Don't shush the librarians

I realise that having more than one pantomime must be a headache for the theatre companies operating in the limited local market. They have to deal contend with a fragmentation of audiences, considerable expenses and each other.

However, I can't help thinking that local audiences benefited from the increased competition. This year you could see Alan Montanaro's Żeża sizzle at Ta' Qali, Jo Zette show off an appropriately placed pic on her nether regions or Hector Bruno flicking his curls over at Floriana. Tickets were easy to come by and were decently-priced. It was a far cry from that insane queuing outside the Manoel Theatre ticketing box at unearthly hours. I hope that the pantomime market will bear up and is large enough to sustain more than one theatre company.

As the battle royale between the pantomimes continues and the dames vie to outshine each other, the discussion about the site of the opera house in Valletta goes on. Following the pleas to return the site to its original function, or to have it house a theatre, the Malta Library and Information Association (MALIA) made its own proposals. In a nutshell, the association's suggestion is to have a cultural centre incorporating a state-of-the-art library.

Though a few online commentators pooh-poohed the idea, I think it would be a mistake to dismiss the library proposals. Contrary to perception in some quarters, libraries are not a refuge for sadsacks who pore over musty volumes while a librarian hisses at them to shush from time to time. Libraries can be places of interest, information and entertainment. I found this out as a little girl. My regular Saturday morning outing was a trip to the public library. Back then, it was housed within the buildings that now make up the Police Headquarters and only comprised a couple of floors.

The book collection was nothing to write home about. From what I could make out, it consisted chiefly of hardbacks about World War II. The children's section was even more limited. There were none of the fabulously illustrated books which are so readily available today, no fun pop-ups, or books which squeak, sing or talk. And yet, it was there among the books with cracked spines and age-mottled pages, that I found a book about a talking dog called Himself which fascinated me and had me rushing back to the same shelf to get hold of yet another book in the series, to read before the next Saturday rolled along.

That book - simply illustrated with line drawings - sparked off my love of books. It's a pastime which has enriched my life, making it colourful and interesting. Reading also helps out on the educational front - making it easier to comprehend an array of subjects and enabling readers to accumulate a database of general knowledge which is useful even at work. So, yes, I'm an unabashed book-lover and cannot recommend reading enough. And as libraries contain the most physically accessible collections of books, I'd say that we should try to have as many of them as possible, or at least to have a magnificent central library, as suggested by the association.

Critics of the library proposal say that it's a nice enough idea, but we can read books online, so why bother? They're way off mark if they think that all the books ever published and all information is available over the internet and for free. It's not. Anybody who has spent hours scouring the Web for that elusive book or paper, will know that not even all recently published information is in digital format, let alone older publications.

Moreover, the downplaying of a library's role in modern society, is based on the outdated notion of it being merely a place from where books may be borrowed. Visits to libraries in other countries, will show they have evolved. Take the Cerritos Library in California. The stunning structure is the first titanium-clad building in the United States, with a golden skin that changes colour with atmospheric conditions.

But the innovative features of the 'Experience Library' go beyond attractive architecture. Besides books, it is home to sculptures by Dale Chihuly, a saltwater aquarium and a replica of a T-Rex fossil. Rooms in the library are designed by themes and information centres are located round the library to help patrons find what they need. There's also a huge multimedia lab, thousands of laptop stations, wireless headsets and computers for librarians.

Then there's the Bow Idea Store in the UK which manages to combine the traditional services provided by libraries with access to technology and a plethora of courses for lifelong learning opportunities.

The Delft Public Library (DOK) in Holland, is possibly the most fun of all. Its director says that "libraries are (for the most part) all about not having fun". At DOK, they set out to turn this stereotype on its head, with the driving idea being that "life is all about having more fun than you can think of, and it starts at the library". That's why they have videogames, listening stations, comfortable chairs, a café, a circulating art collection, toys for children to play with, a brightly-lit room devoted to comics, a whole room painted bright read for romance novels and much more.

The National Library Building of Singapore incorporates a drama centre and supports the visual arts scene. Other libraries which have embraced the information age and which are employing creative techniques to reach out to a wide audience, include the hemispherical Berlin Brain and the Turku City Library in Finland. These and others like them show us where we should be heading - towards a cultural centre which houses the arts, drama, books and experiences.

Someone once described the Seattle Public Library designed by Rem Koolhaas as a "blazing chandelier to swing your dreams upon". We need something just like that in Valletta.

cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt