Have you heard of the Leeds Library? With a history dating back to 1768, you’ll find it in the heart of Leeds, right above Paperchase on Commercial Street. It has a collection of over 140,000 books, plus the interior is about as close to a perfect library as you can get. Panelled wood, spiral staircases and lots of books – what’s not to love about that?
Joining has been a dream of mine for maybe ten years now, but there was always something in the way. Partly it was financial (although membership is only £132 for the year), and some of it related to my travel anxiety and general stress issues over the past few years. There was also an element of feeling as though I didn’t belong in such a beautiful library. I know many authors suffer with impostor syndrome, and it’s not difficult to pinpoint that as being a major issue when I thought of joining the Leeds Library.
However, this weekend was the tipping point. I decided that I was going into Leeds on Saturday morning to join the library, and I did just that. I’ve signed up on a joint membership with my wife, ensuring that at least she has a fighting chance of spending some time with me when I’m researching novels. Plus, we both get 20 book loans at a time, and I bet I can persuade her to get the books I want her to get!
Ultimately, I reached a point where I decided joining was no longer an optional luxury. I tend to scrabble around in used bookshops and charity shops for research books and, while that’s great, I don’t always find the books I need. My local library isn’t all that great these days, and an interest in staying solvent keeps me from buying all the books I need to conduct the amount of research I deem necessary. The library membership will more than pay for itself, plus I’ll have somewhere to go and edit when it gets to the sharp end of redrafting.
I’ll let you know how I get on once I start visiting more regularly. In the meantime, if you’d like to know more about the Leeds Library, please visit their website. If you’re in Yorkshire, they run tours that will give you chance to look inside this gorgeous building, even if you’re too far away to countenance joining.
