Yesterday, while waiting around for the lecture to start at Westminster Cathedral, I had to kill some time so I ducked into the public library for the city of Westminister on the second floor of the City Hall. Westminister, for those who don't know, is the city at the center of London and is home to the Parliament for the United Kingdom, Westminister Abbey, the various Cabinet offices and more than 234,000 people. The library at city hall is the newest of the 12 branch facilities operated by the City of Westminster. To get there, I had to go through the city planning department and some other workers busy at their desks. When I got inside, I still wasn't sure I was in the right place. The "library" consists of a single large room, maybe the size of two offices at the county courthouse at home. There are a few books, a few computer terminals and a few periodicals. There were perhaps 5000 titles in all. The biography section consists of a single shelf (not a section--a shelf--pictured above.) For fun, I ran a search on the library catalogue of two subjects whose biographies I am currently seeking: George III and Oliver Cromwell. Despite the fact that the entire Westminster system claims to have a little over 5000 biographies total, it has none specifically on George III, one of England's most acclaimed monarchs. It has three on Oliver Cromwell, only one of which is available for checkout and the wait for that one is 48 days. By contrast, our public library at home has its own enormous building, a collection of 70,000+ items, meetings rooms, programs, banks of computers, etc., etc., etc. , and this is not considered a luxury but a standard part of government services. As a county commissioner I heard constantly about the unmet needs of our local library, but having seen what others have to work with, I'm more aware than ever of the need to count our blessings for what we've got!
Friday, February 27, 2009
A Visit To The Library
Yesterday, while waiting around for the lecture to start at Westminster Cathedral, I had to kill some time so I ducked into the public library for the city of Westminister on the second floor of the City Hall. Westminister, for those who don't know, is the city at the center of London and is home to the Parliament for the United Kingdom, Westminister Abbey, the various Cabinet offices and more than 234,000 people. The library at city hall is the newest of the 12 branch facilities operated by the City of Westminster. To get there, I had to go through the city planning department and some other workers busy at their desks. When I got inside, I still wasn't sure I was in the right place. The "library" consists of a single large room, maybe the size of two offices at the county courthouse at home. There are a few books, a few computer terminals and a few periodicals. There were perhaps 5000 titles in all. The biography section consists of a single shelf (not a section--a shelf--pictured above.) For fun, I ran a search on the library catalogue of two subjects whose biographies I am currently seeking: George III and Oliver Cromwell. Despite the fact that the entire Westminster system claims to have a little over 5000 biographies total, it has none specifically on George III, one of England's most acclaimed monarchs. It has three on Oliver Cromwell, only one of which is available for checkout and the wait for that one is 48 days. By contrast, our public library at home has its own enormous building, a collection of 70,000+ items, meetings rooms, programs, banks of computers, etc., etc., etc. , and this is not considered a luxury but a standard part of government services. As a county commissioner I heard constantly about the unmet needs of our local library, but having seen what others have to work with, I'm more aware than ever of the need to count our blessings for what we've got!
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1 comment:
so does this mean that you miss us, your public servants at home? :) isn't it funny how life is all relative? i love my library, but then, i also work there! :) miss you guys, hope you miss us too! love your blog posts, read them daily.. hugs and kisses to all!!
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