I don’t remember getting my first library card. I do remember getting my first adult library card though. In the suburb of Dublin where I grew up the library building was pretty modern - a glass box with red brick around the edges and a flat roof - snazzy for the time.

It was L-shaped. The large leg of the L held the adult library. The small leg held the children’s library and in the middle, where the doors opened, was a glass cube used as an office for the librarians. On each side it had a tall wooden counter, taller than me anyhow, where the librarian on duty would take your cardboard library card, stamp the book you were checking out, and stamp a small piece of card that fitted into your card until you returned the book. The children’s cards were green, but the adults had a...

Please subscribe to keep reading.