Death of the Library

Where any nation starts awake
Books are the memory.
And it's plain
Decay of libraries is like
Alzheimer's in the nation's brain........

Even the most misfitting child
Who's chanced upon the library's worth
Sits with the genius of the Earth
And turns the key to the whole world

By Ted Hughes, from his poem 'Hear it again'

Now read Norman Lebrecht's Death of the Library

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