THE London borough of Camden's flagship library, the Swiss Cottage library, is nowhere to be seen.
That is, if you're wandering around Switzerland by mistake looking for it.
I often wonder every time I mention the Swiss Cottage library I'm confusing my overseas readers.
Britain is Britain and Switzerland is Switzerland. So what's Switzerland doing in Britain in the form of a library in London?
Simple. A couple of hundred years ago a novelty inn opened in the form of a Swiss cottage, so the inn was called Swiss Cottage. Many a place-name originates from a landmark, so the area when it expanded was called Swiss Cottage.
You can still see the Switzerland in the public house there now, though it has surely been rebuilt several times.
Fifty years ago the road instead of the Cottage was rebuilt, so to speak, and now the Swiss Cottage stand on a large traffic island in the middle of a giant four-lane one-way road system, which winds around the drinkers, who sit indoors and out.
The Swiss Cottage Library itself is across the road, passed by one arm of the highway, but quietly inland, with a leisure centre and a community centre and luxury flats nearby.
Tuesday, 28 November 2017
Deep thought
SWISS Cottage Library was once known for its book collection of philosophy.
I heard this was not as impressive as it sounds. Perhaps this is a myth: the reason was that in the old days each library shared various parts of the alphabet to locate at which library the books were kept throughout the London borough of Camden. Swiss Cottage's share included the letter 'p', so it became renowned for books on the subject of philosophy.
Anyway, however it got to Swiss Cottage library, the collection is impressive.
Lately I've been reading books by Roger Trigg, founder of the British Philosophical Association, which are of course at Swiss Cottage.
You can't help thinking the professor has an exceptional grasp of reality.
I like very much his common touch, easily understandable. He opens one of his books with, 'A moral argument is often stopped in its tracks when someone refuses to consider a position by saying that "that is just your opinion."'
The books goes on to tell you how he thinks you might get out of that corner. It also nicely isolates many other arguments, true and false, which will either reassure you that you are on the right track in your view of life or suprise you in that you didn't think deeply enough about something others are throwing at you.
I heard this was not as impressive as it sounds. Perhaps this is a myth: the reason was that in the old days each library shared various parts of the alphabet to locate at which library the books were kept throughout the London borough of Camden. Swiss Cottage's share included the letter 'p', so it became renowned for books on the subject of philosophy.
Anyway, however it got to Swiss Cottage library, the collection is impressive.
Lately I've been reading books by Roger Trigg, founder of the British Philosophical Association, which are of course at Swiss Cottage.
You can't help thinking the professor has an exceptional grasp of reality.
I like very much his common touch, easily understandable. He opens one of his books with, 'A moral argument is often stopped in its tracks when someone refuses to consider a position by saying that "that is just your opinion."'
The books goes on to tell you how he thinks you might get out of that corner. It also nicely isolates many other arguments, true and false, which will either reassure you that you are on the right track in your view of life or suprise you in that you didn't think deeply enough about something others are throwing at you.
What's the user
THE library user group is an alternative name for 'friends of the library'.
They are the groups in the borough of Camden and elsewhere that organise events in the libraries and campaign for various causes.
I think the term 'user group' sounds stronger, but some libraries started using 'friends of...' so they stick with that.
One group decided to change from 'user' to 'friends', but someone reminded them how difficult it is to change the name of a bank account, so they immediately changed their minds and stayed as they were.
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