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<DIV>I think museums, generally (not all – I used to be very worried about the
National Maritime Museum; not sure how it’s getting on these days), have
improved since “my young days”. There is an unfortunate tendency, tho’,
for modern museums to be uncluttered, as if everything on view there has to be
absorbed in one visit. (I heard tonight that the Hermitage has resisted
that trend!)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>However, I recently visited the wonderful new Burns museum in Alloway, and
couldn’t tear myself away until I had seen absolutely everything.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The suggestion that we should suppress the cathedrals is superficially
attractive, but I believe we should ignore religion and let it die away of its
own accord. This is the policy of indifference as outlined in “Three
Guineas”.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>To make my point more relevant to the list. Go to Merton’s catalogues
and look for a Virginia Woolf title. You’ll find quite a lot, but I think
you may have to scour the borough for something specific. E.g., you will
scour in vain for “Contemporary Writers”. I believe the local council’s
libraries up here in the NW is even worse. When I say local, it’s actually
nearby, over the border. As for my own council, I shudder to think.
I don’t even know where the main library is.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I heard a joke the other day. Q. How do you tell a working class
home? A. The TV is bigger than the bookcase. Of course, we didn’t
have a TV, but we certainly had very few books, and buying them was actively
discouraged (“dust collectors” “I gave all ours to the book drive during the
war”). Reading, however, was encouraged, but only in moderation.
“What about his eyes. He’ll damage his eyes.” Note the touch of
hysteria. To put it into context, I am told that before the war, when one
of my aunts was informed that her son would have to wear glasses, she burst into
tears. I must ask Cousin Jim whether that’s really true or whether it’s
just a family myth.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>So, public libraries were an absolute godsend (sorry!) to me when I was
young. It would be awful to have to resort to them nowadays.
Caroline Webb has obviously put the point more clearly than I have.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Stuart</DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=jdekter@gmail.com
href="mailto:jdekter@gmail.com">Gregory Jordan Dekter</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, July 23, 2013 5:33 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=stuart.n.clarke@btinternet.com
href="mailto:stuart.n.clarke@btinternet.com">Stuart N. Clarke</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Cc:</B> <A title=vwoolf@lists.service.ohio-state.edu
href="mailto:vwoolf@lists.service.ohio-state.edu">vwoolf@lists.service.ohio-state.edu</A>
</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vwoolf] Public Libraries</DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV
style="FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none; DISPLAY: inline">I
suppose we should dismantle the museums and cathedrals while we're at it.
<BR><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On 23 July 2013 06:42, Stuart N. Clarke <SPAN
dir=ltr><<A href="mailto:stuart.n.clarke@btinternet.com"
target=_blank>stuart.n.clarke@btinternet.com</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR>
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<DIV>All this fuss about closing public libraries! What are public
libraries for? I’m not up to date with current librarianship thinking,
but they seem pretty useless to me. When I first read Woolf’s essay on
Parson Woodforde in CR2, as a teenager in the 1960s, I went to Wimbledon
Library and got out one of his vols. (Sorry, but I couldn’t get anywhere
with it.) Look on the London Borough of Merton’s current online
catalogue, and there’s not a single vol. anywhere in the borough; 27 entries
for the whole of London. I remember when there was a whole stack of
music scores in the Wim. Library. Bet they’re not there now. They
might as well close them all as far as I’m concerned.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Rant over.</DIV><SPAN class=HOEnZb><FONT color=#888888>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Stuart</DIV></FONT></SPAN></DIV></DIV></DIV><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Vwoolf
mailing list<BR><A
href="mailto:Vwoolf@lists.service.ohio-state.edu">Vwoolf@lists.service.ohio-state.edu</A><BR><A
href="https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf"
target=_blank>https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf</A><BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR>
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