libraries site. Some are open until 7pm which is pretty helpful; on the downside, some smaller ones shut for lunch, and - for no apparent reason - might be shut the whole of one day in the week.

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