S. Worthen | Weblog

I briefly went in hunt of my local public library last summer, when I first moved here. Neighbors told me that my local branch had closed not six months before I arrived. A superficial trawl through the borough website told me that there were very few libraries in the borough, and none of them were anywhere near me. I looked no further.

But today, for a while, I thought I would need to use another borough's library, and the only way to do that would be to take advantage of the reciprocal arrangements between my borough and the other one. So I needed a library card, which involved, of course, finding a library.

And that's how I finally figured out where all the Tower Hamlets libraries have been hiding all this time. All the new ones, all the ones they're investing in, have all been rebranded as "Idea Stores". Does "Idea Store" say "Library" to you? It doesn't to me.

For any other Tower Hamlets denizens: the Canary Wharf Idea Store will be opening in the basement of the Barclay HQ building next week, on Thursday March 16th.