the story of a book, a basket and why I love libraries..........

Not a typical teenager - well maybe not - but who is and how would you define one? During my childhood and teens in the late 70's and early 80's in Newcastle I loved the regular Saturday visits to our local library that I made with my father, brother and sister. I remember the squeaky floors, the not being able to see over the counter as my books were checked out, the little pink and green tickets with clipped corners that became more fibrous and worn over the years till they were re-issued in the next shade of beige. I enjoyed the choice, the browsing, the looking at that book on Rabies with the foaming dog and straight-jacketed man, the books on birds, the books on all the artists, even the book on 'Taxidermy for beginners'. All the books we wouldn't get for Christmas, the books nobody would think we wanted - not even ourselves. A ghoulish child I think not - a curious one most definitely.

So, vividly, I now remember taking out for loan a book that I now know is a classic in its field, my field. Dorothy Wright's 'The Complete Book of Baskets and Basketry' - I have two versions in front of me now, it's still an admirable authoritative text with many black and white photographs that for some reason I pored over years ago. So how did that happen? I just don't know - yes I was encouraged to take an interest in things arty and crafty - indeed my father taught me to spin and built his own loom - but did we have particular interest in basketry? - no, did we visit a basketmaker or woodland craftsman? - certainly not that I remember.

So the point of all this nostalgia? Libraries. I grew up with them, I use them, I always expect them to be there. I buy books - lots of them, I use the internet - quite a lot, but I still need and want to visit libraries to find the books I don't know about, to pursue the peripheral, to make use of their service, to take my children to explore their collections.

So now I become a little lost for words as I try to fathom our current situation locally and nationally as libraries are under serious threat of closure. Of course I understand that to get us out of this god-awful mess created by the capitalism driven bankers sacrifices need to be made, but what is the sense in closing the hub of community learning? How can our society evolve in the future if we take away our learning from the past?

So to return to the title of this post you will see in the picture above an example of the extraordinary winnowing fan or 'van' once commonly used in many parts of Europe but now without function or maker - an extinct basket of great beauty and skill. As you will see in my other photograph I first came across this basket in Dorothy's book and it amongst many other images fascinated me as a child. Now I am the very proud owner of both Dorothy's book and an original 'van', my teenage fascination sparked in my local library has stayed with me and has shaped my life.

Update on Thursday, September 15, 2011 at 11:37AM by [Tim Johnson]

Just found this blog entry by Lois Walpole concerning the same book......

Books, Libraries and a little bit of Magic