A recent visit to Hove Library has left me feeling somewhat lost for words. I always thought libraries were supposed to be quiet places, offering a conducive ambience for reading and studying.

Sadly, Hove Library seems to have adopted what might be called a novel approach. On the morning I was there, it was hosting a mothers and toddlers group. And while I'm all for encouraging children to enjoy books from the earliest possible age, these pre-school youngsters weren't being taught to read but to sing at the top of their voices. There surely have to be more suitable venues for this sort of activity than a public library.

I then noted that there are no longer signs requesting silence or, at the very least, quietness and respect for other library users.

While it would be nice to think that visitors would take it upon themselves to exercise discretion and self-restraint, such qualities are increasingly rare these days. And for this I would blame the malignant spread of "mobile phone culture"

and its notion that silence is a void which needs to be filled and that anyone desiring a degree of tranquillity is somehow odd.

Perhaps by the time of my next visit to Hove Library, I will be pleasantly surprised to find the place has turned over a new leaf?

Now that would speak volumes.

  • Peter Lilley, Salisbury Road, Hove