The Delights of Quick Choice sections

Last week I seemed to be in public libraries starting with ‘L’ for some reason – Lanark on Monday evening for a lecture, and Luton (at the other end of the UK entirely) on Saturday for the reason we will gently ascribe to ‘Librarian Curiosity While Passing’. Lots of librarians suffer from it, it’s not just me...!

Luton, looking down from Adult Non-Fiction

Other people’s libraries are often irresistible for a quick wander about…

Lanark I didn’t have time to look about as I skidded in in time for evening lecture which lasted till closing time when a load of very happy local society attendees departed till next month. Which is its own accolade for community usefulness.

Luton I had more time available. Luton is a very large public library over quite a few floors that caters for many different types of stock and service, but what I really liked in Luton was that just inside the entrance, before you enter any of the main rooms,  they have a Quick Choice section of a mixture of recent stock from popular genres represented.



Luton Quick Choice



Taking up residence…

This obviously works well in giving a friendly welcoming look drawing in customers into the wider library. I know this simply because I found myself absentmindedly seated there browsing through a few books from the range on display without consciously deciding to at all.  Fifteen minutes later I remembered that actually I’d gone in for a quick saunter round, not to take up residence in the entrance hall(!), and detached myself from the autobiog I was browsing with a mental list of a few things to track down in my own local library authority. The other thing I liked about the section was I can easily see people in a hurry, or who get intimidated or a bit lost perhaps with a very extensive fiction section, being able to dive in and out in a few minutes with a new reading supply.