Oldbury Library

If libraries give us power, then someone needs to stick 50p in the meter at Oldbury Library.
It’s not the staff, it’s not even particularly the books because there’s a broad and well-​stocked amount of novels. It’s just that the place lacks heart somehow. It’s not what a real library should be. Just having books doesn’t make a library any more than kicking a ball doesn’t make me Lionel Messi (or even Lionel Richie).
From the outside, it looks impressive. Well, that’s not difficult in Oldbury — a town seemingly as devastated by ill-​thought out redevelopment as the poor souls are by the cans of Special Brew they hang around the bus-​stops clutching. The problem is that the library itself takes up approximately a quarter of the building it inhabits. The first time I ever walked in I quickly found myself thinking ‘is this it?‘
Now let’s be realistic, no-one’s expecting Birmingham Central Library here — even the one that’s shutting down. Well, I’m not anyway, but surely a town such as Oldbury deserves sufficient resources to be able to have more books than can fit in more than one fairly small room. Apart from the novels, the remaining shelves are filled up with random selections of books that often seem to be there to make up the numbers. It’s as if by having a handful of music biographies and one or two sheet music books they can say ‘we’ve got a varied music section’.
One sad thing is the lack of human interaction. To get a book out at Oldbury, you’re encouraged to use the self-​service machine. If you’re unfamiliar, this works exactly the same as the supermarket ones, only without unexpected items constantly turning up in the bagging area. In my experience, library staff can either be lovely human beings or self-​important snobs. I couldn’t tell you what the staff in Oldbury are like because I’ve never had chance to interact. This happens in libraries all over the West Midlands — it’s almost as if a librarian’s job is now to show you how to use the self-​service machine so that you never have to speak to them again. I’ve got a book out from there at the second (a Paul Weller biography if you must know), maybe I should deliberately return it when it’s overdue so I can see what the staff are like as I pay my 12p fine?
One possible upside to Sandwell Libraries (of which Oldbury is one) is that one can get up to thirty books out at any one time. Now, I must say I’ve never tried reading thirty books in one month, but unless you own, or desire to need, a pair of very thick and strong spectacles and have an addiction to coffee or pro-​plus; you’re not going to want or be physically able to get through that amount of books. Even my housebound, bookworm Nan couldn’t do that! If you think you could though, you’ll love it — although you might burn out the self-​service machine.
It comes down to this: If you want to borrow the odd book to read here and there, Oldbury might have it and it’ll probably a nice, neat modern copy. If you want somewhere you can lose yourself in, maybe sit and read or research or do your homework/​coursework/​housework/​account fiddling, somewhere that’s some kind of focus for the community; Oldbury isn’t your best option. However flash the new building, it’s like my fridge at the sec — there’s not really much in there.