Cicely Herbert talks about libraries.
The conqueror and scholar, Alexander 'the Great' is reputed to have kept a dagger and a copy of the Iliad under his pillow at all times. It is said that Homer's work was a guide and inspiration to him throughout his life, with Achilles as his personal hero. Although Ptolemy I is also given credit for it, it was generally believed to have been Alexander who was responsible for the creation of the first great library in the world, which became a model for all future libraries. At its zenith, the Library at Alexandria is said to have contained around 700,000 volumes, and the aim was that it should have an edition of every literary work of the time.
The building was probably destroyed by a disastrous fire, but there is also a school of thought that it was through neglect and a lack of care, upkeep and expenditure over many years that led to the great library's eventual ruin. However, more than 1600 years later, from the ashes of the old library a new one has sprung. Rebuilt with financial aid from UNESCO, the library is oval-shaped to symbolise 'the continuity of life' and today it contains works written in 120 languages.
The nineteenth century critic and social commentator, John Ruskin, who had a poor opinion of his fellow English citizens' intellect and learning, asked: 'What do we as a nation care about books? How much do you think we spend altogether on our libraries, public or private, as compared with what we spend on our horses?' What, and how much, indeed? While my neighbourhood betting shop, just along the road from the library is always well frequented, and in no possible danger of closure, the recent severe cutbacks in public spending have threatened the very existence of our local library and many like it. In some urban areas where funding has been withdrawn altogether, there have already been major losses.
Hopefully, the country's great libraries, those of the universities and major institutions like the British Library (which was founded in 1753), will always be protected – it is the smaller branch lending libraries that are under immediate threat of extinction, and it is to save these that many local protest movements have sprung up around the country. Just over a year ago, I found myself, an elderly St Joan, standing on the back of a lorry and exhorting my startled neighbours to fight to save our much-loved local library from permanent closure. As I said then, and truly believe, libraries are surely the lynchpin of any civilised society.
For generations, libraries have provided students and researchers, as well as ordinary readers, with a refuge from the noisy world outside, and a place for study, where one could read and think, and where children were able to do their homework in a quiet environment.
Those branch libraries that have, so far, managed to stay open in spite of the threat of closure, have usually done so through the efforts and the determined willpower of local volunteers, who have often been obliged to replace the redundant, and forcibly paid-off, trained professionals. My own local library adjoins Keats House in Hampstead and receives some funding from the City of London, so that, as well as containing an eclectic collection of books, (many that have been donated) it provides a useful space for literary events, quizzes (very popular these!), recitals and debates.
The movement to 'Save our Local Libraries' seems to have brought communities together, uniting us in a determination to defy the threat of closure, but the buildings cost money to run, and require the input of considerable human energy and commitment, so that without proper funding, I fear that one day in the foreseeable future, we will be forced to accept ever more losses. One can only hope that from the life of the old, a new and dynamic movement will spring, and that our libraries may again thrive, as they have done for several generations of citizens, as centres of discovery, learning and research.
Cicely Herbert is one of the trio who founded and continue to run Poems on the Underground (now spread from London to many other cities worldwide). In Hospital, her poetry collection (with the Victorian poet W. E. Henley), was published by Katabasis in 1992.