Books Be Gone

British Library gate (photo: Wikimedia Commons)

“[...] 'Closing libraries is the behaviour of a debased culture,' [Philip Pullman] adds. 'Libraries are not just a source of books. Many of us feel that they symbolise something more, that Britain is a civilised place. And when part of our civilisation is being destroyed, we have to stand up against the barbarians.'
Scathing talk from 64-year-old Pullman – a teacher who only took up writing full-time when his Dark Materials trilogy began to attract millions of children and adults – who admits he is 'apoplectic with rage' at the treatment of libraries in the current round of [UK] public-spending cuts. He is angered, above all, by the way more than 400 libraries around the country have been earmarked for closure." — Peter Stanford, The Telegraph
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Library of Alexandria by Ania Gilmore

"At its peak, the Library of Alexandria may have had over a half a million items in its collection. The downfall of the library is unclear. Most say that part of it was destroyed by fire when Caesar invaded in 48 BC, and declared war. But in the end the library also deteriorated over time, at the same time the Greek Empire was beginning to fall during the third century A.D."— Celsus: A Library Architecture Resource
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"As a passionate believer in the democracy of reading, I don't think it's the task of the author of a book to tell the reader what it means. [...] I'm not in the message business; I'm in the 'Once upon a time' business." — Philip Pullman
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