‘More need for it than ever’: Fran Whiting on terrible trend of schools with no libraries

For a certain sort of kid, school libraries are a sanctuary, a place they literally flee to, before, during or after school hours. Frances Whiting shares the need to keep school libraries open.

I was a shy kid. You might not have thought that, if you’d seen me cartwheeling my way through primary school, shouting into the wind at the playground and generally being loud, giddy and boisterous.

But like a lot of shy kids, most of that was performative, and when I got tired of performing, there was one place I headed at lunchtime: my school library.

I can, all these years later, remember the feeling of walking up the covered stairs to its entrance, its doors sliding open and feeling the rush of cool air as I fell into its arms.

I would make my way between its shelves, books lined up on either side of me like silent sentries, until I got to my spot. A beanbag tucked into the furthest corner, where I would settle down with my literary friends, Astrid (Lindgren), Enid (Blyton) and Judy (Blume) when my own friendships felt scratchy.

For a certain sort of kid, school libraries are a sanctuary, a place they literally flee to, before, during or after school hours. A place where the librarian will know them by name, and also exactly what sort of book they might like to read. A place where they feel entirely at home, and safe – and for some kids, when their own home is anything but. Sometimes, they are the only place a child thinks to go when their entire world no longer makes sense.

Frances Whiting on the importance of libraries. Picture: David Clark

There was a boy in my year 6 class whose sister had died of an asthma attack. It was sad and shocking and none of us knew what to say, or do to make him feel better. But for the rest of that year, whenever I went to the library at lunchtime, he was there too. Sitting at a table, making tiny, felt, finger puppets. The librarians let him be, so did the library kids, walking past to smile and say hello as he cut out the felt, with small, silver scissors, lost in concentration, still in the quiet.

These are the sorts of services school libraries offer beyond books; these are the things we lose if we close them. I sat next to a school librarian on a plane this week.

She told me she is retiring next year, and they are not replacing her.

“Funding cuts,” she said, “we’re an endangered species.”

There’s a new high school near me that doesn’t even have a library. Not enough funding for it, they said. Not enough need for it, they added.

I’d argue that in this digital age, there’s more need for it than ever. I’d argue that a beanbag in a quiet corner surrounded by books is exactly what is needed to turn down the volume of selfies and social media. And I’d argue that even beyond their sanctuary status, libraries can be life changing, if not life savers. Books are where the lonely find friends; the distressed, comfort; the exhausted, rest; and the numb, curiosity.

And for so many of us, the first time we were given that particular gift was at our school library, where a librarian smiled at us and said, “How about this one?”, and gave us the keys to the kingdom.

Originally published as ‘More need for it than ever’: Fran Whiting on terrible trend of schools with no libraries