The joy of a library

I joined the library today.

It was a fine decision. Anyone reading this who are already members will know exactly how good they've become.

I urgently needed a photocopy of something and the only place to do it was in the city library. Of course I couldn't use the photocopier as I wasn't a member but amazingly had both photo ID and a bank statement containing my address in my pocket so 3 minutes later I was ready to roll. So simple, no silly and unnecessary red tape to deal with, no eleventy million barriers to creating an account. Just a nice smile and a "Here's your card, books are everywhere, music is in that room, computers are upstairs and films are straight over there."

Films.

Sorry what?

The last time I used a library was in 1995. The one in Roscrea sucked and the librarian was a strange woman with a love of hovering noisily at your shoulder. The lack of books, the smell of damp and her over familiarity combined to put me off them for years. I had no idea how much they've changed since. The selection of books is fantastic. They've a huge music section. Computers, net access for those who don't have it at home and yes, they now stock films. You may sneer that in the Netflix age DVD's feel anachronistic but the depth of choice available is fantastic. A wealth of foreign films and older stuff that wouldn't get within a mile of Netflix's servers. Even better is the fact that you can search library databases for films you'd like to see and if another library has it your library will borrow it off them for you.

Look at the selection of films here for example. Dutch, French, Italian, German, Swedish, Belgian, Spanish and a touch of Asian cinema too. That's just one shelf. There's 2 more above it and the 3 shelves below it are filled with classic cinema. To the left and not pictured are 3 different Ingmar Bergman boxsets. He's not for everyone but the fact that I have the option to see them all and for free just makes me so giddy.

It's a ball of culture under one roof and it's all for free.Yup. It doesn't cost a penny to join. And there's no such thing as late fees anymore. If you have stuff out and don't think you will be able to get it back on time you can go online to https://librariesireland.iii.com and renew your stuff. To log in all you need is your surname, your account number and your pin code. While online you can check out whats for rent too and search for stuff in other libraries too. It's really cool and I'm so fucked off that I haven't been doing this for years. I could have saved myself a bomb. Grrr.