Library Interview Transcript

Person 1: Did you use libraries as a child? 

Person 2: After my father was killed in the Second World War, the military paid for me to go to private school- I hated it. All the girls there came from rich families and liked to tease me about my military scholarship. So I retreated to the library. Firstly because my mother couldn't afford all my text books and because it was quiet- no one could tease me there. So yes, libraries were hugely important in my childhood- as a fountain of knowledge and a safe harbour. 

Person 1: Do you think children use them now? 

Person 2: I know they do. Maybe I'm just old, but it always shocks me that all your work is done online with no regard to whether your family has access to the internet. I know you have libraries of your own at school, so I suppose that proves how important they really are for students with no internet at home. Libraries are so vital to those families and I dread the day children are at a disadvantage because of their families financial situation. Years as a social worker showed me what can happen if a family's financial issues becomes an issue for their children.

Person 1: What do you think closing libraries will do? Who will it effect the most?

Person 2: Maybe books aren't cool any more, but I know when I was a child, a book, new or old, was precious. I still see children reading on buses and trains and in coffee shops, so libraries and their books are still being read. If closed the last flicker of interest in a new book will be lost. The source of books will be killed and they will die out. Children will definitely be effected badly with no access to learning. So much vocabulary is discovered through reading and being read to, so if they can't access this, their development could be deeply effected. 

This transcript is a interview between me and my grandmother. I am person 1 and my grandma is person 2. As a 16 year old, who is lucky enough to have access to the internet at home, the work I am given, including this blog, can be completed within the comfort of my own home. I don't think people are sufficiently aware of how many young people do not have access to the internet at home. Libraries are therefore vital as a place they can go without announcing to the whole world that they are unable to complete the work at home. Taking away libraries from these people would hinder children who could succeed as much as and even surpass those of us who have the privilege of the internet at home. Talking with my grandma gave me some primary accounts of who can be affected by the service libraries provide.