You can find out pretty much anything by ‘googling’ it these days, so much so that the Oxford University Dictionary recognised the word ‘google’ as far back as 2006. Students used libraries, you would see them huddled at a desk strewn with books, either frantically scribbling away or gazing off into the distance, lost in the depths of a problem or wondering what the name of the gorgeous person they met last night was.

You can find anything by googling it these days, and it’s pretty much current and up to date, more so even than Encyclopedia Brittanica,I used the library a lot once upon a time, having started to read my mothers’ selection as an early teenager, and then later as a proper member, proud to flash my card at the desk of the local library with my pile of selected books.

There were so many choices! Biographies, Autobiographies, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Travel, History, Crafts, Atlases/Maps, Finance, Sociology, Law - the choices were endless and equally bewildering sometimes. I even started to make note of favourite authors in the back of my diary (yes a real diary with metal corners) and booking a particular book when I went to check the shelves to find the one I was looking for was already out.Do people still actually use libraries, now that you can buy ebooks online from the comfort of your own home from a variety of retailers such as Amazon, Apple, and Google, but why buy when you can rent through your local library?

If your library is signed up with Libby, OverDrive, or Hoopla, you can browse, borrow, and read books, directly through the app. A revelation to me, I might add, and it’s true - I ‘googled’ it to find out!

Marilyn Sheridan