It has been a while since I last ventured in to Gordon Library and I am pleased by what I am seeing. Gordon Library has a light, airy and friendly feel as walk in, thick, light bright comfortable couches surround shelves of well organised books. Off to one side there are neat, compact work stations where students can sit and concentrate and on the other side of the library there are large bleached oak tables where groups of people can work together. This is not the crusty old place I was expecting at all.
Without thinking, I sit at one of the large bleached oak tables and get my laptop out. This place is conducive to working. It is not the silent tomb-like library that I grew up experiencing in my youth, there is a low non-disruptive noise from a couple of people working together on something, while a bevy of retirees sit in the corner reading the days newspapers.
Library have had to transform themselves over the last few years, simply because the Internet and its immediacy of delivery of so much information, has changed the relevance of these places. Yes, there are shelves and shelves of wonderful books here, many of which you will never be able to reproduce on the web, but there are meetings and talks and discussions going on in this place.
As I walk in to the library there are three notices of upcoming events:
- An announcement of the library-coordinated school holiday program from April 14th-17th. With adventures and treks and things to do.
- A discussion next Wednesday entitled “Social Media and how does it effect our lives?”
- And two author discussions/meetings; Cecile Yazbek and her book Mezze to Milk Tart as well as Frank Coates discussing his novel “Whisper at Dawn”
As I get myself comfortable at my desk, on a wet autumn day, a young lady announces that it is “Story Time” in the children;s corner and half a dozen very young children appear from nowhere with their parent to enjoy a good book.
