Irish Examiner view: Libraries remind us  that the best things in life are often free

This message should be front and centre at this time of year, yet  it has become obscured in a tide of unabated materialism.

Libraries offer free access to more than 12m books, as well as DVDs, CDs, audiobooks, and a wide range of services for all age groups, from infants up. Picture: PhotoShelter

Social media is not the place to look for seasonal wisdom, but there’s an old cartoon doing the rounds which offers a timely exception to the rule. 

It shows a little boy telling Santa that he wants “Books, computers… and the ability to travel through time and space.”