A UK colleague sent me a pointer to this discussion of directions at Camden public libraries which includes this comment about public libraries by novelist Beryl Bainbridge:
Camden Town novelist Beryl Bainbridge said yesterday: “Why do they want them to be friendly places? They’re meant to be sacred. I bet you’d really impress young people if you had really old museum exteriors with lots of old books and silence. Make things accessible and people don’t want them. I hate modernity.” [Camden New Journal – News: Mike Clarke | Flick Rea | Beryl Bainbridge | Jonathan Miller | Alan Templeton | Doris Lessing]
