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.”

“OK,” replies the man in red, “here’s a library card.”

It is a reminder that 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.

It’s a timely jolt to the reassuring truth that the good things in life are so often free.

It’s a message that should be front and centre at this time of year. Yet — and it’s utterly banal to say so — it has become
obscured in a tide of unabated materialism.

The cost of Christmas is a perennial source of worry, and more so this year with spiralling food and energy prices.

It might be too late to rethink the trimmings of the festive season as we find ourselves midway through December, but we could get in early for next year.