Personal Experience: Past and Possible Future
Past: Ipswich Library
School finishes at 3pm. The library at school closed after lunch.
Whilst we weren’t doing group work, we wanted to work together — mainly because we were more productive if we were all in the same space working on the same assignment at the same time.
But there was nowhere to go. One of the features of our school was that it was kind of a central point to a somewhat distributed regional area. So we all lived in different directions from the school, mostly we relied on public transport or parents to get home and around. But that meant that going over to someone’s house to work was not an option. It was just too difficult.
We found Ipswich library, not far from our school and very close to the public transport hub.
It was a nice open space with big tables that allowed us all to work but without getting in each other’s hair. We could read, write, research, make posters, photocopy, talk (to some extent) and just hang out. If we needed we could go to a personal booth, but we tended only to do that if there alone.
They had a lot of resources that we didn’t have at school. They had old plans of the region, newspapers, resources on microfiche (showing my age now), recordings on tape and players that you could use to listen to the recordings. They also had all kinds of magazine (not just the journal type) that were an endless source of distraction.
There were always other people there. Mostly they were just reading but occasionally there was a small workshop or book club that people would go to.
The librarians were nice. They seemed very reserved and somewhat stern but after they got to know us and saw that we weren’t going to be any trouble, they were incredibly helpful — helping us find books and even letting us borrow things like scissors for making posters.
We achieved a lot at that library. More than just school work.
Possible Future: Living with Dementia
It’s been many years since I’ve been to the library. But since I stopped working I have a lot of spare time and I don’t really want to spend money on things like books. They aren’t really a necessity when your future is somewhat uncertain.
I like being able to get out by myself. It makes me feel that I can still manage my self and my own life even if it is just to a small extent. I really appreciate the assistance that I get from my partner, but he is still busy with his career and I can’t expect him to take me here in the middle of the day. I already enough of a burden for him. Besides … I can do this.
Libraries have changed so much. The books are still here but it’s really hard to find things. I remember the card systems but I don’t feel confident that I could use them again. There was some kind of decimal system, but the numbers they use now are different. They seem much more complex.
I see many people working at computers. They never seem to leave them. I’m pretty sure that they can find what they need through the computers but again I’m not confident that I could manage. I used to use computers all the time, but just as my condition progressed it became harder for me. I see the information, I know that I should be doing something on the computer but I’m not sure what.
Once I asked a librarian for help. He suggested I go to a workshop that they run on how to use the online catalog. I didn’t go. I don’t want to go. I think I’d be slower than everyone else because I need to write things down as I go and that’s going to take more time than everyone else.
It’s a nice building here and always cool and quiet. I can see the magazines so I’ll just browse through those. Not all of them are interesting, but at least I made it here by myself.
