The library doesn't get used?

I couldn't believe it. Someone actually said, "It was a waste of money. The library doesn't get used. If you want to read something you do it on line these days."
He has no idea. There were more than a thousand people through the doors of the new library facilities yesterday. My friend G and I answered questions about the Knitting and Crochet Group until we were hoarse. 
I had one of those incredible, wonderful moments of seeing the absolute awe and delight of a four  year discovering how to "knit" a single stitch. There was the woman who said shyly, "I had a stroke last year and I'd like to get back to knitting. Could I come along?"
Of course she could and we will help if she needs it. There was the moment when a man, married for more than thirty years, showed his wife that he could knit.
   "I've been married to him all this time and I never knew he could knit."
   "No. You might have made me do it," he told her. They went off holding hands like teenagers.
We explained the difference between knitting and crochet.
All the time around us people were having tours of the new facilities. The children were hunting for answers to the clues they had been given, lining up to have their faces painted with story book characters, listening to stories and more. The adults were exploring the book sale, the Book Groups, the Card and Board Games Group and the French Conversation group next to us. I even managed to say to someone who asked if we were the French group, "Non, je suis un tricoteur". I pointed to the next meeting room. Trying to work out the French for "that group is in the next room" failed me - and I doubt he would have understood anyway.
Outside it was noisy. There was a band playing. There was a sausage sizzle, a coffee stand, potatoes on sticks, popcorn, a climbing wall, and a bouncy castle for the smallest children on the park side. On the other side it was much quieter with just a curious solar powered machine "drawing" a story. 
And you could still borrow books and return them. There were small queues waiting to return books or check them. I looked around at the crowds. No it isn't always nearly that busy but the library is used every day of the week and it is used by many, many people. It's an important part of the community -  perhaps the most important part. I didn't want to leave but I had another meeting to go to. I picked up my inter-library loan and left.
I'll be back there during the week.