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# QOTD: a lifted study-storehouse
- URL: https://www.lorcandempsey.net/qotd-a-lifted-study-storehouse/
- Published: 2008-02-01T15:59:36.000Z
- Updated: 2020-10-28T09:27:37.000Z
- Author: Lorcan Dempsey
- Tags: Books, Institutions, UX

I [mentioned](https://blog.oclc.org/lorcand/archives/001534.html?ref=lorcandempsey.net) the other day that the Times had nominated Philip Larkin, poet and librarian (“[the toad work](https://www.google.com/search?q=toad+larkin+work&ref=lorcandempsey.net)“) as the greatest British writer since 1945.  
Through the wonders of resource sharing I have got hold of a copy of his history of the library at the [University of Hull](https://www.hull.ac.uk/?ref=lorcandempsey.net), updated by Maeve Brennan (from [Western Michigan University](https://www.wmich.edu/library/?ref=lorcandempsey.net), if you are interested ;-).

> Larkin, Philip, and Maeve Brennan. *[A Lifted Study-Storehouse The Brynmor Jones Library](https://worldcat.org/oclc/77903431?ref=lorcandempsey.net)*, 1929-1979\. Philip Larkin memorial series, no.1\. Hull: Hull University Press, 1987.

There, I was interested to read:

> …. independent history implies independence of operation, and since a library is always first and foremost a service it should be reluctant to arrogate to itself any qualities suggesting an identity separate from the community it serves. 

Which is a nice reminder that libraries are not ends in themselves. Something that is very well said by Eleanor Jo Rodger in one of the more interesting things I have read in the last few years (in the September 2007 *American Libraries*). Interesting enough to bear repeating. She places the library in the context of its host environment, and closes with this paragraph:

> Creating value for our host systems always involves three things: Librarians must understand their host systems; they must understand the source of their claim to being a legitimate part of their system; and they must do their work well so the system is better because they are there. It’s usually far more a matter of asking and listening than it is of telling and pleading.

Incidentally, ‘study-storehouse’ pulls together – a little clumsily? – the dual role of the library as a place for people and as a store for materials discussed by Larkin in the text.  
Related entries:

- [Librarian tops poll](https://blog.oclc.org/lorcand/archives/001534.html?ref=lorcandempsey.net)
- [And speaking of value …](https://blog.oclc.org/lorcand/archives/001424.html?ref=lorcandempsey.net)
- [The value of libraries](https://blog.oclc.org/lorcand/archives/000580.html?ref=lorcandempsey.net)