The Morningside Public Library is full of all kinds of characters. After continuously putting off getting my membership for so long, the beginning of this semester saw me finally starting to use my local library on Morningside Road. Libraries, generally, are not the most complicated things in the world and this library is no different. With a wide and varied array of fiction and non-fiction, I spent a long time perusing the shelves and finding my bearings as one does when joining something new.
As well as containing books, the Morningside library provides computers, meeting spaces for local groups, board games, jigsaws, and magazines. Whenever I go to pick up a new book or return a pile of read ones, the computers are always occupied, the games are being played, and books are being returned. To be honest, I find it heartwarming that libraries like this one are still being used. In a world where establishments like libraries are being defunded and disused, it is good that many people still see their value. Since my first visit, I have been regularly going back and my own reading level has increased because the library has been providing enticing and gripping novels to read outside the constantly growing class reading lists.
The library as a concept and establishment has existed for centuries. Libraries in every sense are symbols of liberty and democracy. In Scottish author Ali Smith’s short story collection Public Library and Other Stories, Smith declares that “because libraries have always been a part of any civilization they are not negotiable. They are part of our inheritance.” Libraries are inherently storage spaces for the knowledge we have collected as humans so keep our history safe for us. To read is essentially a way of exploring other people’s thoughts and ideas. However, on a different level, libraries also exist within a kind of “village” construction: the butcher, post office, grocer, etc. On many different scales, libraries exist as meeting places.
What I am focusing upon here, is that the importance of a library lies in its presence in a physical space. The eternal “usefulness” of the internet is also bound up in its great nothingness. Its influence is everywhere but it is not a physical space you can go to. However, the public library is a place. This kind of physicality has always been present within the act of picking and reading a book and the library represents this as the place that contains all the books. A single book can pass through many people’s hands and come out looking different depending on the worldview that has read it. With the “village” idea I mentioned earlier, the library is a space that provides small moments of happiness and comfort. These comforts are particularly important for people at vulnerable stages of life; childhood and old age. Books within this kind of sphere can be like companions for people. Particularly with the elderly, a weekly trip to the library is socialising but also protecting your own space. Picking out a novel to read is an activity that requires a lot of thought and throughout the times you are the most lonely, books can be that friend for you.
In total, Edinburgh has 28 public-access libraries. These span all across the city and its outskirts. For those living in the most student-dense areas, Newington, Marchmont and Tollcross, the Newington, Morningside and Fountainbridge libraries are the closest to you. The University of Edinburgh has a total of 10 libraries for academic purposes. The biggest library in Edinburgh is the National Library of Scotland building on George IV Bridge. Making use of the National Library is very different from using your local public library. For one, you cannot take water, food or pens into the huge reading rooms. You must open your laptop and/or notepads and books on the way out so they can check that you haven’t stolen anything. You cannot take books out of the library but must read them in the space. I like these rituals because they raise the importance of books and further emphasise that books are entities that need to be protected.
Within a city teeming with famous literary spots and independent bookshops, the quality and quantity of Edinburgh public libraries is something that must be put to use. Access to the libraries is free. The books you take out are for free. I have been enjoying the Morningside Library’s vast collection of Muriel Spark books, and I am currently reading my third Spark of the Year. I have not spent any money at all on books as a result of finding so many books in my local library. Like books themselves, there is something for everybody.
Photo by Pauline Andan on Unsplash