IT WAS a place where you could climb the stairs and while away an afternoon browsing through the most extraordinary books without costing you a penny.

I can remember being amazed when coming across a booklet up there about the artist JMW Turner in Dorset, with an etching showing a view from Poole's Constitution Hill.

Call me a very sad man indeed but, standing on the upper floor of Poole Central Library amid a sea of reference books, I was intrigued. I hadn't known that Britain's greatest artist had been inspired when standing on the very spot where I had taken a photo only a few days before.

Turner's picture was rather good. Mine was rather bad... but what the heck.

In those days I could have picked up any one of 45,000 reference books that Poole Central Library owned (with the possible exception of Divorce Law in the Gold Coast) and found something fascinating.

I couldn't do that today. Now, not only is Poole's library down to 2,125 reference volumes but the whole upper floor, where the section used to be, may go.

Does it matter? These are changing times with most of us happy Googling on computers to search for facts. And many people now buy cut-price books new.

But there is much more to a library than merely books, DVDs and computers.

They are relaxing oases where the troubles of the day can vanish for a while. They are gold mines of enjoyment which adults and children, rich or poor, can tap.

And they are places where you can ask a librarian, not just a website, for help.

Believe me, many librarians have a greater knowledge of their subjects than any old king or queen.