Quiet please

I’ve found Number 13 – A Library.

I had a look at the local library in town as I drove past it a couple of days ago and it’s very uninspiring, and then I had a brainwave.  Where do I work?  A school.  Where do students go to borrow books?  The library.  It was just a few steps down the hall from my office all this time and I hadn’t thought to use it.  Now, the only problem is that because this library is in a school, there are always students using it and data protection means that I can’t take a photo that shows a student.  So, I’ve had to make do with a  book display on the Olympics (very topical) which is just inside the foyer.  You’ll just have to believe me that it is in the entrance to the library! 
When I was little I used to love the idea of working in a library.  I loved the little brown card pockets that they would put the library card into, but most of all I loved that stamp they used to print the date that you had to return the book on the front sheet.  Of course, this is now showing my age, when I last went to the public library it was very high tech.  Not to mention ‘do it yourself’.  You scanned your bar code on the book, pressed a button to say if you were taking the book out or returning it, things flashed up on screens, machines bleeped and you’re good to go.  Walking through a security gate that would pick up if you were trying to escape with an unscanned book.  The atmosphere in libraries is different too.  Gone are the days of silence.  Just a feeling of people browsing, and relaxing, and discovering.  Our school librarian says that most of the many girls who have joined her after school book club come mainly for the chocolate chip cookies and orange squash, but I beg to differ.  They’re there to discover the absolute pleasure of absorbing yourself into a book.  Of discovering new worlds of imagination.  Of knowing that if you have a good book in your hand, you’ll never  be bored.  The choc chip cookie is just an added bonus.