As the academic year begins across much of the world, students arrive on campus for the first time, researchers return to unfinished projects, and lifelong learners start something new. Some will walk through library doors, while others will borrow e-books, access online archives, or join virtual waiting lists for a popular title. The format has changed, but the purpose remains consistent:
libraries continue to help people
turn curiosity into opportunity
At this time of year, I often find myself thinking about a question that came up during the University of Birmingham’s 125th anniversary celebrations:
Which place on campus would you miss the most one day?
The answer surprised me. It wasn’t the Barber Institute; the Lapworth Museum; my office; the laboratories; the microscopy facilities where, over the years, I experienced both the satisfaction of confirming an idea and the excitement of discovering something completely unexpected.
I immediately thought of the library. Only later did I realise why. When I look back, some of the most important stages of my life seem to have a library somewhere in the background.
my first memories of libraries are connected with high school
At Anatolia College in Thessaloniki, the library taught me how to research a topic, take notes from different sources, organise information, and build an argument. It became the setting for presentations and group assignments, where we learned how to understand something ourselves and how to communicate it to others.
The same building was also home to some of my earliest experiences with computing. There, we learned touch typing, computing skills, and our first programming languages. At the time, these felt separate activites, but they were not. Years later, when I encountered programming again at university, it felt strangely familiar. This resurfaced again during my PhD, when computational modelling became a key part of my research.
by the time I arrived at university, the library had taken on a different role
During my studies in Materials Science and Engineering, the library became a refuge for me and a small group of close friends. There, we spent long days preparing for exams together. What I remember the most is not the studying itself; it is the rythm of those days; the anxiety before the exams; the anticipation of results; the conversations about challenging exam questions; or the constant debate about whether it was finaly time for a coffee or a lunch break.
The library gave us a place to focus.
Companionship made the challenge manageable.
a shift to libraries and 24-hour study spaces of the University of Edinburgh
I was no longer studying for examinations only. I was trying to understand what kind of work I wanted to do next, whether I belonged in research, and what questions I wanted spend years exploring.
That time also made me appreciate the long relationship between libraries and universities. The University of Edinburgh’s library traces its origins back to a collection donated in 1580, before the university itself formally opened in 1583. More than four centuries later, students still use libraries for much the same reason: to follow questions wherever they lead.
Sometimes the most interesting discovery is not the book you were looking for, but the one sitting next to it.
wherever I stay for more than a few days, I find myself looking for a library
Partly, I am searching for a place to work. Just as importantly, I am searching for a place to explore. Libraries often reveal something about a city’s herritage in learning, knowledge, and public life. This instict followed me to Sorbonne Library in Paris, on a trip during my PhD. It followed me to New York, where I wandered through the Public Library’s famous reading rooms. It continues today in Hamburg, where I regularly walk through the university library on my way to tandems, practising German.
the architecture, collections, and users may differ,
the invitation remains remarkably consistent:
pause, focus, explore
when I first learned how to use a library, information was often difficult to access
Today information is everywhere. Search engines, digital archives, online courses, social media, and increasingly AI tools place an unprecendented amount of information within reach.
access is no longer the main problem, making sense of information is
That is one reason libraries matter as much as ever. They do not simply provide access to information. They help people navigate it. The skills I first encountered in libraries as a student, asking questions, evaluating sources, organising information, and communicating ideas, feel just as relevant today as they did then.
Perhaps even more so. The Library of Birmingham occupies a special place in this story. It opened shortly before I arrived in the city and became one of the spaces I associated with learning beyond formal education. Through programmes such as Brasshouse Languages, it continues to support people learning new languages, exploring different cultures, and building new connections.
While writing recently about Birmingham’s industrial history, I found myself returning to a similar idea. During the Industrial Revolution, progress often emerged through networks of people sharing skills, knowledge, and experience. Libraries serve a different purpose, but they support the same process.
they create environments where
ideas circulate, skills develop, and new knowledge can emerge
Recently, I found myself reconnecting with my high school in a new way. As an alumna, I was offered membership to the Bissell Library. It reminded me how many of the skills I still use today can be traced back to places like this.
Looking back, libraries helped me prepare for exams, write dissertations, learn programming, develop computational models, learn new languages, and supported me in my research.
The cities changed,
the buildings changed,
the questions I was trying to answer changed,
the skills I needed evolved,
and the libraries are always there.
When I think of the libraries that shaped my life, I suspect many readers may think at least one of their own. The details may differ, but the feeling is remarkably familiar.
a place to learn, to think, to start again…
…and perhaps that is why the library is always there. Not simply as a building full of books, but as a companion to curiosity, quietly waiting for the next question that will change us.