There’s a peculiar irony in how we talk about libraries these days. We wax lyrical about the smell of old books and childhood memories of story time, yet we vote for councillors who slash their budgets without a second thought.
I’ve spent the past month visiting libraries across the region, and what I found wasn’t a relic of the past clinging to relevance—it was the future of community infrastructure hiding in plain sight.
More Than Books
At Riverside Library on a Tuesday morning, I watched a pensioner learn to video call her grandchildren in Australia. In the afternoon, a young mother attended a free coding workshop whilst her toddler played in the children’s section. By evening, a job seekers’ group was comparing CVs over the communal printer.
None of this fits our romantic image of libraries as hushed temples of literature. And that’s precisely the point.
The Digital Divide Isn’t Just Statistics
We bandy about figures—23% without reliable internet access, 15% without basic digital skills—but libraries turn those numbers into faces. They’re the unemployed graduate who can’t apply for jobs from his phone. The refugee family navigating government websites in their third language. The student whose “homework” assumes everyone has a laptop and broadband.
Libraries bridge these gaps not through charity, but through public service.
Investment, Not Sentiment
If we’re serious about economic recovery, digital inclusion, and community cohesion—phrases every politician loves—we need to fund libraries like the infrastructure they are. Not cutely. Not sentimentally. Properly.
That means extended hours, modern technology, and staff who are paid as the educators and digital facilitators they’ve become.
Our nostalgia for libraries is lovely. But nostalgia doesn’t keep the lights on. Policy does. Budgets do. And right now, we’re failing on both counts.
Disclaimer: News24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24.
