Whispering in the Library

Subject: Re: Whispering in the Library

I remember as a young guy the atmosphere in the Reference Library in Bradford, much of it caused by the quiet and the stipulation that you whispered. 

Just the sound and smell of books being shuffled around on the large polished tables, it was if time was on hold and you could sense the intensity of the place as people searched for information. The massive card index to allow the Liberian to locate your book in the basement archive, the paper request form handed over an equally large polished counter where the librarians sat waiting and filing new books into categories.

It was all very impressive, very literary there was a sense you were part of a academic society which made your ego go up a notch or two.

I remember being in the Cape Town Library referencing something when a thunder storm came over and the sound of the rain and the oh so similar environment made me feel so very homesick.

Today we have Google and the Reference Library is much a thing of the past, except in places like the British Library and maybe the University library's. I remember the Johannesburg Central Library as an oasis for young black school kids during the time of the Apartheid flocking into the Reference Library to find a place and the material to study. They were thirsty for knowledge and the opportunity to escape the economic pit they found themselves in through accident of birth. I used to think how lucky my own children were not having to travel from Soweto to cram for the privilege of receiving an education and how little they seemed to understand on which side of the barrier they stood to receive that privilege.

The literary was one of the few, if not only place the races mixed with some sort of equality and given the stringency of the Apartheid system that was remarkable.

The literary experience is gone these days with the marvel of the internet subsuming the collegiate feel of community. Everyone is on their own mission where, with a tap of a key information is available. It begs of course the question, how valid the information is with so much propaganda mixed in with fact. 

My 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica, 32 volumes of exquisite typeface, printed on lightweight paper, many many pages to each volume was, is, a work of the highest craftsmanship but sadly in its compilation and superb accuracy it was out of date by the time it was available. Of course the thoroughness it dealt with historical fact, the precise way it tabulated the basis of discovery, the infinite precision of its drawings were the apotheosis of the hardback book and the art of printing but as a point of up to date reference in this fast moving world of global information it was a remnant of Empire where the sun never set.

As we feel the need to 'bin the past' because it is felt it not relevant anymore, as 'experience' is down valued and not required since the 'new new' is so hot off the press it hardly has time to cool down before becoming obsolete. Because in reflecting on the past and its value, we are frightened, in the hurry to discard everything but the immediate present that the old may have something to say that is uncomfortably pertinent.