Wasted lives
I've given up delivering for Glasgow libraries (specifically for Elder Park, Ibrox and Cardonald libraries) after 9 years. I've enjoyed my contact with so many customers over the years and I hope my library buddy Alex gets a new companion and keeps the service going. I'll still be a customer of Glasgow Libraries because they are still the best service in the world and their staff are second to none.
But here's a question for you to ponder. Our library customers are mainly elderly. Some are disabled. How did they get the reading bug and how have they managed to keep their love of reading alive over many years?
Some were people lucky enough to get an education and go on to college and earn a good living, but there are a lot who could never do any of that. These are what I would call the flowers that bloom unseen: clever people who mopped up every bit of learning offered to them but never got the opportunity to progress their learning. Some worked in factories or offices or shipyards all their days, some were cleaners, some stayed at home because 'women didn't work' in those days.
Just think of all that wasted talent! Think how wealthy Scotland would be if all these people had reached their potential.
To an extent, this waste doesn't happen now. A century ago, if you missed the educational boat, that was it: you had to settle for less. My own father was a case in point: he loved Govan High School and did well, but had to leave at 15 because the family needed his wages as an apprentice. It was the 1930s. Times were hard. My uncle sat all his Highers at 16 but then left Govan High to work for the Gas Board. It took a world war to get him and others in to higher education.
Now you can - and often have to - change jobs regularly. One of my nieces has re-trained out of nursery nursing into ICU nursing. Another has taken up learning in her mid-30s and discovered she's not only good at it but loves it.
Where do libraries fit in? They're there. Not open as many hours as they used to be, but if you are trying to fill in a job application for the Job Centre or learn English as a recent immigrant, or want your wee kids to get to know books - this is still where you come.
I am eternally grateful for the early start I got with reading at Elder Park (at about 6, I think) and was then able to carry on by myself at Cardonald Library.
I also vividly remember coming back from the Southern General Hospital and getting off the bus at Cardonald Library to go in and look up a diagnosis I'd just been given (I'd had a stroke - at 35). I remember I had a wee greet because the diagnosis wasn't great and one of the librarians brought me a cup of water and a pat on the shoulder.
Most of all, I am so glad to have known Archie and Reena and Mrs Stuart, and Mrs Kane and all the other customers of the library. I wish them well.
Keep reading, folks!
But here's a question for you to ponder. Our library customers are mainly elderly. Some are disabled. How did they get the reading bug and how have they managed to keep their love of reading alive over many years?
Some were people lucky enough to get an education and go on to college and earn a good living, but there are a lot who could never do any of that. These are what I would call the flowers that bloom unseen: clever people who mopped up every bit of learning offered to them but never got the opportunity to progress their learning. Some worked in factories or offices or shipyards all their days, some were cleaners, some stayed at home because 'women didn't work' in those days.
Just think of all that wasted talent! Think how wealthy Scotland would be if all these people had reached their potential.
To an extent, this waste doesn't happen now. A century ago, if you missed the educational boat, that was it: you had to settle for less. My own father was a case in point: he loved Govan High School and did well, but had to leave at 15 because the family needed his wages as an apprentice. It was the 1930s. Times were hard. My uncle sat all his Highers at 16 but then left Govan High to work for the Gas Board. It took a world war to get him and others in to higher education.
Now you can - and often have to - change jobs regularly. One of my nieces has re-trained out of nursery nursing into ICU nursing. Another has taken up learning in her mid-30s and discovered she's not only good at it but loves it.
Where do libraries fit in? They're there. Not open as many hours as they used to be, but if you are trying to fill in a job application for the Job Centre or learn English as a recent immigrant, or want your wee kids to get to know books - this is still where you come.
I am eternally grateful for the early start I got with reading at Elder Park (at about 6, I think) and was then able to carry on by myself at Cardonald Library.
I also vividly remember coming back from the Southern General Hospital and getting off the bus at Cardonald Library to go in and look up a diagnosis I'd just been given (I'd had a stroke - at 35). I remember I had a wee greet because the diagnosis wasn't great and one of the librarians brought me a cup of water and a pat on the shoulder.
Most of all, I am so glad to have known Archie and Reena and Mrs Stuart, and Mrs Kane and all the other customers of the library. I wish them well.
Keep reading, folks!
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