Thread: Creepy libraries....

Originally Posted by PixieParasol

Some years ago I worked at a library on a rough council estate in Nottingham (which shall remain nameless). The parents there ALL used to use the library as a place to dump their kids while they buggered off some-where else (pub, shops, etcetc). So this kind of behaviour was commonplace and kids were left there for hours and hours. The librarian was so used to it that it didn't faze her anymore and used it as her chance to increase the issue figures and get them reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seems like it must be pretty common. I have worked in a couple of what are so euphemistically referred to as "social inclusion areas" and the libraries are always very well used - although not necessarily for their intended purpose! I remember going for an interview at a library on one housing estate and being surprised to hear it was the subject of territorial disputes amongst the local kids as the ones who lived on that estate didn't like "their" library being used by the kids from the next estate.

And more recently I worked in an art centre that was right next to a library in a very deprived area, the library had a bouncer and was always heaving with throngs of local kids who seemed to just get turned out of their houses in the morning and couldn't get back in until evening....I don't think their parents dropped them there so much as the kids themselves had worked out it was a safe, warm place to be where they could stay as long as they liked or needed provided they could behave.

Originally Posted by Kittie Noir

maybe the cute guy was looking at you cos he thought you were cute! my local library is rubbish i miss the big one in liverpool, i could actually find a book i wanted to read there!

Did you have to search for about two hours before you found what you were after though? It might just be the art section, but almost every time I went to get a book that was supposed to be in, it was nowhere to be found.