How do you judge the popularity of a library?
Apparently, the Jubilee Library has seen a 230 per cent increase in visitors (The Argus, March 3).
I can bear witness to that because I have been there three times and each time found the atmosphere on the ground floor akin to a railway concourse. I'm sure many people there were just "visiting".
It was difficult to find what I wanted on the widely dispersed shelves. 70,000 books?
I don't think so.
Where would I find Joyce Porter?
On my second visit a clown was entertaining children.
I finished my fruitless book-search in a state of high anxiety, subconsciously anticipating the next whoop and shriek.
My third, and last, visit ended after five minutes when an alarm bell prompted a general exodus from the building.
No information was given by the staff.
Compare all this with the glorious new library in Lewes. On entry, the layout is immediately comprehensible.
A blue carpet, masses of bookshelves and the quiet atmosphere of a real library.
I love babies but don't let's kid ourselves that a Baby Boogie at the library is going to turn them all into voracious readers by four-and-a-half.
It does however make the library enormously "popular" by current standards.
Personally I just want a room full of books.
-Maureen James, Woodingdean
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